Chief Justice Pauses FTC Commissioner's Reinstatement

By Matthew Perlman

Chief Justice John Roberts issued an order Monday temporarily staying the reinstatement of Democratic Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter while the Trump administration fights to bring a case challenging her removal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

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9th Circ. Denies CoStar's Bid To Rehear Antitrust Ruling

By Nate Beck

A Ninth Circuit panel rejected a call to revisit the court's June decision reviving claims alleging that real estate information service CoStar monopolizes several commercial real estate listing markets through exclusive deals with brokers and technological barriers for competitors.

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Google Tells Judge Not To Break Up Ad Tech Biz

By Bryan Koenig

Google has urged a Virginia federal judge not to impose the "severe, counterproductive, and unprecedented remedy" of breaking up its advertising placement technology business, and has pushed its own proposed fixes over those sought by the U.S. Department of Justice in the upcoming monopoly remedies trial.

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Dem Sens., AGs Increase Pressure On DOJ's HPE Merger Deal

By Bryan Koenig

The controversial Justice Department settlement clearing Hewlett Packard Enterprise's $14 billion purchase of Juniper Networks drew further pushback from Democratic senators and state attorneys general who respectively sought answers from U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi and told a California federal judge to reject the deal.

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Governing Body To Pay Swimmers $4.6M In Antitrust Deal

By Matthew Perlman

World Aquatics will pay swimmers $4.6 million for missed events in a settlement ending their antitrust case accusing the sport's international governing body of organizing a group boycott against an upstart league, while the new league's case remains slated for a January trial.

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NBA Taps Wachtell To Probe Possible Cap Scam By Clippers

By David Steele

Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz, which has led two previous probes into misconduct by NBA franchises that pushed their owners to sell the teams, has been retained by the league to investigate reported circumvention of the salary cap for superstar Kawhi Leonard by the Los Angeles Clippers.

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FCC Nears 4-Year Review Of Media Ownership Regs

By Christopher Cole

Fresh off an Eighth Circuit decision that undercut a key rule limiting companies from controlling multiple broadcast stations in the same market, the FCC will vote this month on launching its required four-year review of media ownership rules.

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4 Firms Build EchoStar's $17B Spectrum Sale To SpaceX

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Telecommunications company EchoStar on Monday announced plans to sell some of its spectrum licenses to Elon Musk-owned SpaceX in a $17 billion cash-and-stock deal built by four firms, following its sale a few weeks ago of certain wireless spectrum licenses to AT&T in a $23 billion deal.

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Brief

FCC Ready To Kick Off Review Of Cox-Charter Deal

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission has set into motion its public interest review of the $34.5 billion deal to combine Charter Communications Inc. and Cox Communications into a powerhouse offering broadband, video and mobile services.

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CMA Probes Bathroom Co.'s Takeover Of Norwegian Biz

By Dawood Fakhir

The U.K. competition watchdog said Monday it has started a formal inquiry into the proposed acquisition of Norway-based wall panels maker Fibo Holding AS by branded bathroom products maker Norcros PLC for 618 million Norwegian kroner ($62 million).

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5th Circ. Reinstates $2.4M Award In Hair Product Co.'s IP Suit

By Elliot Weld

The Fifth Circuit has restored a $2.4 million jury award to a hair product company in its trademark infringement trial win over a rival, ruling a district court judge was wrong to throw out the verdict and the company had shown evidence the infringement hurt its business.

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Court Says Claim For Coverage Declaration Is Untimely

By Ganesh Setty

A wiring manufacturer demanding coverage from a Nationwide unit for nearly $32 million in outstanding defense costs over claims it violated federal bribery and accounting laws filed its claim for declaratory judgment too late, a Delaware federal court ruled, pointing to the state's three-year statute of limitations for contract-related actions.

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Ex-Franchisee: College Biz Suit A 'Play For Leverage'

By Abigail Harrison

A lawsuit accusing a college consultant of breaching a contract with a former franchising company is nothing more than a "play for leverage" in an ongoing legal battle crossing state lines, consultant Gurpartap "Sunny" Grewal told a North Carolina federal court Friday.

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Groups' Exxon Plastic Recycling Nuisance Claims Can Proceed

By Emily Field

A California federal judge ruled Friday that environmental groups can move forward with their public-nuisance claims accusing Exxon Mobil Corp. of knowingly fueling the state's plastic pollution crisis, rejecting the energy company's contention that the suit is merely a disguised product liability case.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Sydney Price and Jeff Montgomery

Last week at the Delaware Court of Chancery, a bankruptcy administrator for a generic drugmaker formerly known as Teligent was told he can proceed with duty of oversight claims against most former officers and directors of the company, who the administrator said was complicit in the company's collapse. In an opinion, the Court of Chancery cites its 1996 decision In re Caremark International Inc. Derivative Litigation, which refined director duties of care and oversight.

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FCC To Examine Impact Of State, Local Wireline Rules

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission plans to take a closer look at federal preemption of state and local rules that could impede the deployment of wireline telecom and broadband service.

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FTC, CoStar Cases Against Zillow May Have Broad Impact

Zillow's partnerships with Redfin and Realtor.com have recently triggered dual fronts of legal scrutiny — an antitrust inquiry from the Federal Trade Commission and a mass copyright infringement suit from CoStar — raising complex questions that reach beyond real estate, says Shubha Ghosh at Syracuse University College of Law.

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Kennedys Lands Ex-Bullivant Houser Team In Seattle

By Matt Perez

U.K.-based law firm Kennedys, which opened a Seattle office less than a year ago, announced Tuesday the hiring of an eight-person insurance and litigation team formerly of Bullivant Houser Bailey PC.

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Feds, State Push Fla. Justices To Reject Bondi Ethics Probe

By Madison Arnold

The federal government and the state of Florida both threw their support behind the Florida Bar and its decision not to investigate U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi for alleged unethical conduct, calling a Sunshine State lawyer's attempt to force an investigation "lawfare."

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'Whiz Honor' Judge Accused Of Trying To Sway Sentencing

By James Boyle

A Philadelphia judge under investigation for ethics violations related to the promotion of his wife's cheesesteak shop faces new disciplinary charges over allegations that he attempted to influence a fellow judge's sentencing decision for an associate of rapper Meek Mill.

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Demystifying The Civil Procedure Rules Amendment Process

Every year, an advisory committee receives dozens of proposals to amend the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, most of which are never adopted — but a few pointers can help maximize the likelihood that an amendment will be adopted, says Josh Gardner at DLA Piper.

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Career SEC Attorney Joins Latham's DC Finance Practice

By Jack Rodgers

Latham & Watkins LLP has hired the former chief of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of Structured Finance, who is joining the firm after more than 20 years at the agency, to work with those structured finance clients.

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Ex-CFTC Atty Presses Religious Bias Claim At 2nd Circ.

By Frank G. Runyeon

A former Commodity Futures Trading Commission lawyer urged an inquisitive panel of the Second Circuit Tuesday to revive the religious discrimination claims he brought alleging a "gag order" effectively banned him from praying with a friend who was serving as the agency watchdog at the time.

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