10th Circ. Lifts Block On New NCAA Eligibility Rule

By Elaine Briseño

The Tenth Circuit on Friday reversed a lower court's preliminary decision that would have granted another year of eligibility to thousands of NCAA athletes, finding that the trial judge erred by defining the relevant market for antitrust review as all Division I athletics in the United States.

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Morgan Stanley Says Deal Near In VRDO Rate-Rigging Suit

By Jon Hill

Morgan Stanley has informed investors that a tentative settlement has been reached in a New York federal court class action accusing major banks of rigging interest rates on municipal debt securities known as variable rate demand obligations.

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PVC Pipe Buyers Cut Deals Totaling $212.5M In Price-Fix Fight

By Dorothy Atkins

Direct PVC pipe buyers asked an Illinois federal judge Thursday to preliminarily approve settlements totaling $212.5 million with five manufacturers in consolidated price-fixing litigation, which would more than double the $200 million recovery for direct purchasers already approved in the litigation.

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College Hoops Star's Return Blocked Despite Win In Court

By Chris Villani

A Missouri judge granted a fifth year of eligibility to basketball star Robbie Avila, a bespectacled forward for Saint Louis University who briefly suited up for the Los Angeles Lakers' Summer League squad, but his return to the Billikens was blocked Friday by the College Sports Commission. 

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DOJ Antitrust Unit Probing Packaging Industry

By Matthew Perlman

The U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division has issued grand jury subpoenas to several paper and packaging companies, including Packaging Corporation of America and International Paper, according to securities filings.

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Glenmark's $30M Drug Price-Fixing Deal Gets Final OK

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A Connecticut federal judge has granted final approval to a $29.6 million settlement between dozens of states and Glenmark Pharmaceuticals that resolves claims accusing the company of conspiring with competitors to drive up drug prices.

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Analysis

Dem Takeover Points To Reset On College Sports Legislation

By Alex Lawson

The looming Democratic takeover of both congressional chambers signals doom for quick action on college sports oversight, with a crowded calendar and the new majority's wishes to reshape the legislation emerging as roadblocks to a Senate-approved bill.

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Fox Closes $22B Roku Deal Guided By Weil, Goodwin, Axinn

By Dorothy Atkins

Fox Corp. completed its $22 billion purchase of smart-TV maker Roku Inc. Friday in a deal guided by Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP, Goodwin Procter LLP and Axinn LLP, shortly after the U.S. Department of Justice said it closed its monthslong, in-depth antitrust investigation into the deal.

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Roundup

Taxation With Representation: Wilson Sonsini, Fenwick

By Zak Kostro

In this week's Taxation With Representation, Marvell Technology buys data center optics maker Lumentum, defense technology company Shield acquires radar company Echodyne, and CVS Health plans to split into two independent, publicly traded companies.

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Medtronic Hit With Antitrust Suit Over Surgical Stapler

By Gianna Ferrarin

Medical device giant Medtronic Inc. is unlawfully monopolizing the market for a type of medical stapler by blocking competitive product trials and using exclusionary bundling tactics in its deals with hospital customers, according to a rival's complaint in Massachusetts federal court.

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Delta Seeks To Ground Wash. Noncompete Disclosure Lawsuit

By Ben Adlin

Delta Air Lines Inc. urged a Washington federal judge to throw out a worker's lawsuit accusing the airline of concealing the terms of noncompetition restrictions from job applicants until after they had accepted job offers, contending that Washington law doesn't allow damages for the claims and that the provisions don't count as covenants.

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Consumers Want State-Law Amazon Pricing Case Unpaused

By Matthew Perlman

Consumers accusing Amazon of violating various state antitrust and consumer protection laws with its seller pricing rules are asking a New York federal court to unpause their case, following a class certification ruling in a similar action.

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Hemp Interests Say Illinois Law Impedes Interstate Commerce

By Sam Reisman

A coalition of hemp industry interests have filed a new lawsuit in Illinois federal court challenging a new state hemp policy that they allege is unconstitutional.

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NYC Power Act May Spur Algorithmic Pricing And Other Suits

New York City’s proposed Power Act would create a private right of action for unfair, deceptive, abusive and unlawful practices, broadening litigation exposure for businesses using algorithmic and other types of pricing technology, though its path to enactment still remains uncertain, say attorneys at Skadden.

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Opinion

Judges Must Turn To Merits Earlier To Fix Civil Justice System

The U.S. justice system is long overdue for a cultural shift that encourages judges to engage with the merits of a case from the outset, which would help to cut through procedural complexities and deliver high-quality justice efficiently and at lower cost, says Steven Kayman at Rottenberg Lipman.

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Are You Happy With Your In-House Role? Take Our Survey

Is your company giving you everything you need to succeed? What are some misconceptions about working in-house? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's In-House Satisfaction Survey.

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Squire Patton, Baker McKenzie Hit With Data Breach Suits

By Rae Ann Varona

Squire Patton Boggs LLP and Baker McKenzie failed to protect private personal information stored in the law firms' systems from separate cyberattacks and delayed notifying affected individuals for roughly two months, two proposed class actions filed in Ohio and Illinois federal courts have alleged.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Susman Godfrey LLP, Langer Grogan & Diver PC, Hausfeld LLP and MoloLamken LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Ninth Circuit ruled that a former federal judge erred by scrapping a $4.7 billion jury verdict against the National Football League in a class action over the price of its Sunday Ticket broadcast package.

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Judge Kewalramani Warns Against Taking Sanctions Lightly

By Dani Kass

Retired U.S. Magistrate Judge Shashi Kewalramani on Friday cautioned patent attorneys to be extremely discerning when filing sanctions motions, comparing it to crying "fire" in a crowded room.

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Brief

US Legal Sector Jobs Reached Record High In October

By Tracey Read

The legal industry's hot streak continued last month, adding 2,400 more jobs in October to reach a record high, according to seasonally adjusted data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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US Charges 3 Over $129M AI Scam Using Fake UK Lawyers

By Laura Stewart Liberty

U.S. prosecutors said Thursday they have charged three men, including one facing extradition from London, for allegedly defrauding companies of $129 million through a scheme that used AI to impersonate executives and U.K. lawyers.

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Defeated Texas Justice Being Considered For Federal Bench

By Courtney Bublé

With the clock ticking on Republicans' control of the Senate, President Donald Trump is considering putting a Texas Supreme Court justice who just lost reelection on the federal bench.

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Attys Can Curb AI Error Fallout With Candor, Accountability

By Andrea Keckley

Nearly four years since ChatGPT launched and the legal industry began experimenting at scale with generative artificial intelligence, not a month goes by without another attorney finding a hallucination error in a court filing.

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Top Blanche Adviser Among Latest To Exit DOJ

By Jared Foretek

A top legal adviser to U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche announced his departure from the U.S. Department of Justice Friday, becoming the latest in a slew of high-profile resignations from the department since Republicans' midterm election defeat Tuesday night.

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Ice Miller Sued Over $729K Award After Losing Federal Forum

By Andrea Keckley

A couple who hired Ice Miller LLP to defend their organization against a breach of contract suit have accused the firm in Indiana federal court of exposing them to additional litigation with a settlement that failed to preserve federal jurisdiction over future disputes.

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Law Firm Sues Sierra Leone Over $361K Legal Bill

By Jared Foretek

Law firm Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman PC claims in a complaint filed in D.C. federal court that Sierra Leone's government stiffed it on more than $300,000 in legal fees and costs after the firm defended it against earlier claims of unpaid fees by Jenner & Block.

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Mich. Supreme Court Chief Next To Lead Chief Justice Group

By Melanie Dorsey

The Michigan Supreme Court's chief justice has been named president-elect of the Conference of Chief Justices, a national organization representing the highest-ranking state judicial officers, and she plans to focus on expanding access to legal services, reforming attorney licensing and strengthening courthouse security.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

The U.S. Department of Justice's new cash rewards program for tips on criminal fraud could backfire in some cases, experts say. Elsewhere, attorneys are weighing new strategies in the wake of Texas' historic blue shift during the midterm elections. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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