Judgeship Threatened If Trump Aide Didn't Flip, Atty Says

By David Minsky

An attorney representing Donald Trump's personal aide urged a Florida federal judge Wednesday to dismiss an indictment alleging obstruction in the investigation of whether the former president illegally kept documents after leaving office, saying a government attorney threatened to derail a potential judicial nomination if his client didn't cooperate.

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Binance.US Beats Fla. Regulator's Suspension Order

By Katryna Perera

A Florida state appeals court agreed with Binance.US on Wednesday that the state's financial regulator shouldn't have denied the cryptocurrency exchange the ability to do business in the state after its affiliate and founder pled guilty last year, and that the agency didn't follow proper procedure in blocking Binance's operations.

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Fla. Judge Won't Pause Russian Planes Coverage Suit

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida judge on Wednesday refused to pause an aircraft leasing company's coverage suit for $700 million worth of airplanes reappropriated by Russian airlines after the Ukraine war began, denying a request by some of the company's insurers to wait until litigation in the U.K. is resolved.

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Pryor Cashman Atty Accused Of 'Brazen' Hose Patent Fraud

By Craig Clough

An attorney for Pryor Cashman LLP and his client were accused Wednesday in Florida federal court of engaging in a "brazen" scheme to usurp a hose company's rights to a patent portfolio while also defrauding the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

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Fla. Judge Blocks Immigrant Transport Law During Litigation

By Rae Ann Varona

A Florida federal judge on Wednesday temporarily blocked the state from enforcing a new law that criminalizes the transportation of unauthorized immigrants, saying the law intrudes on the federal government's authority over immigration matters.

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DeSantis Ducks Voters' Suit Over Fla. Prosecutor Suspension

By Jack Karp

A Florida federal judge on Wednesday tossed voters' attempt to undo Gov. Ron DeSantis' suspension of elected prosecutor Monique Worrell, finding that the voters had not shown they were injured by the suspension.

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Analysis

Justices' CFPB Alliance May Save SEC Courts, Not Chevron

By Katie Buehler

A four-justice concurrence to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's unique funding scheme last week carries implications for other cases pending before the court that challenge the so-called administrative state, or the permanent cadre of regulatory agencies and career government enforcers who hold sway over vast swaths of American economic life.

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Fla. Judges Cleared To Speak On Legal Process During Panels

By Madison Arnold

A Florida judge can participate in a local bar association discussion panel that addresses how judges confer with colleagues and consider amicus filings without violating the Florida Code of Judicial Conduct, according to a new advisory opinion by the Florida Judicial Ethics Advisory Committee.

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Investors Say FIS Must Investigate Derivative Suit's Claims

By Sydney Price

An investor of fintech corporation Fidelity National Information Services has pushed back on the company and its executives' bid to escape a derivative lawsuit over a $46 billion market cap drop resulting from a business spinoff, saying the company must investigate the suit's allegations.

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GOP State Leaders Tell Justices Mexico Can't Sue Gunmakers

By Brian Dowling

Republican attorneys general of 26 states plus the Arizona Legislature have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a First Circuit decision that revived a lawsuit filed by the Mexican government seeking to hold the firearms industry responsible for drug cartel violence due to weapons trafficked across the border. 

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NJ Atty Faces Fla. Suspension Over Sale Of $1.6M Painting

By Jake Maher

An attorney suspended for one year in New Jersey last year for smuggling a $1.6 million painting out of his house to avoid an asset sale has agreed to a guilty plea accepting another yearlong suspension in Florida related to the scheme.

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Calif. Court Rejects Arbitration Pact Stacked Against Workers

By Irene Spezzamonte

The arbitration pact an eyeglass retailer provided to a former employee was procedurally and substantively unconscionable and therefore unenforceable, a California state appeals court ruled, affirming a trial court's decision in a worker's wage and hour suit.

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IT Co. Can't Sink Fired Worker's FMLA Retaliation Suit

By Grace Elletson

A Florida federal judge declined to hand an information technology company an early win in a former worker's suit claiming he was fired after he took medical leave to treat anxiety, ruling that there are enough disputes over whether the company acted illegally to send the case to trial.

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MilliporeSigma Avoids Charges As DOJ Extols Self-Disclosure

By Julie Manganis

Life sciences firm MilliporeSigma won’t face charges over the illegal exportation of products to China, in what the Justice Department said Wednesday was the first time its National Security Division had declined prosecution under a policy intended to encourage companies to voluntarily disclose wrongdoing,

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Fraud Defendant Strikes Deal To End Ch. 11, Sell House

By Rick Archer

A corporation owned by the defendant in a $93 million securities fraud case Wednesday told a Florida bankruptcy judge it has reached a deal to end its Chapter 11 case and sell the multimillion-dollar Coral Gables home that is its sole asset.

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What The FTC Report On AG Collabs Means For Cos.

The Federal Trade Commission's April report on working with state attorneys general shows collaboration can increase efficiency and consistency in how statutes are interpreted and enforced, which can minimize the likelihood of requests for inconsistent injunctive relief that can create operational problems for businesses, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.

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When Oral Settlements Reached In Mediation Are Enforceable

A recent decision by the New Jersey Appellate Division illustrates the difficulties that may arise in trying to enforce an oral settlement agreement reached in mediation, but adherence to certain practices can improve the likelihood that such an agreement will be binding, says Richard Mason at MasonADR.

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Series

Being An EMT Makes Me A Better Lawyer

While some of my experiences as an emergency medical technician have been unusually painful and searing, the skills I’ve learned — such as triage, empathy and preparedness — are just as useful in my work as a restructuring lawyer, says Marshall Huebner at Davis Polk.

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Ex-Shook Hardy IP Team Joins Boies Schiller In DC

By James Boyle

Boies Schiller Flexner has beefed up its intellectual property services in Washington, D.C., with the addition of a trio of attorneys who previously practiced together for nearly a decade at Shook Hardy & Bacon, the firm announced Thursday.

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Stryker Unit And Seyfarth Attys Hit With $275K Sanctions

By Emily Sawicki

A Colorado federal judge has imposed $275,000 in sanctions jointly and severally on Stryker-owned Howmedica Osteonics Corp., along with Seyfarth Shaw LLP, for witness coaching and discovery violations in a bitter breach-of-contract dispute, amounting to roughly one-eighth of what plaintiff ORP Surgical LLC had sought.

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Ex-Judge Pushed False Narrative On Atty Romance, Firm Says

By Jake Maher

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge David R. Jones of Texas, who resigned last year after his secret relationship with a Jackson Walker LLP partner was revealed, attempted to head off rumors about the relationship by asking the firm to file a false, partial disclosure in 2022, the firm alleged.

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Biden Names Judicial Nominees For 1st, 6th Circuits

By Courtney Bublé

President Joe Biden announced four new judicial nominees on Thursday, including picks for the First Circuit and the Sixth Circuit.

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BakerHostetler Faces Suit Over Murdaugh Case Work

By Madison Arnold

BakerHostetler and one of its attorneys have been slammed with a lawsuit alleging they instructed an investigative agency to withhold information on the family of Alex Murdaugh, the South Carolina attorney serving a life sentence for killing his wife and son, and then refused to pay the agency its related expenses.

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DC Judge Bars Giuliani From Defaming Ga. Poll Workers

By Ali Sullivan

A D.C. federal judge has entered an injunction barring Rudy Giuliani from repeating lies that two Georgia poll workers meddled with the 2020 presidential election, resolving a second lawsuit the election workers launched after securing a $146 million judgment against the former New York City mayor.

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FirstEnergy Wants 6th Circ. To Shield Bribe-Probe Docs

By Jessica Corso

FirstEnergy Corp. is pursuing the Sixth Circuit's input into its request to shield internal investigative documents from a class of investors and from two of its indicted former executives, saying the documents contain privileged legal advice given in the wake of a $1 billion bribery scandal.

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NC Fintech Atty Sues Paymentus For Gender, Age Bias

By Emily Sawicki

A former senior corporate counsel for cloud-based billing company Paymentus Corp. has slapped her former employer with a $100,000 age and gender discrimination suit in North Carolina federal court, saying she was paid less than her male colleagues and eventually fired for complaining, only to be replaced by a much younger male attorney.

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Trump Loses 2 NY Criminal Appeals As Trial Winds Down

By Rachel Scharf

Former President Donald Trump on Thursday lost a pair of appellate challenges complaining that both the judge and jury in his ongoing New York criminal hush-money trial are biased, just a few days before closing statements in the historic case.

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Trump Atty Nears Deal To End Colo. Discipline Case

By Thy Vo

Former Trump attorney Jenna Ellis and Colorado's attorney discipline office said Thursday that they were finalizing a settlement in a disciplinary case over Ellis' false statements about the presidential election in Georgia, though the disciplinary judge cautioned that he is prepared to rule if he does not like the deal.

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Menendez Says Feds Can't Wield Texts About Egyptian Aid

By Carla Baranauckas

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez told a federal court that the government can't support its corruption case with text messages involving military aid to Egypt and a local businessman accused of bribing the senator, citing U.S. Supreme Court precedent excluding past legislative acts as admissible evidence.

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Ex-Staffer Of Fulton DA Testifies On Fund Misuse Allegations

By Chart Riggall

A former program manager under Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis told a Georgia state legislative committee Thursday that she was banished to a file room and her work life was made a "hell" after she reported alleged misuse of federal grant funds.

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Legal Marketer, Ark. Firm Agree To End Trade Secrets Suit

By Rose Krebs

A legal marketing business has agreed to dismiss a Georgia federal lawsuit accusing an Arkansas law firm and others of stealing and profiting off its trade secrets, including a database of client leads for mass torts over talcum powder and heartburn medication.

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