Google Consumers' Attys Seek $85M In Fees For $700M Deal

By Rae Ann Varona

Attorneys who helped consumers reach a still-pending $700 million antitrust deal with Google in 2023 have urged a California federal judge to grant them $85 million in attorney fees, saying the settlement, reached alongside state attorneys general, was an "exceptional" result obtained in the "face of substantial litigation uncertainty."

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Judge Says Key DOJ Ad Tech Expert Has Little Experience

By Bryan Koenig

A Virginia federal judge signaled trouble ahead Monday for U.S. Department of Justice efforts to paint the sought breakup of Google's advertising placement technology business as technically feasible, asserting during a hearing that a key government witness appears to have little relevant experience to address the question.

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US, China Agree On TikTok Ownership Transfer, Bessent Says

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

The U.S. and China established a commercial framework for a deal with video sharing giant TikTok to transfer ownership of the app to the U.S., just days before a deadline to sell the app or shut it down, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent told reporters at a press conference in Madrid on Monday.

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Ch. 11 Plan Faces Blowback From 23andMe Breach Claimants

By Allison Grande

More than 30,000 individuals who elected to pursue arbitration rather than sign on to a proposed class settlement over a data breach at 23andMe are urging a Missouri bankruptcy judge to reject the DNA testing company's notice of its reorganization plan, arguing that the disclosure provides misleading and inflated information about the company's agreement with these claimants.

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Feds Say Surveillance Court Cleared Latest FISA Certifications

By Tom Lotshaw

A Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court judge approved the U.S. government's latest round of certifications to collect overseas intelligence on international terrorism, weapons of mass destruction and foreign governments, according to the Office of the Director of National Intelligence.

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Security Industry Group Calls 900 MHz Redo Idea Disruptive

By Christopher Cole

A security industry group warned the Federal Communications Commission that a revamp of lower 900 megahertz spectrum for an Earth-based broadband and GPS backup built by NextNav Inc. could disrupt an array of critical services.

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FTC Dem Urges Justices Not To Disturb Her Reinstatement

By Hailey Konnath

U.S. Federal Trade Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter on Monday asked the U.S. Supreme Court not to block her reinstatement, arguing lower courts were correct in finding that President Donald Trump violated the law when he removed the Democrat from her post without cause.

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Brief

FCC Knocks Provider Off Anti-Robocall Database For Lying

By Nadia Dreid

Yet another voice service provider has been blocked from U.S. networks after the Federal Communications Commission said that the company submitted false information to the agency's robocall mitigation database.

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Engineer Who Tried To Pass Secrets To Russia Gets 10½ Years

By Brian Steele

A onetime defense contractor who held national security clearances will spend more than a decade in prison after he admitted to trying to help Russia and disclosing information about U.S. fighter jets to an undercover FBI agent, federal prosecutors said Monday.

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Roblox Safety Failures Hurt Both Kids And Parents, Suit Says

By Hailey Konnath

Roblox's alleged safety failures not only endanger children, it forces parents to either abandon money they already spent on the gaming platform's digital currency or spend additional money on safety tools to protect children who continue to use it, according to a proposed class action filed in California federal court.

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Appeals Panel Says Wash. Spam Law Covers Recruiter Texts

By Rachel Riley

A Washington Court of Appeals panel said Monday that the state's commercial email prohibition extends to "text messages sent to further the growth or prosperity of a business," finding logistics company CRST broke the law by sending unsolicited recruitment texts to contractors.

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Insurance Agency Says It's Not Liable For Lack Of Coverage

By Ganesh Setty

An insurance agency told a Pennsylvania state court that it can't be held liable for a furniture company's roughly $534,000 cyber loss, arguing that under state law, there is "no common law duty to advise, inform, or recommend optional coverage to the insured."

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Ex-Epstein Prosecutor Maurene Comey Sues DOJ Over Firing

By Emily Sawicki

Maurene Comey, a former Manhattan federal prosecutor who brought high-profile criminal cases against the likes of Jeffrey Epstein and Sean "Diddy" Combs, sued the Justice Department on Monday alleging her abrupt July firing came "solely or substantially" because she is the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, a Trump critic.

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Tom Goldstein Can't Pay Attys With 'Tainted Funds,' DOJ Says

By Jeff Overley

Indicted appellate luminary Tom Goldstein cannot cover his legal bills by selling his multimillion-dollar home, because it's a "tainted asset" worth "far less" than his attorney fees, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a blistering court filing, adding that Goldstein may flee the country as his reputation and marriage collapse.

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Feds Urge 3rd Circ. To Restore NJ US Atty's Authority

By Emily Sawicki

The federal government has urged the Third Circuit to reverse a district court ruling disqualifying acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba from prosecuting two criminal cases in New Jersey after the clock allegedly ran out on her interim term, arguing that her appointment is valid and that the court erred in its interpretation of the statute.

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Calif. Court Issues AI Hallucinations 'Warning,' Sanctions Atty

By Y. Peter Kang

A California appeals court has issued a published opinion "as a warning" to Golden State attorneys to personally review case law quotations made by generative artificial intelligence, and imposed a $10,000 monetary sanction on plaintiff's counsel in an otherwise straightforward appeal in an employment case.

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Fired DOJ Deputy Says Lobbyists 'Playing Dangerous Game'

By Bryan Koenig

A former top Justice Department Antitrust Division deputy, allegedly fired for opposing the "pay-to-play" settlement clearing Hewlett Packard Enterprise's $14 billion purchase of Juniper Networks, had a warning Monday for the lobbyists he said made the deal possible: there are only so many times they can go over division leadership.

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Stradley Ronon Wants Keesal Young's Poaching Suit Tossed

By Emma Cueto

Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young LLP has moved to nix a suit by California firm Keesal Young & Logan, saying its recruitment of 10 former Keesal Young attorneys was entirely above board and that the noncompete clauses in Keesal Young's partnership agreement were not allowed under California law.

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FTC Commissioner Says Antitrust Moment Has Been Building

By Matthew Perlman

Federal Trade Commissioner Mark R. Meador said Monday the current interest in antitrust enforcement has been building for the last several decades as corporate boardrooms increasingly take control over the economic lives of Americans.

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3 Law Firms Want Ford's 'Thermonuclear' RICO Suit Snuffed

By Linda Chiem

Knight Law Group LLP, the Altman Law Group and Wirtz Law APC have urged a California federal judge to dismantle Ford Motor Co.'s racketeering lawsuit accusing the firms of overzealous billing and conspiring to dupe unsuspecting clients in product liability and personal injury cases against automakers.

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Software Co. Defends Contempt Order Against Womble Atty

By Abigail Harrison

A North Carolina federal court fairly held Womble Bond Dickinson partner Pressly Millen in contempt after he and his client made misrepresentations in a "parallel" trademark dispute abroad, U.S.-based software company Dmarcian Inc. told the Fourth Circuit on Friday.

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DC Circ. Says Fed's Cook Can Keep Job For Now

By Jon Hill

A D.C. Circuit panel said Monday that Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook can remain on the central bank's board while challenging President Donald Trump's effort to fire her, clearing the way for her to participate in a key interest-rate policy vote this week.

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Senate Confirms Top Trump Economist To Federal Reserve

By Jon Hill

The U.S. Senate narrowly confirmed top White House economist Stephen Miran to the Federal Reserve Board on Monday, giving President Donald Trump a close ally at the central bank as he pushes for greater control over the traditionally independent body.

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DC Circ. Won't Stay District Court's Order On Quick Removals

By Jared Foretek

The D.C. Circuit declined to stay a district judge's suspension of specific U.S. Department of Homeland Security actions implementing expedited removal of noncitizen parolees Friday, saying that the government faces no irreparable harm from the order because it has separate, pre-existing regulatory authority to quickly deport parolees.

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W.Va., Idaho Tell Justices Trans Sports Bans Based On Science

By Elaine Briseño

West Virginia and Idaho urged the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that courts should not use subjective preferences when analyzing whether laws that ban transgender athletes from competing on sports teams different from their sex assigned at birth violate the Constitution.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Katryna Perera and Jeff Montgomery

Delaware's governor weighed in on a challenge to recently approved state legislation that bars damages or "equitable" relief for some controlling stockholder or going-private deals. Meanwhile, Moelis told the Delaware Supreme Court that the struck-down stockholder agreement that triggered that legislation was valid. Additionally, one of two newly funded magistrates' posts in the Chancery Court has been filled.

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