Trump 1st-Term Tariff Hikes On China Legal, Feds Tell Justices

By Dylan Moroses

President Donald Trump's first administration was well within its legal authority to increase tariffs on Chinese goods under a law utilized to address unfair trading practices, and the U.S. Supreme Court doesn't need to consider a challenge to those measures, the government told the justices.

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2nd Circ. Backs Fed Reserve's Power To Cut Master Accounts

By Lauren Berg

The Federal Reserve has broad discretion to cut financial institutions off from master accounts, the Second Circuit ruled Wednesday, rejecting a Puerto Rico bank's argument that it has a statutory right to what is commonly referred to as "bank accounts for banks."

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Trade Court OKs Chinese Gum Zero Duty Rate On Remand

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. Department of Commerce cleaned up its evaluation of the energy used by a Chinese company in the production of a gum used as a food thickener, the Court of International Trade said, signing off on the agency's decision to zero the company's duty rate.

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Aluminum Tariff-Dodging Cos. Ink $550M FCA Deal With Feds

By Lauren Berg

A group of California businesses agreed to pay nearly $550 million to resolve civil allegations that they lied to U.S. Customs and Border Protection to avoid paying duties on extruded aluminum imported into the U.S. from China, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.

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Spain Can't Delay $47M Award Collection, D.C. Judge Says

By Caroline Simson

A D.C. federal judge nixed Spain's bid to pause litigation aimed at enforcing a renewable energy investor's arbitral award now worth more than $47 million, ruling that the "long and difficult trail" faced by award creditor Blasket Renewable Investments LLC made a stay inappropriate.

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Brief

Indian Chromium Trioxide Facing Countervailing Duty

By Jack McLoone

Imports of a compound used primarily in wood preservation, metal finishing and plating from India could be hit with a countervailing duty after the U.S. Department of Commerce determined Wednesday that producers and exporters are receiving government subsidies.

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Brief

Canada Allocating Over $3.4M To Firms Hit By US Tariffs

By Jack McLoone

The Canadian government has announced a total of over CA$4.7 million ($3.4 million) in grants to support small or medium-size aluminum businesses this week to help the companies cope with U.S. tariffs, including nearly CA$2.1 million in funding Wednesday.

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Nvidia, SK Hynix, Kioxia Face Memory Patent Litigation

By Adam Lidgett

A Texas-based technology company has launched new patent infringement suits at district courts in the Lone Star State and Delaware as well as at the U.S. International Trade Commission, targeting companies such as Nvidia Corp., Corsair Gaming and Western Digital.

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Super Micro Hit With Investor Suit Over China Chip Sales

By Zak Kostro

A Super Micro Computer Inc. investor says he suffered losses as a result of a secret and illegal sale of servers embedded with Nvidia chips to China and the company's misleading statements, leading to a drop in its stock price, according to a proposed class action in California federal court.

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How Cos. Can Navigate Iran Sanctions Risks In China

For multinational financial institutions and other companies caught between the U.S. and China’s competing compliance regimes as they relate to Iranian oil, finding a path forward will require careful, jurisdiction-specific analysis, say attorneys at Perkins Coie and Ashurst.

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Series

The Biz Court Digest: Georgia Court Has Business On Its Mind

Thanks to recent legislation, the Georgia State-wide Business Court will soon offer business litigants greater access to the court than ever before, further enhancing the court's emphasis on efficiency, predictability and accessibility for sophisticated commercial disputes, says former GSBC judge Walt Davis at Jones Day.

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Murdaugh Murder Conviction Overturned By SC High Court

By Parker Quinlan

The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned a double murder conviction and ordered a new trial for disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh, finding the jury in his first trial was biased by a clerk of court who allegedly sought a guilty verdict in a ploy to juice sales of her book about the trial.

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Texas Atty Must Pay $5M For Groping Opposing Counsel

By Lynn LaRowe

A Texas state appellate court on Wednesday refused to disturb a $5 million jury verdict against a San Antonio lawyer for grabbing the buttocks of opposing counsel at the courthouse where they were arguing a family law proceeding in 2019.

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DOJ Goes After DC Bar, Courts For Discipline Of Ex-DOJ Atty

By Hailey Konnath

The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday sued the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel, D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility, D.C. Court of Appeals and the District of Columbia, claiming that they were "punishing" a former Trump administration DOJ official and trying to "control the executive branch."

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DOJ Fraud Division Set To Shake Up White-Collar Enforcement

By Phillip Bantz

President Donald Trump's administration created the U.S. Department of Justice's National Fraud Enforcement Division with a narrow focus on combating government program fraud, but a move to retain federal prosecutors focused on other types of fraud could signal a wider scope with potential ripple effects across white-collar enforcement.

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Arbitrators See Global Stakes In Trump BigLaw EO Fight

By Caroline Simson

Ahead of a D.C. Circuit hearing on Thursday in the Trump administration's effort to revive executive orders imposed against four BigLaw firms, an official at the College of Commercial Arbitrators told Law360 this week there are several things arbitrators are going to be watching for.

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Apple Targets Hagens Berman 'Gamesmanship' In ICloud Suit

By Bryan Koenig

Apple has lashed out at Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP for trying to withdraw a named plaintiff from an iCloud antitrust case in California federal court without discovery into any directions she received to preserve now-deleted emails, raising concerns that the withdrawal is meant to "paper over lost evidence."

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Michigan Federal Judge Gets Probation For Drunken Driving

By Susan Smiley

Michigan federal Judge Thomas L. Ludington was sentenced by a state judge on Wednesday to six months' probation and fined $1,175 after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor drunken-driving charge last month in Emmet County.

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6th Circ. Says Kentucky Judicial Hopefuls May Tout Ideology

By Emily Sawicki

Kentucky judicial hopefuls are cleared to discuss their political leanings on the campaign trail, according to a precedential ruling by the Sixth Circuit, which permanently enjoined the state's Judicial Conduct Commission from pursuing an enforcement action against two candidates who described themselves as "conservatives" and "Republicans" amid the 2022 election season.

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Judge Says LegalForce Must Pay $93K After Losing TM Suit

By Elliot Weld

A California federal judge on Wednesday ordered LegalForce RAPC Worldwide PC to pay nearly $93,000 in fees and costs to the company that operates LawFirms.com, finding the case to be exceptional because LegalForce alleged facts it knew were false and took steps to obscure other facts that showed its case was meritless.

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CORRECTED: Senate Advances 13 US Attorneys In En Bloc Vote

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 46-45, along party lines, to advance the nomination of 13 U.S. attorneys on Monday as part of a larger nominations package. Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the status of the nominees in the Senate.

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