Lindberg Wants Credit For Time Served Applied To Sentence

By Hayley Fowler

A billionaire insurance magnate convicted on charges of bribery and fraud is asking a North Carolina federal judge to apply credit for time he's already spent behind bars at his upcoming sentencing hearing, where he plans to ask for concurrent sentences of four years each.

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Coach Not Covered In $10M Sex Abuse Case, NC Judge Says

By Danielle Ferguson

A North Carolina federal judge said a swimmer who won a $10 million judgment against a swim coach who sexually assaulted her cannot seek that payment from the coach's insurer because neither the coach nor the swim club he operated are covered under the policies.

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NC Social Worker Wants Resentencing In Medicaid Fraud Suit

By Abigail Harrison

A clinical social worker in North Carolina serving more than 11 years in prison on healthcare fraud charges is challenging her sentence in the Fourth Circuit, saying Thursday that a lower court used overly generalized findings to apply a vulnerable victim sentence enhancement.

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4th Circ. Hands Express Scripts Jury Trial In W.Va. Opioid Suit

By Gianna Ferrarin

The Fourth Circuit on Friday issued a writ of mandamus backing Express Scripts Inc.'s right to a jury trial in litigation over the pharmacy benefit manager's alleged role in contributing to the opioid crisis in West Virginia.

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4th Circ. Halts Md. Law Banning Electricity Greenwashing

By Gautama Mehta

The Fourth Circuit on Friday halted a Maryland law aimed at preventing electricity companies from falsely marketing their power as environmentally friendly, saying it may be overly broad in a likely violation of the First Amendment.

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Roundup

Balancing The Scales: Justices To Revisit Sentencing Rules

By Orlando Lorenzo

The U.S. Supreme Court will take a closer look at a circuit split over the deference that should be allotted to U.S. Sentencing Commission commentary, and a man convicted in the killing of an infant has been released after 27 years served over evidence that points to pneumonia as the likely cause of death.

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Brief

Soda Bottler Strikes Deal To End EEOC Disability Bias Suit

By Patrick Hoff

A North Carolina soft drink bottling company has agreed to settle a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit alleging it refused to permanently hire a probationary employee with multiple sclerosis, according to a federal court filing.

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Brief

Realty Co. Workers Lose Bid To Fight Collective Cert. Denial

By Abigail Harrison

A North Carolina federal court declined to let employees alleging a property management company shortchanged them on overtime wages haul a recent order denying a bid for collective certification into the Fourth Circuit. 

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4th Circ. Ruling Will Rewrite Class Action Litigation Strategies

The Fourth Circuit's recent decision in Oliver v. Navy Federal Credit Union is the first from a federal circuit court to hold that motions to strike are inappropriate vehicles for challenging class allegations at the pleading stage, invalidating a tactic that had been used for decades, says Jim Francis at Francis Mailman.

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A Framework For Habeas Relief After 5th Circ. Bond Ruling

Following the Fifth Circuit’s recent Buenrostro-Mendez v. Bondi decision foreclosing statutory bond for detained nonimmigrants not deemed admitted to the U.S., lawyers should adopt a framework that requests habeas relief pursuant to the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause, says Kemal Hepsen at Mandamus Lawyers.

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3 AI Adoption Mistakes GCs Should Avoid

The pressure in-house legal teams face to quickly adopt artificial intelligence tools, combined with budget constraints and the need to evaluate a crowded market of options, sets the stage for implementation mistakes that are often difficult to undo, says former 23andMe general counsel Guy Chayoun.

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Murdaugh Sues Ex-Court Clerk Who Swayed Murder Trial Jury

By Jack Karp

Disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh is suing the court clerk whose attempt to influence the jury in his murder trial led the South Carolina Supreme Court to overturn his murder conviction.

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Morgan & Morgan Atty Barred From Harvard Suit Over AI Error

By Chris Villani

A Massachusetts judge on Monday said a Morgan & Morgan PA attorney may not appear before him in a suit against Harvard University over the theft of body parts donated to its medical school, saying the lawyer did not learn his lesson after signing off on briefs in another case with fake case law generated by artificial intelligence.

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Trump Seeks Circuit Seats For 2 Judges He Appointed

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump's recent picks for the Eighth and Tenth Circuits mark the first time in his second administration that he's seeking to elevate judges he appointed in his first term.

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Health Co. Wants Kirkland Off IP Case For 'Cardinal Sin'

By Elliot Weld

A healthcare company suing medical technology company Commure Inc. over alleged trade secret theft has said Kirkland & Ellis LLP should be disqualified from representing Commure because the healthcare company had tried to retain Kirkland prior to filing the suit and shared confidential information before anyone asked who the defendant was going to be.

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Wyoming Prosecutor Confirmed Despite Misconduct Rebuke

By Courtney Bublé

Just a few days ago, federal judges tossed nine criminal indictments after President Donald Trump's pick to lead the U.S. attorney's office of Wyoming was accused of prosecutorial misconduct. On Monday evening, he was confirmed to permanently lead the office.

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Analysis

Half The Nation's Bar Apps Could Remove Rape Questions

By Cara Bayles

By next year, it's possible that about half of U.S. jurisdictions will have amended character and fitness questions to avoid dredging up aspiring lawyers' sexual trauma. But while advocates hail the reforms as progress, concerns linger about the patchwork this could create across the country.

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Ex-Willkie Atty Banned By SEC For Insider Trading

By Emily Sawicki

A former Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP mergers and acquisitions attorney who earlier this month admitted to taking part in a widespread BigLaw insider trading scheme will be barred from representing a client before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a minimum of four years, according to an order the agency issued Monday.

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NY Judge Largely Halts Manhattan Immigration Courts Arrests

By Rae Ann Varona

A New York federal judge Monday largely barred U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from conducting arrests at three Manhattan immigration courthouses, finding there was no good reason why "unfettered discretion" by ICE officers was better than a policy with arrest limitations.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week handled a broad mix of celebrity estate litigation, merger disputes, investor suits, record demands, sanctions fights and questions over corporate moves away from Delaware.

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