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May 17, 2024
Industry Emboldened After Justices Galvanize Agency Attacks
In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court said "extraordinary" and "far-reaching" attacks on administrative enforcers can skip agency tribunals and go straight to federal district court, ambitious challenges to regulatory powers are rapidly gaining traction, and the high court is poised to put them on an even firmer footing.
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May 17, 2024
Calif. Jury Finds Samsung Breached Contract With Netlist
A Los Angeles federal jury found on Friday that Samsung materially breached a contract with chipmaker Netlist by cutting off its supply of crucial memory products, delivering a significant win for Netlist in its multi-jurisdictional patent fight with Samsung even though no monetary damages were at stake.
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May 17, 2024
Texas Justices Side With Car Dealership In Lease Dispute
The Supreme Court of Texas reversed and remanded a landlord's win against its former car dealership tenant, ruling Friday that the dealership's $1.3 million jury verdict wasn't upended when it gave up its appeal of a separate eviction suit.
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May 17, 2024
Texas Justices Let Fen-Phen Atty Malpractice Fight Roll On
The Texas Supreme Court ruled Friday that roughly 4,000 former clients of a Houston mass tort lawyer can continue pressing their claims that the lawyer improperly kept millions of dollars in fen-phen diet drug settlement money.
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May 17, 2024
Texas Judge Denies SpaceX's Rethink Bid In Transfer Spat
A Texas federal judge won't reconsider his decision to transfer SpaceX's constitutional challenge to the National Labor Relations Board's structure to a California court, saying on Friday that the rocket company didn't give a "compelling reason" to rethink the ruling.
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May 17, 2024
5th Circ. Won't Rethink SXSW Ticket Coverage Ruling
The Fifth Circuit will not reconsider ordering a Chubb unit to cover defense costs incurred by Texas music festival South by Southwest from a class action by ticket holders seeking refunds after Austin officials canceled the festival in 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
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May 16, 2024
Buckle Up: CFPB's High Court Win Will Thaw Frozen Docket
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is walking away from the U.S. Supreme Court with its funding and rulebook intact, a victory that caps off years of constitutional wrangling over how the agency was set up and will usher in a wave of activity that has financial services attorneys bracing for impact.
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May 16, 2024
Texas Court Tosses $222M Verdict In Worker Burn Death Suit
A Texas appeals panel on Thursday tossed a $222 million jury verdict in a suit alleging a piping repair company failed to properly service a faulty relief valve that caused a Kansas power plant worker's burn death, saying the Lone Star State was not the proper forum for the suit.
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May 16, 2024
'Christian' Co. Scammed WWII Vet Out Of $300K, Feds Say
Five members of an Alabama-based self-described Christian company were indicted on conspiracy and fraud charges stemming from a scheme in which they allegedly took at least $300,000 from a World War II veteran after telling him the money would pay for a vocational school.
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May 16, 2024
Houston Hospital Must Face Patient's Improper Care Claims
A split Texas appellate court gave a patient a second shot at his lawsuit accusing Houston Methodist Hospital of botching his post-surgery care, finding Thursday that an expert report supporting the patient's allegations was adequate to survive a dismissal bid.
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May 16, 2024
FCC To Pull Phone Co.'s Authorization To Operate In US
The Federal Communications Commission said Thursday it plans to revoke a telecom company's authorization to operate in the U.S. after the business failed to comply with an agreement with federal agencies stemming from a security review.
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May 16, 2024
La. Parties Split On How Voting Law Alters Consent Decree
A civil rights group told the Fifth Circuit on Thursday that a Louisiana state law enacted two weeks before the court reconsidered whether to dissolve a 30-year-old voting consent decree was enough to end its dispute, but disagreed with the state over the dissolution process for the consent decree determining how the state's high court justices are chosen.
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May 16, 2024
Exxon Pipeline In Dallas At Risk Over Excavation Co. Dumping
ExxonMobil and a commercial excavation company have agreed to a temporary injunction that would prevent the company from dumping cement slabs and other debris on land over a key Exxon fuel pipeline that runs under Dallas, with a state judge on Thursday indicating she would sign off on the proposal.
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May 16, 2024
Fracking Services Co. Nitro Hits Ch. 11 After IP Trial Loss
Oil and gas fracking services provider Nitro Fluids LLC filed for Chapter 11 protection in a Texas bankruptcy court with more than $50 million in debt, months after a jury found it had infringed another company's patents.
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May 15, 2024
SolarWinds Says SEC's Cyber Breach Suit Goes Too Far
SolarWinds Corp. on Wednesday asked a Manhattan federal judge to throw out the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's suit accusing the enterprise software company of deceiving investors about its lax cybersecurity, which left it open to a Russian hacking campaign.
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May 15, 2024
Real Estate Seller Can't Show He Was Stiffed On Commission
A Texas appellate court ruled that a man claiming he was cheated out of a commission for assisting in a real estate sale didn't have enough to back up his claims, agreeing Tuesday that a lower court was correct in granting an early win to the property's seller.
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May 15, 2024
Texas Judge Won't Halt County's Electioneering Restrictions
Newly-crafted electioneering rules in Palo Pinto County, Texas, can stay in place as conservative activists pursue an interlocutory appeal of an order denying their motion to block the rules' implementation, a Texas federal judge has ruled.
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May 15, 2024
Noncompete Rule Challenge Gets More Backing
A slew of business groups have thrown their support behind a challenge of the Federal Trade Commission's sweeping ban on noncompete clauses for employees, saying the rule relies on "cherrypicked" data to back a policy preferred by the FTC's majority.
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May 15, 2024
MLB, NHL, NBA Doubt Bally Sports Parent Can Reorganize
The bankrupt parent of Bally Sports-branded regional sports networks touted the extension of a carriage contract with DirecTV Wednesday in Texas bankruptcy court, at the same time that the parent company's partners in major American sports leagues expressed skepticism about its ability to successfully reorganize.
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May 15, 2024
Ollie's Can Make $14.6M Stalking-Horse Bid For 99 Cents Only
Discount retail chain 99 Cents Only received approval Wednesday from a Delaware bankruptcy judge for a $14.6 million stalking-horse bid for 11 of its properties in Texas from Ollie's Bargain Outlet Inc., another discount retailer.
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May 15, 2024
Caltech Makes A Deal With Dell, Ending Another Patent Suit
The California Institute of Technology has reached a settlement in its patent lawsuit against Dell Technologies Inc., the latest deal the school has cut in suits over its data transmission patents in the years after its $1.1 billion verdict against Apple Inc. crashed at the Federal Circuit.
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May 15, 2024
House Dems Launch Task Force To Address High Court 'Crisis'
A group of House Democrats on Wednesday launched a task force seeking to bring more transparency and accountability to the U.S. Supreme Court.
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May 15, 2024
Rio Grande Is A 'Creek,' Texas Tells 5th Circ. In Barrier Rehearing
The state of Texas told the full Fifth Circuit on Wednesday that the Rio Grande is "little more than a creek with an excellent publicist" as it pushed the court to vacate an order that would require it to remove a floating barrier intended to keep migrants out of the country.
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May 15, 2024
Tesla Fires Back At Claims It Bullied Retired Law Professor
Tesla has pushed back against allegations that it tried to bully a retired law professor out of weighing in on an investor suit over CEO Elon Musk's $56 billion compensation plan, according to new filings in Delaware.
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May 15, 2024
Hunton Taps Energy Regulatory Chair As Austin, Dallas Head
Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP has selected its national energy regulatory practice chair to lead two of its Texas offices, the firm announced Wednesday.
Expert Analysis
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Opinion
Newman Suspension Shows Need For Judicial Reform
The recent suspension of U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman following her alleged refusal to participate in a disability inquiry reveals the need for judicial misconduct reforms to ensure that judges step down when they can no longer serve effectively, says Aliza Shatzman at The Legal Accountability Project.
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How 2 Cases Could Undermine The Anti-ESG Movement
A decision from a federal court in Texas and another case currently making its way through Missouri federal court signal an emerging judicial recognition of the link between environmental, social and governance considerations and maximizing financial returns, say Amy Roy and Robert Skinner at Ropes & Gray.
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5th Circ. Ruling Shows Need For Proffer Terms Negotiation
The Fifth Circuit’s recent U.S. v. Shah decision, holding that a defendant breached his proffer agreement, illustrates why defense attorneys should insist on negotiating the terms of such agreements with prosecutors to protect their clients at trial, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.
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How And Why Your Firm Should Implement Fixed-Fee Billing
Amid rising burnout in the legal industry and client efforts to curtail spending, pivoting to a fixed-fee billing model may improve client-attorney relationships and offer lawyers financial, logistical and stress relief — while still maintaining profit margins, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.
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Opinion
Judicial Independence Needs Defense Amid Political Threats
Amid recent and historic challenges to the judiciary from political forces, safeguarding judicial independence and maintaining the integrity of the legal system is increasingly urgent, says Robert Peck at the Center for Constitutional Litigation.
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How Law Firms Can Use Account-Based Marketing Strategies
Amid several evolving legal industry trends, account-based marketing can help law firms uncover additional revenue-generating opportunities with existing clients, with key considerations ranging from data analytics to relationship building, say Jennifer Ramsey at stage LLC and consultant Gina Sponzilli.
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Strategic Succession Planning At Law Firms Is Crucial
Senior partners' reluctance to retire, the rise of the nonequity partner tier and generational differences in expectations are all contributing to an increasing number of departures from BigLaw, making it imperative for firms to encourage retirement among senior ranks and provide clearer leadership pathways to junior attorneys, says Laura Leopard at Leopard Solutions.
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2nd Circ. OT Ruling Guides On Pay For Off-The-Clock Work
While the Second Circuit’s recent holding in Perry v. City of New York reiterated that the Fair Labor Standards Act obligates employers to pay overtime for off-the-clock work, it recognized circumstances, such as an employee’s failure to report, that allow an employer to disclaim the knowledge element that triggers this obligation, say Robert Whitman and Kyle Winnick at Seyfarth.
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FTC's Health Co. Suit Indicates Agency's Private Equity Focus
The Federal Trade Commission's latest lawsuit against an anesthesia company and its private equity investor highlights the agency's willingness to regulate the health care industry even when relevant acquisitions are relatively dated or when the controlling entity's economic interest is under 50%, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.
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Cases Linking Baby Food, Autism Pose Causation Challenges
Major baby food producers are now in the crosshairs of regulators, consumer advocates and plaintiffs attorneys over allegations their products contain heavy metals that harm children's development — but it will be difficult for plaintiffs to establish causation, as shown by the lengthy court battles over tobacco and talc, says Vineet Dubey at Custodio & Dubey.
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Top 4 Antitrust Enforcement Issues In Health Care Today
The Federal Trade Commission's recent lawsuit against U.S. Anesthesia Partners exemplifies antitrust enforcement authorities' efforts to aggressively reshape the health care industry, ranging from new proposed rules to withdrawals of previous guidance, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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Maximizing Law Firm Profitability In Uncertain Times
As threats of an economic downturn loom, firms can boost profits by embracing the power of bottom-line management and creating an ecosystem where strategic financial oversight and robust timekeeping practices meet evolved client relations, says Shireen Hilal at Maior Strategic Consulting.
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End To CFPB's Discrimination Rule Is A Boon To Industry
A Texas federal court's recent order, which vacated revisions to a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau manual that expanded its authority to punish purported discriminatory practices, provides much-needed relief to covered entities that experienced increased regulatory uncertainty and compliance costs under the updated standards, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.
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5th Circ. Ruling Reminds Attys That CBP Can Search Devices
The Fifth Circuit’s recent Malik v. Department of Homeland Security decision adds to the chorus of federal courts holding that border agents don’t need a warrant to search travelers’ electronic devices, so attorneys should consider certain special precautions to secure privileged information when reentering the U.S., says Jennifer Freel at Jackson Walker.
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Enforcement Of International Tax Reporting Is Heating Up
Since the U.S. Supreme Court’s February decision in Bittner v. U.S. changed how penalties for failure to report offshore accounts are calculated, recent developments suggest the government is preparing to step up enforcement and vigorously pursue the collection of resulting penalties, say Daniel Silva and Agustin Ceballos at Buchalter.