CFPB Opens Door To Open Banking 'Standard Setters'

By Jon Hill

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau made more progress Wednesday in its efforts to lay the groundwork for open banking in the U.S., adopting a mechanism that will allow "open" and "balanced" organizations to begin setting official, industry-wide technical standards for financial data sharing.

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Citibank Can't Avoid Paying $6M Wash. Biz Tax

By Rachel Riley

Washington's high court won't spare Citibank from a $6 million business tax bill, declining to revisit a ruling that the bank's money-making activities amounted to a physical presence in the state despite not having any local branches open at the time.

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$6M KeyBank Breach Settlement 'Very Good,' Ga. Judge Told

By Chart Riggall

The leading class counsel in a lawsuit over alleged data breaches that occurred at several regional banks and a technology contractor urged a Georgia federal judge Wednesday to reject a last-ditch bid by one segment of the proposed class to block a "very good" $6 million settlement on the table.

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Wells Fargo Sued For Allegedly Aiding $300M Ponzi Scheme

By Katryna Perera

Wells Fargo Bank NA has been hit with a proposed class action in Florida federal court alleging that it aided and abetted a $300 million Ponzi scheme that duped more than 1,000 investors, most of whom were elderly and lost substantial life savings due to the scheme.

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Synchrony Charges Were Unlawful 'Veteran Penalty,' Suit Says

By Sydney Price

Synchrony Bank was hit with a proposed class action accusing it of promoting a misleading 0% interest rate for veterans and failing to disclose that the bank applies retroactive high interest rates on service members' outstanding balances when they leave duty.

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Tokenizing Real Assets Touches Crypto Concerns, Reps Say

By Aislinn Keely

Putting stocks and other real-world assets on the blockchain is markedly different from issuing cryptocurrencies, but federal lawmakers on Wednesday showed that the debate about how to regulate so-called tokenization is decidedly similar when it comes to weighing its potential efficiencies against threats to privacy and consumer protection.

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Brief

Bank Group Takes Fight Over FDIC Fee Letter To 8th Circ.

By Emilie Ruscoe

A Minnesota bank industry group is appealing its federal district court loss in litigation over Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation guidance proscribing non-sufficient funds fees, or NSF fees, the organization said Wednesday.

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Archegos Ex-Exec Who Sued Fund Testifies At Founder's Trial

By Pete Brush

An investment pro who claims in a $50 million suit that he was pressured to defer his Archegos pay testified Wednesday in the $36 billion market manipulation case against fund founder Bill Hwang that Hwang called the shots and was rarely questioned.

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Feds Sue To Recover $5.3M Stolen From Union In Email Scam

By Brian Dowling

Boston federal prosecutors said Wednesday they are helping a union recover about $5.3 million stolen through a complex business email compromise scheme.

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Axos Says Money Market Account Suit Should Be Arbitrated

By Katryna Perera

Axos Bank has urged a California federal judge to either toss or force into arbitration a proposed class action alleging it reclassified customers' high-yield money market accounts into lower-yield investment accounts without informing them, saying federal law allows banks to offer accounts with variable rates that the bank can change at its discretion.

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Bank Shareholders Say Venezuelan Takeover Cost Them $27M

By Carolina Bolado

Shareholders in a small Miami bank told jurors Wednesday that board members working for the Venezuelan government had taken control of the bank and cost shareholders $27 million by engaging with the sanctioned Venezuelan government.

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US Bancorp Can't Get Immediate Appeal In 401(k) Fee Suit

By Patrick Hoff

U.S. Bancorp can't yet appeal an order letting a proposed class action over its 401(k) plan's recordkeeping fees proceed, a Minnesota federal judge ruled, saying the company failed to demonstrate that doing so would expedite the case.

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NY Judge Says Block, Intuit Are Part Of Visa Antitrust Deal

By Bryan Koenig

Intuit and the company behind Square payment technology may be blocked from most swipe-fee antitrust claims against Visa and Mastercard under a newly unsealed New York federal court decision holding that the companies can't have opted out of a merchant settlement because they were never part of that class.

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Brief

Attys Get Third Of $1.4M Webster Bank Breach Deal

By Sydney Price

A New Jersey federal judge on Wednesday granted final approval to a $1.4 million settlement, including $476,000 in fees for class counsel, in a suit from a class of account holders that sought to hold Webster Bank and its fraud detection services provider liable for a ransomware attack.

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A Look At US-EU Consumer Finance Talks' Slow First Steps

The unhurried and informal nature of planned discussions between the U.S. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and the European commissioner for justice and consumer protection suggests any coordinated regulatory action on issues like AI and "buy now, pay later" services is still a ways off, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

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Parsing Controversial Del. General Corporation Law Proposals

In response to issues raised in three recent high-profile Delaware Court of Chancery decisions, many amendments to the Delaware General Corporation Law were quickly proposed that, if enacted, would bring significant changes likely to be hotly debated — and litigated — for the foreseeable future, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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5th Circ. Venue-Transfer Cases Highlight Mandamus Limits

Three ongoing cases filed within the Fifth Circuit highlight an odd procedural wrinkle that may let district courts defy an appellate writ: orders granting transfer to out-of-circuit districts, but parties opposing intercircuit transfer can work around this hurdle to effective appellate review, says Charles Fowler at McKool Smith.

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A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence

The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.

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Google Legal Dept. Goes From Crisis Mode To Long Term

By Bryan Koenig

As much of the major antitrust litigation against Google winds down, the company is shuffling around its in-house legal departments to add more people and settle from crisis mode into the more sustainable posture of a technology giant where lawsuits have likely become a permanent feature of its existence.

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After Judge Takes Trip To Israel, Attys Want Him Off Gaza Case

By Cara Bayles

Palestinian rights activists asked a Ninth Circuit judge to recuse himself from a case claiming that the Biden administration flouted international laws barring genocide by supporting Israel's military efforts in Gaza, noting that the judge recently took a trip to Israel sponsored by the World Jewish Congress.

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Rutgers Law Students Must Provide Comms In Bias Suit

By Madison Arnold

A pair of Rutgers Law School students must turn over recordings and messages in a Jewish classmate's lawsuit accusing the school of antisemitic bias for opening a disciplinary investigation against him after he spoke out against the same two students for allegedly spreading antisemitism, a New Jersey state judge has ruled.

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Federal Judges Facing Scrutiny For Clerk-Hiring Boycotts

By Jack Karp

The federal judiciary must take a look at its judges' hiring practices in the wake of some jurists' public refusal to hire students from certain law schools over on-campus political activity over the Israel-Hamas war, a nonprofit government watchdog said Wednesday.

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Interview

DLA Piper Atty, Ex-UK Official On Practicing Across The Pond

By Alison Knezevich

In returning to the United States after nearly two decades in London, former Serious Fraud Office official Judy Krieg says DLA Piper was the ideal place to serve clients and leverage the skills she has gained from working on both sides of the Atlantic.

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An Ex-BigLaw Atty Shot His Wife. Who Gets Her Settlement?

By Kelcey Caulder

The administrator of the estate of Diane McIver, who was fatally shot by her husband, former Fisher Phillips partner Claud "Tex" McIver, while driving through Atlanta in 2016, has asked a Georgia state court to decide who is entitled to settlement funds from a wrongful death case brought by the estate.

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Brown Rudnick Partner's 50% Fee Hike Nixed In Ch. 11 Case

By Hilary Russ

A Brown Rudnick LLP bankruptcy partner Wednesday had his 50% fee increase rejected by a Delaware judge, who took issue with the proposed hike to $1,500 an hour for representing the creditors' committee in Kidde-Fenwal Inc.'s Chapter 11 case.

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Ga. Trump Election Case On Hold For DA DQ Appeal

By Kelcey Caulder

The Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday temporarily halted proceedings in the Georgia election interference case against former President Donald Trump and his co-defendants while it reviews a trial judge's ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis to continue prosecuting the case.

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Trump Gag Order Still Needed Through Sentencing, DA Says

By Elliot Weld

Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's office has asked a judge not to lift the gag order on Donald Trump before the convicted former president's sentencing next month, arguing in a letter released Wednesday that there is still a need to "protect the integrity" of the hush money case.

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Hunter Biden's Ex-Wife, Ex-Lover Testify About His Drug Use

By Leslie A. Pappas

Hunter Biden's trial on felony gun charges continued in Delaware federal court on Wednesday with testimony from his ex-wife, a former girlfriend and the salesman at the shop where he bought the Colt Cobra revolver on Oct. 12, 2018.

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Atty Carried Gun, Rope During Attempted Break-In, Police Say

By Lauren Berg

Police in Royal Oak, Michigan, said Tuesday they have arrested a Dearborn personal injury attorney after he allegedly tried to break into the home of a former co-worker while carrying a firearm, knife, handcuffs and other "concerning items."

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Lippes Mathias Merges With Syracuse Health, Business Firm

By Andrea Keckley

Buffalo, New York-based firm Lippes Mathias LLP said this week that it had created one of the state's largest healthcare attorney teams outside New York City in combining with Syracuse business and healthcare boutique CCBLaw, a move that will ultimately add 11 lawyers and eight nonlawyer professionals to its ranks.

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From Small Town To 11th Circ., Nominee Pledges 'Open Mind'

By Jake Maher

A nominee for an Eleventh Circuit seat on Wednesday discussed his small-town upbringing, award-winning career as a prosecutor and the "obligation" he feels to be a role model for others considering a career in the law, saying he would approach cases with an "open mind" if confirmed to the federal appeals court.

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NY Gov. Denies Cop-Shoving Judge New Term

By Frank G. Runyeon

A Buffalo judge censured for brawling with neighbors, shoving a police officer and bragging about his ties to power was denied a second term by New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, who took the unusual step of rejecting the judge's request for reappointment.

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AAA Says Fee Critique 'Flawed' For Missed Eclipse Day Depo

By Lynn LaRowe

An attorney sanctioned for missing a deposition in Florida while he was in Arkansas viewing April's solar eclipse used "guesswork" in a response asking a federal judge in the Sunshine State to whittle a request for $7,800 in fees down to just over $1,200, according to a reply filed this week by AAA in a lawsuit by a former employee.

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Ex-Sacks Weston Atty Blames 'Toxic' Firm For His Theft

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A Philadelphia attorney convicted of defrauding his former law firm told a state ethics panel Wednesday that he was remorseful for his deeds, but he noted he was driven to his crime by being owed money by his firm for too long.

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PwC Asks Calif. Justices To Revive $2.5M Sanction Against LA

By Gina Kim

PwC urged the California Supreme Court on Wednesday to revive a $2.5 million sanction against the city of Los Angeles for yearslong discovery misconduct in an underlying utility billing dispute, arguing the trial court's inherent authority to pose such penalties isn't limited to nonmonetary sanctions.

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