9th Circ. Leans Toward FCC In Appeal Over SIM Card Beef

By Nadia Dreid

The Ninth Circuit seemed to have its doubts Tuesday that the Federal Communications Commission made the wrong call in finding it had no say over a Haitian mobile carrier's decision to deactivate SIM cards that were brought into the United States and used to evade international calling rates. 

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Valve's Pivot On Gamer Arbitrations Gives Wash. Judge Pause

By Rachel Riley

A Washington federal judge Tuesday appeared conflicted over Valve Corp.'s bid for a court order to block hundreds of gamers from arbitrating consumer protection claims, pressing the game developer on its evolving arbitration stance while suggesting users agreed to updated terms requiring such disputes to be resolved in court.

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Ill. Justices Wary Of Uber's Push To Arbitrate Fatal Crash Suit

By Celeste Bott

Illinois Supreme Court justices on Tuesday pressed an attorney for Uber to explain how a widow's arbitration agreement through her own ride-sharing account is applicable to the wrongful death claims she has filed on behalf of her husband, who died as a passenger on a ride booked through his own Uber app. 

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Investors Seek To Halt $16B Argentina Award Amid US Appeal

By Sophia Dourou

A group of minority shareholders of a nationalized oil company urged a court on Tuesday to stay English proceedings that seek to enforce a now-overturned $16 billion judgment in New York against Argentina while a U.S. appeal is underway.

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Pullman & Comley Beats Malpractice Claims In $16M Loan Suit

By Emily Sawicki

A Connecticut state judge has relieved Pullman & Comley LLC of malpractice, negligence, gross negligence, recklessness and fiduciary duty claims in a lender's lawsuit surrounding an allegedly unauthorized $16.2 million loan, ruling that the lender was not the law firm's client and, therefore, did not have standing to bring the claims.

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BU Says Insurer Wrongly Denied COVID Claims Defense Costs

By Julie Manganis

Boston University says its insurer is refusing to cover $1.76 million in legal fees for the school's successful defense of a series of pandemic-era class actions, improperly relying on policy exceptions for claims based on "wrongful acts," according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday.

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Pa. Panel Won't Undo Arbitration In Airbnb Death Case

By Y. Peter Kang

The Pennsylvania Superior Court on Tuesday rejected an appeal by the estate of a man who died while staying at an Airbnb property, saying a recent state high court ruling bars it from reviewing a trial court's decision to send the case to arbitration.

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4th Circ. Revives Freight Broker Suit After High Court Ruling

By Linda Chiem

The Fourth Circuit on Monday revived a South Carolina widow's lawsuit alleging that freight broker Echo Global Logistics negligently selected the trucking company involved in the 2022 accident that killed her husband, days after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling established that freight brokers can face state-based tort claims.

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Asus Resolves Patent Case Involving Rare Injunction Request

By Elliot Weld

Sisvel's patent pool has reached a deal with Taiwanese electronics manufacturer Asus to license its standard essential pool of Wi-Fi multimode patents, resolving litigation that includes a case between one pool member and an Asus unit in which the pool was seeking a rare request for a permanent injunction on standard essential patents.

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Fed. Circ. Rehearing Sought In $18M Penile Implant Dispute

By Elliot Weld

The Federal Circuit has been asked to have another look at a decision that largely reversed a California federal jury verdict that awarded $18.3 million to International Medical Devices Inc. in a trade secret case related to penile implants.

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Colo. Co. Seeks More Boeing Discovery In NASA IP Fight

By Zach Dupont

A Colorado aerospace company claimed The Boeing Co. has failed to disclose numerous witnesses and records through discovery in the company's lawsuit accusing Boeing of stealing its patented technology to use on NASA's Artemis moon exploration program, according to a motion to compel filed in Washington federal court Monday.

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Brief

Pac-12 Reaches Deal With Mountain West In Exit Fee Suit

By David Steele

The Pac-12 and Mountain West conferences have settled their federal lawsuit over $55 million in "poaching" fees charged by Mountain West for luring its member schools away, the leagues have announced.

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Ex-Trader Says Crypto Co.'s Bid For Sanctions Is 'Unfounded'

By Hayley Fowler

A former trader said a cryptocurrency company is using an "unfounded" characterization of his deposition conduct to seek sanctions and lend credence to facts it hasn't otherwise been able to prove in its suit accusing him of usurping $8.1 million in digital assets.

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Realtor, Dispensary Say Other Shop Is Abusing RICO Claims

By Mike Curley

A realtor, a dispensary and its owner are urging an Illinois federal court to toss racketeering claims from another dispensary alleging they helped plan an illegal "raid," saying the complaint is abusing the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act process and fails to meet any of its pleading requirements.

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Davis Wright Adds Former Amazon Atty As Partner

By Rachel Riley

Davis Wright Tremaine LLP has recruited former Amazon in-house counsel Kevin Kramer to join its Seattle office, the law firm announced Tuesday, highlighting his track record of representing the e-commerce giant in consumer class actions and other commercial disputes.

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Becoming The Biz-Savvy GC That Portfolio Companies Need

Candidates for general counsel roles at private equity-backed portfolio companies should prioritize proving their sector-specific experience, commercial judgment and ease with uncertainty — and attorneys hoping to be candidates in five to 10 years should start working on those skills now, says Dimitri Mastrocola at Major Lindsey.

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OpenAI Says ChatGPT Misuse Is Users' Responsibility

By Emily Sawicki

OpenAI has asked a federal judge in Chicago to end an insurance company's suit alleging it practices law without a license, arguing the complaint should be directed toward individuals who misuse the company's ChatGPT bot to file faulty motions, and not the generative AI platform itself.

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2 Fla. County Courts Requiring AI Disclosure In Court Filings

By Sarah Martinson

Two Florida circuit courts in Miami-Dade and Broward counties are requiring attorneys and self-represented litigants to disclose when they use generative text tools to prepare their court filings and to certify they checked the generated content for accuracy.

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2nd Circ. Pick Questioned At Hearing On Role As Trump Lawyer

By Courtney Bublé

Matthew Schwartz, a nominee for the Second Circuit, was questioned by Democratic senators Wednesday about whether his current job as the president's personal attorney while his nomination process is underway poses a conflict of interest.

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Atty Withdrawals Not Limited To Fee Conflicts, ABA Says

By Emily Sawicki

Lawyers whose clients fail to hold up their end of valid engagement agreements are clear to cease their representation, so long as certain criteria are met, according to the American Bar Association's ethics committee's latest guidance, published Wednesday.

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Comey Wants Arraignment Pushed For Dismissal Bid

By Phillip Bantz

Former FBI Director James Comey asked a North Carolina federal court Wednesday to postpone his arraignment on charges alleging he threatened President Donald Trump, telling a judge that he is preparing to seek to have the case thrown out on constitutional grounds.

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Mich. Supreme Court Mulls Remote Court Access Rules

By Susan Smiley

The Michigan Supreme Court held administrative hearings on Wednesday concerning several proposed amendments to Michigan court rules, including adding more specific guidelines for remote hearings, making language services free for civil cases, and allowing law students and recent law graduates to appear on behalf of indigent people in all Michigan courts.

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Hagens Berman Says Apple Smear Job Can't Stop Withdrawal

By Bonnie Eslinger

Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP urged a California federal judge to allow one of its named plaintiffs to withdraw from an Apple iCloud antitrust case, saying Apple Inc.'s filed opposition is rife with "misdirection and ad hominin" attacks and not about the merits of the dispute but "smearing opposing counsel."

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