FTC Claims Amazon Inflated Ad Auction Prices By 250%

By Dorothy Atkins

The Federal Trade Commission and 22 states have revealed new allegations against Amazon in their sprawling antitrust fight in Washington federal court over online search advertising auctions, including new details alleging Amazon secretly raised advertising prices by as much as 250% to increase its revenue by $87 million worldwide.

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Analysis

New Tech, Diluted Noncompetes Drive Up Trade Secret Cases

By Elliot Weld

Artificial intelligence tools are making it easier for employees to take off with valuable trade secrets when they switch employers, while noncompete agreements are becoming more difficult to enforce, a combination that is spurring an increase in trade secret cases, experts told Law360.

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9th Circ. Says Lending Co. Can't Arbitrate In Snowflake MDL

By Sydney Price

The Ninth Circuit ruled that online consumer lending platform LendingTree and an insurance comparison subsidiary cannot compel arbitration of a cybersecurity suit within multidistrict litigation over a breach of data held by cloud storage company Snowflake since the websites' design elements prevented "mutual assent" to their terms.

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WB Must Face Claims 'The Pitt' Violates 'ER' Rights Deal

By Lauren Berg

Warner Bros. Television cannot dodge a lawsuit alleging it breached a decades-old agreement with late author Michael Crichton by producing the hit medical drama "The Pitt," a California appeals court ruled, saying the suit adequately alleges the series could be considered a derivative work of the earlier hit series "ER."

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Aetna Loses Arb. Bid In Hospitals' Inpatient Pay Policy Row

By Gianna Ferrarin

Aetna Health Inc. can't force two hospital operators to arbitrate their challenge to its inpatient reimbursement policy, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled, finding the suit seeks equitable relief and thus falls under an exemption in the insurer's arbitration agreements.

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Live Nation Cites 2nd Circ. Eyewear Ruling In Fighting Verdict

By Dorothy Atkins

Live Nation has told a New York federal judge that the Second Circuit's recent EssilorLuxottica ruling "bears on the market-definition issues" raised in Live Nation's post-trial motions challenging its antitrust trial loss, while enforcing states argued that the Ninth Circuit's recent NFL Sunday Ticket ruling reversal backs their trial win.

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Disbarred Texas Atty Gets New Shot At $3.8M Fee-Sharing Suit

By Mike Curley

A Texas appeals court on Thursday reinstated a disbarred attorney's suit alleging two law firms owe him more than $3.8 million in fees and costs, finding the trial court didn't have competent evidence that he worked on the suits only after he was disbarred.

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No Early Win For Atty In $450K Malpractice Suit

By Andrea Keckley

A Connecticut state court judge has rejected a once-prominent local attorney's dismissal bid in a lawsuit from a former client who says his failure to comply with discovery orders led to a default judgment that cost her $450,000, saying the evidence she has produced so far provides a reasonable foundation for her claims.

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5th Circ. Pushes Texas To Explain ESG Energy Boycott Law

By Spencer Brewer

A Fifth Circuit panel pushed the state of Texas to explain how a law restricting state investments with businesses that want to cut their reliance on fossil fuels passes constitutional muster, saying Thursday there "seems to be an arbitrariness" in the law.

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Toshiba, DTE Are Worlds Apart On Bond For $394M Judgment

By Melanie Dorsey

Toshiba Corp. urged a Michigan federal judge Thursday to limit its appeal bond to $37 million rather than the $549 million sought by two Michigan utilities, arguing that a state law capping appeal bonds should apply as the company challenges a $394 million judgment over a botched power plant overhaul.

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Ex-Sales Leader Violated 'Secrecy' Pact, J&J Ortho Unit Says

By George Woolston

Johnson & Johnson's orthopedic device unit DePuy Synthes alleged in New Jersey federal court that a former national sales leader's move to a rival violates several of his employment agreements, asking the court to order expedited discovery and block him from contacting any of its customers.

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Research Firm Sues To Enforce Ex-Analyst's Noncompete

By Julie Manganis

Advisory firm Forrester Research says a former principal analyst violated a decade's worth of noncompete and other provisions in employment and stock award agreements to jump to a vice president role at a direct competitor, then tried to hide his new position for months.

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Chancery Won't Allow Redo Of Fight Over Fund's $9M In Cash

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court on Thursday declined to revise rulings in a yearslong dispute over a distressed credit fund's records and more than $9 million of withheld cash, disagreeing with arguments that the fund's former managers and controllers had been improperly swept into the orders.

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Colo. Judge Denies Bid To Continue Hemp Venture Trial

By Jonathan Capriel

A Colorado federal judge denied a hemp entrepreneur's request to delay a trial in his suit accusing a family farm of stealing his share of hemp harvest, worth at least $9.9 million, saying he should have attached medical records if he was going to claim his health precluded him from attending.

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Pot Grower Accused Of Retaliation, Worker Misclassification

By Jonathan Capriel

Two cannabis workers claim they were fired after repeatedly warning their employer about mold, electrical and fire hazards at a Los Angeles cultivation site, according to a lawsuit filed in a California state court.  

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6 Ways RE Projects Can Balance Campus, Commercial Needs

Recent mixed-use campus developments show that housing, research, hospitality, retail and recreation can share infrastructure and institutional identity while operating under diverse requirements, as long as the underlying agreement structures are carefully thought out and drafted, says Bob Burton at Winstead.

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Series

Open-Water Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Swimming long distances in open waters is not necessarily an escape from my intellectual property practice, but a complementary discipline that similarly rewards sustained attention, intellectual curiosity, resilience and the ability to pursue a distant objective without losing command of the immediate task, says Christina MacDougall at Morgan Lewis.

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Controversial DOJ Civil Rights Division Leader Steps Down

By Alison Knezevich

Harmeet K. Dhillon, a U.S. Department of Justice official who instituted dramatic changes as leader of the Civil Rights Division, has stepped down from her role.

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Sullivan & Cromwell Brings On Weil Capital Markets Leader

By Isaac Monterose

Sullivan & Cromwell LLP has hired the co-leader of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP's capital markets team for a capital markets partner role in its New York City office, the firm announced Thursday.

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Analysis

Racing Against Whistleblowers Could Cost Companies

By Phillip Bantz

The U.S. Department of Justice's new cash rewards program for tips on criminal fraud threatens to ramp up the pressure on companies to hurry internal investigations and quickly report suspected misconduct to the government before whistleblowers do, which could backfire in some cases, according to experts.

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Judge Albright's Do's And Don'ts For Patent Trials

By Dani Kass

Two months after former ​U.S. District Judge Alan Albright returned to private practice, he regaled a room of attorneys at the University of Texas School of Law on Thursday with lessons from his time on the bench.

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Trump's Hush Money Conviction Examined By Wary NY Panel

By Frank G. Runyeon

A New York State appellate court Thursday quizzed attorneys for President Donald Trump and state prosecutors over his hush-money conviction, exploring defense counsel's claims that the district attorney trespassed into federal jurisdiction by charging election violations and trampled on presidential immunity in a case "infected with multiple fatal errors."

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