Tesla Slams Class Bid For Musk Shares Lockdown In Del.

By Jeff Montgomery

Attorneys for Elon Musk and Tesla Inc. and its board have blasted class attorney motions to sequester billions worth of the automotive company's shares as an improper attempt to shield a nonfinal court ruling on Musk's 10-year compensation plan and as potential interference in a Tesla bid to reincorporate in Texas.

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Fed. Circ. Judge Troubled By Government's Visa Fraud Sting

By Britain Eakin

A Federal Circuit judge on Wednesday said he was troubled by the federal government's argument that it has no liability to foreign students who paid thousands of dollars to attend a fake university the government set up to ensnare visa fraudsters.

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Lyft Driver Asks Calif. Justices To OK Intervening In PAGA Suit

By Craig Clough

An attorney for a Lyft driver who sued the company under the Private Attorneys General Act urged the California Supreme Court on Wednesday to find her client has standing to intervene in a competing PAGA Lyft case that reached a settlement, saying the deal threatened to "extinguish" her client's rights.

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Homebuyers Can't Stop NAR's $418M Settlement Hearing

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois federal judge said Wednesday she won't derail a final settlement hearing for the National Association of Realtors' $418 million deal with home sellers, despite a class of homebuyers' claims that the deal interferes with their separate case, saying they will have a chance to voice concerns at the hearing.  

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AMC Objector Says Chancery Settlement Lacked Due Process

By Leslie A. Pappas

An AMC Entertainment Inc. stockholder who opposed a class settlement that the company reached with other shareholders to end Chancery Court litigation over a controversial share conversion told Delaware's Supreme Court Wednesday that the deal should be unwound for lack of due process.

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NC Court Clerks, Administrators Escape Digital Courts Suit

By Travis Bland

Plaintiffs in a proposed class action have voluntarily dropped North Carolina court administrators and clerks from a lawsuit alleging that flaws in the state's electronic court filing system led to unlawful arrests and longer jail stays.

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Hawaii Utility Seeks Exit From Shareholder Suit Over Maui Fire

By Katryna Perera

Hawaiian Electric Industries Inc. has asked a California federal judge to toss an investor suit over a downturn in the company's stock price after a deadly fire broke out on Maui, saying it did not mislead investors about efforts to mitigate fire risk or completely outrule the risk of fire.

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Teva Must Face Bulk Of Asthma Inhaler Antitrust Suit

By Bryan Koenig

A Massachusetts federal judge largely refused Tuesday to toss antitrust claims accusing Teva of a decadelong anticompetitive scheme to delay generic competition for its blockbuster QVAR asthma inhalers, finding it plausible that Teva paid off a would-be rival and forcibly switched doctors and patients to a new product.

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Google Fights Subpoena On Texas Amid Ad Tech MDL

By Ali Sullivan

Google is urging a New York federal judge overseeing sweeping multidistrict litigation over the tech giant's alleged monopoly in digital advertising to stamp out a subpoena seeking discovery from Texas in related litigation in the Lone Star State.

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ESOP Trustee Can't Ax Suit Claiming $60M Inflated Stock Deal

By Grace Elletson

A Michigan federal judge left most of a suit intact Wednesday alleging the trustee of a steel company's employee stock ownership plan allowed it to buy $60 million in company stock at an inflated price, ruling that the worker behind the suit backed his claims with enough detail.

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Opioid Maker Beats Investor Suit Over FDA Warning For Good

By Sydney Price

A California federal judge has permanently dismissed a lawsuit from investors of acute pain drug company AcelRx Pharmaceuticals Inc. accusing it of engaging in misbranding violations that put it at greater risk for regulatory scrutiny.

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Labaton, Boston Pension Win Bid to Lead NYCB Investor Suit

By Katryna Perera

A New York magistrate judge appointed Boston's municipal pension plan and its attorneys from Labaton Keller Sucharow LLP to lead a proposed securities class action against New York Community Bancorp Inc. after the pension plan successfully showed that the plaintiff with the greatest losses bought their shares too late.

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Scooter Co.'s Mismanagement Cost ESOP Millions, Suit Says

By Emmy Freedman

A scooter company violated federal benefits law by putting too much of workers' retirement funds into investments that produced meager returns and causing its employee stock ownership plan to lose out on about $3.3 million since 2018, a proposed class action filed in Pennsylvania federal court said.

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Oil Field Workers File Proposed Class Suit Over Unpaid Wages

By Madeline Lyskawa

Three oil field workers have slapped their employers with a proposed collective and class action in Texas federal court accusing the companies of failing to pay overtime and straight-time wages to hourly, day rate and salaried workers in violation of the Fair Labor Standards Act.

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Mercedes-Benz Hit With Wheel Defect Suit In Ga.

By Madeline Lyskawa

Mercedes-Benz has been slapped with a proposed class action in Georgia federal court by a sedan owner alleging that a wheel configuration defect in certain sedan models can lead to sudden tire blowouts and cracked rims.

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Kroger Must Keep Fighting Metal-Tainted Baby Food Claims

By Hailey Konnath

An Ohio federal judge Wednesday refused to throw out a proposed class action accusing the Kroger Co. and its subsidiaries of selling baby food tainted with toxic metals, ruling that the mothers who sued have plausibly alleged that they wouldn't have purchased the product had they known the truth.

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NAR Magazine Subscribers Drop Data-Selling Claims

By Isaac Monterose

A proposed class has mediated and permanently dismissed claims in Michigan federal court accusing the National Association of Realtors of illegally selling, exchanging and renting the personal data of subscribers to the NAR's Realtor magazine.

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Madison Square Garden Escapes Federal Suit Over Facial ID

By David Steele

A proposed class action challenging Madison Square Garden's use of facial recognition to ban attorneys from its properties was dismissed Wednesday, with a New York federal judge ruling that contracting with the third-party provider of the software did not break the law.

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Coldwell Banker's Lockboxes Draw BIPA Suit

By Celeste Bott

Coldwell Banker has been sued in Illinois state court by a proposed class of employees who claim it violated Illinois' biometric privacy law by failing to get their informed consent before requiring them to scan their fingerprints to access biometric lockboxes that store keys for rental units shown to potential customers.

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CBD Retailer Wants To Avoid Privacy Suit

By Jonathan Capriel

CBD retailer Charlotte's Web Inc. has urged a California federal judge to toss a woman's suit accusing it of secretly recording conversations of those who visit its website, saying the lead plaintiff didn't even use the allegedly wiretapped chat functions and therefore can't have been harmed.

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Judge OKs American University's $5.4M COVID Tuition Deal

By Ali Sullivan

A D.C. federal judge gave the final nod to a $5.4 million deal resolving class action claims brought by American University students seeking tuition refunds after the school pivoted to remote learning during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Kimberly-Clark Blasts 'Illogical' Connecticut PFAS Claims

By Brian Steele

Kimberly-Clark Corp. is urging a federal judge to toss a proposed class action brought by three Connecticut residents who argued that the company contaminated private property near its New Milford manufacturing plant with toxic "forever chemicals," calling the allegations "illogical," speculative and incomplete.

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Legal Access Program Being Set Up For Separated Families

By Alyssa Aquino

The Biden administration has tapped the Acacia Center for Justice to manage a court-ordered legal access program to help migrant families stay in the U.S. after they were separated under a Trump-era policy to prosecute anybody caught entering the country unlawfully.

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Hurricane Ads Suit Paused For Law Firm Amid Ch. 11 Case

By Lynn LaRowe

In light of its recent bankruptcy filing, a Texas federal judge has paused class claims against a beleaguered Texas law firm accused of misconduct in soliciting clients in hurricane-related property damage cases, but the case remains active against a legal funding outfit and other defendants.

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Justices Clarify FAA But Leave Behind Important Questions

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last month in Bissonnette v. LePage firmly shuts the door on any argument that the Federal Arbitration Act's Section 1 exemption is limited to transportation workers whose employers transport goods on behalf of others, but two major issues remain unresolved, say Joshua Wesneski and Crystal Weeks at Weil.

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PE In The Crosshairs Of Public And Private Antitrust Enforcers

A series of decisions from a California federal court in the recently settled Packaged Seafood Products Antitrust Litigation, as well as heightened scrutiny from federal agencies, serve as a reminder that private equity firms may be exposed to liability for alleged anti-competitive conduct by their portfolio companies, say attorneys at Axinn.

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Series

Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

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Analysis

In Story Of Sex And Lies, Can Cohen Write Final Chapter?

By Phillip Bantz

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has told a story of scandal and scheming to the jury in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial, setting the stage for the prosecution's star witness to take the stand and wrap up the narrative.

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Ex-McElroy Deutsch CFO Cops To $1.5M Theft From Firm

By George Woolston

McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP's former chief financial officer admitted Wednesday to embezzling more than $1.5 million from the firm and failing to pay income tax, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced.

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Lewis Brisbois Atty Fatally Shot In McDonald's Altercation

By Ryan Boysen

A Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP attorney was fatally shot at a McDonald's in Houston after reportedly stepping in as a good Samaritan and attempting to calm down an irate customer who'd been arguing with staff at the fast food restaurant.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Lieff Cabraser's Kelly Dermody

By Irene Spezzamonte

A semester off from Harvard University in the late 1980s meant for reflection instead turned into a pivotal moment in Kelly Dermody's life, settling the roots for her successful career during which she has become a lighthouse for employment and discrimination cases.

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ABA Will Study Rape Questions' Necessity For Bar Applicants

By Cara Bayles

An American Bar Association commission will issue a report and recommendations by August on the practice of requiring would-be lawyers to disclose and discuss their experiences of sexual violence during the attorney licensure process.

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ABA Directs Attys To Avoid Sharing Client Info On Listservs

By Emily Sawicki

It is in the best interest of clients for their legal counsel to avoid sharing information related to representation while seeking advice in an online listserv forum, if the comments or questions could be connected to a client's identity, according to American Bar Association guidance published Wednesday.

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Ga. Appeals Court Will Review Trump DQ Bid In Election Case

By Kelcey Caulder

The Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday agreed to review a judge's ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis to continue prosecuting the election interference case she brought against former President Donald Trump.

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Fani Willis Is Outraising Primary Challenger More Than 5 To 1

By Chart Riggall

Less than two weeks from the first hurdle in her bid for reelection, Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis is boasting a​​ campaign war chest more than five times heftier than her Democratic challenger's, according to campaign finance disclosures filed this week.

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Biden Picks US Magistrate Judge In Fla. For 11th Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday his intent to nominate U.S. Magistrate Judge Embry J. Kidd to the Eleventh Circuit.

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Robins Kaplan File Flub Bad Look For Both Sides, Panel Says

By Rachel Scharf

A Manhattan appeals panel expressed concern Wednesday that Robins Kaplan LLP had poked through an opposing party's Dropbox database that was accidentally shared in investor litigation, while also criticizing the other side for failing to catch the error.

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NJ Justices Approve Measures For Helping Atty Well-Being

By Emily Johnson

The New Jersey Supreme Court has accepted several recommendations from its committee focused on attorney well-being, paving the way for the committee to examine how attorneys can briefly postpone court dates or possibly receive an extension to meet deadlines so they can handle pressing wellness needs.

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Colo. Judges Urge Attys To Take On More Pro Se Cases

By Thy Vo

A group of Colorado federal judges tried Wednesday to recruit more lawyers to help pro se litigants, who file about a third of the district's cases each year, with the judges recounting tactical mistakes and case delays that attorneys could have prevented.

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