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September 25, 2024
Texas Man, 6 Companies To Pay $10.5M Over Forex Scheme
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission announced Wednesday that it had secured a default judgment and $10.5 million in monetary relief against Rudy Avila and his six companies for defrauding more than 200 investors out of $6 million.
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September 25, 2024
Paxton Asks Texas Justices To Reverse State Fair Gun Ban
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asked the state's highest court for emergency relief to prohibit a new State Fair of Texas rule that bans fairgoers from carrying handguns, saying in a Wednesday appeal that the Fifteenth Court of Appeals abused its discretion by denying relief.
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September 25, 2024
Judge Connolly Sticks By Fining Paralegal Patent Owner
Delaware's top federal judge won't budge on ordering a Texas paralegal to pony up $53,000 for refusing to appear for months to answer questions about a patent litigation outfit that was registered to her name, after he grilled her lawyer over who he was representing at a hearing she did show up to last week.
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September 25, 2024
Gramercy Tells Del. Court Don't Capitulate To Citgo Bidders
Hedge fund Gramercy is fighting a bid to halt litigation it filed in Texas and New York to collect on certain Venezuelan debt, telling a Delaware judge that it's just one entity in a sea of Venezuela's creditors pursuing litigation that could impact an upcoming sale of Citgo's parent company.
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September 25, 2024
Rapper Says Mike Jones, Houston Texans Stole Song
The owner of the unofficial Houston anthem "Still Tippin'" told a Harris County court this week that rapper Mike Jones and others have ripped off his 2002 song for use by the Houston Texans football team without his permission.
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September 25, 2024
Baker Botts, Latham Lead Natural Gas Producer's $270M IPO
Natural gas producer BKV Corp. on Wednesday priced a $270 million initial public offering below its range, completing a long-awaited IPO nearly two years after filing plans, represented by Baker Botts LLP and underwriters' counsel Latham & Watkins LLP.
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September 25, 2024
Doctor Says Accusers In $2M Fraud Case Hiding In Pakistan
Counsel for a doctor accused of a $2.5 million fraud says that opposing counsel wants to hide his accuser in Pakistan until trial, telling a Dallas County judge during a Wednesday sanctions hearing that he's entitled to an in-person deposition from the man making the allegations.
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September 25, 2024
DACA Intervenors In ACA Suit Resist Stay Of Dismissal Bid
Recipients of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival program seeking to defend their access to Affordable Care Act coverage pressed a North Dakota federal judge to decide if a lawsuit, filed by Republican states, should be dismissed or moved to Washington, D.C., saying their motion to intervene in the suit doesn't have to be decided first.
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September 25, 2024
Cancer Detection Biz To Go Public Via $694M SPAC Merger
Special purpose acquisition company Breeze Holdings Acquisition Corp. on Wednesday announced that it has agreed to merge with and take public clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company YD Biopharma Ltd. in a deal that gives the combined company an estimated enterprise value of $694 million and was built by three firms.
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September 25, 2024
Breaking IP Barriers: Q&A With Spencer Fane's DJ Healey
Spencer Fane LLP partner DJ Healey came out as a transgender woman in 2017 — 30 years into her legal career — opening doors at a time when LGBTQ+ attorneys were gaining more acceptance from colleagues and clients.
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September 25, 2024
Texas Court Denies District's Attempt To Boost Valuations
A Texas trial court didn't err in throwing out a counterclaim brought by a local appraisal district to increase the assessed values of two multifamily properties, a state appeals court ruled Wednesday.
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September 25, 2024
Veteran Federal Prosecutor Joins King & Spalding In Texas
King & Spalding LLP has strengthened its government investigations, cybersecurity and special matters offerings with a counsel in Austin, Texas, who led efforts to combat cybercrime and pandemic-era fraud during his more than 15 years as a federal prosecutor.
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September 25, 2024
Fuel Refiner Vertex Hits Ch. 11 With $422M Debt, Lender Deal
Oil refiner Vertex Energy filed for Chapter 11 protection with $422.5 million in debt and plans to pursue a sale under a prenegotiated restructuring agreement.
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September 25, 2024
Full Fed. Circ. To Tackle Patent Damages In $20M Google Case
The full Federal Circuit said Wednesday it will review a panel's holding that Google must pay EcoFactor $20 million for infringing a smart thermostat patent, after the tech giant said the court has allowed patent owners to "manufacture a royalty rate."
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September 24, 2024
Cat In The Hat, 'Trashy' Books Mulled In Redo Of Library Row
The full Fifth Circuit on Tuesday pressed a group of library patrons on whether Texas libraries already routinely engage in viewpoint discrimination through the process of weeding out outdated or unpopular library books during a lengthy discussion of hypotheticals surrounding The Cat in the Hat and the books that 19th-century Americans considered "trashy."
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September 24, 2024
Verizon Foe Defends $847M Patent Win In EDTX
A Dallas patent business said on Tuesday it doesn't think the $847 million verdict it scored in Texas federal court in Marshall against a pair of telecom giants in June is too much.
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September 24, 2024
Helicopter Maker Skirted FAA Requirements, Jury Hears
Fort Worth-based Bell Helicopter Textron Inc. used a former vendor's trade secrets to skirt the need for regulatory approval, a jury heard in Texas state court Tuesday, allegedly avoiding requirements set by the Federal Aviation Administration as the company pulled the rug out from under its old vendor.
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September 24, 2024
Red States Back Florida In CWA Permit Program Fight
Nineteen red states have told the D.C. Circuit in a friends of the court brief that it should restore Florida's power to administer a Clean Water Act permitting program for dredging approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency but nixed by a D.C. federal judge.
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September 24, 2024
Texas Fair Gun Ban Stands, State Appeals Court Says
A Texas appeals court has rejected Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's bid for emergency relief prohibiting the State Fair of Texas from enforcing its new policy banning firearms on fairgrounds, handing the state a loss in a Tuesday order and keeping the ban in place ahead of the fair's opening Friday.
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September 24, 2024
Motorola Ducks Out Of Smartphone Camera Patent Suit
A federal judge in Chicago on Tuesday decided to end one of the patent lawsuits by a retired businessman over operating smartphone cameras, ruling that "no reasonable jury could conclude Motorola is infringing the patent."
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September 24, 2024
Nissan, Truck Owner Split On Seriousness Of Juror Remarks
Nissan told a state appellate panel Tuesday a Harris County judge's investigation into alleged juror misconduct during deliberations in a product liability case against the car manufacturer "presents the most serious invasion of the sanctity of jury deliberations in Texas in a generation," as it fought off an order requiring the case be retried.
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September 24, 2024
Texas AG, County Officials Spar Over Voter Registration Suits
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is urging a federal judge to send his lawsuits challenging two counties' voter registration initiatives back to state courts, emphasizing that his office has learned one county sent an unsolicited registration application to a person who died more than 40 years ago.
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September 24, 2024
Pillsbury Adds Locke Lord Energy Litigation Head In Houston
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP has expanded its construction and energy litigation capabilities in Texas with the addition of the former chair of Locke Lord LLP's energy litigation practice group.
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September 24, 2024
Favre Parkinson's Reveal Overshadows Welfare Fraud Hearing
Hall of Fame quarterback Brett Favre revealed he has Parkinson's disease during a congressional hearing on misuse of welfare funds, where he was overwhelmingly lauded and escaped tough questions about his alleged involvement in a sprawling Mississippi welfare scandal.
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September 24, 2024
Exxon Claims It Beat Weak Defense In $1.8B Tax Trial
Exxon Mobil urged a Texas federal judge to find that it defeated what it called a scattered defense by the U.S. government during a five-day bench trial in April when the company argued for a $1.8 billion tax refund on its natural gas deal with Qatar, according to newly released filings.
Expert Analysis
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How American Airlines ESG Case Could Alter ERISA Liability
Spence v. American Airlines, a Texas federal case over the airline's selection of multiple investment funds in its retirement plan, threatens to upend the Employee Retirement Income Security Act's legal framework for fiduciary liability in the name of curtailing environmental, social and governance-related activities, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.
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How Purdue Pharma High Court Case May Change Bankruptcy
The U.S. Supreme Court’s upcoming ruling in Purdue Pharma may be the death of most third-party releases in Chapter 11 cases, and depending on the decision’s breadth, could have much more far-reaching effects on the entire bankruptcy system, say Brian Shaw and David Doyle at Cozen O'Connor.
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Series
Serving As A Sheriff's Deputy Made Me A Better Lawyer
Skills developed during my work as a reserve deputy — where there was a need to always be prepared, decisive and articulate — transferred to my practice as an intellectual property litigator, and my experience taught me that clients often appreciate and relate to the desire to participate in extracurricular activities, says Michael Friedland at Friedland Cianfrani.
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Former Minn. Chief Justice Instructs On Writing Better Briefs
Former Minnesota Supreme Court Chief Justice Lorie Gildea, now at Greenberg Traurig, offers strategies on writing more effective appellate briefs from her time on the bench.
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A 5th Circ. Lesson On Preserving Indemnification Rights
The Fifth Circuit's recent decision in Raymond James & Associates v. Jalbert offers an important lesson for creditors and parties to indemnification agreements: If a debtor has indemnified a creditor, the creditor should consider participating in the bankruptcy case to avoid being deemed to have forfeited its indemnification rights, say Dania Slim and Alana Lyman at Pillsbury.
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Stay Interviews Are Key To Retaining Legal Talent
Even as the economy shifts and layoffs continue, law firms still want to retain their top attorneys, and so-called stay interviews — informal conversations with employees to identify potential issues before they lead to turnover — can be a crucial tool for improving retention and morale, say Tina Cohen Nicol and Kate Reder Sheikh at Major Lindsey.
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Untangling The Legal Complexities Of Trade Secrets And AI
With broad adoption of generative artificial intelligence, some have suggested trade secret law is the best means for protecting innovations, but while this protection may apply to all forms of information, the breadth of coverage may make identifying the information and later misappropriation difficult, say Joshua Lerner and Nora Passamaneck at WilmerHale.
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Series
Spray Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
My experiences as an abstract spray paint artist have made me a better litigator, demonstrating — in more ways than one — how fluidity and flexibility are necessary parts of a successful legal practice, says Erick Sandlin at Bracewell.
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Judge-Shopping Policy Revisal May Make Issue Worse
The Judicial Conference at its March meeting unveiled a revised policy with the stated goal of limiting litigants’ ability to judge-shop in patent cases, but the policy may actually exacerbate the problem by tying the issue to judge-shopping in polarizing political cases, making reform more difficult, say Robert Niemeier and William Milliken at Sterne Kessler.
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Opinion
5th Circ. NFL Disability Ruling Turns ERISA On Its Head
The Fifth Circuit's March 15 ruling in Cloud v. NFL Player Retirement Plan upheld the plan's finding that an NFL player was not entitled to reclassification because he couldn't show changed circumstances, which is contrary to the goal of accurate Employee Retirement Income Security Act claims processing, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.
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How Fieldwood Ch. 11 Ruling Bolsters Section 363 Confidence
The Fifth Circuit’s recent ruling in Fieldwood Energy’s Chapter 11 cases, which clarified that challenges to integral aspects of a bankruptcy sale are statutorily moot under Section 363(m) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code, should bolster the confidence of prospective purchasers in these sales, say attorneys at V&E.
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What Texas Employers Should Know After PWFA Ruling
After a Texas federal judge recently enjoined federal agencies from enforcing the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act against the state of Texas, all employers must still remain sensitive to local, state and federal protections for pregnant workers, and proactive in their approach to pregnancy-related accommodations, says Maritza Sanchez at Phelps Dunbar.
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Opinion
Judicial Independence Is Imperative This Election Year
As the next election nears, the judges involved in the upcoming trials against former President Donald Trump increasingly face political pressures and threats of violence — revealing the urgent need to safeguard judicial independence and uphold the rule of law, says Benes Aldana at the National Judicial College.
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Series
Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.
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The Challenges SEC's Climate Disclosure Rule May Face
Attorneys at Debevoise examine potential legal challenges to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's new climate-related disclosure rule — against which nine suits have already been filed — including arguments under the Administrative Procedure Act, the major questions doctrine, the First Amendment and the nondelegation doctrine.