Pepsi Boosted Prices For Walmart Rivals, Antitrust Suit Says

By Bonnie Eslinger

A proposed consumer antitrust class action against Pepsi and Walmart was filed in New York federal court on Monday, days after an unsealed Federal Trade Commission lawsuit abandoned by the Republican-controlled FTC showed the agency previously accused the soda giant of giving Walmart discounts denied to the retailer's rivals.

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Corporate Transparency Act Is Constitutional, 11th Circ. Says

By Kevin Pinner

The Corporate Transparency Act is constitutional because it regulates economic activities with a substantial impact on interstate commerce and doesn't violate protections against unreasonable searches, the Eleventh Circuit said Tuesday, reversing a lower court's decision.

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Venezuela Looks To Nix $351M Food Distribution Award Case

By Caroline Simson

Venezuela and its state-owned oil company pressed a D.C. federal court Monday to nix litigation aimed at enforcing a more than $351 million arbitral award owed to a pair of Spanish food distribution service investors via a French judgment, saying it has sovereign immunity.

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Digital Marketing Co. Ibotta Seeks To Ditch Suit Over IPO

By Emilie Ruscoe

Digital consumer discount company Ibotta Inc. and its brass and underwriters seek to shed a consolidated proposed investor class action alleging the company misled investors in the lead-up to its 2024 initial public offering, arguing that it properly disclosed certain risks that later purportedly affected trading prices for its shares.

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AG Watch: Texas Junk Fee Deal Shows Enforcement Priorities

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's recent $9.5 million settlement with online travel agency website Booking Holdings for so-called junk fee practices follows a larger trend of state attorneys general who have taken similar action and demonstrates the significant penalties that can follow such allegations, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.

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Opinion

A Uniform Federal Rule Would Curb Gen AI Missteps In Court

To address the patchwork of courts’ standing orders on generative artificial intelligence, curbing abuses and relieving the burden on judges, the federal judiciary should consider amending its civil procedure rules to require litigants to certify they’ve reviewed legal filings for accuracy, say attorneys at Shook Hardy.

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Bonus Spotlight

Susman Godfrey Bests Market With Bonuses Of Up To $280K

By Andrea Keckley

Susman Godfrey LLP announced on Tuesday that it is topping New York's bonus scale with payouts that range from a median of $120,000 for first-year associates to a median of $280,000 for the most senior associates.

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Kasowitz Hid Plummeting Profits From Ex-Partner, Suit Says

By Andrea Keckley

A former Kasowitz LLP partner has accused the firm and its founder, renowned litigator Marc Kasowitz, of misrepresenting its finances and failing to pay him the millions he is owed in a lawsuit in New York state court, alleging the firm's profits have plummeted due to poor management.

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Hagens Berman Sanctioned For Bot Errors In OnlyFans Case

By Emily Sawicki

A California federal judge sanctioned Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP for submitting four briefs that contained errors blamed on ChatGPT while representing OnlyFans users pursuing proposed class fraud claims against the online platform, tossing the suit but allowing the users a chance to refile.

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DOJ Says NY Court Can't Handle Maurene Comey Firing Suit

By Adrian Cruz

The U.S. Department of Justice has said former prosecutor Maurene Comey's suit challenging the circumstances of her firing should be dismissed, arguing that it is an attempt to sidestep the Civil Service Reform Act.

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Fired Top Antitrust Official Warns Of 'Politicization'

By Courtney Bublé

The former No. 2 at the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division until he was terminated this year testified Tuesday about the "politicization" of antitrust enforcement.

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Levona Says New Docs Show Reed Smith Lied In $102M Feud

By Emily Sawicki

Levona Holdings Ltd. is pressing a Manhattan federal court to vacate what it calls a fraudulent $102 million arbitral award issued to international shipping company Eletson, arguing that new documents released under the crime-fraud exception show that the company and its prior attorneys at Reed Smith LLP lied during the arbitration.

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Ex-State High Court Chiefs Start Group To Defend Rule Of Law

By Jake Maher

A group of over 40 former chief judges of state supreme courts across the country this week launched a new project to speak out against attacks on the judiciary's independence and educate about the rule of law. 

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Quinn Emanuel Fee Fight Bound For Texas Or Mass. Court

By Carolyn Muyskens

A Massachusetts federal judge is weighing whether to kick Quinn Emanuel's bid for $30 million in legal fees from a former client's parent company, Nano Dimension Ltd., to state court or to the Texas bankruptcy court where the client is undergoing Chapter 11 proceedings.

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Bullivant Houser Files For Ch. 11 After November Closure

By Rose Krebs

The now-shuttered Bullivant Houser Bailey PC has filed for Chapter 11 protection in California, with its chief dissolution officer saying the bankruptcy was filed so the firm can liquidate its assets as it continues "an orderly wind-down" of its operations.

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