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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Atkore Inks Additional $50M Deal In PVC Pipe Antitrust Row

By Hailey Konnath

Atkore Inc. has reached another settlement in litigation claiming it conspired with other polyvinyl chloride pipe producers to fix prices, this time agreeing to pay $50 million to a class of end-user plaintiffs, according to a motion for preliminary approval of the deal filed Thursday in Illinois federal court.

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Alibaba's Money-Back Guarantees Are 'Illusory,' Shoppers Say

By Gina Kim

Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba Group Holding makes "illusory" money-back guarantee and refund promises if shipped items are damaged or missing, despite it having "unfettered discretion" to choose whether to provide refunds regardless of the evidence provided by customers, according to a proposed class action in California federal court. 

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2nd Circ. Rejects Bid To Rehear $16B YPF Argentina Ruling

By Caroline Simson

The Second Circuit will not review its decision this year reversing a New York judge's $16 billion judgment against Argentina arising from its nationalization of YPF SA, the country's largest oil and gas exploration company, despite arguments that the ruling was "profoundly misguided."

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Live Nation Remedies Discovery To Wait On New Trial Motions

By Bryan Koenig

A New York federal judge said that state attorneys general will have to wait on discovery to bolster their bid for a Live Nation Entertainment Inc. breakup, preferring to first tackle the live music giant's bid to upend jury findings faulting the company for monopolizing the industry.

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DR Horton, Forestar Push To End Delaware Lot Deal Suit

By Jarek Rutz

Real estate developer Forestar Group Inc. and its directors urged the Delaware Chancery Court on Thursday to toss a shareholder suit accusing home builder D.R. Horton Inc. of using its control of Forestar to obtain residential lots at below-market prices, arguing the pension fund behind the case skipped a required step before suing.

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Insurer Says Background Check Missed Worker's Arson Case

By Matthew Santoni

A North Carolina-based staffing agency and its background-check contractor allegedly failed to flag that a job applicant for a Scranton, Pennsylvania, warehouse was awaiting trial on arson-related charges, and the warehouse's insurer claims in a federal lawsuit that makes them liable for the damages after that worker set a fire at his new job.

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Flyers Ask Full 5th Circ. To Rehear CrowdStrike IT Outage Suit

By Linda Chiem

Airline passengers have asked the full Fifth Circuit to review a panel decision rejecting their proposed class action alleging the cybersecurity firm behind 2024's crippling global IT outage should be held liable for stress and physical injuries they suffered while stranded by delayed or canceled flights.

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Miami F1 Track Flaw Suit Settles At Start Of Trial

By Carolina Bolado

After trying and failing to boot the judge overseeing a case over the construction of a track that failed during the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix race in 2022, a British racetrack consultant avoided a trial with a last-minute settlement.

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USW Drops Saint-Gobain Retiree Healthcare Change Suit

By Matthew Santoni

The United Steelworkers union has dropped its lawsuit over materials manufacturer Saint-Gobain's changes to union retirees' healthcare plans, less than a week after losing a bid for a preliminary injunction and temporary restraining order.

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Realty Rival, Directors Barred From Poaching Brokerage Staff

By Hayley Fowler

Two former sales directors for a real estate brokerage must stop recruiting former coworkers for a rival company that hired them, North Carolina's business court has said, finding the new employer should also be barred from meddling with more of the brokerage's employment contracts.

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Swipe-Fee Class Opposes Rethink For Sanctioned Injury Firm

By Bryan Koenig

Personal injury firm Betz & Baril PLC and its referral partner ClickFunds have no grounds to seek reconsideration or clarification on a New York federal judge's sanctions for misleading would-be class members in long-running antitrust litigation against Visa and Mastercard, the merchant class said Thursday.

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Texas Oil Exec Mulacek Hits Ch. 11 With $210M Judgment Debt

By José Luis Martínez

Empire Petroleum Corp. Chairman Philippe Mulacek filed a Chapter 11 petition Thursday, pausing enforcement efforts against him over a more than $210 million judgment in a long-running Texas federal court fight with Swiss financier Carlo Civelli.

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CBD Oil Co., Hemp Farm Spar Over $1.7M Contract Suit

By Mike Curley

A Washington hemp farm is suing CBD oil processor AgroRefiner LLC, alleging it breached a contract to buy 2.5 million pounds of biomass and owes $14.7 million, while AgroRefiner has filed counterclaims alleging that the biomass didn't meet the standards of the agreement.

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Judge Won't Rethink Insurer's Duty To Cover Data Center Row

By Isaac Monterose

A California federal judge refused to allow Navigators Specialty Insurance Co. to file a reconsideration motion for a prior ruling that dismissed the insurer's claims in its coverage suit against a client company taken into arbitration over a California data center project.

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Del. Chancery Has Signaled Decreased Use Of Its Blue Pencil

The Delaware Chancery Court's decision in BluSky Restoration Contractors v. Robbins not to enforce or rewrite overbroad language, known as blue-penciling, in key covenants shows that the sale of a business context no longer insulates these restrictive measures from judicial scrutiny, affecting transactions and litigation, says Aylin Daldal at Kleinbard.

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Series

Competing At Poker Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Playing poker in male-dominated rooms taught me to treat skepticism as background noise when my opponents seem to underestimate me, to apply pressure when it matters and to adapt without losing strategic discipline — skills that are all indispensable in restructuring and insolvency matters, says Alexis Gambale at Pashman Stein.

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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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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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