The second half of 2024 saw the sunset of several yearslong lawsuits that will significantly impact the world of sports, including the settlement of the NCAA's name, image and likeness antitrust litigation and the closing of the UFC's legal battle with current and former fighters. Here, Law360 explores the top sports and betting moments from the second half of 2024.
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TUESDAY, DECEMBER 24, 2024 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

Feature

Watershed NCAA, UFC Settlements Highlight 2024's 2nd Half

By Elaine BriseƱo

The second half of 2024 saw the sunset of several yearslong lawsuits that will significantly impact the world of sports, including the settlement of the NCAA's name, image and likeness antitrust litigation and the closing of the UFC's legal battle with current and former fighters. Here, Law360 explores the top sports and betting moments from the second half of 2024.

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Nike, Converse Blast Co.'s Trade Secret Case Ahead Of Trial

By Ivan Moreno

Ahead of a trial in February in Oregon federal court, Nike Inc. and Converse Inc. on Thursday blasted trade secret theft allegations involving an anti-counterfeiting system from Valmarc Corp., saying that Valmarc failed to protect its claimed secrets, that the technology at issue has been around for years and that the company's complaint is time-barred.

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Ex-NFL Stadium Manager Sues For Disability Discrimination

By Brian Dowling

A former operations manager at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, claims he was illegally fired because of panic attacks he has suffered since he was badly burned in a fire while working for the home of the NFL's New England Patriots.

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NASCAR Wants Jordan Team's Win Paused For Appeal

By Nadia Dreid

NASCAR wants to press pause on a court order that stops it from blocking teams that have asserted antitrust claims against the league from its races, telling the judge who handed down the preliminary injunction that it thinks the Fourth Circuit will be on its side.

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Roundup

Off The Bench: Jordan's NASCAR Dunk, NIL Attys' Payday

By Alex Lawson

In this week's Off The Bench, Michael Jordan's racing team scores an early-stage win in its antitrust battle with NASCAR, attorneys engineering a historic settlement with the NCAA seek more than half a billion dollars in fees, and the fracas over college sports realignment makes headaches for the Mountain West Conference.

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LITIGATION

Bally's Hit With Suit Over Casino Dealer Tip Withholding

By Jeff Montgomery

Gaming table operators at Bally's Corp. and its Dover Casino have accused the businesses of violating Delaware's wage and hour law, alleging that their pay was improperly calculated based on tipped worker rates for both regular and overtime pay.

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Sports Merch Cos. Fight Penn State TM Ban And Fee Bids

By Ryan Harroff

Two sports merchandise companies found to have infringed The Pennsylvania State University's trademarks slammed the school's motions for attorney fees and a ban on selling the infringing products, saying the former is based on "half-truths and misstatements" and the latter is "breathtakingly broad."

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Brief

Ky. Man Drops Suit Against Virtual Casino Creators

By Elaine BriseƱo

A Kentucky resident has dismissed a lawsuit he brought against the producers of online gaming apps he described as "social casinos" that constitute illegal wagering and cause the same problems as real-life gambling.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

Series

Fixing Up Cars Makes Me A Better Lawyer

From problem-solving to patience and adaptability to organization, the skills developed working under the hood of a car directly translate to being a more effective lawyer, says Christopher Mdeway at Kaufman Dolowich.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

MoFo, Irell Latest Firms To Unveil Competitive Bonuses

By Aebra Coe & Hailey Konnath

Morrison Foerster LLP and litigation boutique Irell & Manella LLP have joined a chorus of firms announcing associate bonuses that meet or exceed the BigLaw standard for associate bonuses this year, with MoFo offering up to $218,200 and Irell handing its lawyers as much as $175,000.

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Approach The Bench: What Judges Had To Say This Year

By Cara Bayles

Jurists weighed the benefits of partisan elections, praised innovations in telehearings and worried about the future of the profession in nearly a dozen interviews with Law360 this year.

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Gunster $8.5M Data Breach Deal Needs More Info, Judge Says

By Matt Perez

A Florida federal judge this week denied preliminary approval of an $8.5 million settlement in a data breach class action against Gunster and demanded more information on payouts, the plaintiffs' standing in the case and a historical breakdown of settlement rates.

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NJ Bar's Diversity Plan Isn't Biased, Panel Says

By Tracey Read

A New Jersey state appeals court reversed and remanded on Friday a lower court's ruling that found the state bar association's diversity practices to be an unlawful, discriminatory quota system.

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Analysis

How Lawyers May Sue The Trump Administration … Again

By Cara Bayles

During the last Trump administration, BigLaw firms challenged White House policies, focusing on immigration, environmental regulations and healthcare. This time around, attorneys could rely on old tools, and some new tactics, to stall the executive branch.

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Biden Exceeds Trump's Record On Judges By One

By Courtney BublƩ

The U.S. Senate confirmed on Friday the last two judicial nominations from President Joe Biden, making his total of lifetime judicial appointments 235, just one over President Donald Trump's 234.

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High Court Bar's Future: Williams & Connolly's Sarah Harris

By Katie Buehler

Sarah M. Harris of Williams & Connolly LLP never planned on being a U.S. Supreme Court advocate, or even an appellate one. She stumbled upon that career path after realizing her initial goal of becoming a national security or government lawyer wasn't the right fit.

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Legislators Key To Court Fee Relief, Chief Justices Say

By Cara Salvatore

Two state high court chief justices and a top judicial administrator have told the National Center for State Courts that while they've been able to make significant progress in abolishing unfair court fines and fees, lawmakers have been vital in enacting these changes.

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No, Microsoft Isn't Driving DOJ's Google Antitrust Suit: Judge

By Bryan Koenig

A D.C. federal judge pushed back Friday on Google's efforts to paint Microsoft as the true plaintiff in the Justice Department's search monopolization lawsuit, casting doubt during a hearing that Google should get even more information about Microsoft's relationship with ChatGPT-maker OpenAI.

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Feature

Litigator On The Roof: The Acting, Singing Mass. Solicitor

By Chris Villani

The top appellate lawyer in the Massachusetts Office of the Attorney General will be ringing in the new year by performing a comical cantata by Johann Sebastian Bach, the latest show in a lengthy side career in music.

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Another Texas Judge Exits X's Advertising Boycott Suit

By Lauren Berg

The second Texas judge to oversee litigation filed by Elon Musk's X Corp. accusing the World Federation of Advertisers and others of conspiring to withhold advertising revenue from the company has recused himself from the case.

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Hagens Berman Settles Suit Over Effexor Deal Atty Fees

By Bryan Koenig

A pharmaceutical reseller's in-house counsel and founder moved Friday to drop a Mississippi federal court breach of contract suit accusing Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP of stiffing him on his share of a $13 million attorney fees award from an antitrust class settlement, citing a resolution to the dispute.

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Girardi's Mental Health To Be Evaluated At NC Federal Prison

By Craig Clough

A California federal judge said Friday she will order Tom Girardi to receive a psychiatric evaluation at a North Carolina federal correctional facility after she recently delayed his wire fraud sentencing to determine if he should be committed to a medical facility instead of prison due to his dementia diagnosis.

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Q&A

A Judge Reflects: West Wing Call, 'Alford Plea?' Early Exit

By Hayley Fowler

When Chief Judge Louis A. Bledsoe III of the North Carolina Business Court hangs up his robes for the last time on Dec. 31, he'll leave behind a white-hot docket of high-profile cases and a profusion of opinions that helped mold the court into a tribunal fit to rival Delaware's Court of Chancery.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Andrea Keckley

This week's Legal Lions leader comes from the public sector, as federal prosecutors secured a $650 million settlement from McKinsey & Co. to resolve a lawsuit over the consulting giant's role in Purdue Pharma's promotion of OxyContin.

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UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Max Austin

This past week in London has seen the University of Southampton sue a drone-maker over the rights to an uncrewed aircraft patent, Importers Service Corp. and its subsidiary ISC Europe take action against a former director who allegedly owes the company over £1.1 million ($1.4 million), and DAC Beachcroft face a fraud claim by a "prolific litigant." 

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Amazon.com Inc.

American Civil Liberties Union

American Constitution Society

Apple Inc.

Ares Management Corp.

Aristocrat Leisure Ltd.

Atlantic Coast Conference

BNP Paribas SA

Bally's Corp.

Beazley PLC

Blackstone Inc.

Boy Scouts of America

British American Tobacco PLC

Buffalo Bills

CVC Capital Partners Ltd.

CVS Health Corp.

Cincinnati Financial Corp.

Converse Inc.

Democracy Forward Foundation

Duke Energy Corp.

Essity AB

Federalist Society

GP Global

Google LLC

Gulf Petrochem FZC

Judicial Watch Inc.

Kraft Group LLC

Lambda Legal Defense & Educational Fund

Los Angeles Dodgers

Mars Inc.

McKinsey & Co. Inc.

Meadow

Miami Dolphins

Microsoft Corp.

Mozilla Corp.

NBCUniversal Media LLC

NFL Enterprises LLC

Nascar Digital Media LLC

National Collegiate Athletic Association

Natixis SA

New Jersey State Bar Association

Nike Inc.

Our Children's Trust

Pac-12 Enterprises LLC

Pfizer Inc.

Princeton University

Purdue Pharma LP

ROC Nation LLC

Reynolds American Inc.

Saint-Gobain SA

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

Spotify Technology SA

Starr International Co. Inc.

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

The Carlyle Group Inc.

The DIRECTV Group Inc.

The New York Times Co.

The Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC

The Walt Disney Co.

TikTok Inc.

Twitter Inc.

Ultimate Fighting Championship Ltd.

Unilever PLC

United Steelworkers

UnitedHealth Group Inc.

Valero Energy Corp.

Walmart Inc.

Walt Disney Parks & Resorts Worldwide Inc.

Warner Bros. Discovery Inc.

Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc.

Wells Fargo & Co.

Western Environmental Law Center

World Economic Forum

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Addleshaw Goddard

Ahmad Zavitsanos

Akerman LLP

Alston & Bird

American Center for Law & Justice Inc.

Armstrong Teasdale

Arnold & Porter

Barrett Law Group

Bartlit Beck

Blacks Solicitors

Bradley Arant

Brito PLLC

CMS Cameron McKenna

Cantey Hanger

Charles Russell Speechlys

Choate Hall

Covington & Burling

Cravath Swaine

DAC Beachcroft

DLA Piper

Davis & Norris

Davis Wright Tremaine

Dechert LLP

Dhillon Law Group

Fenchurch Law

Fieldfisher

Fisher & Phillips

Forsters LLP

Fried Frank

Gatehouse Chambers

Gibbons PC

Gibson Dunn

Girardi & Keese

Glancy Prongay

Glenn Agre

Goodwin Procter

Gowling WLG

Gunster Yoakley

Gupta Wessler

Hadsell Stormer

Hagens Berman

Halunen Law

Haynes & Boone

Hilgers Graben

Hogan Lovells

Holman Fenwick

Holwell Shuster

Hueston Hennigan

Hugh James

Irell & Manella

Jenner & Block

Jones Day

Kaufman Dolowich

Keker Van Nest & Peters

Kirkland & Ellis

Kutak Rock

Latham & Watkins

Law Office of Rajeh A. Saadeh

Markowitz & Richman

Markowitz Herbold

Mayer Brown

McGillivary Steele

McGuireWoods

Milbank LLP

Morgan & Morgan

Morgan Lewis

Morrison Foerster

Nabarro LLP

Norton Rose

O'Melveny & Myers

Orrick Herrington

Patterson Belknap

Paul Weiss

Paynter Law Firm

Perkins Coie

Proskauer Rose

Quinn Emanuel

Reynolds Porter

Rhoads & Rhoads PSC

Robinson Bradshaw

Ropes & Gray

Ross Aronstam

Roythornes Solicitors

Sanford Heisler

Shumaker Loop

Sidley Austin

Skadden Arps

Spector Constant & Williams

Stites & Harbison

Stokes Lawrence

Sullivan & Cromwell

TLT LLP

Trenk Isabel

Trowers & Hamlins

Vartabedian Hester

Vinson & Elkins

Wachtell Lipton

Ward Hadaway

White & Case

Wiley Rein

Wilkinson Stekloff

Williams & Connolly

WilmerHale

Wilson Sonsini

Winston & Strawn

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Central Intelligence Agency

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Companies House

Delaware Court of Chancery

Federal Bureau of Prisons

Georgia Court of Appeals

Internal Revenue Service

Ohio Supreme Court

Texas Supreme Court

The Crown Prosecution Service

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Virginia

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Labor

U.S. District & Bankruptcy Courts of Southern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware

U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts

U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota

U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Mississippi

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Kentucky

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. Railroad Retirement Board

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

UK High Court

US Office of Management and Budget

United States District Court for the District of Colorado

United States District Court for the District of Nevada