Red Bull Faces EU Probe Over Market Abuse Allegations

By Ronan Barnard

The European Commission said Thursday that it had opened an antitrust probe into Red Bull GmbH, saying the energy drink giant may have abused its dominance over the market by trying to stop competing drinks from being sold at retailers.

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Gov't Funding Deal Ends SNAP Benefits Battle

By Matthew Santoni

President Donald Trump's signing of a government funding bill Wednesday rendered moot lawsuits seeking to make his administration tap emergency funds for food assistance benefits, the administration told the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday.

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Analysis

Hemp Policy At Crossroads After Government Reopening Bill

By Sam Reisman

Hemp industry advocates are pledging to use the one-year gap between enactment and implementation of the government funding agreement, which effectively recriminalized most hemp-derived THC products, to craft new regulatory legislation that stops short of a full ban.

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7th Circ. Judge Questions Pilgrim's Chicken Price-Fix Win

By Lauraann Wood

A Seventh Circuit judge seemed skeptical Thursday that a brief email acceptance and an unsigned agreement are enough to say Pilgrim's Pride had definitively settled chicken and other protein price-fixing claims with Sysco before a Burford Capital LLC unit picked them up to continue litigating.

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'Gray Market' Indian Snack Imports Get Temporarily Banned

By Ben Adlin

Indian snack food maker Haldiram's won a federal court order temporarily banning a food supplier in Washington state from importing or distributing its branded products over claims that the supplier repackaged and sold food not meant for sale in the U.S.

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Latin American Trade Deals With US Include Zero Tariff Rates

By Dylan Moroses

Latin American countries including El Salvador, Guatemala, Ecuador and Argentina committed to nontariff reductions for U.S. producers in exchange for a zero tariff rate on many imports not readily available in the U.S., under details of framework trade agreements the White House unveiled Thursday.

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Texas Coke Bottler Defeats Suit Over 401(k) Management

By Patrick Hoff

A Dallas Coca-Cola bottler escaped a proposed class action claiming it saddled its 401(k) plan with subpar investment options and misused forfeited retirement plan funds, with a Texas federal judge saying Thursday the workers' allegations were too flimsy to stay in court.

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Calif. Sheriff's Atty Sanctioned Over Discovery In Hemp Suit

By Mike Curley

A California federal judge has sanctioned an attorney for a California county and its sheriff's office over bad faith conduct during discovery in a suit over 500 acres of bulldozed hemp crop, saying the attorney's arguments against the sanction show a fundamental misunderstanding of his obligations.

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Tribe Scores Early Win Against Michigan Fruit Processor

By Joyce Hanson

A Michigan federal judge has ruled that a fruit-processing company illegally discharged millions of gallons of untreated wastewater into wetlands that feed Michigan's Grand Traverse Bay, granting an early win to a Native American tribe and two local environmental nonprofit groups.

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Judge Rejects NY Tribe's Bid To Revive Eel-Fishing Rights

By Crystal Owens

A New York federal judge won't reconsider a decision determining that members of the Shinnecock Indian Nation don't have aboriginal eel-fishing rights off Long Island free of state regulatory fees, saying their arguments lack merit and they can't point to any decisions or data that the court overlooked.

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Reel Justice: 'Roofman,' Modus Operandi Evidence And AI

The recent film “Roofman,” which dramatizes the real-life string of burglaries committed by Jeffrey Manchester, illuminates the legal standards required to support modus operandi evidence — which may soon become complicated by the use of artificial intelligence in crime series detection, says Veronica Finkelstein at Wilmington University School of Law.

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Series

Building With Lego Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Building with Lego has taught me to follow directions and adapt to unexpected challenges, and in pairing discipline with imagination, allows me to stay grounded while finding new ways to make complex deals come together, says Paul Levin at Venable.

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Coalition Rips Trump Deputy AG's Claim Of 'War' With Judges

By Rose Krebs

A group of former federal judges on Thursday condemned what they called "inflammatory remarks" last week by Deputy U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche detailing the U.S. Department of Justice's "war" with "rogue activist" judges.

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Interview

Ex-Judge Worries Top Court Will Be 'Timid' In Checking Trump

By Chris Villani

A Massachusetts federal judge who recently resigned to more openly speak out against the Trump administration told Law360 on Thursday he is concerned the U.S. Supreme Court will be unwilling to provide a constitutional check on presidential overreach.

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Anthropic Judge Rips Opt-Out Law Firm As 'Quick Buck' Ploy

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge on Thursday blasted Arizona law firm ClaimsHero Holdings LLC for encouraging authors to opt out of Anthropic PBC's $1.5 billion deal to end copyright infringement claims, saying it looks like the firm is "trying to trick people" for a "quick buck."

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Fired Immigration Judges Share Concerns As Cases Pile Up

By Courtney Bublé

Fired immigration judges spoke on Thursday about their "crushing" backlog of cases, a buildup exacerbated by the Trump administration's elimination of their colleagues' positions.

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Judge Halts Jackson Walker Secret Romance Settlements

By Adrian Cruz

A Texas federal judge has paused a number of settlements between Jackson Walker LLP and former clients, criticizing the firm for trying to undermine the U.S. Trustee's investigation into alleged malpractice stemming from a secret romance between a former partner and a bankruptcy judge.

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Judge Casts Doubt On Legitimacy Of Halligan's Appointment

By Jared Foretek

A federal judge in Virginia said Thursday that Attorney General Pam Bondi couldn't have reviewed the full transcript of the grand jury proceedings that netted an indictment of James Comey before ratifying the charges against the former FBI director because the U.S. Department of Justice didn't have them at the time.

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Jenner & Block Resolves $8M Fee Fight With Sierra Leone

By Gina Kim

Jenner & Block LLP and its former client Sierra Leone have resolved their fight over unpaid legal fees and allegedly fraudulent overbilling in the nation's underlying dispute with its iron ore mining concessionaire Gerald International Ltd., according to a minute order issued Thursday in D.C. federal court.

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Analysis

As Backlogged SEC Reopens, Attys Jostle To 'Get In Line'

By Jessica Corso

Thousands of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission employees who were sent home last month finally returned to their offices Thursday, and experts say it will likely take at least a month for them to catch up with a backlog of casework and submissions for initial public offerings.

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Rumble Cites Judge's Longtime Friendship With Google VP

By Bryan Koenig

Rumble asked a California federal judge to consider recusal should the Ninth Circuit revive its antitrust lawsuit against Google, citing a yearslong friendship with Google's top in-house litigation chief that involved the judge officiating at her wedding and their ongoing participation in a fantasy football league.

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Pipe Maker Names 2nd Firm In Asbestos RICO Suit

By Emily Field

A Los Angeles pipe manufacturer has added Massachusetts-based Sokolove Law to its civil racketeering lawsuit in Illinois federal court accusing Simmons Hanly Conroy LLP and others of orchestrating a scheme to fill the law firms' coffers by bringing baseless asbestos claims, alleging the Sokolove firm acted to find the cases.

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NY Gov't Ethics Watchdog Called To Testify Against AG James

By Andrea Keckley

The federal government subpoenaed the New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government on Wednesday to testify in its case against New York Attorney General Letitia A. James.

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Judge Denies NJ Lawmaker's Bid To Toss ICE Facility Charges

By Parker Quinlan

A New Jersey federal judge on Thursday refused to toss the criminal indictment filed against U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver, D-N.J., following a confrontation with federal agents at an Immigration and Customs Enforcement facility in Newark.

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SEC's Northeast Deputy Enforcement Head To Depart Agency

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission announced Thursday that the deputy director of the enforcement division for the Northeast will leave the agency, following stints as the regional director of the New York office and acting deputy director of the enforcement division.

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Minn. Chief Federal Judge To Take Semi-Retired Status In July

By Courtney Bublé

Chief Judge Patrick Schiltz of the District of Minnesota will take semi-retired status next summer, according to an update on Thursday from the federal judiciary.

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Del. US Atty Tapped For Acting Role After Interim Term Expires

By Jake Maher

Delaware's former interim U.S. attorney has been appointed acting U.S. attorney after the district court declined to keep her as the top federal prosecutor in the First State when her term expired.

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