The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday aggressively probed whether reinstating a district court ruling finding Texas' postconviction DNA testing procedures unconstitutional would give a man on death row legal standing to seek DNA evidence that could prove he is not eligible for the death penalty.
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TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 25, 2025 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

Justices Weigh Potentially Key Standing Issue In DNA Case

By Marco Poggio

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday aggressively probed whether reinstating a district court ruling finding Texas' postconviction DNA testing procedures unconstitutional would give a man on death row legal standing to seek DNA evidence that could prove he is not eligible for the death penalty.

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Texas Atty Dinged For AI-Generated Fake Citations In Briefs

By Emily Sawicki

A Texas lawyer could face a $15,000 personal sanction and other potential discipline for filing three separate briefs using generative artificial intelligence that included fake citations in an Indiana ERISA case, according to a report and recommendation by a federal judge in the Hoosier State.

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Ex-Judge Hopes To Avoid Testimony In Atty Romance Probe

By Hailey Konnath

Former Texas bankruptcy judge David R. Jones said Monday that he's been talking with the U.S. Trustee with the aim of avoiding "live trial testimony" in the probe of his undisclosed romantic relationship with a former Jackson Walker LLP partner, arguing that he's already given a deposition.

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Apple To Invest $500B In US Over 4 Years As Tariffs Mount

By Kevin Pinner

Apple said Monday that it would invest $500 billion in the U.S. over the next four years, weeks after President Donald Trump placed a 10% tariff on goods from China, where the company sources components for its products, and threatened tariffs on semiconductors.

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Texas Bank Fights To Keep $28M In Assets In Ginnie Mae Suit

By Isaac Monterose

A bank told a Texas federal court that it will lose $28 million worth of collateral assets if Ginnie Mae secures a summary judgment win in a suit over a vacated first-priority lien.

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LITIGATION

Trump Media Seeks Shareholder Approval To Leave Delaware

By Tom Zanki

The owner of Donald Trump's social media platform plans to hold a shareholder vote in April asking investors whether it should move its legal address to Florida, potentially joining a growing number of companies reincorporating outside of Delaware.

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FAA, SpaceX Say Rocket Launch Review Passes Muster

By Tom Lotshaw

The Federal Aviation Administration and SpaceX asked a Washington, D.C., federal judge to grant them wins in litigation challenging the adequacy of an environmental review completed for the company's Starship rocket launch program in Boca Chica, Texas.

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Investors Don't Have 'Shred' Of Fraud Evidence, Exxon Says

By Elliot Weld

Exxon Mobil Corp. has told a Texas federal judge that an investor class doesn't have a "shred of evidence" that the company engaged in the stock inflation scheme the investors allege.

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Comerica Bank Wants Dismissal Of CFPB's Benefits Card Suit

By Katryna Perera

Comerica Bank has urged a Texas federal judge to toss a suit brought by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, accusing the bank of multiple failures in administering a government benefits card program, arguing the case overextends the agency's authority, among other things.

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Chinese E-Cig Maker Removes Explosion Suit On Eve Of Trial

By Mike Curley

A Chinese electronic cigarette maker has removed to federal court a suit alleging that the battery in one of its products exploded, just days before trial was set to start in Texas state court.

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BANKRUPTCY

Wellpath Delays Chapter 11 Exit To Buy Time For Creditor Deal

By Clara Geoghegan

Wellpath will delay confirmation of its Chapter 11 plan by two weeks to buy time to work through objections to the reorganization of its prison healthcare business, attorneys told a Texas bankruptcy judge Monday.

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Steward Health Risking Patient Lives At Hospitals, Buyer Says

By Alex Wittenberg

The buyer of eight Steward Health Care hospitals said the bankrupt company is putting patients' lives at risk by failing to provide funds and services it promised, urging a Texas federal judge to compel Steward to comply with contracts it signed as part of its hospital sales.

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IMMIGRATION

Border Wall Cos. Learned Of Fund Row In 2024, 5th Circ. Told

By Catherine Marfin

A group of contractors told the Fifth Circuit Monday that they had no choice but to intervene in Texas and Missouri's suit over border wall funds on the eve of a final judgment because they were only notified days before that a preliminary injunction regarding the funds would affect them.

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DEALS

NinjaOne Valued At $5B After $500M Series C Funding

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Automated endpoint management company NinjaOne on Monday revealed that it hit a $5 billion valuation after raising $500 million in Series C extension funds, which will be used to drive research and development efforts among other goals.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

Partially Faulting Airline For 401(k) ESG Focus Belies ERISA

A Texas federal court's recent finding that American Airlines breached its fiduciary duty of loyalty, but not of prudence, by letting its 401(k) pursue environmental, social and governance investments, misinterprets the Employee Retirement Income Security Act's standard of care, says Jeff Mamorsky, a Cohen & Buckmann partner and ERISA drafter.

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How Design Thinking Can Help Lawyers Find Purpose In Work

Lawyers everywhere are feeling overwhelmed amid mass government layoffs, increasing political instability and a justice system stretched to its limits — but a design-thinking framework can help attorneys navigate this uncertainty and find meaning in their work, say law professors at the University of Michigan.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Judge Who Ordered Pages Restored Put On Impeachment List

By Courtney Bublé

A Republican U.S. congressman announced Monday he has introduced articles of impeachment against a Washington, D.C., federal judge, following the judge's ruling ordering public health agencies temporarily to restore the web pages they took down in response to a Trump administration order to scrub pages of "gender ideology."

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Injury Attys Sanctioned Over AI-Hallucinated Case Citations

By Lauren Berg

A Wyoming federal judge overseeing a personal injury lawsuit against Walmart sanctioned the plaintiffs' attorneys from Morgan & Morgan PA and the Goody Law Group after they filed pretrial motions containing case law hallucinated by artificial intelligence, but acknowledged Monday their "remedial steps, transparency and apologetic sentiments."

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ABA Suspends Law School DEI Standards Until Summer

By Tracey Read

The American Bar Association has announced that it is holding off on enforcing its diversity and inclusion standards for law schools in light of recent executive orders by the new presidential administration.

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'It Was An Accident': Judge Denies Shooting Wife On Purpose

By Gina Kim

A California judge who shot his wife to death in their living room following an argument took the stand in his murder trial Monday, fighting hard to maintain his composure while explaining to jurors that his Glock discharged accidentally when he tried to set it down on the coffee table.

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Reed Smith Adds 16 Laterals To Launch Denver Office

By Aebra Coe

Reed Smith LLP is bringing on more than a dozen lateral attorney hires from Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP, Foley Hoag LLP, Dentons, Akerman LLP, Greenberg Traurig LLP and Cooley LLP to launch its new Denver office, the firm announced Monday.

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Freshfields Launches In Boston, Led By Ex-Latham Partner

By Tracey Read

London-founded Freshfields LLP announced Monday that it has opened its fourth U.S. office in Boston, and that it has added a former Latham & Watkins LLP partner to lead the Beantown build-out.

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McDermott Expands To Nashville With 4 Hires From K&L Gates

By Xiumei Dong

McDermott Will & Emery LLP has opened a new office in Nashville, Tennessee, bringing on four healthcare-focused partners from K&L Gates LLP to lead the expansion, the firm announced Monday.

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Gunnercooke Opens In Chicago With Ex-FisherBroyles Team

By Matt Perez

U.K.-based law firm Gunnercooke LLP announced the launch of a Chicago office, marking the second state it has entered since launching in New York in 2022.

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Trump Media Co. Wants TRO Against Brazilian Justice

By Carolina Bolado

President Donald Trump's media company and online video sharing platform Rumble Inc. have asked a Florida federal court for a temporary restraining order blocking a Brazilian Supreme Federal Court justice's gag orders, arguing they illegally suppress political speech in the United States.

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Feature

'We Need Go No Further': 10 Notable Judge Bruce Selya Lines

By Chris Villani

Senior First Circuit Judge Bruce Selya, who died Saturday at age 90, will be remembered not only for the opinions he wrote but for the flowery language he used to write them. Here are 10 of the judge's notable "Selyanisms" from recent years.

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Moves To Change Del. Corporate Law Spark Pushback

By Jeff Montgomery

A public opposition campaign complete with website and street signs has surfaced to oppose corporation and bar-backed legislation that would overhaul Delaware stockholder litigation rights and fee awards, intensifying an already unprecedented political fight that broke out last year over corporate governance concessions.

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Brief

DC Circ. To Hear Judge Newman's Appeal In April

By Andrew Karpan

The D.C. Circuit has set a date in April to hear an appeal from Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman, who is fighting her suspension from the bench for refusing to undergo medical tests.

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Lloyd's Says Cadwalader's Suit Claims Nonexistent Tort

By Ryan Harroff

A Lloyd's of London syndicate has urged a North Carolina judge to toss part of Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP's coverage lawsuit stemming from a data breach, saying there's no tort remedy for the allegation that the insurer exposed the firm's confidential information in a court filing.

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Feds Fight Reinstatement Of Ousted Inspectors General

By Ali Sullivan

The Trump administration fired back at a lawsuit brought by eight inspectors general who were fired last month, telling a D.C. federal judge that federal law does not require the president to hold off on the terminations for 30 days after notifying Congress.

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DA Willis Says 'Makes No Sense' To DQ Her From Trump Case

By Emily Johnson

Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis is arguing to the Georgia Supreme Court that her disqualification from prosecuting the Georgia election interference case against President Donald Trump and others was unprecedented, asserting that her ousting over the appearance of impropriety creates a dangerous precedent.

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LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Akerman LLP

Akin Gump

Balon B. Bradley Law Firm

Bendin Sumrall

Boies Schiller

Bradley Arant

Brownstein Hyatt

Bryan Cave

Cadwalader Wickersham

Cohen & Buckmann

Cooley LLP

Cooper & Scully

Crowley Fleck

DLA Piper

Day Pitney

Dentons

Faegre Drinker

Farrar & Ball

FisherBroyles

Foley Hoag

Foran Glennon

Freeman Mathis

Freshfields

Goody Law Group

Greenberg Traurig

Haynes Boone

Hunton Andrews

Jackson Walker LLP

K&L Gates

Kirkland & Ellis

Latham & Watkins

Mattingly Burke

McCoy Leavitt

McDermott Will & Emery

Morgan & Morgan

Nelson Mullins

Norton Rose

Paul Hastings

Paul Weiss

Proskauer Rose

Quinn Emanuel

Reed Smith

Richards Layton

Robbins Geller

Robinson Bradshaw

Rusty Hardin & Associates

Sanderford & Carroll

Sheiness Glover

SpencePC

Stinson LLP

Thompson Coe

Venable LLP

Vinson & Elkins

Wachtell Lipton

Weil Gotshal

WilmerHale

gunnercooke LLP

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Activision Blizzard Inc.

American Airlines Group Inc.

American Bar Association

American Civil Liberties Union

American Civil Liberties Union of Texas

American Medical Association Inc.

American Psychiatric Association

American Psychological Association

Apple Inc.

BlackRock Inc.

CapitalG Management Co. LLC

Center for Biological Diversity Inc.

Comerica Inc.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute Inc.

Delaware State Bar Association

Exxon Mobil Corp.

Fullbridge Inc.

Google LLC

Harvard University

HelloFresh SE

Investments Ltd.

J.C. Penney Co. Inc.

Jetson Electric Bikes LLC

LexisNexis Legal & Professional

Massachusetts General Hospital

Match Group LLC

Match.com Inc.

Medical Properties Trust Inc.

Meta Platforms Inc.

Moelis & Co.

Monsanto Co.

Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway Inc.

NVIDIA Corp.

National Treasury Employees Union

New Civil Liberties Alliance

Porsche

Posillico Civil Inc

RELX PLC

Sierra Club

Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

Sterling Construction Co. Inc.

Steward Health Care System LLC

Tesla Inc.

Texas Capital Bancshares Inc.

The Neiman Marcus Group LLC

Twitter Inc.

Villanova University

Walmart Inc.

Wellpath

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Executive Office of the President

Federal Aviation Administration

Federal Housing Administration

Federal Railroad Administration

Federal Reserve System

Food and Drug Administration

Georgia Court of Appeals

Georgia Supreme Court

Missouri Attorney General's Office

National Labor Relations Board

New York Attorney General's Office

Texas Attorney General's Office

Texas General Land Office

U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Department of Education

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development

U.S. Department of Justice

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

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

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

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

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

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

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Office of Personnel Management

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Supreme Court

United States District Court for the District of Wyoming

United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana

World Trade Organization