Senate Panel Presses DOJ Antitrust Pick On Independence

By Matthew Perlman

President Donald Trump's pick to lead the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division, Adam Candeub, faced tough questions Wednesday during a U.S. Senate confirmation hearing, where several Democrats challenged his independence.

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Revive Rx Can't End Eli Lilly's Suit Over Tirzepatide Drugs

By Ivan Moreno

A Texas federal judge has denied Revive Rx's bid to end Eli Lilly and Co.'s remaining unfair competition claims over the compounding pharmacy's sales of allegedly unapproved tirzepatide weight loss drugs that Eli Lilly says compete with Mounjaro and Zepbound, rejecting Revive's argument that compounded drugs fall outside state "new drug" laws.

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DOJ Pulls ISS Letter, Signals Possible Antitrust Enforcement

By Sarah Jarvis

The Justice Department's Antitrust Division signaled Wednesday that it may take enforcement action against Institutional Shareholder Services, withdrawing a 1987 letter stating the division would not do so and flagging "significant competition concerns" about the concentration of proxy advisory market power.

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Judge Backs Magistrate Judge's Order On 3rd-Party NIL Deals

By Ganesh Setty

A California federal judge said she won't reverse a magistrate judge's decision rejecting a bid by college athletes seeking to limit oversight of third-party name, image and likeness deals under their landmark $2.78 billion class settlement with the NCAA.

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Aetna, Others Hit Pharma Cos. With Xifaxan Pay-To-Delay Suit

By P.J. D'Annunzio

Health insurance companies Aetna Inc., Health Care Service Corp. and Molina Inc. have sued multiple pharmaceutical companies in Pennsylvania state court in Pittsburgh, alleging that the defendants conspired to delay the release of generic versions of the irritable bowel syndrome drug Xifaxan, in violation of antitrust laws.

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Rising Star: Simpson Thacher's Lindsey Bohl

By MJ Koo

Lindsey Bohl of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP served as second chair in a bench trial that defeated the Federal Trade Commission's bid to block a $5 billion mattress industry merger and brokered a settlement that cleared the way for a $3.3 billion home health company acquisition, earning her a spot among the competition attorneys under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

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Google £5B Search Ads Class Action Gets Green Light

By Ronan Barnard

Google will face an estimated £5 billion ($7 billion) opt-out class action over allegations it inflated search advertising prices, as the Competition Appeal Tribunal ruled Wednesday that the case can proceed on behalf of almost 900,000 U.K. advertisers.

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Drug Cos. Can't Trim Humana's Price-Fix Claims In Bellwether

By Craig Clough

A Pennsylvania federal judge on Tuesday denied a bid by a number of generic drug manufacturers to dismiss two antitrust claims brought by health insurer Humana Inc. from an upcoming bellwether trial in long-running antitrust multidistrict litigation, finding they were brought within the statute of limitations.

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Grocery Chains Accuse Refined Sugar Cos. Of Price-Fixing

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

Several grocery chains, including Albertsons and Kroger, have accused a group of refined sugar companies including Domino Sugar of conspiring to artificially raise the cost of refined sugar through a "give to get" arrangement.

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Takeda Says Rebates, Subsidies Cut $885M IBS Drug Verdict

By Bryan Koenig

Takeda Pharmaceuticals battled with a class of health plans over whether a Massachusetts federal jury's $885 million antitrust verdict against the drugmaker for conspiring to delay generic competition to anticonstipation drug Amitiza should be reduced by rebates the drugmaker paid and Medicare subsidies that reduced the health plans' costs.

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Judge Tosses 'Free' Wi-Fi Calling Fraud Claim Against Carriers

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. federal judge blasted a Wi-Fi-calling patent holder's antitrust and RICO suit against the major telecom carriers in court Wednesday, dismissing claims that the carriers misled consumers about their Wi-Fi calling offerings, but he did give the plaintiff a chance to refile its antitrust complaint.

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CREXi Wants 9th Circ. To Undo Quinn Emanuel CoStar Row DQ

By Bryan Koenig

Commercial Real Estate Exchange Inc. doesn't want to replace Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP after a California federal judge disqualified the firm from defending a copyright infringement suit by CoStar, seeking Ninth Circuit intervention and a pause on the district court case.

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Fed. Circ. Told Injunction Against Samsung Is Warranted

By Adam Lidgett

Collision Communications Inc. wants the Federal Circuit to undo a Texas federal judge's decision denying its bid to block Samsung from selling products a jury found were infringing, saying the judge "went inexplicably astray" following the $445 million verdict.

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Bang Energy's Ex-CEO Gets Loan Approval To Fund Defense

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida bankruptcy judge approved a loan Wednesday for a company managed by Bang Energy founder Jack Owoc to allow him to fund his defense in litigation filed by the trustee overseeing the energy drinks manufacturer's bankrupt estate.

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Conn. Atty To Fork Over $3,500 For AI Errors In Taco TM Beef

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut federal judge imposed a $3,500 fine on a defense attorney who submitted two motions riddled with AI-generated mistakes in a taco restaurant's trademark battle, finding that although the lawyer expressed remorse and promised to make changes to his verification process, he still showed "subjective bad faith."

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Card Grading Merger Suit Tests Antitrust In Niche Market

Rasmussen v. Collectors Holdings, a class action pending in California federal court challenging the effects of a trading card grading company merger, reflects the elevation of trading cards from hobby collectibles to niche investment markets susceptible to classic antitrust injury theories, say attorneys at Kean Miller.

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How Does In-House Pay Compare? Take The Law360 Survey

How do in-house salaries vary across industries, roles, and organizational revenue? What compensation tools are companies using to lure top talent? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's In-House Compensation Survey.

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No Simpson Thacher Malpractice In PIPE Case, Jury Finds

By Madison Arnold

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP escaped a malpractice lawsuit late Thursday over its representation of Patriot National Inc. in a private investment in public equity transaction in the years before the company's downfall.

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Dems Slam Skadden's 'Nothing To See Here' Trump Deal Reply

By Hailey Konnath

Three Democratic lawmakers on Thursday criticized Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP's response to their request that the firm disclose details of its pro bono arrangement with the Trump administration, saying the firm's "three sentence letter essentially saying 'nothing to see here'" is "not going to cut it."

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New ABA Chief Seeks To 'Streamline' Org., Defend Democracy

By Emily Sawicki

The American Bar Association's new president, Barbara J. Howard, will focus on twin goals of defending democracy against expected unprecedented attacks associated with this year's midterm elections, while also reorganizing the association to run more efficiently, as she kicks off her one-year term this month.

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Richards Layton Under Fire Amid Bid To Avoid AI Sanctions

By Rose Krebs

A firm has asked a Delaware vice chancellor to allow it to submit more "factual information" regarding what it says are inconsistencies in Richards Layton & Finger PA's attempt to avoid sanctions for submitting a filing with errors generated by artificial intelligence.

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Analysis

The Dramatic Moments Set To Shape Tom Goldstein's Appeal

By Jeff Overley and Jared Foretek

Prurient revelations, brash recriminations and purportedly glaring judicial errors in Tom Goldstein's criminal case have captivated the appellate bar for nearly 19 months, and many of those moments will be center stage in the star attorney's imminent appeal.

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2nd Circ. Says Pillsbury Must Surrender $3.6M Retainer

By Jessica Corso

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP was ordered on Thursday to hand over a $3.6 million retainer it was paid to defend a client against criminal and civil fraud charges, with the Second Circuit upholding a ruling that the funds were part of an asset freeze order issued in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission case.

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Ex-GC Hijacked Accounts And Posted Klan Imagery, Suit Says

By Ben Adlin

A Washington state court granted a temporary restraining order Wednesday in a school fundraising company's lawsuit accusing its former general counsel of taking control of its social media accounts and allegedly replacing its LinkedIn photo with a manipulated image of its president in a Ku Klux Klan robe.

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Ex-Girardi Atty Gets Probation For Keeping Silent On Theft

By Lauraann Wood

A former Girardi Keese attorney was sentenced to one day time-served and two years of probation Thursday for staying quiet and failing to report disgraced plaintiff's attorney Tom Girardi's theft of millions of settlement dollars owed to Lion Air Flight 620 plane crash victims.

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Wash. Justices Offer Bar Waiver After July Exam Tech Failure

By Rachel Riley

The Washington State Supreme Court said Thursday it's offering to waive the bar exam requirement for first-time applicants who were unable to take the test last week due to an abrupt cancellation driven by technical issues at the Yakima Convention Center where it was scheduled to be administered.   

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Justices' FTC Ruling Weakens Qui Tam's Constitutional Base

The U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Trump v. Slaughter, expanding presidential control over those exercising executive power, suggests that courts may be receptive to arguments challenging the constitutional foundations of the False Claims Act’s qui tam mechanism, says Daniel Passeser at Wiggin.

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