Matthew Perry's Assistant Gets 41 Months For Ketamine Death

By Craig Clough

Matthew Perry's former assistant was sentenced to 41 months in prison Wednesday by a California federal judge for his role in the actor's fatal ketamine overdose, delivering the sentence shortly after Perry's stepfather, Keith Morrison of "Dateline," chastised the defendant for not notifying the family Perry's addiction struggles had returned.

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WWE Shareholders Win Sanctions Over Lost Signal Messages

By Jarek Rutz

World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. investors won sanctions in the Delaware Chancery Court after a judge found former CEO Vince McMahon and other senior executives recklessly allowed encrypted and ephemeral Signal messages and other evidence tied to WWE's $21.4 billion merger with Ultimate Fighting Championship to disappear during litigation over the deal.

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'Baywatch' Star, Models Keep False Ad Suit Against Strip Club

By Abigail Harrison

A North Carolina federal judge has largely sided with a group of international models, former Playboy Playmates and a "Baywatch" star alleging a strip club misused their likenesses in advertisements, finding that lingering factual questions preclude a pretrial statute of limitations win for the club.

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Lady Gaga Case Saves Swift's 'Showgirl' Use, Judge Told

By Craig Clough

An attorney for a Las Vegas performer asked a California federal judge Wednesday to block Taylor Swift from using "The Life of a Showgirl" as their trademark infringement case plays out, while Swift's attorney said the case is on "all fours" with a similar dispute that went in Lady Gaga's favor.

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Rapper Says Ex-Manager Presented Business Deals As 'Favor'

By Lauraann Wood

Chance the Rapper testified Wednesday that he would not have kept his former manager employed if he knew the person he relied on to represent him in business dealings had been abusing their relationship "to enrich himself and get a certain influence in the industry."

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Keanu Reeves Vouches For Director Who Conned Netflix

By Bonnie Eslinger

Actor Keanu Reeves wrote a letter to a Manhattan federal judge to seek leniency for director Carl Erik Rinsch, and Rinsch included it in a memo he submitted to the court asking for no prison time after being convicted of defrauding Netflix out of $11 million to make a never-delivered TV series.

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Fla. Judge Strikes Ex-Chartwell Atty's Sanctions Motion

By Carolina Bolado

An attorney who claims Chartwell Law Offices LLP fired her over social media posts about Gaza won't win sanctions against the firm after a Florida federal judge on Wednesday struck her motion as unfounded and said she would consider monetary sanctions over hallucinated AI citations in the motion.

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Brownstein Hyatt Faces DQ Bid In Sports Betting Biz Fight

By Alex Lawson

A sports-betting executive suing her former employer for defamation and contract breach is looking to oust the company's Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP attorneys, telling a Nevada federal judge that the firm's prior work for her creates a conflict.

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11th Circ. Told YouTube Copyright Win Doesn't Merit Fees

By Ivan Moreno

A Spanish film production company has urged the Eleventh Circuit to uphold a Florida federal judge's refusal to award YouTube attorney fees after the video platform prevailed in a dispute over pirated movies, arguing that the unsuccessful copyright claims raised a novel legal issue and were brought in good faith.

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Walmart Rips Estee Lauder's 'Vague And Ambiguous' TM Fight

By Dorothy Atkins

Walmart has urged a California federal judge to toss the bulk of Estee Lauder's lawsuit accusing the retail giant of selling infringing beauty products online, arguing the complaint is too "vague and ambiguous" about which products, sellers, listings and legal theories are at issue for the case to proceed.

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Meta To Head To Aug. Advisory Trial In States' Addiction MDL

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge laid out plans during a hearing Wednesday to empanel an eight-member advisory jury panel in August to help her decide claims from state attorneys general against Meta Platforms Inc. in multidistrict social-media-addiction litigation, while expressing concerns that the states haven't disclosed their specific damages demands yet.

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Conn. AG To Investigate Roblox Over 'Harm To Children'

By Joyce Hanson

Gaming and chat platform Roblox, the subject of multiple lawsuits accusing it of harming minors with addictive design features that expose them to online abuse, is now facing an investigation by the Connecticut attorney general.

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FIFA Corruption Charges Get Officially Tossed

By Stewart Bishop

A New York federal judge signed off Wednesday on the dismissal of charges in the massive FIFA-related corruption dragnet against a former 21st Century Fox executive and an Argentine sports marketing company, months after prosecutors said they were dropping the case.

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ProPublica Denied Access To Ranbaxy Antitrust MDL Docs

By Gianna Ferrarin

A Massachusetts federal court denied ProPublica's bid to unseal court filings in settled multidistrict litigation alleging a subsidiary of Indian drugmaker Sun Pharmaceuticals illegally delayed market entry of generic drugs, ruling the nonprofit news organization's request came too late in the case.

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Valve Can't Press Pause On Steam Gamers' Arbitrations

By Rachel Riley

A federal judge in Seattle declined Wednesday to block hundreds of video game buyers from arbitrating consumer protection claims against Valve Corp., saying the "multibillion-dollar platform" is relying on a contractual provision that's likely unenforceable because it's "one-sided and overly harsh."

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Live Nation Wants AGs' Discovery To Wait On New Trial Bid

By Bryan Koenig

Live Nation has told a New York federal judge that its bids for a new trial or judgment in its favor should go before state attorneys general to get discovery as they seek the forced divestiture of Ticketmaster to address the live music giant's monopoly.

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Google Seeks End To Antitrust Case From 'Serial Litigants'

By Bonnie Eslinger

Google slammed consumers who brought a suit claiming the tech giant owes them for illegally monopolizing the online search services market, saying they didn't show an antitrust injury and urging a San Francisco federal judge to rule in the company's favor without going to trial.

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Baseball Podcaster Sued By Ex-Producer Over Pay

By Julie Manganis

Baseball podcaster Jared Carrabis and his production company were hit with a proposed class action in Massachusetts on Wednesday by a former producer who says Carrabis used the end of a sponsorship deal to stop paying him and other personnel on his podcasts at the end of February.

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FCC Soon To Enforce New Foreign Sponsor ID Regs

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission will soon start to enforce Biden-era rules for broadcasters to disclose foreign sponsorship of leased airtime, after twice pushing back the industry's deadline to comply.

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Mich. Tells FCC States Play Key Role In Network Regs

By Christopher Cole

Michigan's telecom regulator has urged the Federal Communications Commission not to go overboard on preempting state authorities as it pushes the country toward modernizing the phone networks, saying state-level regulations also play a critical role.

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DOJ Says Digital Equity Act's Minority Grants Flunk Review

By Jared Foretek

The Trump administration has told a D.C. federal judge that he can't avoid applying strict scrutiny in his review of the Digital Equity Act Competitive Grant Program, arguing that the plaintiffs challenging the administration's termination of the $1.25 billion program can't recast it as race-neutral.

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Brief

FCC Approves More Drones For Sale On US Market

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission has approved another round of drone systems for marketing in the U.S. after a federal government security review.

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Analysis

Trump's China Visit Reveals Signs Of Continued Trade Truce

By Dylan Moroses

Signals from President Donald Trump's visit to China indicate an ongoing trade truce with the U.S. may continue, though concrete details on tariff reductions and policy changes were largely absent from the meetings.

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Ex-Judges Urge Court To Scrutinize Trump-IRS Deal

By Jack McLoone

A group of 35 former federal judges pushed for a Florida federal court to reopen President Donald Trump's now-settled $10 billion tax leak case against his own Internal Revenue Service, alleging that Trump and the DOJ deceived the court.

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Sony Music GC To Depart In June After 18-Year Run

By Christine DeRosa

The longtime legal leader for Sony Music Group is stepping down at the end of June to launch a new chapter of her career, the company announced Wednesday.

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Analysis

Meet Biden's Attys Fighting DOJ Release Of Memoir Materials

By Jeff Overley

Former President Joe Biden has selected Hecker Fink LLP lawyers well acquainted with politically charged litigation for his extraordinary new lawsuit accusing the U.S. Department of Justice of orchestrating a congressional inquiry in order to divulge "highly personal" records to the Heritage Foundation.

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Chicago US Atty Revamps Grand Jury Rules After Misconduct

By Parker Quinlan

Chicago's top federal prosecutor announced on Wednesday a new suite of rules for how grand jury investigations are handled after an Illinois federal judge accused the prosecutor's office of misconduct in a case against six immigration activists.

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Pierce Atwood Rips Billionaire's 'Absurd' Suit Over Asset Sale

By Sydney Price

Pierce Atwood and two attorneys urged a Massachusetts federal judge to reject a Ukrainian billionaire's suit blaming them for a $1.8 billion damages order in investor litigation over the billionaire's failed biotech company, saying his own wrongdoing led to the judgment.

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Trump Taps Ohio Appeals Judge For Federal Bench

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday he's nominating state Judge Matthew Byrne as a U.S. district judge for the Southern District of Ohio.

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Perkins Coie Docs At Issue In Omani Co.'s Malpractice Case

By Sarah Jarvis

An Oman-based screw and nail manufacturer has urged a Washington state judge to force Perkins Coie LLP to hand over a trove of documents related to the firm's past work representing the Middle Eastern company in a U.S. Department of Commerce probe, saying more information is needed to assess the law firm's defenses against claims its mistakes cost the company hundreds of millions of dollars.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Keller Rohrback's Gretchen Freeman Cappio

By Andrea Keckley

By the time Volkswagen was exposed for touting the low emissions of cars that secretly released nitrogen oxide pollutants up to 40 times the legal limit in the U.S., Keller Rohrback LLP's Gretchen Freeman Cappio knew she wasn't interested in defending corporate giants.

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