FTC, AGs Say Amazon Pocketed $20B With Fraudulent Auctions

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

The Federal Trade Commission and a bipartisan coalition of 22 states sued Amazon Monday, alleging it secretly overcharged advertising customers more than $20 billion by manipulating how it set prices for ads on its e-commerce website.

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NFL Legend Emmitt Smith, Partners Sued Over Solar Venture

By Jarek Rutz

A Native American economic development entity Monday sued former NFL star running back Emmitt Smith and several business partners in the Delaware Chancery Court, accusing them of diverting a $2.5 million loan meant for a Texas solar project and leaving the joint venture unable to repay the money.

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Juul Sublicense Ends Reynolds' Altria Vape Royalty Tab

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A sublicensing agreement between R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. and Juul Labs Inc. relieves Reynolds of its obligation to pay ongoing royalties to Philip Morris parent company Altria Client Services LLC after a federal jury found that Reynolds infringed Altria's vape pen design, a North Carolina federal judge has ruled.

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Colo. Fund Says Lender Hid $10M Loan Subordination Deal

By Isaac Monterose

The manager of a Colorado-based investment fund accused mortgage lender Cherry Creek in state court of executing an "invalid" hidden subordination agreement that allowed the lender to delay its interest payments on a $10 million promissory note.

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Feds' Crackdown Targets Commercial Trucking Fraud

By Linda Chiem

The Trump administration said Monday it is immediately shutting down 110 commercial driver's license schools for certifying truck drivers who can't read or speak English, and pledged to aggressively prosecute accused "fraudsters" who knowingly put untrained or unskilled truck drivers on American roads.

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Meyer Unkovic Discovery Bid Partly Granted

By James Boyle

A Pennsylvania federal magistrate judge partly granted Meyer Unkovic & Scott LLP's bid for discovery in a malpractice suit over a $3.3 million default judgment that was later thrown out, ruling the firm can obtain documents about defenses raised in the underlying landlord-tenant case.

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Texas Court Sends Oxy Carbon Capture Claims To Arbitration

By Caroline Simson

A Texas appellate court has revived Occidental Petroleum's attempt to arbitrate a multimillion-dollar dispute stemming from a project to deploy a technology aimed at reducing greenhouse gases in Australia, saying a tribunal in British Columbia must decide for itself whether it has jurisdiction.

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Shareholders Say Generator Co. Overhyped Data Center Deal

By Isaac Monterose

A shareholder in Hyliion Holdings Corp. is accusing the linear generator manufacturer in Texas federal court of exaggerating the potential success of its business partnership with an AI infrastructure company that specializes in data centers.

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Paul Mitchell Urges 9th Circ. To Untangle False Ad Class

By Dorothy Atkins

Paul Mitchell urged the Ninth Circuit Monday to decertify a class of customers alleging the company deceptively concealed its animal testing in China while touting its U.S. haircare products as cruelty-free, arguing there's no evidence that all class members saw and relied on its cruelty-free labels before their purchases.

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Fed. Circ. Affirms Samsung Didn't Infringe Mobile Tech Patent

By Elliot Weld

The Federal Circuit on Monday upheld a lower court's decision to deny a new trial in a case accusing Samsung of infringing a mobile device technology patent, saying Samsung had shown "ample" evidence cutting against infringement.

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Ramey Wants Full Fed. Circ. To Reconsider $207K Sanctions

By Theresa Schliep

William Ramey of Ramey LLP has urged the full Federal Circuit to review his liability for more than $207,000 in sanctions in a client's patent infringement suit against Volkswagen, arguing that his notices of appeal were faulty but still adequately identified him as a party.

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Baird Sues Colo. Firm Over Alleged Adviser-Poaching Scheme

By Zach Dupont

Robert W. Baird & Co. Inc. claimed in Colorado state court that a competing financial services firm is using false and misleading statements about its independence to lure away Baird advisers and clients, according to the company's complaint.

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Judge Trims Claims In Insurance Software Trade Secret Case

By Elliot Weld

A federal judge in Chicago on Monday issued a mixed ruling in a case brought by a company that makes insurance agency management software against a rival that it claims created a fake insurance company to steal trade secrets, dismissing some claims but preserving others for trade secret misappropriation and violations of the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act.

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11th Circ. Upholds $800K Award In Venezuelan Takeover Suit

By Kelcey Caulder

The Eleventh Circuit on Monday upheld an $800,000 jury verdict that found two former Miami bank directors accused of working for the Venezuelan government were liable for the bank's financial difficulties.

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Viks Seek Split Trial To Save Deutsche Bank Suit Injunction

By Brian Steele

Billionaire Alexander Vik and his daughter on Monday asked a Connecticut state court judge to order multiple trials on claims they are pursuing against Deutsche Bank AG, which demand the bank hand over proceeds from a $65 million asset sale and permanently end a related lawsuit against them in Norway.

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Ex-Clifford Chance Attys Fight Bid To Toss Clawback Suit

By Ryan Boysen

The two partners facing a $6 million clawback demand by Clifford Chance LLP have again asked a federal judge to decide whether English or New York law should govern the arbitration, claiming the firm's partnership agreement is unclear.

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9th Circ. Won't Rehear Eye Drop Antitrust Suit Despite Dissent

By Bryan Koenig

A forceful dissent from a pair of Ninth Circuit judges wasn't enough to keep the full appellate court from letting stand a panel decision preserving wholesalers' district court win accusing the maker of Clear Eyes drops of illegal price discrimination favoring Costco.

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Perrigo Settles Antitrust Suits Over Baby Formula Market

By Rae Ann Varona

Perrigo settled a couple of lawsuits filed in New York federal court that accused the company of cutting an anti-competitive agreement with Gerber to maintain a monopoly in the store-brand infant formula market, according to a letter filed Monday in a Brooklyn court.

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Valve's 15K Antitrust Arbitrations Will Stay On Ice, Judge Says

By Ben Adlin

Arbitrations between gaming giant Valve Corp. and nearly 15,000 gamers will remain paused as the Ninth Circuit weighs whether the antitrust disputes are eligible for arbitration under the company's updated subscriber terms, according to a bench ruling Monday from a Seattle federal judge.

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Law Firm's Calif. Claims Stayed Over AI Comms Co.'s NY Suit

By Andrea Keckley

A California federal judge ruled that AI communications company Connex One cannot escape claims brought by a personal injury law firm alleging it faced harassment and threats of litigation after it declined to renew their contract, saying the case will be stayed until a New York lawsuit brought by Connex against the firm runs its course.

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Parler Backers Hijacked Social Media Co. From CEO, Jury Told

By Cara Salvatore

Stakeholders of defunct microblogging app Parler, including hedge fund scion Rebekah Mercer and former deputy FBI director Dan Bongino, allegedly schemed to strip the social app's cofounder of his CEO role and his 40% stake, a Nevada jury heard in opening arguments in a $100 million contract trial Monday.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week saw disputes over a $200 million federal grant, a $1.7 billion software take-private deal, the ouster of Better.com founder Vishal Garg and a proposed $4 million settlement stemming from an electric vehicle company's SPAC merger.

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Using CFIUS' New Risk Matrix And Mitigation Guidance

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' national security matrix and related mitigation guidance provides a common vocabulary for allocating regulatory and mitigation risk in transaction documents, and may help focus any discussions with the agency, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

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How Did Litigants Fare In Judge Albright's 55 Patent Trials?

By Dani Kass

U.S. District Judge Alan Albright oversaw more than 50 patent trials between his 2018 arrival on the bench and planned Monday departure, and in a surprise for many attorneys, there was a near-even split between victories for patent owners and accused infringers.

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New Report Rings Alarm On Threats To Judicial Independence

By Jack Karp

Verbal attacks on judges, disinformation about the courts and the defiance of court orders are undermining the independence of the federal judiciary and significantly affecting individual judges' ability to do their jobs, a report out Monday says.

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Roundup

Defamation Litigation Roundup: NYT, J&J, Azerbaijan

By Theresa Schliep

In this month's review of defamation fights, Law360 details a jury verdict against The New York Times in a suit involving its reporting on a shooting in Alabama, and highlights a judge's decision to spare researchers from a suit by a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary over their talc research.

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House Passes Bill To Curb Secret Prosecutor Orders

By Courtney Bublé

The House passed a bipartisan bill via voice vote Monday afternoon to add transparency to prosecutors' use of nondisclosure orders for telephone service providers.

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Brief

House Passes Bill Adding Texas, California Court Sites

By Courtney Bublé

The House voted 378-10 on Monday evening to expand access to federal courts in Texas and California, the two most populous states in the nation.

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Roundup

Hub Hires: MassBar, Kirkland, Troutman

By Chris Villani

Massachusetts' legal landscape saw a sizzling summer finish, with several major firms making hires. Kirkland added a veteran white collar defense attorney, Troutman bolstered its real estate team and Day Pitney nabbed an experienced corporate attorney.

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