Brad Pitt Beats Oligarch Firm's Winery Funds Claim

By Craig Clough

A Los Angeles judge on Monday dismissed a cross-complaint filed against Brad Pitt by a Russian oligarch's company in the legal battle over his ex-wife Angelina Jolie's sale of her portion of a French winery, finding the court lacks jurisdiction over allegations that Pitt diverted funds from the winery.

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Falwell Family Accused Of Self-Dealing In Miami Hotel Suits

By David Minsky

A business partner of Jerry Falwell Jr. sued the former Liberty University president and his family in Florida state court for alleged insider transactions in a Miami Beach hotel company, saying he was stripped of his membership status in the operating agreement and that development rights were transferred without consent.

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IBM Defeats Software Co. In Copyright Fight At 2nd Circ.

By Adam Lidgett

A software company failed to persuade the Second Circuit to undo a federal judge's decision allowing IBM to dodge a copyright suit, with the appellate court on Monday agreeing the case was time-barred.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court last week tackled disputes involving merger settlements, contract claims, controlling stockholders, music rights, prejudgment interest, absentee voting and stockholder standing.

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CREXi Can't Stay CoStar Case For Quinn Emanuel DQ Appeal

By Matthew Perlman

A California federal court rejected a bid Monday from Commercial Real Estate Exchange Inc., or CREXi, for a stay in CoStar's copyright case while CREXi looks to undo the disqualification of its attorneys from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP.

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Cannabis Clients Sue Atty Over Missed Deadline In $5.7M Suit

By Jonathan Capriel

Los Angeles cannabis entrepreneurs are suing their former attorney for legal malpractice in California state court, claiming that she caused the permanent end of their $5.7 million fire damage lawsuit against a landlord who they say allowed a "local transient" to start a fire on a neighboring property.

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AbbVie, Novartis Seek To Block Ill. 340B Drug Discount Law

By Gianna Ferrarin

AbbVie Inc. and Novartis Pharmaceuticals are urging an Illinois federal court to block a state law that took effect Friday barring pharmaceutical manufacturers from trying to impose restrictions on 340B contract pharmacy arrangements, arguing in a pair of suits that the law is unconstitutional.

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Dutch Co. Wants To Shuffle Golf Course Dispute To Arbitration

By Hailey Konnath

A Dutch company contracted by a Louisiana golf course developer asked a federal judge Monday to send its dispute with the company to the Netherlands Arbitration Institute, arguing that the terms of their disagreement are clearly covered by the arbitration provision in their contract.

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Okla. Co. Says Rig Seizure Claims Don't Need Redo

By Caroline Simson

An Oklahoma-based oil drilling company urged the U.S. Supreme Court not to disturb a D.C. Circuit ruling ordering Venezuela's state-owned oil company to face long-pending expropriation allegations, saying an underlying circuit split is too narrow to warrant the high court's attention.

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Colo. Insurer Charged Premiums Without Notice, Suit Says

By Rachel Konieczny

A Colorado-based workers' compensation insurer provided no notice of its audit guidelines to a construction company and canceled the company's policy when it disputed the audit premium charges, according to a proposed class action in state court.

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Brief

Lowe's, Chubb Unit Reach Deal To End $90M Settlement Fight

By Danielle Ferguson

Lowe's has settled a dispute seeking coverage from a Chubb unit toward an underlying $90 million wrongful death settlement involving an employee of the home improvement giant, according to a notice filed days before a jury trial was expected to begin in North Carolina federal court.

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JB Hunt Says Broker Role Clears It Of Liability For Fatal Crash

By Linda Chiem

J.B. Hunt has urged an Arizona federal judge to reject a lawsuit seeking to hold it vicariously liable as the alleged statutory employer of the commercial trucker involved in a 2023 head-on collision that killed two people and seriously injured three children.

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Philly Orchestra Ticket Buyers Seek OK For Refund Deal

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A group of orchestra-goers has asked a Pennsylvania federal judge to give the initial green light to a $200,000 settlement intended to resolve claims that The Philadelphia Orchestra and its music venue, the Kimmel Center, denied ticket refunds for canceled Philly Pops performances.

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Brief

Northwestern To Pay $4M In COVID-Era Tuition Refunds

By Lauraann Wood

Northwestern University is set to pay $4 million to settle students' pursuit of refunds after the COVID-19 pandemic forced class instruction online, which the students alleged violated their agreement with the university.

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Final Albright Patent Trial Ends In No Infringement Finding

By Adam Lidgett

A Western District of Texas jury has found that GD Energy Products did not infringe a patent covering a packing assembly for pumps used in the oil and gas industry, marking the end of the final patent trial overseen by U.S. District Judge Alan Albright.

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Boeing Must Face Depositions In Moon Exploration IP Row

By Benjamin Morse

A Washington federal magistrate judge has partly granted a Colorado aerospace company's bid for more depositions in an intellectual property suit against Boeing over technology used in NASA's moon program, while rejecting broader requests for financial information and documents.

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Google Is 'Last Bastion' Of Reviewers' Free Speech, Court Told

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut law firm's efforts to force Google to unmask users who left potentially defamatory online reviews pose a question of "constitutional magnitude," a Hartford state judge heard Monday as the company tried to move a pre-litigation discovery bid to the West Coast.

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Logistics Firm Hit With Suit Over Tobacco Use Surcharge

By Carla Baranauckas

Logistics firm NFI Industries Inc. unlawfully imposed a tobacco use surcharge on thousands of workers without offering mandated wellness program alternatives in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, a proposed class claimed in a New Jersey federal court complaint.

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9th Circ. Backs City Of Tacoma In Pension Liability Rate Fight

By Ben Adlin

A Ninth Circuit panel sided with the city of Tacoma, Washington, in a pension fund dispute Monday, holding that a lower court correctly upheld an arbitrator's reassessment of the city's liability after it withdrew from the Western Metal Industry Pension Fund following the expiration of underlying collective bargaining agreements.

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H.I.G. Can't Block Calif. Suit Over $17.5M Health Deal

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court on Monday refused to block two former behavioral health facility owners from pursuing a California securities fraud suit against private equity firm H.I.G. Capital LLC and its affiliates, finding the companies had not shown the dispute must be litigated in Delaware.

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Muddy Waters Wants Claim Cut From $14M Whistleblower Suit

By Katryna Perera

Investment research service Muddy Waters LLC and its founder want a breach of contract claim cut from a suit alleging they stiffed a purported former partner out of his share of a $14 million whistleblower award from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, saying the claim "crosses the line from pleading in the alternative to pleading in incoherence."

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Verisk Told It Can't Abandon $2.35B AccuLynx Deal

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court has ruled that data analytics and insurance technology company Verisk Analytics Inc. improperly walked away from its $2.35 billion acquisition of roofing software company AccuLynx and must keep pursuing regulatory approval for the deal.

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California City And Cannabis Co. Square Off In Contract Suit

By Mike Curley

A California city and a cannabis operations holding company are suing one another in state court over so-called mitigation fees, with the city alleging the business owner breached its contract by failing to pay the fees, and the holding company alleging that the fees were invalid and the city interfered with a purchasing deal over them.

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Data Center Risks Include Schedules, Supply Chain, Labor

Managing the dynamic technical and legal risks related to data center development requires sophisticated strategies for dealing with compressed schedules and liquidated damages, supply chain and long-lead equipment challenges, and labor shortages and productivity issues, say Randa Adra and Lily Geyer at Crowell & Moring, and Natasha Dahl at Ankura.

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Trump Picks Ex-Personal Lawyer As New White House Counsel

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump's incoming White House counsel is a former personal attorney for the president who is already working for the White House and was at the U.S. Department of Justice during his first term.

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Ill. Gov. Signs Bill Restricting PE Role In Legal Industry

By Emma Cueto

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker has signed into law a bill designed to target nonlawyer ownership of law firms, outlawing fee sharing with out-of-state alternative business structures and attempting to place restrictions on law firms' use of managed services organizations.

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Spa Fights 9th Circ.'s 'Swinging Dicks' Order At High Court

By Jeff Overley

The Ninth Circuit's rejection of a spa's religious objections to serving transgender customers is incompatible with several major precedents, according to a U.S. Supreme Court petition filed Monday in litigation that soared in prominence when dozens of circuit judges decried a salacious dissent.

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Biz Owners Appeal Morgan Lewis Win In Tax Shelter Suit

By Andrea Keckley

A pair of business owners asked the Florida Supreme Court to reverse a decision affirming judgment in favor of Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP in a dispute over whether the law firm had routed income through illegal tax shelters.

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