3rd Circ. Restores NCAA Junior-College Eligibility Rule

By Matthew Santoni

An NCAA rule that includes junior colleges when determining a college athlete's eligibility is a "commercial" restriction, but a Rutgers University football player must go back to court and define the market for his labor if he wants to argue the rule violates antitrust law, the Third Circuit said Tuesday.

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DOJ Fights Bid To Nix Agri Stats Antitrust Case Ahead Of Trial

By Matthew Perlman

The U.S. Department of Justice told a Minnesota federal court that Agri Stats has been helping chicken, pork and turkey producers exchange sensitive information for decades, as government enforcers opposed the company's bid to end their information-sharing case ahead of trial.

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FTC, Ticket Resellers Look To Toss Dueling BOTS Act Cases

By Matthew Perlman

Ticket brokers have asked to toss the Federal Trade Commission's case accusing them of bypassing Ticketmaster limits to buy and resell hundreds of thousands of concert tickets, while the commission asked to nix a preemptive case seeking to block the enforcement action.

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Live Nation Trims But Can't Shake Off Taylor Swift Fans' Suit

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge has tossed for good negligence and fraud claims from a lawsuit by hundreds of Taylor Swift fans who allege Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and Ticketmaster LLC's anticompetitive conduct caused the Eras tour ticket sale "disaster," but kept alive breach of contract and antitrust claims.

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Tenn. Judge OKs $141M In RealPage Landlord Settlements

By Isaac Monterose

A Tennessee federal judge has preliminarily approved $141.8 million worth of class settlements for antitrust claims lodged against landlords that allegedly used RealPage Inc.'s revenue management software to fix rent prices for residential properties.

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Medical AI Co. Accused Of 'Smear Campaign' Against Rivals

By Julie Manganis

Two rivals of medical artificial intelligence platform OpenEvidence have told a Massachusetts federal judge the startup has used the courts in a campaign of "deceit, harassment and defamation" against competitors.

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John Deere Rival Can't Appeal Info Safeguards In FTC Case

By Lauraann Wood

A Deere & Co. competitor looking to shield confidential information it produced for a U.S. Federal Trade Commission right-to-repair investigation from related multidistrict litigation targeting Deere cannot tap the Seventh Circuit to resolve legal questions surrounding its failed protective order request, an Illinois federal judge said.

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UnitedHealth Gets OptumRx Antitrust Suit Sent To Arbitration

By Rachel Riley

A group of independent pharmacies must arbitrate their proposed class claims that UnitedHealth-owned OptumRx gatekeeps its network of Medicare prescription patients by imposing unfair fees, a Washington federal judge said Tuesday, concluding the pharmacies haven't shown the arbitration clauses in question are unenforceable.

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Yardi Looks To Calif. Win In Wash. Rent-Fixing Suit

By Grace Dixon

Yardi Systems Inc. told a Washington federal court that source code it turned over confirms that its revenue management software doesn't rely on confidential competitor data, echoing defenses that led to one of the first defeats of algorithmic rent-setting antitrust suits.

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Insurance Broker Says Competitor Stole Employees, Clients

By Hope Patti

The parent company of insurance brokerage Trucordia told the Delaware Chancery Court on Monday that it has lost more than $2.5 million in annual commission revenue because a Florida-based competitor is trying to poach Trucordia's employees and clients in coordination with a former insurance producer and current equity holder.

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TextNow Accuses NC Rival Of Exploiting Its Trademark

By Abigail Harrison

Canadian text and calling service company TextNow Inc. accused a U.S. competitor of willfully infringing on its lucrative trademarks via websites, advertising and a mobile app, according to a lawsuit filed in North Carolina federal court.

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Considerations When Invoking The Common-Interest Privilege

To successfully leverage the common-interest doctrine in a multiparty transaction or complex litigation, practitioners should be able to demonstrate that the parties intended for it to apply, that an underlying privilege like attorney-client has attached, and guard against disclosures that could waive privilege and defeat its purpose, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

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Bonus Spotlight

Magic Circle Firms Enchant Associates With Top-Tier Bonuses

By Tracey Read

U.S. associates at Linklaters LLP and Clifford Chance LLP have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season, as the Magic Circle firms Wednesday became the latest to match the BigLaw standard for this year's associate bonuses.

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Analysis

After Big Win For 2 Trump Foes, A Third Faces 'Tougher Job'

By Phillip Bantz

The recent dismissal of federal criminal charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI director James Comey does little to help President Donald Trump's ex-national security adviser John Bolton, whose defense in a classified-materials case presents a thornier set of legal and factual issues, experts say.

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Roundup

Up Next At High Court: ISP Liability & State Subpoena Suits

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court will return Monday for the first week of its December oral argument session, during which the justices will consider whether internet service providers can be held liable for contributing to their customers' infringing activity online and whether the subjects of state subpoenas are required to first challenge them in state court. 

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Interview

For Covington's Adrian Perry, Music Is A Family Affair

By Theresa Schliep

Despite having a famous rock star dad, Covington & Burling LLP partner Adrian J. Perry wasn't all that interested in being a musician as a young child, but he knew as early as 6 years old that he wanted to be a lawyer.

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Analysis

Calif. Privacy Agency Gaining Steam Ahead Of 5th Anniversary

By Allison Grande

California's data privacy regulator has taken several notable steps in recent months, including handing down its first penalty upward of $1 million dollars and finalizing long-awaited rules on topics such as cybersecurity audits and technologies that use artificial intelligence, and the groundbreaking agency shows no signs of slowing down as its fifth anniversary approaches. 

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Split 6th Circ. Shields Baker Donelson, Not City Councilman

By Matt Perez

In a published opinion, the Sixth Circuit has found that Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC is shielded by qualified immunity as outside counsel for the city of Nashville in litigation over the law firm's firing of a city election commission chair and member of the firm.

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Foley & Lardner Hit With Malpractice Suit Over Chancery Loss

By Rose Krebs

Foley & Lardner LLP has been sued in Delaware Superior Court by three officers of a now-defunct food recycling company who say the firm was negligent when representing them in a Chancery Court case that led to a $1.6 million judgment against them and another officer.

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DOJ Asks Court If It Can Release Epstein Files Under New Law

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking a New York federal court's permission to publicly release the files related to the investigation of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, clarifying Wednesday that it wants to release search warrant results, travel and financial records, police reports, and other materials.

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Keesal Young Poaching Suit Against Stradley Ronon Trimmed

By Madison Arnold

A California state judge cleared Keesal Young & Logan to pursue most of its lawsuit alleging Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young crossed the line when it recruited 10 former Keesal Young attorneys, finding that claims such as inducing breach of contract could move forward, in part, because of conversations among the attorneys.

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DOJ Says Ex-Employees Can't Challenge Firings In Fed. Court

By Rose Krebs

The government says a D.C. federal court lacks jurisdiction to adjudicate a lawsuit filed by a former assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted defendants charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and two other ex-Department of Justice employees, alleging they were unlawfully fired.

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Hub Hires: Todd & Weld, Freshfields, Shipman

By Julie Manganis

It was a busy November in Boston's legal community as another firm expanded into the market, and a longtime judge traded his gavel for the ability to address his growing concerns about the Trump administration.

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