FTC's Ferguson: Don't Fight New Fed. Courts Merger Policy

By Bryan Koenig

Federal Trade Commission Chairman Andrew Ferguson on Tuesday warned companies that fighting the FTC's shift to challenging mergers exclusively in federal court risks making "your life more difficult."

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Oil Cos. Escape Mich. Climate Change Antitrust Suit

By Keith Goldberg

A federal judge on Tuesday nixed a lawsuit from Michigan accusing global oil and gas giants of conspiring for decades to delay the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy, ruling the allegations do not amount to valid antitrust claims.

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Alphabet's Bid To Pare Ad Tech Suit Stalls Over Discovery

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge rejected Alphabet's bid for partial summary judgment, saying the Google parent must first comply with a class of investors' discovery requests prompted by the company's motion in litigation claiming CEO Sundar Pichai made a false statement to Congress about whether the company's ad auctions favor Facebook.

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No Play For NCAA Athletes Challenging Eligibility Rule

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A Philadelphia judge has denied a request by 15 college athletes who graduated from high school in 2022 for an order allowing them to participate in college sports while they challenge their exclusion from a new NCAA rule granting five years of eligibility for competition.

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Flyers Tell 9th Circ. Alaska-Hawaiian Merger Eroding Service

By Linda Chiem

Airline customers have told the Ninth Circuit that Alaska Airlines' 2024 acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines eroded consumer choice on numerous routes, and that a district court improperly dismissed their antitrust lawsuit with premature and flawed findings that cannot be allowed to stand.

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CMA Seeks Views On Kone's €29.4B Deal For German Rival

By Najiyya Budaly

The antitrust authority said Tuesday it is seeking initial views on whether Finnish lift engineering giant Kone's planned €29.4 billion ($33.7 billion) acquisition of TK Elevator GmbH could harm competition in the U.K.

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DC Judge Tosses Okla. Tribes' Gaming Compact Challenge

By Crystal Owens

A D.C. district court judge has handed the federal government a summary judgment win in a challenge by four tribes in a long-running dispute over gaming compacts, finding that the Indigenous nations failed to show they have standing.

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Wi-Fi Calling Antitrust Suit Sent To Arbitration

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

A D.C. federal judge is requiring a general subscriber class of consumers to arbitrate their claims that AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile are offering free Wi-Fi calling service as part of a conspiracy to monopolize the Wi-Fi calling market.

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Consumers Seek To Add AAA Financial Ties To Monopoly Suit

By Corey Rothauser

Consumers pursuing a proposed antitrust class action against the American Arbitration Association have asked an Arizona federal judge to let them expand their allegations, saying the provider's financial relationships with corporate customers call into question its advertised independence and give it incentives to preserve exclusive arbitration arrangements.

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Christmas Tree Co. Must Face Claims Over Deal with Amazon

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

The Eleventh Circuit has revived an antitrust claim alleging National Christmas Products entered into agreements with Amazon in 2020 that inflated the prices of artificial Christmas trees.

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Juul Buyers Defend Antitrust Classes At 9th Circ.

By Matthew Perlman

Juul buyers are defending the certification of several classes in a case over tobacco giant Altria's past investment in the e-cigarette company, telling the Ninth Circuit it does not matter if they purchased different quantities on different terms or live in different states.

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Ex-Nuclear Power Workers Ask To Amend Wage-Fixing Suit

By Clara Geoghegan

Former nuclear plant workers are asking a Maryland federal court to let them refile a proposed class action, saying they have new, direct evidence that companies worked together to fix wages in the nuclear energy industry.

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Vape Purchasers Say MDL Complaint Shows Price-Fix Scheme

By Mike Curley

Direct purchasers of vaping products are defending their amended complaint in multidistrict litigation alleging that a Chinese vape company conspired with its distributors to fix prices, saying new allegations in their latest complaint show there was more at work in the arrangement than "ordinary" business dealings.

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Pot Shop Seeks Summary Judgment In Jushi Antitrust Suit

By Jonathan Capriel

There is simply no way cannabis giant Jushi Holdings Inc. can justify tempting the sellers of a dispensary with a $10 million bonus provided they keep a rival out of town, a would-be Massachusetts operator argued, telling a federal court that the provision is "naked" anticompetitive behavior.

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Big Tech Backs Samsung At Fed. Circ. Over Patent Injunctions

By Dani Kass

Top technology companies and various industry groups have urged the Federal Circuit to deny Collision Communications an injunction after the patent owner's $445.5 million infringement verdict against Samsung, saying an injunction would undermine U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

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Ga. Justices Mull Reviving Injury Firm Client Solicitation Suit

By Kelcey Caulder

Georgia's justices pressed a personal injury law firm Tuesday on whether an attorney's racketeering case accusing it of using confidential crash reports to land clients was rightly dismissed, hinting that the lower courts might have held the claims to too high a bar.

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Womble Bond Can't Quit Dutch Client With TM Trial Looming

By Hayley Fowler

Womble Bond Dickinson can't withdraw from a trademark feud that's dragged on for more than five years between U.S. and Dutch software companies, a North Carolina federal judge ruled, saying the firm's exit at this late stage "would be completely disruptive."

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Brief

Morrison Foerster Adds Former DOJ Official To Roster

By Nadia Dreid

Morrison Foerster LLP is getting a new investigation and white collar defense partner fresh from the U.S. Department of Justice, where the attorney has spent more than a decade honing his legal chops, the firm has announced.

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4 Paths To AI Safety Coordination Amid Antitrust Debate

Frontier artificial intelligence companies have more room for collective safety work than the debate over an antitrust waiver suggests, with several existing avenues providing different degrees of protection and oversight, says Evan Miller at V&E.

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Seyfarth Says Data Breach Exposed Social Security Numbers

By Hailey Konnath

Seyfarth Shaw LLP has disclosed a recent data breach that exposed the names and Social Security numbers of at least 300 individuals, according to notices filed with the Texas and California attorneys general.

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Meta Flaunts 'Abuse' Of Atty-Client Privilege, Judge Told

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge ordered Meta on Tuesday to rereview privilege designations on 300 documents in social media addiction litigation, after plaintiffs' lawyers cited a "culture of privilege abuse" epitomized by Instagram swag hats embroidered with "a/c priv" — the shorthand used to log withheld documents.

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Mich. Fed. Judge On 1-Year Leave Over Drunken Driving Case

By Jack Karp

U.S. District Judge Thomas L. Ludington is taking a one-year paid leave of absence from the bench following his misdemeanor conviction for drunken driving, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan announced Tuesday.

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