Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
California
-
August 19, 2024
4 Ex-Girardi Keese Attys Are Federal Targets, Agent Testifies
At least four former attorneys with the defunct Girardi Keese law firm are under active investigation related to the federal government's California wire fraud case and have received letters informing them they are targets, an IRS criminal investigator disclosed Monday under cross-examination by Tom Girardi's attorney at his criminal trial.
-
August 19, 2024
Hunter Biden Loses Bid To Duck Tax Case In Calif.
Hunter Biden cannot escape his criminal tax case set to go to trial next month, a Los Angeles federal judge ruled Monday, saying Biden's latest motion comes too late.
-
August 19, 2024
Parents Not Bound By Schools' Arbitration Pact, FTC Argues
The Federal Trade Commission has stepped into a proposed class action accusing education technology company IXL Learning of unlawfully collecting and selling children's personal information, telling a California federal court that the company's agreement with schools to arbitrate disputes doesn't extend to the parents pressing the data privacy suit.
-
August 19, 2024
Ariz. Sheriff Can't Ax Racial Profiling Injunction, 9th Circ. Says
The Ninth Circuit on Monday kept in place a permanent injunction in a class action alleging the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office in Arizona racially profiled Latinos for traffic stops under the guise of immigration enforcement, saying the district court was within its powers to assign an independent monitor.
-
August 19, 2024
T.I. Can't Bar Witness Motivation Questions At Doll IP Retrial
Rapper T.I. can't block MGA Entertainment from questioning his customer witnesses' motivations to testify at the upcoming intellectual property retrial over the company's L.O.L. Surprise! doll line, and he likewise is barred from raising questions of cultural appropriation in that context, a California federal judge ruled Monday.
-
August 19, 2024
Mike Lynch, Clifford Chance Pro Among Missing After Yacht Sinks
Former Autonomy CEO Michael Lynch and a Clifford Chance LLP partner who helped him beat federal fraud charges back in June are among those missing after their chartered luxury yacht sank during a storm off Sicily early Monday during a trip reportedly to celebrate Lynch's legal victory.
-
August 19, 2024
Fed. Circ. Urged To Review Dish's Fight Over Atty Fee Liability
A technology industry group on Monday urged the full Federal Circuit to take a look at a precedential panel decision preventing Dish Network LLC from collecting fees directly from a patent litigation company's lawyer, arguing that the ruling "rips a gaping hole" in legal fee jurisprudence that would "immunize" lawyers from ever having to pay attorney fees for filing baseless patent lawsuits.
-
August 19, 2024
Justices Urged To Refuse Rent-To-Own Co. Fee Suit
Two consumers suing a rent-to-own furniture store over fees that are allegedly barred under California law urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday not to review a Ninth Circuit decision nixing the company's arbitration bid, arguing that the case is too fact-specific to warrant the court's attention.
-
August 19, 2024
FERC Can't OK Calif. Hydropower Permit Delays, DC Circ. Told
A Northern California water district has told the D.C. Circuit that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission wrongly concluded that the state water board did not waive its Clean Water Act permitting authority with regard to two hydroelectric dam projects, adding that it is not blocked from arguing so.
-
August 19, 2024
9th Circ. Partially Revives State Farm Car Value Class Action
A split Ninth Circuit panel partially revived a class action accusing State Farm of undervaluing policyholders' totaled vehicles when paying out claims, saying Monday that a Washington federal court abused its discretion in decertifying one of two classes based on a previous Ninth Circuit ruling.
-
August 19, 2024
9th Circ. Told Psilocybin Petition Is Backed By Precedent
A Ninth Circuit panel on Monday dissected opposing arguments from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and a Seattle doctor over whether there is precedent to allow the dispensing of psilocybin — a psychedelic compound — to treat terminally ill patients.
-
August 19, 2024
California Rips Challenge To Advanced Clean Fleets Regulation
California officials have urged a federal judge to toss a lawsuit from trade groups challenging new regulations requiring large commercial truck and bus fleets to start transitioning to electric and be completely zero-emission by 2036 and beyond, saying the mandates haven't even been enforced yet.
-
August 19, 2024
9th Circ. Agrees Nursing Home Must Pay Fees In COVID Case
The Ninth Circuit has ruled that a nursing home must pay plaintiffs' legal fees in an appeal over the remand of a suit accusing it of causing two dozen patients' COVID-19 deaths, saying the home knew the court had already issued a precedential ruling on the issue.
-
August 19, 2024
MOVEit MDL Judge's Call For Order Met With Atty Squabbles
A federal judge's effort to streamline multidistrict litigation over a 2022 data breach involving Progress Software's MOVEit file transfer tool instead led to a lengthy and contentious joint filing in which the parties accused one another of gamesmanship.
-
August 19, 2024
Feds Trim Sentencing Request For Atty In Email Fraud Case
Massachusetts federal prosecutors have shaved 11 months off of a nine-year sentencing request for an Illinois attorney who was convicted of collecting proceeds from an email fraud scheme, after the First Circuit vacated three of the lawyer's six counts on venue grounds.
-
August 19, 2024
Roku Takes Dispute Over ITC Powers To Supreme Court
Roku is telling the U.S. Supreme Court that the U.S. International Trade Commission doesn't have the power to ban the import of patent-infringing software if those patents only have a limited connection to products on sale in the market.
-
August 19, 2024
Gov't, Contractor Urge Against Sanctions Over Doc Dispute
Both the federal government and a contractor have urged a Court of Federal Claims judge not to sanction the government for the mislabeling of documents in a dispute over a U.S. Air Force construction deal, after the government argued its mistakes were inadvertent.
-
August 19, 2024
9th Circ. Sends Northrop Pension Disclosure Row To Trial
The Ninth Circuit revived a class claim Monday from a group of Northrop Grumman retirees who said they were kept in the dark about how much they would get in pension benefits, ruling their allegations that the defense contractor shirked its disclosure duties were filed on time.
-
August 19, 2024
NCAA Defends $2B NIL Deal Amid Growing Opposition
The NCAA is pushing back against critics of its more than $2 billion proposed name, image and likeness settlement with college athletes, arguing the deal is the result of "intense and carefully structured negotiations" by competent class counsel, and detractors have baseless objections.
-
August 19, 2024
Calif. Lawmakers Decline To Advance Hemp THC Law
A California bill that would have imposed new THC limits on hemp consumables is unlikely to become law this year, after lawmakers declined to move it out of committee.
-
August 19, 2024
Baker McKenzie Adds M&A Atty From Skadden
Baker McKenzie announced Monday that a longtime Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP mergers and acquisitions attorney joined the firm's Palo Alto, California, office as the latest addition to its fast-growing transactions practice in the state.
-
August 19, 2024
Quinn Emanuel Atty Behind Google IP Win Joins Debevoise
Debevoise & Plimpton LLP has brought on a former Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP partner to its San Francisco office, strengthening its intellectual property litigation group with an attorney who helped Google convince a federal judge last year to wipe out speaker maker Sonos' nearly $33 million jury award against Google.
-
August 19, 2024
Latham, Paul Weiss Guide AMD's $5B Buy Of ZT Systems
Latham & Watkins LLP is advising Advanced Micro Devices Inc., the semiconductor company known for its AMD computer processors, on an agreement to acquire Paul Weiss-led ZT Systems for $4.9 billion in cash and stock, according to a Monday statement.
-
August 19, 2024
Ex-Sheppard Mullin M&A Partner Joins Pierson Ferdinand
A veteran mergers and acquisitions attorney has jumped from Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP to Pierson Ferdinand LLP in California
-
August 16, 2024
Real Estate Recap: Cases To Watch, DC Flooding, NYC Hotels
Catch up on the past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including the commercial real estate cases to watch in 2024's second half, one BigLaw attorney's thoughts on new Washington, D.C., flood construction rules and the NYC hotel license bill that has hospitality attorneys rattled.
Expert Analysis
-
Synapse Bankruptcy Has Ripple Effects For Fintech Industry
Synapse Financial Technologies’ recent bankruptcy filing marks a significant moment in the fintech industry's evolution, highlighting that stringent compliance and risk management in fintech partnerships are essential to mitigate risk and protect consumers, say Joann Needleman and Ryan Blumberg at Clark Hill.
-
California Adds A Novel Twist To State Suits Against Big Oil
California’s suit against Exxon Mobil Corp., one of several state suits that seek to hold oil and gas companies accountable for climate-related harms, is unique both in the magnitude of the alleged claims and its use of a consumer protection statute to seek disgorgement of industry profits, says Julia Stein at UCLA School of Law.
-
Opinion
States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions
Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.
-
Why Justices Should Rule On FAA's Commerce Exception
The U.S. Supreme Court should review the Ninth Circuit's Ortiz v. Randstad decision, to clarify whether involvement in interstate commerce exempts workers from the Federal Arbitration Act, a crucial question given employers' and employees' strong competing interests in arbitration and litigation, says Collin Williams at New Era.
-
Tricky Venue Issues Persist In Fortenberry Prosecution Redo
Former Rep. Jeff Fortenberry was recently indicted for a second time after the Ninth Circuit tossed his previous conviction for improper venue, but the case, now pending in the District of Columbia, continues to illustrate the complexities of proper venue in "false statement scheme" prosecutions, says Kevin Coleman at Covington.
-
Series
Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.
-
Opinion
'Trump Too Small' Ruling Overlooks TM Registration Issues
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last month in Vidal v. Elster, which concluded that “Trump Too Small” cannot be a registered trademark as it violates a federal prohibition, fails to consider modern-day, real-world implications for trademark owners who are denied access to federal registration, say Tiffany Gehrke and Alexa Spitz at Marshall Gerstein.
-
Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice
The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.
-
6 Lessons From DOJ's 1st Controlled Drug Case In Telehealth
Following the U.S. Department of Justice’s first-ever criminal prosecution over telehealth-prescribed controlled substances in U.S. v. Ruthia He, healthcare providers should be mindful of the risks associated with restricting the physician-patient relationship when crafting new business models, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.
-
Navigating The New Rise Of Greenwashing Litigation
As greenwashing lawsuits continue to gain momentum with a shift in focus to carbon-neutrality claims, businesses must exercise caution and ensure transparency in their environmental marketing practices, taking cues from recent legal challenges in the airline industry, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.
-
In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State
On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.
-
Expect The Unexpected: Contracts For Underground Projects
Recent challenges encountered by the Mountain Valley Pipeline project underscore the importance of drafting contracts for underground construction to account for unexpected site conditions, associated risks and compliance with applicable laws, say Jill Jaffe and Brenda Lin at Nossaman.
-
How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts
As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.
-
Calif. Ruling Heightens Medical Product Maker Liability
The California Supreme Court's decision in Himes v. Somatics last month articulates a new causation standard for medical product manufacturer liability that may lead to stronger product disclosures nationwide and greater friction between manufacturers and physicians, say attorneys at Cooley.
-
Constitutional Protections For Cannabis Companies Are Hazy
Cannabis businesses are subject to federal enforcement and tax, but often without the benefit of constitutional protections — and the entanglement of state and federal law and conflicting judicial opinions are creating confusion in the space, says Amber Lengacher at Purple Circle.