CFPB Cautions Firms Against Contractual 'Fine Print Tactic'

By Jon Hill

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday warned banks and other financial services firms against trying to "trick" consumers with unenforceable waivers in their customer contracts, saying their use of certain contractual terms and conditions can open them up to supervisory or enforcement action.

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Paramount Hit With $142.5M 'Lucha Libre' Lawsuit

By Andrew Karpan

Paramount and Univision have been hit with a $142.5 million copyright lawsuit over allegedly continuing to broadcast masked "Lucha Libre" fights on Pluto TV, over a year after ending a licensing deal with a California company that markets the videos in the U.S.

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Houston IP Firm Settles Trade Secrets Case With Ex-Law Clerk

By Lynn LaRowe

Houston-based intellectual property law firm Lloyd & Mousilli PLLC and a former law clerk accused of stealing confidential information while working virtually from California reached a settlement in a lawsuit brought by the firm in a Texas federal court.

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Atty's Argentine Uber Debut Fight Lands At Calif. High Court

By Craig Clough

Barring fraudulent concealment claims under the so-called economic loss doctrine would create "perverse incentives" for people to draw others into contracts and "have their way with them," the California Supreme Court was told Tuesday by counsel for an Argentinian attorney suing Uber on allegations it hid crucial information from him.

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Class Attys Get $7M Of $21M BofA Wire Fee Settlement

By Ryan Harroff

A North Carolina federal judge gave an early nod Tuesday to a $21 million settlement between Bank of America NA and the proposed class of its customers who accused it of slapping $15 "junk fees" on their incoming wire transfers, with $7 million of the deal going to class counsel.

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Ex-NFL Player Settles With Former Partner In Colo. Reptile Biz

By Daniel Ducassi

Former NFL player Chadwick Brown has settled a lawsuit with his former business partner in a Colorado reptile shipping company less than a month before trial, resolving allegations that Brown tried to strip the former partner of his stake in the company, according to a recently filed notice in state court.

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Developer, Buyer Settle $10M Miami Condo Dispute

By Carolina Bolado

A German citizen and a developer have settled their dispute over a $9.6 million deal to buy a highly customized duplex condominium unit in a new Miami high rise, according to a notice filed in Florida federal court Monday.

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Construction Co. Says $1B Texas Chemical Plant Bill Unpaid

By Catherine Marfin

The construction company behind a multimillion-dollar chemical processing facility near the Texas coast has accused the plant's owner of refusing to pay it for its work, despite making changes to the original scope of the facility that caused extra construction costs and delays.

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Mexican Co. Asks Justices To Resolve Foreign Service Q's

By Caroline Simson

A Mexican film distributor is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve a technical question relating to service of process on foreign parties, as it fights a Ninth Circuit decision enforcing an arbitral award favoring a Los Angeles-based film production company over a 2020 movie that starred Jessica Chastain.

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Nurse Staffing Exec Wants Antitrust, Fraud Charges Separated

By Matthew Perlman

An indicted home health care staffing executive asked a Nevada federal court to separate the antitrust charge against him for allegedly fixing nurses wages from claims that he concealed the conspiracy and government probe when selling the business for more than $10 million.

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Ex-Restoration Co. Execs 'Teeter' On Contempt, Judge Says

By Hayley Fowler

The former presidents of a property restoration company have staved off civil contempt after narrowly convincing a North Carolina Business Court judge that they merely misunderstood an injunction curbing their business activities as opposed to flagrantly disregarding it.

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Fla. Biz Owners Indicted On Grant-Writing Fraud Conspiracy

By David Minsky

Two northern Florida business owners have been federally indicted on fraud conspiracy-related charges in connection to a scheme in which they allegedly stole nearly $3 million from minority-owned companies by promising grant-writing services that were never delivered.

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Bread Financial Wants Suit Over Spinoff's 'Death Spiral' Axed

By Emilie Ruscoe

Financial services company Bread Financial Holdings Inc. and its CEO have asked an Ohio federal judge to toss a proposed investor class action over the alleged "death spiral" of a now-bankrupt spinoff company, saying the suit actually details Bread's "good faith efforts" to establish the spinoff as a successful independent venture.

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Bally Sports Parent Reaches Multiyear Fubo Carriage Deal

By Vince Sullivan

The bankrupt owner of Bally Sports-branded regional sports networks told a Texas judge Tuesday that it has reached a multiyear agreement with fuboTV to continue that company's carriage of the debtor's channels on its streaming platform, adding to its roster of new distribution deals as a hearing on its Chapter 11 plan nears.

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PE Firm Tells 5th Circ. It Got Pushed Out Of EV Co. Acquisition

By Spencer Brewer

Texas-based private equity company Ancor Holdings LP says it got pushed out of an acquisition deal by another private equity group it brought in as backup, arguing in oral arguments at the Fifth Circuit on Tuesday that a binding letter of intent means it's entitled to future profits.

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DC Circ. Ruling Heightens HHS Contract Pharmacy Challenges

The D.C. Circuit's recent ruling that the Section 340B program does not bar manufacturers from restricting deliveries of discounted drugs to contract pharmacies represents a second strike against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' current contract pharmacy policy and raises the stakes surrounding an upcoming Seventh Circuit ruling on the same issue, say attorneys at Foley Hoag.

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Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?

Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.

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To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef

To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

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Mayer Brown Chair Reelected To A Second 3-Year Term

By Rose Krebs

Mayer Brown announced Tuesday that a partner who has spent almost his entire three-decade legal career at the firm has been reelected to a second three-year term as its chair.

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Hinshaw's Chair Will Steer Firm's Strategy For Another Term

By Rose Krebs

Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP has reelected a partner who has been with the firm for more than 40 years to a new three-year term as its chair.

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Jones Day, Littler, Ogletree Attys Among Clients' 'All Stars'

By Kevin Penton

Jones Day, Littler Mendelson PC and Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC head BTI Consulting Group's annual list of law firms with the most "all star" attorneys, with each having seven attorneys highlighted by in-house leaders for their service to clients.

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Ogletree Opens 7th California Office In Fresno

By Kevin Penton

Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC has opened an office in Fresno, California, absorbing a location previously operated by Raimondo Miller ALC and its five attorneys, the firm has announced.

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Polsinelli Opens 2nd Utah Location, Names Managing Partner

By Tracey Read

Polsinelli PC has opened an office in Park City, Utah, making it the first Am Law 100 firm to put down roots in the mountain resort, Utah offices leader Marla Bell told Law360 Pulse Tuesday.

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Judiciary Panel Clears 1st MDL Rule, Eyes 'Mouthpiece' Amici

By Jeff Overley

Top rulemaking gatekeepers for the federal judiciary Tuesday capped off seven years of strife in the defense and plaintiffs bars by backing a milestone measure aimed at optimizing multidistrict litigation, and then promptly greenlighted an entirely different war of words over new efforts to ferret out amicus briefs from "paid mouthpieces" masquerading as independent experts.

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Garland Defends DOJ Integrity, Demurs On Justices' Ethics

By Courtney Bublé

Attorney General Merrick Garland on Tuesday defended the Department of Justice's independence, deflecting questions about ethics scandals at the U.S. Supreme Court and rejecting Donald Trump's "conspiracy theory" that federal prosecutors were the real force behind his recent conviction.

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Chief Justice's Leadership Is Falling Short, Schumer Says

By Courtney Bublé

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Tuesday criticized U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts for what he sees as lackluster efforts to address ethical impropriety among high court members.

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Mitch McConnell Slams 7th Circ. Nom's 'Sheer Incompetence'

By Hailey Konnath

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tore into Seventh Circuit nominee U.S. District Judge Nancy L. Maldonado on the Senate floor Tuesday, criticizing her case backlog and saying that she has distinguished herself "with sheer incompetence."

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Senate Confirms DC Judge As Court Calls For Attention

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 57-41 Tuesday to confirm Judge Tanya Monique Jones Bosier to serve on the D.C. Superior Court for a term of 15 years, which chips away at the "vacancy crisis" plaguing the district's court system.

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Trump Wants Gag Orders Terminated In Wake Of Guilty Verdict

By Hailey Konnath

Donald Trump asked a New York County judge to terminate gag orders restricting the former president from making out-of-court statements during his criminal trial, arguing that the "restrictions" on his First Amendment rights are no longer warranted now that the trial has come to an end.

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SDNY Shakes Up Its Leadership After 2 Departures

By Andrea Keckley

On the heels of former Southern District of New York Deputy U.S. Attorney Andrea Griswold's transition to the partner ranks of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP, U.S. Attorney for SDNY Damian Williams on Monday announced two newly appointed attorneys to replace her and the office's departed executive assistant U.S. attorney.

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SEC Shutters Salt Lake City Office, Shifts Cases To Denver

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said on Tuesday that it will close its Salt Lake City office for budgetary and organizational purposes, saying that the caseload of the office, which among other things handled the troubled Debt Box case, will now be handled by staff in Denver.

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Mondelez, BCLP Must Face Negligence Claims Over 2023 Breach

By Emily Sawicki

An Illinois federal judge has trimmed the majority of claims in proposed data privacy class actions brought by Mondelez workers against their employer and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP stemming from a 2023 data breach, although the company and law firm couldn't shake the cases entirely. 

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Archegos Jury Note Demands Info After Atty's COVID Absence

By Pete Brush

A juror hearing the government's $36 billion market manipulation case against Archegos founder Bill Hwang took the unusual step Tuesday of asking if there was "something we are not being told" after COVID-19 sidelined a lawyer and prompted others to don masks.

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Clinton Says Dismissal Of Trump's RICO Suit Was Warranted

By Emily Johnson

Hillary Clinton and members of the Democratic National Committee urged the Eleventh Circuit not to revive Donald Trump's suit alleging they conspired to push false claims of Russian election interference in 2016, arguing that the dismissal and resulting sanctions for pursuing the frivolous suit should be kept in place.

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SC Man Gets 7 Years For Threatening Fed. Judge, Courthouse

By Rose Krebs

A South Carolina federal judge on Tuesday granted prosecutors' request for an upward departure from a sentencing advisory by giving a seven-year prison sentence to a man who copped to sending a letter threatening to kill a federal judge and warning that he might blow up a courthouse.

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Paxton Asks Texas Justices To End Bar's Political 'Lawfare'

By Jack Karp

The Texas bar's ethics lawsuit against Attorney General Ken Paxton over his challenge to the 2020 presidential election violates the state constitution's separation of powers and is barred by sovereign immunity, Paxton told the state Supreme Court on Tuesday, calling the case "politically motivated lawfare" in an announcement.

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