9th Circ. Judge Rips 'Sophistry' By Online Prediction Markets

By Dorothy Atkins

A Ninth Circuit judge appeared skeptical Thursday of requests by KalshiEX LLC, Crypto.com and Robinhood to block Nevada from enforcing state gambling laws against sports and election-related contracts, telling Robinhood's counsel "I don't buy" the companies' regulatory interpretation and slamming a Crypto.com argument as "sophistry to the nth degree."

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Calif. Lawyer Sues Over State Bar Investigations

By Andrea Keckley

A California trial lawyer claimed in a federal lawsuit filed Wednesday that he has been unfairly investigated by the state bar since 2019, alleging the office "illegally prioritizes revenue-generation over protection of the public."

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Ramey Says Sanctions Violation Was 'Misunderstanding'

By Elliot Weld

William Ramey, an intellectual property attorney sanctioned in several federal jurisdictions, told a California federal judge Thursday that any violations of a previous sanctions order regarding his ability to practice law in the state were due to "good-faith misunderstanding of the scope of the court's order — not willful disregard."

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OpenAI, Musk OK With Bifurcated Trial And Advisory Jury

By Lauren Berg

Elon Musk, OpenAI and Microsoft agreed Thursday to a California federal judge's proposal to bifurcate the trial's liability phase from the remedies phase in a case challenging the artificial intelligence company's conversion to a for-profit entity, and that the jury for the liability phase should serve on an advisory basis.

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Nvidia Fights Uphill For Big Trim Of Authors' AI Copyright Suit

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge indicated Thursday that he won't grant Nvidia Corp.'s request to permanently toss the bulk of a proposed class action by authors who say the artificial intelligence giant unlawfully copied their copyrighted material to develop its LLMs, but will pare some claims with leave to amend.

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Yelp Seeks To Bind Google To DOJ's Search Monopoly Win

By Craig Clough

Yelp urged a California federal judge Wednesday to preclude Google from arguing in defense of antitrust claims that it is not a monopolist in the general search services market, saying the issue was already determined in the U.S. Department of Justice's landmark antitrust win over the search engine company.

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DOL Benefits Chief Pressed On Labor Secretary's Conduct

By Kellie Mejdrich

The head of the U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits arm faced tough questions from House Democrats at an oversight hearing Thursday, fielding questions about the labor secretary's on-the-job conduct as well as the DOL's take on mental health parity enforcement. 

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Higher Ed Group Seeks Fees After Beating DOE Research Cap

By Julie Manganis

An organization of public and private research universities has asked a Massachusetts federal judge to award attorney fees and costs in a successful challenge to a U.S. Department of Energy limit on reimbursements for indirect costs of grant-funded research, the third such request since last fall.

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Citizens Group Says 27 States Are Eyeing AI Chatbot Laws

By Joyce Hanson

Twenty-seven U.S. states are looking at passing laws to make artificial intelligence companies face liability claims in civil suits if they fail to protect consumers who interact with chatbots, while another three states have already enacted protections, according to a citizens group's new legislative tracker.

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Calif. Mall Can't Have Property Value Reduced Due To COVID

By Jaqueline McCool

A California mall should not have its property value reduced despite hardships faced due to the coronavirus pandemic, because the mandated closures did not physically affect the property, a state appellate court affirmed. 

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Mich. Insurance Co. Says Ex-Brokers Violated Noncompetes

By Melanie Dorsey

A Grand Rapids-based insurance and financial services company has sued two of its former California employees, accusing them of jumping to a direct competitor in violation of noncompete and nonsolicitation agreements tied to multimillion-dollar deals in which they sold their insurance businesses to the company. 

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Brita Filter Labels Don't Dupe Consumers, 9th Circ. Affirms

By Rae Ann Varona

A reasonable consumer would not expect a low-cost Brita filter to remove or reduce all common tap water contaminants to below lab detectable limits, the Ninth Circuit ruled Thursday, affirming the dismissal of a consumer's proposed false advertising class action against the manufacturer.

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From Hospital Bed, Ex-Uber Driver Denies Sexual Assault

By Hayley Fowler

A former Uber driver denied sexually assaulting a North Carolina woman in a video deposition taken from his hospital bed, telling jurors in a Charlotte courtroom on Thursday that he has no memory of the passenger who is suing the ride-share giant over the alleged incident.

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Universal Wants $7.25M 'Harry Potter' Ride Verdict Nixed

By Mike Curley

Universal City Studios LLC and a woman injured while exiting a "Harry Potter" themed ride are asking a California federal court to vacate the $7.25 million verdict in her favor as part of a confidential settlement to the case.

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Video Game, DVD Buyers Seek Final OK In $1.57M VPPA Deal

By Gina Kim

Video game and DVD seller DirectToU and wholesaler Alliance Entertainment will pay nearly $1.6 million to settle allegations from a class of more than 9,000 customers that their purchasing information was shared with Facebook through a tracking pixel embedded in the companies' platforms, according to a final approval motion filed in California federal court.

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Hyundai Tech Owes Hyundai Motor $2.5M In TM Case

By Elliot Weld

A small U.S. computer company called Hyundai Technology has been told to pay $2.5 million by a California federal jury to Korean automaker Hyundai Motor Co. after being accused of "piggybacking" off of the auto giant's trademark and causing confusion for consumers.

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Fed. Circ. Snubs Early Appeal In Camera Tech Patent Feud

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Thursday denied U.S. Navy contractor FullView Inc.'s request to appeal a California federal judge's invalidation of claims in its camera technology patent for not meeting eligibility requirements and the exclusion of a damages expert's testimony in litigation against HP unit Polycom.

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9th Circ. Says Security Officer's Firing OK For Court Review

By Grace Elletson

The Ninth Circuit found Thursday that it was fair game for a jury to consider whether a nuclear facility manager illegally fired a security officer due to his prescription opioid use, ruling the revocation of his fitness-for-duty certification didn't amount to a security clearance decision blocked from judicial review.

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Feds Can't Hide Records Of FEMA Cuts, Labor Coalition Says

By Braden Campbell

The government has upended discovery rules by blanketly shielding records of cuts at the Federal Emergency Management Agency from public view, a labor-led coalition challenging the cuts told a California federal judge.

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Calif. Trader Raised $40M In Ponzi-Like Fraud, Feds Say

By Sydney Price

The head of a California-based trading firm has been accused by federal prosecutors and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission of defrauding at least 400 investors out of about $40 million with false representations about his success and Ponzi-like payments.

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Analysis

AGs' Win Over Live Nation Leaves DOJ Watching From The Side

By Bryan Koenig

Live Nation Entertainment Inc.'s across-the-board trial rout by 34 state attorneys general underscores the ascendancy of state antitrust enforcers looking to fill perceived enforcement gaps left by the U.S. Department of Justice during President Donald Trump's second term.

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San Diego Alleges Fire Truck-Makers Attempted Monopoly

By Elaine Briseño

San Diego has alleged in a federal lawsuit that fire truck manufacturers REV Group and Oshkosh Corp., along with private equity firm American Industrial Partners, orchestrated an anticompetitive scheme to consolidate the market and charge municipalities across the nation inflated prices.

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Employer Tips As Calif. Law Rewrites Retention Pay Rules

California's recent enactment of A.B. 692 disrupts how employers structure sign-on bonuses, retention payments and other incentives tied to continued employment, but employers that adjust their compensation strategies can attract and retain talent while managing their compliance risks, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

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Series

Isshin-Ryu Karate Makes Me A Better Lawyer

My involvement in martial arts, specifically Isshin-ryu, which has principles rooted in the eight codes of karate, has been one of the most foundational in the development of my personality, and particularly my approach to challenges — including in my practice of law, says Kaitlyn Stone at Barnes & Thornburg.

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Meta, Uber Verdicts Top Product Liability Trials

By Emily Field

This year has brought major courtroom setbacks for tech platforms and app companies. Juries issued headline-making verdicts against Meta and Google over claims their platforms harm young users, while Uber lost its first federal bellwether trial over driver assaults and now faces a second sexual assault case.

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Analysis

Bondi's Contempt Defenses Are Strong, But Not Without Risk

By Phillip Bantz

Former U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi currently has some potentially powerful defenses against Congress' relatively limited abilities to force her to comply with a subpoena to be deposed under oath about the Epstein files, but her exposure to being held in criminal contempt could shift with the political winds, experts said.

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NJ US Atty's Office Turmoil Doesn't Nix Conviction, Judge Rules

By Carla Baranauckas

A federal judge on Thursday rejected a New Jersey criminal defendant's attempt to dismiss his conviction and disqualify the state's top federal prosecutor, holding that the appointment of the current U.S. attorney complies with federal law and that any earlier defects in leadership do not warrant dismissal.

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Judiciary Panel Loves Paralegal's Idea To Modernize Briefs

By Jeff Overley

An Arizona paralegal's unsolicited idea for overhauling a procedural rule governing the format of briefs found a surprisingly enthusiastic audience Thursday at a federal judiciary meeting, where prominent officials and attorneys voiced strong interest and agreed to explore the concept in earnest.

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Judge Doubts Broad Shift In Immigration Hearing Access

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. federal judge appeared unconvinced Thursday by a human rights group's claim that the public is getting less access to immigration court hearings in Minnesota during the second Trump administration.

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Optimum Defends Antitrust Suit Against Apollo, BlackRock

By Alex Wittenberg

Apollo, Ares, BlackRock and other financial giants are colluding to block Optimum Communications Inc. from negotiating a debt refinancing to avert bankruptcy, acting as a "cartel" and locking Optimum out of credit markets, Optimum said in a brief opposing the investors' bid to dismiss its antitrust suit in New York.

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Sentencing Commission Votes To Enact Modest Reform Agenda

By Stewart Bishop

The U.S. Sentencing Commission on Thursday voted to enact multiple revisions to the federal sentencing guidelines, including the first inflationary adjustment in over a decade for calculating penalties for economic crimes, but declined to take action on a series of more transformational changes that were under consideration.

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