23 States Win Order Halting Billions In HHS Public Health Cuts

By Dan McKay

A Rhode Island federal judge on Friday barred the Trump administration from cutting off billions of dollars in funding to state public health programs, determining the abrupt grant terminations likely violated congressional authority over spending.

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Families Rip DOJ Bid To Ditch Boeing 737 Max Criminal Case

By Linda Chiem

The U.S. Department of Justice might back down from criminally prosecuting Boeing over the deadly 737 Max crashes and save the American aerospace giant from a high-profile trial in Texas next month under a tentative deal that attorneys for crash victims' families decried Friday as offensive and "morally repugnant."

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Judge Blocks Energy Department's Cap On Research Costs

By Brian Dowling

A Boston federal judge blocked a U.S. Department of Energy policy capping research costs, saying the suit was "far from identical" to another case in which the U.S. Supreme Court rejected a challenge to education grant cuts.

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5th Circ. Reverses Intervention Denial For Border Wall Cos.

By Tom Lotshaw

A Texas federal judge erred when he refused to let several government contractors and the Sierra Club intervene in a lawsuit that blocked the use of border wall funding for anything other than new barrier construction, the Fifth Circuit ruled Thursday.

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Trump Calls On Justices To Stay Block Of Gov't Restructuring

By Beverly Banks

President Donald Trump asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Friday to pause a California federal judge's order temporarily halting agencies from implementing an executive order to plan reorganizations and reductions in force, claiming the lower court's decision has caused confusion and wasted taxpayer dollars.

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1MDB Prosecutors Seek Leniency For Ex-Goldman Banker

By Elliot Weld

Prosecutors asked a Manhattan federal judge for leniency when sentencing a former Goldman Sachs partner who cooperated in the investigation into the 1MDB scandal and testified at his former colleague's trial, citing his "extraordinary" assistance.

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Judge Orders Feds To Answer Navy Housing Suit Questions

By Tom Lotshaw

A Court of Federal Claims judge ordered the U.S. government to answer requests for admissions it refused to respond to in litigation alleging that it reduced housing stipends and breached contracts with companies that agreed to provide housing to U.S. Navy service members.

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State Immunity In England Needs Clarification, Judge Says

By Caroline Simson

Investors in an Indian satellite communications company have been granted permission to challenge a ruling allowing India's sovereign immunity defense in English litigation to enforce a $217 million arbitral award, after a judge in London ruled Friday that the immunity issue raises broader questions.

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Judge Questions Federal Jurisdiction In Boies Schiller Case

By Madison Arnold

Boies Schiller Flexner LLP and other defendants have pulled into Florida federal court a malpractice action alleging they distributed confidential information related to a law firm, but a federal judge said Thursday she is "unconvinced" that the matter belongs in federal court.

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Feature

NJ, DuPont To Face Off In Landmark PFAS Trial Series

By George Woolston

New Jersey and chemical manufacturing giant E.I. DuPont de Nemours will square off Monday over the contamination at a former Salem County manufacturing facility in a first-of-a-kind series of trials that environmental attorneys expect will impact "forever chemicals" litigation across the country.

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Patent Owner Urges Justices To Take Telemedicine Case

By Adam Lidgett

The owner of a pair of invalidated patents covering medical machinery pushed the U.S. Supreme Court to take up its fight over the patents' eligibility since the government said it planned to argue the patents shouldn't have been invalidated as abstract if the company's petition was granted.

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Trump Admin Settles Vaccine Contract Info Suit For $10K

By Elaine Briseño

The Trump administration has reached a $10,000 settlement with a consumer advocacy group over allegedly withholding information about the government's billion-dollar contracts with companies that developed and manufactured the COVID-19 vaccine, including Pfizer and Moderna.

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Infrastructure Co. Eurofinsa Looks To Seize Gabon's Assets

By Joyce Hanson

Eurofinsa SA has asked a D.C. federal court for permission to begin seizing the Gabonese Republic's assets as the Spanish company that specializes in global infrastructure projects looks to enforce a nearly $18 million arbitral award against the African country.

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Bid Protest Spotlight: Size, Supply Schedules, SINs

In this month's bid protest roundup, Alissandra McCann at MoFo examines three recent decisions, two of which offer helpful reminders for U.S. General Services Administration schedule holders drafting blanket purchase agreement proposals, and one for small-business joint ventures to avoid running afoul of the U.S. Small Business Administration's two-year rule.

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Reading Tea Leaves In High Court's Criminal Law Decisions

The criminal justice decisions the U.S. Supreme Court will announce in the coming weeks will reveal whether last term’s fractured decision-making has continued, an important data point as the justices’ alignment seems to correlate with who benefits from a case’s outcome, says Sharon Fairley at the University of Chicago Law School.

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$38M Law Firm Settlement Highlights 'Unworthy Client' Perils

A recent settlement of claims against law firm Eckert Seamans for allegedly abetting a Ponzi scheme underscores the continuing threat of clients who seek to exploit their lawyers in perpetrating fraud, and the critical importance of preemptive measures to avoid these clients, say attorneys at Lockton Companies.

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Posner Wins Ex-Staffer's $170K Wage Suit

By Emily Sawicki

A former executive at retired Seventh Circuit Judge Richard Posner's short-lived pro bono legal services organization lost his bid for $170,000 in back pay he claimed to be owed on Monday when an Indiana federal court found claims to be untimely.

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Ex-Litigator Settles Disability Bias Suit Against Wilson Elser

By Emily Sawicki

A former Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP litigator on Monday agreed to permanently drop his federal disability bias suit against the firm, after the sides came to a confidential resolution.

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Avenatti Rips 'Draconian' Bid To Add 13 Years To Sentence

By Elliot Weld

Former high-profile attorney Michael Avenatti asked a California federal judge to reject the government's request to tack on more than 13 years to his prison term, saying such a "draconian" result would conflict with a Ninth Circuit ruling wiping out a previous sentence in the fraud case.

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Justices Allow End Of Temporary Protections For Venezuelans

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that the Trump administration may rescind temporary protected status for Venezuelans, lifting a California federal judge's order requiring the government to keep Biden-era removal protections and work authorizations in place during a legal battle over a policy change.

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Split DC Circ. Pauses Halt On Trump's Union Rights Order

By Beverly Banks

A divided D.C. Circuit panel greenlighted President Donald Trump's request to pause a lower court decision that blocked the implementation of an executive order aimed at ending collective bargaining rights for federal employees, concluding the injunction ruling "ties the government's hands."

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Kirkland Guides Blackstone's $11.5B Deal For TXNM Energy

By Al Barbarino

Blackstone Infrastructure has agreed to acquire regulated utility holding company TXNM Energy in an all-cash transaction valued at $11.5 billion, including net debt and preferred stock, TXNM said in a Monday announcement.

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