Musk's SpaceX, Tesla Emails Fair Game For Apple, OpenAI

By Bryan Koenig

A Texas federal judge said X Corp. must produce Elon Musk's SpaceX and Tesla emails as part of its lawsuit accusing Apple Inc. and OpenAI of anticompetitively edging out rival artificial intelligence chatbots through a deal integrating ChatGPT into iPhones.

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Google Can't Ditch Most Chrome Privacy Claims

By Lauren Berg

A California federal judge Tuesday largely denied Google's bid to dismiss several claims in long-running litigation that accuses the tech giant of surreptitiously collecting Chrome users' personal data, after the plaintiffs elected to move forward with individual claims following their failed class certification bid.

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Lin Wood Pushes To Erase $11M Trial Win For Ex-Partners

By Emily Sawicki

Former prominent conservative litigator L. Lin Wood is urging the Georgia Court of Appeals to overturn a roughly $11 million award that an Atlanta jury determined he owes his ex-law partners relating to the 2020 breakup of their firm.

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Iconic Lamp Design Isn't MillerKnoll's, 6th Circ. Told

By Susan Smiley

Counsel for the family of the late designer George Nelson told a Sixth Circuit panel Wednesday that a lower court decision awarding intellectual property rights for his iconic bubble lamp to furniture company MillerKnoll was based on a faulty interpretation of a 2015 contract amendment and should be overturned.

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Brief

GE Vernova Unit Appeals Vineyard Wind Work Order

By Carolyn Muyskens

The principal contractor for the Vineyard Wind offshore wind farm is appealing a Massachusetts state court decision denying its renewed bid to quit the project and move the dispute to arbitration.

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Blank Rome Beats DQ Bid In Cannabis Dispensary Loan Fight

By Jonathan Capriel

A married couple who operate a New Jersey cannabis dispensary cannot escape claims that they misused roughly half of a $1.6 million business loan, a California federal court ruled on Wednesday while also rejecting the entrepreneurs' attempt to disqualify the lender's law firm.

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5th Circ. Says ChampionX Lacks Rights Under Spill Policy

By Danielle Ferguson

A Fifth Circuit panel on Tuesday affirmed a decision finding that ChampionX Corp. lacked the contractual standing to sue insurers for coverage of a $40 million oil spill lawsuit involving one of its subsidiaries, but gave the company a chance to add parties to its complaint in the lower court. 

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Bank Tries Again To Decertify Inmate Class In Debit Fee Suit

By Elaine Briseño

Central Bank of Kansas City has renewed its attempt to decertify a class of inmates who alleged they received prepaid debit cards with excessive fees upon their release, arguing the court must first determine whether the prisoners received the cards without permission.

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Texas Judge Remands Broker Liability Suit After Montgomery

By Linda Chiem

A Texas federal judge said Tuesday that, following the U.S. Supreme Court's recent Montgomery ruling, a lawsuit alleging freight broker and logistics giant C.H. Robinson is vicariously liable for a fatal 2022 accident involving an "unlawfully double-brokered" truck load belongs back in state court.

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NC Corrections Dept. Loses Bid For Immediate Pay Appeal

By MJ Koo

North Carolina's corrections department cannot skip ahead to an appellate court to challenge a ruling that found correctional officers must be paid for all time spent inside prison facilities, a federal judge found, saying the yearslong case is nearly ready for a final resolution.

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Supplier Can't Force Arbitration Of Worker's Wage Suit

By MJ Koo

A proposed wage class action against a medical and industrial gas supplier can proceed in court, a Washington federal judge ruled, finding that a former worker's arbitration agreement with a staffing agency did not apply.

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Trump-Backed Firm Says Exec Can't Sue For Crypto Freeze

By Sydney Price

Trump family-tied crypto firm World Liberty Financial asked a California federal court to release it from crypto billionaire Justin Sun's suit accusing it of using backdoor mechanisms to hold Sun's tokens hostage after he invested $45 million in the project, arguing Sun wrongly attempts to assert claims over his businesses.

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KeyBank, Investment Advisers Settle Suit Alleging Client Theft

By Adam Lidgett

KeyBank affiliate Key Investment Services LLC has agreed to settle its suit accusing two former investment advisers of stealing trade secrets and violating their employment agreements by soliciting customers.

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Texas Court Blocks Stetson Maker From Some Mexico Sales

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas Business Court judge granted a hat seller part of a temporary restraining order blocking Hatco Inc. from selling its well-known cowboy hats to other retailers in Mexico, but said Wednesday that she would not order Hatco to sell its products at the same discount as before.

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Brembo Beats NASCAR Supplier's NC Extortion Claims

By Tom Lotshaw

A North Carolina federal judge has tossed a NASCAR parts distributor's lawsuit alleging Brembo NV improperly interfered with its contractual negotiations with a longstanding business partner, ruling Tuesday that the company failed to plausibly allege the Italian parts manufacturer acted with malice.

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IVF Patients Say Natera Profited Off Ineffective Embryo Tests

By Mike Curley

A proposed class of in vitro fertilization patients are suing Natera Inc. in California federal court, alleging that it falsely advertised the efficacy and importance of its preimplantation genetic testing to rake in hundreds of millions of dollars from patients looking to conceive.

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Fla. Panel Finds Health Co. Owner Tricked Customers

By David Minsky

A Florida appellate court on Wednesday reversed an order clearing a health company owner of liability in a deceptive business practices case, saying the lower court wrongly found prosecutors hadn't met their burden of proof despite evidence at trial showing misconduct involving fraud. 

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5 Things Associates Must Ask About Their Firm's Merger Plan

The associates who navigate law firm mergers best ask the right questions early, such as inquiring about partners' plans, to assess how the merger could affect their workflow and career path, says Jackie Bokser-LeFebvre at Major Lindsey.

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Quinn Emanuel, Texas Boutique Match Milbank Associate Pay

By Kevin Penton

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP and a Texas-based litigation boutique are the latest firms to match Milbank LLP's pay hikes for associates, with annual increases of $10,000 to $20,000 that top off at $455,000.

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Blanche's AG Bid Could Face Rocky Path In Senate

By Courtney Bublé

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will be tapped for the permanent role, but he might not have a smooth path to confirmation.

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Goldstein Seeks Sentencing Delay, Citing New Tax Claims

By Jared Foretek

SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein renewed his push Wednesday in Maryland federal court for a delayed sentencing, saying prosecutors blindsided his defense by including additional uncharged years of alleged tax avoidance in the government's sentencing memorandum.

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Georgia Fed. Judge Facing Impeachment Threat, New DQ Bid

By Emily Johnson

A Georgia federal judge reportedly disciplined for having sexual intercourse in her chambers and attending a political event is facing renewed pressure, as a former UPS employee seeks her disqualification from his dismissed racial discrimination lawsuit and a Georgia congressman drafts articles of impeachment to remove her from the bench.

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Deepfake Mocks Judge Spearheading Judiciary Deepfake Rule

By Jeff Overley

The New York federal judge developing policies for phony audiovisual materials revealed Thursday firsthand experience with the subject: an artificial intelligence video on social media that depicts him as a maniacal Nazi who recently sentenced a private equity executive to prison "for being a Republican."

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Analysis

'Parallel' DOJ, SEC Investigations Not So Parallel Anymore

By Phillip Bantz

The level of coordination between the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has decreased under the Trump administration, resulting in disjointed investigatory efforts and misaligned timing in parallel investigations, experts say.

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'Kentucky Hammer' Tries To Control Attys, PI Market, Suit Says

By James Boyle

The principal attorney of personal injury firm Isaacs & Isaacs PCS, who advertises as the "Kentucky Hammer," has been accused by a former attorney at the firm of bullying his employees into signing unfavorable contracts and attempting to monopolize the local personal injury market.

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Baker Donelson Seeks 'No Recovery' Ruling In Ponzi Fallout

By Emily Sawicki

Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC on Thursday asked a Mississippi federal court to issue a single check-box form ruling that states the firm does not owe a monetary judgment stemming from a jury's verdict finding it committed negligent supervision amid a timber company's nine-figure Ponzi scheme, which was perpetrated in part by two of the firm's then-partners.

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Calif. Bar Accuses More Attys In Unlicensed Practice Scheme

By Lauren Berg

Three more attorneys at the Los Angeles personal injury firm facing investigation for its involvement in a record $4 billion sex abuse settlement against Los Angeles County are facing disciplinary charges by the State Bar of California, alleging the firm illegally practiced law outside the state.

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NY AG Must Preserve Cohen Docs In Trump's Civil Fraud Case

By Frank G. Runyeon

The New York state trial court judge overseeing President Donald Trump's civil fraud case granted his request to preserve notes from private meetings between state litigators and Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen after the key witness said he felt "pressured" to testify.

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SEC Disgorgement Powers Stay Intact After High Court Fight

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday said that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could collect ill-gotten gains from alleged fraudsters without having to identify victims who were financially harmed by the fraud, declining to place further limits on the agency's disgorgement powers six years after it last did so.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Robbins Geller's David Knotts

By Sydney Price

Right after graduating from Cornell University Law School, David Knotts, a native of Kansas City, Missouri, landed at one of the world's largest corporate defense firms.

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