'Jump Must Litigate': 7th Circ. Clarifies Arb. Enforcement Rule

By Dorothy Atkins

The Seventh Circuit rejected trading firm Jump Trading LLC's bid to arbitrate a putative securities class action Thursday, finding that courts, not arbitrators, must decide whether disputes belong in arbitration when the parties haven't signed an arbitration agreement, furthering a circuit split and holding that "Jump must litigate."

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Bristol-Myers Can't Duck UMB Suit Targeting Drug Approvals

By Rae Ann Varona

The Second Circuit on Thursday revived UMB Bank's suit alleging Bristol-Myers Squibb's slow-walking of the drug approval process caused investors to miss out on billions of dollars, rejecting the pharmaceutical giant's contention that the bank lacked standing to sue.

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9th Circ. Revives $140M Robo-Surgery Antitrust Case

By Jared Foretek

The Ninth Circuit on Thursday revived a surgical instrument repair company's antitrust suit accusing the makers of the da Vinci surgical robot of illegally blocking third parties from repairing its machines, ruling that a district judge erred in applying the U.S. Supreme Court's Kodak factors to the dispute.

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'Anticompetitive Friction': Google Must Fix App Store Search

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge Thursday ordered Google LLC to streamline the steps for Android users to find rival app stores as part of his court-ordered remedies in antitrust litigation won by Epic Games Inc. against Google, saying the current user process includes "anti-competitive friction" to discourage competition.

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NC Biz Court Bulletin: Judges Retire, HCA Suit Heads To Trial

By Hayley Fowler

The North Carolina Business Court dropped a host of heavy-hitting opinions in July ahead of two judicial retirements and a new chief judge rising in the ranks.

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Davis Polk Sues Power Co. Ex-Clients Over $3.2M Fees

By Emily Sawicki

Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP is pursuing New York state court claims against former energy company clients, accusing them of abruptly ceasing payments and failing to pay $3.2 million in fees accrued amid an underlying contract dispute.

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Webuild Pushes For Pause In Suit Seeking $140M Arbitral Award

By Caroline Simson

Italian construction giant Webuild on Wednesday urged a Delaware federal court to pause a Chilean construction company's lawsuit aimed at enforcing a $140 million arbitral award as Webuild looks to challenge an "unprecedented" Third Circuit decision reviving the litigation.

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Festival Director Must Face Suit Over Drakeo's Killing

By Craig Clough

The festival director of a concert where rapper Drakeo the Ruler was killed backstage cannot escape a consolidated wrongful death suit brought by the artist's family and associates, with a Los Angeles judge ruling Thursday that a triable issue of material fact remains regarding the entity's role at the event.

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DOJ Backs X Corp.'s 5th Circ. Advertiser Boycott Appeal

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Justice Department backed X Corp. on Wednesday by arguing in a Fifth Circuit amicus brief that a Texas federal judge botched the antitrust injury analysis when tossing a lawsuit accusing Mars, CVS, Nestle, Lego, Tyson Foods and other advertisers of agreeing to boycott the social media platform after Elon Musk's purchase.

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Kalshi Must Suspend Most Wash. Offerings, Install Geofencing

By Rachel Riley

A Washington state court judge has blocked Kalshi from offering event contracts to state residents in most of its prediction market categories while the attorney general's legal challenge unfolds, setting deadlines for the platform to institute location-based geofencing, while spurning the company's bid to maintain operations pending appeal.

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BNY Should Face Stanford Ponzi Suit In NJ, Judge Says

By Sydney Price

A Texas federal judge recommended that a class action alleging the Bank of New York Mellon's involvement in R. Allen Stanford's Ponzi scheme be removed to New Jersey, saying the claims do not belong within the wider multidistrict litigation.

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3rd Circ. Upholds Dismissal Of Lipitor Pay-To-Delay Case

By George Woolston

The Third Circuit on Thursday backed the dismissal of an antitrust suit alleging Pfizer Inc. and Ranbaxy Laboratories Ltd. conspired to delay the market entry of a generic version of the cholesterol drug Lipitor, ruling that the plaintiffs lacked standing.

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DirecTV Says Nexstar Suit Discovery Damning But Incomplete

By Nadia Dreid

DirecTV says documents produced by Nexstar Media Group and the two companies accused of conspiring with the massive multimedia conglomerate to fix prices for retransmission fees already show that collusion was happening, but Nexstar is dragging its feet on producing the rest.

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Cheer Competition Organizers Settle Antitrust Fight

By Ganesh Setty

Cheerleading competition organizers at odds with the U.S. All Star Federation Inc. have told a Texas federal court they've reached a settlement to resolve all pending antitrust claims they asserted against the governing body.

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7 States Urge Feds To Reject $85B UP, Norfolk Southern Deal

By Lauren Berg

Seven state attorneys general are urging the federal Surface Transportation Board to reject the planned $85 billion merger between Union Pacific Corp. and Norfolk Southern Corp., saying the rail giants have not shown how the deal would serve the public interest.

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Texas Appeals Court Flips $34M Verdict In Hospital Suit

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas appeals court wiped out a $34 million verdict against a healthcare company Thursday, saying the trial court interpreted the parties' contract incorrectly and the company did not breach its agreement with a private orthopedic practice group.

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Decoding Arbitral Disputes: Award Enforcement Is Just Step 1

In Qatar National Bank v. South Sudan and Bank of South Sudan, a D.C. federal court recently confirmed a $1 billion arbitral award, but the judgment itself remains only the entrance to the asset-recovery exercise, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray's Inn Square.

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Series

Going To Hardcore Shows Makes Me A Better Lawyer

While government contracts law and the hardcore scene may seem entirely unrelated, in my experience, both are about community, focus, being prepared for the unexpected and managing chaos, says Isaac Natter at Fluet.

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Anti-DEI Group Asks FTC To Probe Law Fellowship Program

By Dorothy Atkins

An advocacy organization against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives filed an antitrust complaint with the Federal Trade Commission Wednesday, accusing Sponsors for Educational Opportunity of engaging in anticompetitive practices by allegedly colluding on DEI metrics and falsely advertising its program.

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Baker Botts Atty Cleared Of Defamation In Inventor's Suit

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida federal judge on Thursday tossed a defamation claim against a Baker Botts LLP patent attorney after agreeing with a magistrate judge's conclusion that an inventor had not shown that the lawyer's comments to a reporter were defamatory.

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NYC Bar Committee Calls For Nationwide AI Rules Framework

By Andrea Keckley

A New York City Bar Association committee concluded in a policy paper published Wednesday that artificial intelligence tools "may assist legal work but cannot substitute for professional legal judgment," calling for a national framework to be built into the Model Rules of Professional Conduct governing its use.

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Trump Picks Ex-Arkansas SG, Walmart Lawyer For 8th Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump has announced that he's looking to elevate Judge Lee Rudofsky of the Eastern District of Arkansas to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

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State Farm Attys Admit Filing Motions Full Of AI Hallucinations

By Jonathan Capriel

A law firm representing State Farm has admitted that its pretrial motions contained citations to nonexistent cases and legal quotes, errors that were seemingly "hallucinations" generated by AI software designed for lawyers and caught by the plaintiff's attorneys as they prepared for trial in a California state court case about fire damage coverage.

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Brief

DOJ Fraud Division To Reach 500 Staffers This Month

By Courtney Bublé

By the end of the month, there will be about 500 attorneys and staff in the U.S. Department of Justice's new fraud division, with more to come as time goes on.

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JP Ward Attorney Exodus Delays Pa. Labor Trafficking Suit

By Matthew Santoni

A "staffing disruption" at the Pittsburgh law firm J.P. Ward & Associates led the firm to request a stay of a labor-trafficking case against hotels in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, after the firm was reduced to one attorney and two staff members, according to court filings.

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