Weinstein Reports Chest Pains Amid Jury Evidence Request

By Frank G. Runyeon

A jury deliberating in Harvey Weinstein's third Manhattan rape trial requested several pieces of evidence on Wednesday, including cross-examination testimony by his accuser, as the ex-Hollywood producer reported chest pains from the courthouse's holding area.

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Man Who Sold Matthew Perry Fatal Ketamine Gets 2 Years

By Rae Ann Varona

A licensed drug addiction counselor who sold "Friends" actor Matthew Perry the ketamine on which he fatally overdosed in October 2023 was sentenced in California federal court Wednesday morning to two years in prison, having pled guilty to drug-related charges.

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Shutterstock Inks $35M Deal In FTC's Autorenewal Suit

By Gina Kim

Shutterstock Inc. will pay $35 million to resolve the Federal Trade Commission's lawsuit alleging it knowingly deceived customers about its subscription plans' autorenewal policies, with one executive noting in internal communications they could "hopefully get away with it" when they saw competitor Adobe Inc. sued over its subscription practices in 2024.

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Rebel Wilson Can't Defeat Calif. Defamation Suit On Appeal

By Gina Kim

California appellate justices upheld an order denying Rebel Wilson's bid to ax a defamation suit alleging she spread lies about producers of the movie "The Deb," and whom she accused of embezzlement and sexually harassing the lead actress, ruling Wednesday there's evidence to support Wilson knew her statements were likely untrue. 

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WWE Investors Want Sanctions For Deleted Signal Messages

By Jarek Rutz

Counsel for World Wrestling Entertainment shareholders urged the Delaware Chancery Court on Wednesday to draw evidence sanctions against former CEO Vince McMahon and other company leaders, arguing that deleted Signal messages, missing texts and discarded notes undercut the record in their challenge to WWE's $21.4 billion merger with Ultimate Fighting Championship.

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Loomer Agrees To $143K Fee In Fla. Dispute With Muslim Org.

By David Minsky

Right-wing influencer Laura Loomer and the Council for American-Islamic Relations asked a Florida federal judge to approve a joint settlement in Loomer's lawsuit alleging the council influenced Twitter to ban her account, with Loomer agreeing to pay $143,000 in attorney fees after being accused of publicly disparaging the nonprofit.

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Event Company Says NFL's Lions Can't Block TM Suit

By Susan Smiley

A Michigan events management company on Wednesday pushed back on the Detroit Lions' request for a Michigan federal judge to toss their trademark infringement suit, arguing the NFL team did nothing to disprove U.S. Events' claim that the Lions used their protected "Motor City Muscle" slogan to promote their team jerseys without their permission.

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Big Fish Games Buyer Evading Royalty Duties, Studio Claims

By Rachel Riley

The new owner of Seattle-based desktop game publisher Big Fish Games has been accused of attempting to illegally rewrite deals with a studio that helped develop many of its titles to avoid paying royalties and revoke mobile distribution rights, according to a fresh lawsuit in Washington state court.

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Entertainment Website 'Tester' Can Proceed With Tracking Suit

By Allison Grande

A California federal judge has refused to toss a proposed class action accusing Anschutz Entertainment Group of illegally using tracking tools that transmitted website visitors' data to third parties, finding that two of the plaintiff's three wiretap and privacy claims could move forward and that her status as a website "tester" did not preclude her from pressing the suit.

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Microsoft Exec Backed OpenAI Deal Amid Concerns, Jury Told

By Dorothy Atkins

Microsoft's chief technology officer testified in a California federal jury trial Wednesday over Elon Musk's challenge to OpenAI's for-profit conversion, recalling that he proposed Microsoft invest significant resources into OpenAI's for-profit arm to stay competitive despite his initial concerns over whether OpenAI's nonprofit donors had agreed to the for-profit partnership.

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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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Newsmax Defends Antitrust Case Against Fox

By Matthew Perlman

Newsmax is defending its case, now back in Florida federal court, accusing Fox of pressuring cable and streaming providers into not carrying the rival right-leaning broadcaster, saying that Fox has a motive to block competition in the lucrative market for conservative news.

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11th Circ. Rejects Trump Rehearing In Clinton RICO Fight

By Ryan Boysen

The Eleventh Circuit will not reexamine the dismissal of President Donald Trump's racketeering lawsuit against Hillary Clinton and the Democratic National Committee, which claims the pair falsely accused Trump of colluding with Russia during his 2016 campaign.

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Judge Asks If Musk Is Getting Special Treatment In SEC Deal

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. federal judge said Wednesday she would not simply "rubber-stamp" a deal to abruptly end the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's lawsuit against Elon Musk over his initial purchase of Twitter Inc. stock in 2022, asking at a status conference if Musk was getting special treatment.

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Tesla Shareholders Appeal Suit Dismissal Tied To Texas Move

By Sydney Price

Tesla shareholders, whose breach of fiduciary duty suit against Elon Musk and the automaker's directors was dismissed last month following the company's move to Texas, appealed the dismissal to the Delaware Supreme Court on Wednesday.

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Oversight Bill For FCC's High Cost Program Signed Into Law

By Nadia Dreid

The Rural Broadband Protection Act, which aims to establish a vetting process for internet service providers who are taking part in the Federal Communications Commission's "high cost" program, has finally made it into law after being filed several times over the last couple of years.

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Rural Wireless Group Criticizes EchoStar Spectrum Deals

By Ganesh Setty

A trade group representing rural wireless providers said it opposes the Federal Communications Commission's recent approval of EchoStar's sales of spectrum to AT&T and SpaceX totaling roughly $40 billion, saying rural providers and consumers will likely suffer.

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Brief

FCC Ramps Up Focus On Cybersecurity In Telecom Biz

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission will kick off a pair of public workshops this week aiming to find ways to elevate cybersecurity in the telecom space.

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Roblox Exploits Kids' Labor To Build Games, Action Claims

By Jonathan Capriel

A Georgia mother accused gaming giant Roblox Corp. of turning her 13-year-old son into an unpaid game developer who worked more than 40 hours weekly, funneling him and millions of other children into a virtual currency system designed to trap their labor, according to a proposed class action filed in New York federal court.

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Meta Must Share Option Costs Post-Altera, IRS Says

By Molly Moses

The Ninth Circuit's 2019 ruling against Altera Corp., which upheld rules requiring companies to share the cost of employee stock options with foreign affiliates, means that Meta's income for 2017-18 should be increased by roughly $3 billion, the IRS told the U.S. Tax Court.

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Business Exec Says NBA Cut Him Out Of Airline Partnership

By Tom Lotshaw

A California businessman claims the NBA should have to cough up millions of dollars in damages for cutting him out of a lucrative sponsorship deal it struck with Emirates airline.

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Salt-N-Pepa Suit May Shake Up Music Copyright Issue

James v. UMG Recordings is a copyright termination rights case that provides an opportunity for the Second Circuit to make concrete choices about grant language, authorship, work-for-hire status and survival of derivative works, says attorney Abdul Abdullahi.

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How 'Bundling' Enforcement Is Parsing Efficiency, Access

Recent antitrust enforcement actions have taken a selective view of companies' bundling of products or services — challenging it when it shuts out rivals, but tolerating it when it creates efficient scale — making the real test now less about lower prices than about whether competition is being blocked, says attorney Alan Kusinitz.

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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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Blank Rome Adds Husch Blackwell's Dallas Leader

By Lynn LaRowe

Blank Rome LLP has added a former Husch Blackwell LLP lawyer to its finance, restructuring and bankruptcy practice in Dallas as the firm continues to strengthen its investment in the north Texas market.

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Trump's 8th Circuit Pick Clears Senate Panel Vote

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump's nominee for the Eighth Circuit, who represented the president in the cases brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, advanced to the full Senate on Thursday.

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Lover's Ex-Wife Fights Sinema's Request For Therapy Notes

By Abigail Harrison

A bid by former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona to unearth notes and communications from a therapist working with her lover's ex-wife should be summarily denied, as the ex-wife, Heather Ammel, told a North Carolina federal court Thursday that the request is a clear overreach.

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Fenwick Hit With FTX Suit In DC Over $525M Losses

By Emily Lever

A group of former FTX customers has sued Fenwick & West LLP in federal court in Washington over its work representing FTX from 2018 to 2022, seeking to recover more than $525 million for losses stemming from the cryptocurrency exchange's collapse.

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NJ Lawmakers Slam Attacks On Judiciary At State Bar Panel

By George Woolston

A bipartisan panel of New Jersey lawmakers condemned partisan attacks on judges and the judiciary on Wednesday, urging Garden State attorneys to uphold their oath to the U.S. Constitution and the rule of law and to "step back from the keyboard."

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NYC Bar Endorses Random Audits For Law Firm Accounts

By Emily Sawicki

The New York City Bar Association's Professional Discipline Committee on Thursday threw its support behind a statewide bill to institute a random audit program for law firm financial accounts.

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Ogletree Fights Atty's Discovery Bid For DQ Push In Bias Suit

By Lynn LaRowe

A Georgia federal court should deny a bid for discovery aimed at disqualifying Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC from defending a security company against discrimination claims because the request stems from the plaintiff's lawyer's "personal grievances," the company said Thursday.

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Exclusive

Ballard Spahr Chair Elected To Second Term

By Daniel Moritz-Rabson

Peter V. Michaud has been elected to a second three-year term as chair of Ballard Spahr LLP and will steer the firm through the end of 2029, Law360 Pulse has learned.

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DOJ Asserts Broad Power In BigLaw Executive Order Appeal

By Jared Foretek

A Trump administration attorney told the D.C. Circuit on Thursday that the courts have no authority to review the president's decision to revoke someone's security clearance for any reason, including race, religion, or even refusal to pay a $1 million bribe.

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Analysis

Insider Trading Case Shows BigLaw Associate Vetting Gaps

By Chris Villani

A BigLaw attorney who was able to move through three major firms while allegedly orchestrating a massive insider trading scheme may have been aided by relatively loose hiring practices for associates that firms may consider strengthening moving forward, recruiting experts told Law360.

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