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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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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Athletes Revive Title IX Objections In NIL Settlement Appeal

By David Steele

Eight female former and current college athletes who previously objected to the Title IX implications of the $2.78 billion settlement between the NCAA and a class of former athletes seeking past name, image and likeness pay have appealed the final approval of the settlement, granted just last Friday, to the Ninth Circuit.

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'I Want Names': YouTube Attys' MDL Redactions Face Scrutiny

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal magistrate judge ordered YouTube on Thursday to provide him with unredacted versions of documents it produced in sprawling multidistrict litigation over claims social media is addictive, and demanded that YouTube identify counsel who made its relevance-redaction determinations, saying. "I want names and I want teams."

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Fantasy Sports Site Claims Ex-Director Took IP To DraftKings

By Rachel Riley

Fantasy sports platform PrizePicks is suing its former social media director in Washington federal court over his lateral move to DraftKings, accusing him of taking the company's "most closely guarded" marketing trade secrets to the competitor by downloading those documents to his personal ChatGPT account before his departure.

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Meta Eyes $14B AI Bet, Bullish Seeks IPO, And More Rumors

By Tom Zanki

Facebook owner Meta is eying a $14 billion investment in Scale AI, while Bullish plans to join the recent surge in cryptocurrency-related initial public offerings and investors want to take pizza chain Papa John's private at more than $60 per share. Here, Law360 breaks down the notable deal rumors from the past week.

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High 5 Can't Slash $7M Enhanced Damages In App Case

By Benjamin Morse

A Washington federal judge denied High 5 Games' post-trial bid to toss or lower a $7.2 million enhanced damages award for operating illegal casino-style mobile apps, finding that the amount was properly decided by a jury and complied with limits under Evergreen State consumer protection law. 

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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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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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'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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Google Says Yelp's Reworked Antitrust Suit Still Doesn't Work

By Lauren Berg

Google is once again asking a California federal judge to trim Yelp's case accusing it of monopolizing the local search market, arguing that the reworked complaint doesn't fix deficiencies the court pointed out in a dismissal order earlier this year.

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WWE Accuser's Firm Blames PACER For Late Response

By Brian Steele

Counsel for the law firm representing a former World Wrestling Entertainment staffer on sex trafficking and abuse claims has objected to a motion for default in a related defamation suit, said he couldn't appear in the case earlier in part because of difficulty accessing the federal judiciary's electronic docket system, but he said he would have asked for more time to respond anyway.

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Kate Beckinsale Sues Over 'Dangerous' 'Canary Black' Set

By Hailey Konnath

Kate Beckinsale has sued the producers of action-thriller film "Canary Black" over allegedly "unsafe and dangerous conditions" during filming that left her with "severe and debilitating injuries," according to an amended complaint filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court.

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Senate Dem Worries 'Salt Typhoon' Still Wreaks Havoc

By Christopher Cole

The Senate's lead Democrat on spectrum issues said Thursday that last year's massive "Salt Typhoon" cyberattack linked to China may not be over and that giving wireless carriers vast amounts of new spectrum could only make U.S. networks more vulnerable.

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Protect Public Broadcast Channels, Nonprofit Tells FCC

By Christopher Cole

A media nonprofit serving one of Washington, D.C.'s suburbs urged the Federal Communications Commission to protect access to public, educational and government channels when exploring whether to nix potentially burdensome regulations.

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Brief

Senate GOP Moves To Confirm Trump's FCC Nominee

By Christopher Cole

The U.S. Senate plans next week to bring up President Donald Trump's nomination of Olivia Trusty to the Federal Communications Commission.

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Brief

Schumer Slams Delay In BEAD Funding As 'Shameful'

By Christopher Cole

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., blasted the Trump administration on the Senate floor Thursday for delaying the government's $42.5 billion broadband infrastructure program, saying it will harm New Yorkers who lack connectivity.

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Locals Approve $3B Plan To Lure NHL Team Back To Atlanta

By Nate Beck

Officials in Forsyth County, Georgia, north of Atlanta, have signed off on a $3 billion mixed-use plan anchored by an arena, which developers hope will draw a professional hockey team back to the region.

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Ohio Law Bars Cities' Negligence Claims Against Hyundai, Kia

By Hope Patti

A California federal court sided with Hyundai and Kia by finding that an Ohio products liability law bars negligence claims from five Ohio cities in sprawling multidistrict litigation alleging the automakers knowingly sold vehicles with design flaws that resulted in a car theft crime spree.

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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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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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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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