Ex-Russian Diplomat Pleads Out In Narrowed Sanctions Case

By Stewart Bishop

A former Russian diplomat and longtime U.S. resident on Thursday admitted to deceiving FBI agents about his knowledge of dealings between an ex-FBI agent and a purported associate of a Russian oligarch, after prosecutors dropped plans to go ahead with sanctions and money laundering charges at a trial slated to begin next week.

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Eurofinsa Can Begin Seizing Gabonese Assets, Court Says

By Caroline Simson

A D.C. federal judge Wednesday gave the green light to a Spanish construction company to begin seizing assets owned by Gabon to enforce a nearly $18 million arbitral award, in a proceeding that the African nation has ignored since it was filed nearly two years ago.

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Live Nation Defending 'Unfair' Arbitration, Justices Told

By Bryan Koenig

Concertgoers suing Live Nation over allegedly anticompetitive conduct urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday not to take up the company's bid to force them into arbitration, arguing that lower courts rightly dinged a switch to a new arbitrator with strict rules meant to limit mass arbitration tactics by the plaintiffs' bar.

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Texas Man Gets 11 Years In Cross-Border Transport Case

By Matthew Perlman

A Texas federal court has sentenced a man to 11 years in prison for helping lead a violent conspiracy to monopolize the transport of used vehicles and other goods from the U.S. through Mexico for resale in Central America.

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Reed Smith Pushes For 2nd Circ. Stay In $102M Award Fight

By Emily Sawicki

Still seeking to represent prebankruptcy owners of international shipping company Eletson Holdings Inc., Reed Smith LLP has asked the Second Circuit to stay a bankruptcy proceeding and a district court action, arguing the reorganized Eletson, now allegedly under common control with a former adversary, has launched a "calculated effort" to seize the company's privileged client information.

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'Bad Faith': Valve Accused Of Thwarting Arbitration It Sought

By Bonnie Eslinger

Valve Corp. is blocking consumers from arbitrating antitrust claims against the gaming company by refusing to pay $20 million in arbitration fees, a "bad faith" move that flouts a court order granting Valve's bid to compel arbitration, a game buyer told a Washington federal judge in a motion for sanctions.

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JAMS Opens International Arbitration Center In Houston

By James Mills

The alternative dispute resolution service JAMS is expanding the services offered in its four-year-old Houston office, announcing Wednesday it is opening an International Arbitration Center there.

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Greenberg Traurig Adds IP Atty From Kilpatrick In NY

By Christine DeRosa

Greenberg Traurig LLP has boosted its intellectual property offerings in New York with the addition of an experienced litigator from Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP.

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Attacks On Judicial Independence Tend To Manifest In 3 Ways

Attacks on judicial independence now run the gamut from gross (bald-faced interference) to systemic (structural changes) to insidious (efforts to undermine public trust), so lawyers, judges and the public must recognize the fateful moment in which we live and defend the rule of law every day, says Jim Moliterno at Washington and Lee University.

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Analysis

These Firms Are Landing The Most PTAB Work

By Theresa Schliep

Intellectual property powerhouse Fish & Richardson again secured the top spot on a list of firms appearing in the most trials over the past three years in front of the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

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Mass. Judge, On Stand, Denies Helping Immigrant Evade ICE

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts judge accused of approving a plan to let a man elude immigration officers by letting him leave the court through a back door seven years ago testified Thursday that was not her intent when she granted a request to let him speak with an attorney in a courthouse lockup.

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Trump's Deployment Of National Guard Illegal, Judge Says

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge on Thursday granted California's request for a temporary restraining order blocking President Donald Trump's order sending the National Guard into Los Angeles, calling the president's actions "illegal" and unconstitutional, but the decision was quickly paused by the Ninth Circuit.

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Google Fights MDL Plaintiffs' Sanctions Bid Over Lost Chats

By Emily Sawicki

Google is pushing back on a request for sanctions that a slew of advertisers and publishers have brought in their antitrust lawsuit over the company's advertising placement technology, saying the plaintiffs have not shown Google hid evidence amid the "mountains" of electronically stored information it provided.

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Approach The Bench: Judge Proctor On Civility, Civil Rules

By Cara Bayles and Steven Trader

R. David Proctor, chief judge of the Northern District of Alabama, is a leader within the federal judiciary. He's both assigned and presided over multidistrict litigation. He may write a nationwide rule governing third-party litigation funding. And he's gained internet fame for ordering two attorneys to eat lunch together.

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Avenatti Sheds 3 Years After 9th Circ. Orders Resentencing

By Gina Kim

A California federal judge on Thursday resentenced disbarred attorney Michael Avenatti to just over 11 years in federal prison for filching millions of dollars from his clients' settlement funds, reducing a 14-year sentence overturned by the Ninth Circuit and leaving Avenatti with about eight years left after time served.

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DOJ Picks Proceed Despite Worry Over Honoring Court Orders

By Courtney Bublé

Two nominations for top positions in the U.S. Department of Justice were voted out of committee on party lines on Thursday.

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Calif. Sues Trump Over 'Wildly Partisan' EV Waiver Repeal

By Dorothy Atkins

The California attorney general and 10 other states sued the Trump administration in federal court Thursday, minutes after President Donald Trump signed resolutions repealing California's Clean Air Act waiver that allowed the state to establish its own vehicle emissions standards, slamming the resolutions as unconstitutional, irrational and "wildly partisan."

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Interview

Ex-Interior Secretary Salazar On 'Coming Home' To WilmerHale

By Aebra Coe

Former U.S. Sen. Ken Salazar of Colorado, who served as secretary of the U.S. Department of the Interior during the Obama administration and most recently as ambassador to Mexico during the Biden administration, returned this month to WilmerHale's Denver office, which he founded in 2014.

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Justices Say Habeas Claims Can't Be Added After Judgment

By Marco Poggio

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a prisoner may not add new claims to a habeas corpus petition once a final judgment is issued, cementing strict limits on repeat habeas filings prescribed by federal law.

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Justices Limit FTCA Defense In FBI Raid Case

By Chart Riggall

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday held that the Constitution's supremacy clause cannot shield the federal government from Federal Tort Claims Act suits, in the process reviving a Georgia woman's claim over an FBI raid aimed at a gang member but mistakenly carried out at her home.

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Analysis

Rising PTAB Filings Follow Surge In Patent Cases

By Theresa Schliep

The number of petitions filed with the Patent Trial and Appeal Board ticked up last year, following a similar increase in federal court litigation and suggesting that activity at the board has somewhat stabilized, according to a new report.

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Weinstein Sex Abuse Trial Ends After Mixed, Partial Verdict

By Pete Brush

Harvey Weinstein's sexual abuse retrial ended Thursday with a Manhattan jury failing to reach a verdict on a count alleging the movie mogul raped an actress, one day after he was convicted of forcing sex on a production assistant and cleared on a third charge.

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