US, China Agree On TikTok Ownership Transfer, Bessent Says

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

The U.S. and China established a commercial framework for a deal with video sharing giant TikTok to transfer ownership of the app to the U.S., just days before a deadline to sell the app or shut it down, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters at a press conference in Madrid on Monday.

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2nd Circ. Backs Jimmy Kimmel In George Santos IP Fight

By Stewart Bishop

The Second Circuit on Monday declined to revive George Santos' claims against Jimmy Kimmel, ABC and Disney over video clips the late night host tricked the now-imprisoned former congressman into making, agreeing the fair use doctrine bars the copyright suit.

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Google Consumers' Attys Seek $85M In Fees For $700M Deal

By Rae Ann Varona

Attorneys who helped consumers reach a still-pending $700 million antitrust deal with Google in 2023 have urged a California federal judge to grant them $85 million in attorney fees, saying the settlement, reached alongside state attorneys general, was an "exceptional" result obtained in the "face of substantial litigation uncertainty."

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Fired DOJ Deputy Says Lobbyists 'Playing Dangerous Game'

By Bryan Koenig

A former top Justice Department Antitrust Division deputy, allegedly fired for opposing the "pay-to-play" settlement clearing Hewlett Packard Enterprise's $14 billion purchase of Juniper Networks, had a warning Monday for the lobbyists he said made the deal possible: there are only so many times they can go over division leadership.

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NBA's Trail Blazers Sold To Owner Of NHL's Hurricanes

By David Steele

The estate of Paul Allen has reached an agreement to sell the NBA Portland Trail Blazers to a group led by Tom Dundon, the chair of Dundon Capital Partners, who has had notable success in sports ownership in the National Hockey League and in professional pickleball but also is in the midst of a legal fight over the collapse of a spring football league.

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Stradley Ronon Wants Keesal Young's Poaching Suit Tossed

By Emma Cueto

Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young LLP has moved to nix a suit by California firm Keesal Young & Logan, saying its recruitment of 10 former Keesal Young attorneys was entirely above board and that the noncompete clauses in Keesal Young's partnership agreement were not allowed under California law.

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Rocket Mortgage Can't Defeat DOJ's Racial Bias Suit

By Katryna Perera

A Colorado federal judge has declined to toss the federal government's race discrimination suit against Rocket Mortgage, an appraisal management company and an appraiser, finding, among other things, that Rocket could have requested correction of the appraisal at the heart of the suit.

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Insurance Agency Says It's Not Liable For Lack Of Coverage

By Ganesh Setty

An insurance agency told a Pennsylvania state court that it can't be held liable for a furniture company's roughly $534,000 cyber loss, arguing that under state law, there is "no common law duty to advise, inform, or recommend optional coverage to the insured."

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Insurer Asks Court To Deny Fla. Tree Co.'s Coverage After Fire

By David Minsky

An Ohio-based insurance company filed a lawsuit against a tree service and a funeral services business in Florida federal court, saying that it should not have to defend the company that was sued over cutting down the tree that caused a fire and resulted in $2 million in damage. 

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Telecom Co. Can't Avoid Liberty's Marshall Fire Coverage Suit

By Hope Patti

A Liberty Mutual unit may proceed with its suit seeking to avoid coverage for a Lumen Technologies subsidiary in underlying actions over the 2021 Marshall Fire, a Colorado federal court ruled, finding that the insurer alleged an injury sufficient to establish Article III standing.

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Robinhood Seeks Legal Shield After Mass. AG Sues KalshiEX

By Julie Manganis

Days after Massachusetts' attorney general sued so-called prediction market operator KalshiEX, accusing it of running an unlicensed sports betting platform, Robinhood, which provides access to the Kalshi system on its own platform, urged a federal judge Monday to grant it protection from similar claims.

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Appeals Panel Says Wash. Spam Law Covers Recruiter Texts

By Rachel Riley

A Washington Court of Appeals panel said Monday that the state's commercial email prohibition extends to "text messages sent to further the growth or prosperity of a business," finding logistics company CRST broke the law by sending unsolicited recruitment texts to contractors.

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Personal Injury Firm Looks To Nix $6.6M Fee Award

By Caroline Simson

A personal injury law firm is seeking the annulment of a $6.59 million arbitral award issued to its co-counsel in a dispute over fees owed in long-running litigation over a 1983 terrorist bombing in Lebanon, cases that ordered Iran to pay billions of dollars to victims' families.

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Jordan's Racing Team Looks To Nix NASCAR's Counterclaims

By Hayley Fowler

Two teams that have accused NASCAR of monopolizing premier stock car racing are trying to stop the league's counterclaims from making it to trial in December, arguing that its assertions that the teams conspired against NASCAR are unsupported by the evidence after discovery.

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Ex-NFL Player Nabs Default Against Firms Tied To Adviser

By Hayley Fowler

Retired NFL defensive lineman Mike Rucker and his wife won default judgment against several companies tied to their former financial adviser who is accused of mismanaging their money, after a state Business Court judge said the entities failed to respond to the Ruckers' suit alleging they enabled the adviser's fraud.

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Investor Says $16M Ouraring Fight Shouldn't Go To Finland

By Joyce Hanson

An early investor in the Oura health and fitness tracker is fighting Ouraring Inc.'s attempt to send his $16 million dispute to arbitration in Finland, saying there is no underlying agreement to arbitrate and his lawsuit should stay in California federal court.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Katryna Perera and Jeff Montgomery

Delaware's governor weighed in on a challenge to recently approved state legislation that bars damages or "equitable" relief for some controlling stockholder or going-private deals. Meanwhile, Moelis told the Delaware Supreme Court that the struck-down stockholder agreement that triggered that legislation was valid. Additionally, one of two newly funded magistrates' posts in the Chancery Court has been filled.

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Brands Say X Corp. Can't Prove Ad Suit Belongs In Texas

By Spencer Brewer

Several big-name brands, including Nestlé and Lego, asked a Texas federal judge to deny X Corp.'s bid to conduct jurisdictional discovery in its sprawling antitrust suit accusing advertisers of boycotting X, saying the company was merely trying to conduct a "fishing expedition."

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Liability Lessons From Luxury Cruise Thwarted By Sanctions

An ongoing legal dispute over a canceled luxury cruise to the North Pole reminds attorneys that liability can surface even before a ship leaves the dock — and that U.S. sanctions law increasingly lurks in the background of global travel contracts, says Peter Walsh at The Cruise Injury Law Firm.

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How Trump's Space Order May Ease Industry's Growth

President Donald Trump's recent executive order aimed at removing environmental hurdles for spaceport authorization and streamlining the space industry's regulatory framework may open opportunities not only for established launch providers, but also smaller companies and spaceport authorities, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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GOP Spending Bill Seeks $58M For Supreme Court, Marshals

By Courtney Bublé

The House Republicans unveiled their short-term spending bill Tuesday, and it includes an extra $28 million for security for the U.S. Supreme Court justices.

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Ga. Justices Won't Reinstate DA Willis To Trump Election Case

By Kelcey Caulder

The Georgia Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to review a lower court's ruling disqualifying Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis from the 2020 Georgia election interference case against President Donald Trump and his co-defendants.

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Sotomayor Warns Civics Under-Education Leads To Bad Laws

By Kevin Penton

Those looking to change the nation's laws first need to understand how they work and why they are in place, U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor told a packed auditorium at New York Law School on Tuesday.

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Trump Taps US Atty Nominees For NC, NH And Louisiana

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump has named U.S. attorney nominees for Louisiana, New Hampshire and North Carolina.

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Willkie Taps PE Head To Co-Lead The Firm In 2027

By Andrea Keckley

Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP announced Tuesday that the nearly decade-long head of its private equity practice will step up to co-lead the firm as its joint chairman at the start of 2027.

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Former Miami City Atty Exits Political Retaliation Suit

By Jake Maher

A former city attorney for Miami on Monday knocked down claims against her from a pair of business owners accusing her of taking part in a political retaliation scheme when a Florida federal judge ruled that she was immune from the allegations.

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Acting US Atty Denies Prosecution Of Lawmaker Is 'Selective'

By Parker Quinlan

The U.S. Department of Justice has requested that assault charges not be dismissed against U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, pushing back on claims the government is selectively prosecuting her following a confrontation with federal agents in May at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Newark.

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Disbarment Of No-Show Lawyer Among Ga. Discipline Rulings

By Chart Riggall

A Georgia criminal defense attorney was disbarred Tuesday by the state's high court on charges that he pocketed $5,000 from a client's mother, no-showed for a series of hearings and delayed a trial for more than a year after not so much as speaking to the defendant he was representing.

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Husch Blackwell Used 401(k) Cash To Pay Bills, Ex-Atty Says

By Grace Elletson

A former Husch Blackwell LLP attorney sued the firm in Missouri federal court Tuesday, claiming it violated federal benefits law by delaying sending employees' 401(k) contributions to their retirement plan so that the cash could be used to pay for the firm's operating expenses.

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Analysis

The Patent Workforce Is Attracting Fewer Attys, More Agents

By Theresa Schliep

The pool of patent practitioners registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has undergone a dramatic shift over the past few decades, with the number of attorneys taking the bar exam decreasing at the same time more patent agents are entering the field.

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