NC Auditor Urges Transparency After Cop Gets $305K Payout

By Hayley Fowler

The North Carolina auditor's office recommended Friday that the city of Charlotte reconsider its funding sources for settlements and be more transparent about those arrangements following an investigation into the city's secretive $305,000 deal with its outgoing police chief.

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4th Circ. Rules NC Felons' Voting Ban Is Unconstitutional

By Abigail Harrison

The Fourth Circuit affirmed Friday that a 19th-century North Carolina law making it a crime for convicted felons to vote — even if they believed they were eligible — unconstitutionally targets Black voters and was not mooted by a 2024 amendment to the law.

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Insurer Doubles Down On Bid To Undo $1.1M Roof Verdict

By Ganesh Setty

A North Carolina federal court adopted the wrong causation standard in its instructions to a jury that awarded a church $1.1 million over its roof damage claim under what is known as an all-risk property policy, the church's insurer told the Fourth Circuit, urging the appeals court to set aside the verdict.

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Feds Say NC, NJ Shops Sold Illegal Vapes After FDA Warnings

By Jonathan Capriel

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is looking to permanently block two separate vape distributors from importing and selling illicit flavored e-cigarettes from China in lawsuits filed New Jersey and North Carolina federal courts.

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Va. City Attorney Tells 4th Circ. He's Immune From FMLA Suit

By Emily Brill

A Virginia federal judge erred by allowing a Family and Medical Leave Act suit against a municipal attorney to head to trial, the attorney said Friday, asking the Fourth Circuit to hold that he is immune from suit.

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FCC Refuses To Revisit Denial Of 105 Low-Power FM Stations

By Christopher Cole

After denying more than 100 applications for new low-power FM radio stations across the South, the Federal Communications Commission says it's not going back on the decision.

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Off The Bench: NCAA Athlete Ban, WNBA Sun Controversy

By Elaine Briseño

In this week's Off The Bench, the NCAA administered permanent bans to three basketball players, and two high-profile politicians warned the WNBA that it could be at risk of violating antitrust laws if it interferes in the sale of the Connecticut Sun.

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Roundup

Higher Ed Real Estate: A Back To School Special

By Real Estate Authority Staff

As colleges and universities face mounting financial pressures and enrollment challenges, their real estate strategies are evolving. From legal battles over property disputes to creative approaches for monetizing underutilized assets, Law360 Real Estate Authority offers a window into real estate concerns in the higher education sector.

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Roundup

Real Estate Recap: CMBS Distress, Nuclear AI, Campus Golf

By Real Estate Authority Staff

Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including attorney perspectives on commercial mortgage-backed securities distress, the dawn of nuclear-powered data centers, and the albatross of golf courses on colleges and universities.

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Troutman Adds Robinson Bradshaw Benefits Pro

By Christine DeRosa

Troutman Pepper Locke LLP has grown its tax and benefits practice group in North Carolina with the addition of a Robinson Bradshaw & Hinson PA attorney.

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Agentic AI Puts A New Twist On Attorney Ethics Obligations

As lawyers increasingly use autonomous artificial intelligence agents, disciplinary authorities must decide whether attorney responsibility for an AI-caused legal ethics violation is personal or supervisory, and firms must enact strong policies regarding agentic AI use and supervision, says Grace Wynn at HWG.

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Ex-Epstein Prosecutor Maurene Comey Sues DOJ Over Firing

By Emily Sawicki

Maurene Comey, a former Manhattan federal prosecutor who brought high-profile criminal cases against the likes of Jeffrey Epstein and Sean "Diddy" Combs, sued the Justice Department on Monday alleging her abrupt July firing came "solely or substantially" because she is the daughter of former FBI Director James Comey, a Trump critic.

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Tom Goldstein Can't Pay Attys With 'Tainted Funds,' DOJ Says

By Jeff Overley

Indicted appellate luminary Tom Goldstein cannot cover his legal bills by selling his multimillion-dollar home, because it's a "tainted asset" worth "far less" than his attorney fees, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a blistering court filing, adding that Goldstein may flee the country as his reputation and marriage collapse.

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Feds Urge 3rd Circ. To Restore NJ US Atty's Authority

By Emily Sawicki

The federal government has urged the Third Circuit to reverse a district court ruling disqualifying acting U.S. Attorney Alina Habba from prosecuting two criminal cases in New Jersey after the clock allegedly ran out on her interim term, arguing that her appointment is valid and that the court erred in its interpretation of the statute.

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Calif. Court Issues AI Hallucinations 'Warning,' Sanctions Atty

By Y. Peter Kang

A California appeals court has issued a published opinion "as a warning" to Golden State attorneys to personally review case law quotations made by generative artificial intelligence, and imposed a $10,000 monetary sanction on plaintiff's counsel in an otherwise straightforward appeal in an employment case.

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Fired DOJ Deputy Says Lobbyists 'Playing Dangerous Game'

By Bryan Koenig

A former top Justice Department Antitrust Division deputy, allegedly fired for opposing the "pay-to-play" settlement clearing Hewlett Packard Enterprise's $14 billion purchase of Juniper Networks, had a warning Monday for the lobbyists he said made the deal possible: there are only so many times they can go over division leadership.

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Stradley Ronon Wants Keesal Young's Poaching Suit Tossed

By Emma Cueto

Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young LLP has moved to nix a suit by California firm Keesal Young & Logan, saying its recruitment of 10 former Keesal Young attorneys was entirely above board and that the noncompete clauses in Keesal Young's partnership agreement were not allowed under California law.

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FTC Commissioner Says Antitrust Moment Has Been Building

By Matthew Perlman

Federal Trade Commissioner Mark R. Meador said Monday the current interest in antitrust enforcement has been building for the last several decades as corporate boardrooms increasingly take control over the economic lives of Americans.

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3 Law Firms Want Ford's 'Thermonuclear' RICO Suit Snuffed

By Linda Chiem

Knight Law Group LLP, the Altman Law Group and Wirtz Law APC have urged a California federal judge to dismantle Ford Motor Co.'s racketeering lawsuit accusing the firms of overzealous billing and conspiring to dupe unsuspecting clients in product liability and personal injury cases against automakers.

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Software Co. Defends Contempt Order Against Womble Atty

By Abigail Harrison

A North Carolina federal court fairly held Womble Bond Dickinson partner Pressly Millen in contempt after he and his client made misrepresentations in a "parallel" trademark dispute abroad, U.S.-based software company Dmarcian Inc. told the Fourth Circuit on Friday.

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DC Circ. Says Fed's Cook Can Keep Job For Now

By Jon Hill

A D.C. Circuit panel said Monday that Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook can remain on the central bank's board while challenging President Donald Trump's effort to fire her, clearing the way for her to participate in a key interest-rate policy vote this week.

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Senate Confirms Top Trump Economist To Federal Reserve

By Jon Hill

The U.S. Senate narrowly confirmed top White House economist Stephen Miran to the Federal Reserve Board on Monday, giving President Donald Trump a close ally at the central bank as he pushes for greater control over the traditionally independent body.

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DC Circ. Won't Stay District Court's Order On Quick Removals

By Jared Foretek

The D.C. Circuit declined to stay a district judge's suspension of specific U.S. Department of Homeland Security actions implementing expedited removal of noncitizen parolees Friday, saying that the government faces no irreparable harm from the order because it has separate, pre-existing regulatory authority to quickly deport parolees.

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W.Va., Idaho Tell Justices Trans Sports Bans Based On Science

By Elaine Briseño

West Virginia and Idaho urged the U.S. Supreme Court to rule that courts should not use subjective preferences when analyzing whether laws that ban transgender athletes from competing on sports teams different from their sex assigned at birth violate the Constitution.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Katryna Perera and Jeff Montgomery

Delaware's governor weighed in on a challenge to recently approved state legislation that bars damages or "equitable" relief for some controlling stockholder or going-private deals. Meanwhile, Moelis told the Delaware Supreme Court that the struck-down stockholder agreement that triggered that legislation was valid. Additionally, one of two newly funded magistrates' posts in the Chancery Court has been filled.

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