Attys, Broker Ask 4th Circ. To Overturn Tax Fraud Convictions

By Hayley Fowler

Two St. Louis tax attorneys and a North Carolina insurance broker have asked the Fourth Circuit to unravel their convictions for participating in a $22 million tax scheme, arguing the government failed to prove at trial that the tax plan they used was actually illegal.

3 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Food Service Co. Can't Sink Fired Manager's Sex Bias Suit

By Grace Elletson

A New Jersey federal judge narrowed but refused to toss a suit alleging a dining services company fired a district manager for calling out its boys club culture, leaving it up to a jury to decide whether the company's stated reason for her firing was a smokescreen for discrimination.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Couple Fights To Send Annuity Fraud Case To State Court

By Mark Payne

A retired U.S. Navy veteran and his wife, who are accusing Ameritas Mutual Holding Co. and Ameritas Life Insurance Company Inc. of orchestrating a fraudulent investment scheme based on the sale of unsuitable equity-indexed annuities, urged a North Carolina federal court to send the case back to state court. 

Memorandum attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Furniture Store Employees Get 1st OK For Data Breach Deal

By Abigail Harrison

A North Carolina federal judge has granted preliminary approval in a class action settlement to a former employee of a new and used office furniture company in a data breach lawsuit that's just over a year old.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Roundup

NC Biz Court Bulletin: Trade Secrets Row, A Patient Data Deal

By Hayley Fowler

The North Carolina Business Court closed out the year by tossing a trade secrets fight brought by a corrugated packing manufacturer against its onetime star salesman and signing off on a $2.45 million settlement ending claims a healthcare system sold patients' data to Meta.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Roundup

Up Next At High Court: Pollution Lawsuits & Trans Athletes

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court will kick off the new year by hearing disputes over the constitutionality of state laws banning transgender female athletes from female-only sports and whether state or federal courts are the proper forum for lawsuits seeking to hold major oil companies accountable for harm caused by their oil production activities along Louisiana's coast. 

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Comey, James Fight DOJ Push To Combine Dismissal Appeals

By Jack Karp

Former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James are pushing back against federal prosecutors' effort to consolidate their currently separate appeals of the beleaguered prosecutions against the pair at the Fourth Circuit.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Worker's Poor Performance Dooms Bias Suit, 4th Circ. Says

By Grace Elletson

The Fourth Circuit declined to revive a Black USPS worker's retaliation suit claiming her white boss crafted a paper trail to oust her after she filed a race bias complaint against him, ruling Friday that she couldn't overcome evidence that her repeated performance issues got her temporarily fired, not bias.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

4th Circ. Frees Man Convicted For Speech After 9/11

By Abigail Harrison

A lecturer and scholar of Islam convicted of inducing others to levy war against the U.S. after Sept. 11, 2001, was freed from serving his remaining sentence Friday, when a unanimous Fourth Circuit panel ruled that his speech was protected under the First Amendment.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Gov't Tells 4th Circ. SC Residents Can't Challenge Marsh Plan

By Isaac Monterose

The federal government has urged the Fourth Circuit to uphold the dismissal of a suit filed by South Carolina property owners challenging the approval of a local marsh mitigation bank plan, arguing the property owners lack Article III standing and their claims are "speculative."

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

4th Circ. Asks If NCAA's W.Va. Eligibility Appeal Is Now Moot

By David Steele

The NCAA and four West Virginia University football players have until Jan. 21 to tell the Fourth Circuit whether the collegiate athletic association's appeal of an injunction making the players eligible this season is moot, now that the season is over.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Virginia Takes Vape Law Fight To 4th Circ.

By Jonathan Capriel

Virginia is looking to the Fourth Circuit to overturn a court order partially blocking it from enforcing a ban on flavored vapes, according to a notice filed by the state's attorney general.

Notice attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Roundup

Real Estate Recap: Predicting '26

By Real Estate Authority Staff

Catch up on this past week's developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including key asset classes and pending litigation to watch in the new year.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Mylan, Aurobindo Must Face Generic Drug Price-Fixing Claims

By Hailey Konnath

A Connecticut federal judge on Friday refused to hand a quick win to Mylan Pharmaceuticals and Aurobindo Pharma USA in sprawling antitrust litigation against 26 total pharmaceutical companies, ruling that a coalition of states has enough evidence to raise a genuine dispute about whether the companies conspired to fix drug prices.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Wash. AG Aims To Weigh In On Constitutionality Of Email Law

By Ben Adlin

Washington state's attorney general intends to weigh in on a proposed class action accusing apparel maker Hanesbrands Inc. of flooding consumers' inboxes with misleading marketing emails, responding to Hanes' argument that the state's Commercial Electronic Mail Act is unconstitutional.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Roundup

4 Argument Sessions That Benefits Attys Should Watch In Jan.

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Supreme Court will zero in on the methodology for assessing liability for pulling out of a multi-employer pension fund, and the circuit courts will hear bids to revive suits over alleged 401(k) mismanagement and deferred compensation. Here, Law360 looks at a quartet of oral arguments coming up in January.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Brief

Vending Co. Will Pay Nearly $7M To Hidden Fee Class

By Hayley Fowler

A federal judge in North Carolina on Friday gave final approval to a $6.94 million settlement with food service company Compass Group USA Inc. in a class action alleging it charged customers 10 cents more than the displayed prices for items sold in its vending machines.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Brief

Patent Protection Firm Ends Software Infringement Suit

By Elliot Weld

A patent protection services firm has dropped its case against a photo-editing software company alleging infringement of three patents covering advanced image processing.

Notice attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Fed. Circ. In November: Looking For Patent 'Blaze Marks'

The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Duke v. Sandoz serves as a warning that when patentees craft claims, they must provide adequate "blaze marks" that direct a skilled artisan to the specific claimed invention, and not just the individual claimed elements in isolation, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Opinion

The Case For Emulating, Not Dividing, The Ninth Circuit

Champions for improved judicial administration should reject the unfounded criticisms driving recent Senate proposals to divide the Ninth Circuit and instead seek to replicate the court's unique strengths and successes, says Ninth Circuit Judge J. Clifford Wallace.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Bruce Fein Axed As Counsel In Maduro's NY Drug Case

By Rachel Rippetoe

A New York federal judge on Monday said constitutional lawyer Bruce Fein could not represent Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro after Fein admitted to having never spoken to or entered into an agreement of representation for the foreign leader, who was indicted on narco-conspiracy charges this month.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Analysis

The Issues That Could Decide The Tom Goldstein Tax Case

By Jared Foretek

Federal prosecutors are set to begin making their case against famed U.S. Supreme Court lawyer and SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein at trial Wednesday, alleging that he deliberately hid millions of dollars in high-stakes poker winnings from the Internal Revenue Service between 2016 and 2021 and lied on mortgage applications.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Haynes Boone Opens Boston Office Led By Ex-K&L Gates Atty

By Tracey Read

Haynes Boone announced Monday that it has opened its 20th office in Boston, and that it has added a former K&L Gates LLP asset management and investment funds partner to lead the Beantown launch.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

4 Ways DOJ Probe Into Powell Could Be Risky For Trump

By Jon Hill

The criminal probe that President Donald Trump's U.S. Department of Justice has opened into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell dramatically escalates administration pressure on the central bank, but it is not without significant potential risks for the White House.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

SEC Draws From BigLaw To Appoint Enforcement Deputies

By Jessica Corso

Two former BigLaw attorneys, one of whom served as counsel to President Donald Trump during his first term in office, have joined the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission as deputy directors of enforcement, the agency announced Monday.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Sitting Judges Advocate For Bill To Allow Them To Carry Guns

By Courtney Bublé

Three federal judges have come out in support of a Republican-led bill to allow judges and prosecutors to carry concealed firearms across state lines.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

NJ US Atty Office's 3-Person Leadership Unlawful, Court Told

By Emily Sawicki

Criminal defendants in the District of New Jersey are challenging the three-person leadership structure now in place at the Garden State's U.S. attorney's office following the disqualification of Alina Habba, telling the court their due process rights have been violated by the allegedly unlawful system.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Compromise Funding Bill Gives Judiciary $9.7B

By Courtney Bublé

Congressional appropriators have unveiled a bipartisan compromise funding bill for the federal judiciary for fiscal 2026, which includes the judiciary's requested funding for court security and federal public defenders.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

House Passes Bill To Double Ch. 7 Trustee Fee

By Clara Geoghegan

A bipartisan bill doubling the fixed per-case fees for Chapter 7 trustees is headed to President Donald Trump for a signature, after the U.S. House of Representatives passed it Monday night.

Bill attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court closed out the week with developments ranging from leadership changes in a $13 billion take-private case and posttrial sparring over a major earnout to fresh governance fights, revived fraud claims and sanctions tied to advancement rights.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »