Balwani Takes Theranos Conviction Challenge To Justices

By Lauren Berg

Former Theranos executive Ramesh "Sunny" Balwani is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to review his criminal fraud conviction and nearly 13-year prison sentence, arguing that the Ninth Circuit used the wrong review doctrine in rejecting his argument that prosecutors had failed to correct allegedly false testimony given by investor victims.

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Purdue Pharma Heir Sues Son Over Sackler Matriarch's Estate

By Aaron Keller

Former Purdue Pharma LP President Richard Sackler has appealed a Connecticut probate court decision favoring his son David Sackler in a dispute over his mother Beverly Sackler's estate, saying a judge ignored self-dealing rules when approving his son's request to assign trust interests to a public charity.

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Medtronic Unit Must Face Bellwether Hernia Mesh Claims

By Y. Peter Kang

A Massachusetts federal judge has largely cleared the way for bellwether claims in multidistrict litigation over Covidien's hernia mesh, finding that a reasonable jury could find the Medtronic subsidiary failed to adequately warn physicians about certain risks.

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'This Is Their Document': Jury Told J&J Docs Prove Talc Lies

By Craig Clough

Counsel for the families of three women who died of ovarian cancer delivered closing arguments Wednesday in their six-week-long bellwether lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson, telling jurors that decades-old internal documents prove the company hid that its talc was contaminated with asbestos.

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Campbell Soup Sued Over 'Worm-Like' Critters In SpaghettiOs

By Rae Ann Varona

Florida parents and their minor child have lodged a negligence suit against Campbell Soup Co. in federal court, alleging that the child and her mother discovered "worm-like organisms" moving in SpaghettiOs they ate and suffered parasitic infections as a result.

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Fireworks Cos. Settle Gender Reveal Wildfire Suit For $4M

By Mike Curley

An Ohio-based smoke bomb-maker, its subsidiary and a gender reveal company have agreed to pay more than $4 million to settle claims from the federal government over the 2020 El Dorado Fire, which burned nearly 23,000 acres and killed a firefighter.

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NJ Says Most Of $3B PFAS Deal Objector Issues Are Resolved

By George Woolston

New Jersey told a federal court this week it has reached agreements with all but two of the parties that objected to proposed deals worth a combined $3 billion with 3M Co. and various DuPont entities to resolve claims over contamination caused by forever chemicals, saying the agreements further support the court's approval of the settlements.

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Wiggin Partner Is Asked For Input In Conn. 'Ghost Gun' Suit

By Emily Field

A Connecticut state judge on Tuesday asked a Wiggin and Dana LLP attorney and treatise author for advice on how to handle the state attorney general's $7.7 million unfair trade practices claims against a Florida-based supplier of "ghost guns," seeking input on whether the company engaged in commerce in the state by online sales.

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IVF Patients Say Natera Profited Off Ineffective Embryo Tests

By Mike Curley

A proposed class of in vitro fertilization patients are suing Natera Inc. in California federal court, alleging that it falsely advertised the efficacy and importance of its preimplantation genetic testing to rake in hundreds of millions of dollars from patients looking to conceive.

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Makeup Ingredient Supplier Miyoshi Gets Ch. 11 Plan OK

By Emlyn Cameron

A Texas bankruptcy judge Wednesday gave the go-ahead for Miyoshi America Inc., a supplier of cosmetics ingredients, to implement its prepackaged Chapter 11 plan to address tort claims, finding the proposal was backed by an "incredible amount of people."

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Insurer Says E-Cig Co.'s Lies Bar Warehouse Fire Coverage

By Hope Patti

An insurer said it shouldn't have to pay out an electronic cigarette product wholesaler's $5 million claim for a warehouse fire, telling an Illinois federal court that the company misrepresented important facts about its business in its application for coverage that warrant rescission of the policy.

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Texas Judge Remands Broker Liability Suit After Montgomery

By Linda Chiem

A Texas federal judge said Tuesday that, following the U.S. Supreme Court's recent Montgomery ruling, a lawsuit alleging freight broker and logistics giant C.H. Robinson is vicariously liable for a fatal 2022 accident involving an "unlawfully double-brokered" truck load belongs back in state court.

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5th Circ. Says ChampionX Lacks Rights Under Spill Policy

By Danielle Ferguson

A Fifth Circuit panel on Tuesday affirmed a decision finding that ChampionX Corp. lacked the contractual standing to sue insurers for coverage of a $40 million oil spill lawsuit involving one of its subsidiaries, but gave the company a chance to add parties to its complaint in the lower court. 

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Brain Computer Interfaces Boot Up Multipronged Legal Issues

As neurotechnology companies begin to conduct human clinical trials for brain computer interfaces, attorneys should prepare for legal ramifications across a broad range of practice areas, including intellectual property, privacy and product liability, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.

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5 Things Associates Must Ask About Their Firm's Merger Plan

The associates who navigate law firm mergers best ask the right questions early, such as inquiring about partners' plans, to assess how the merger could affect their workflow and career path, says Jackie Bokser-LeFebvre at Major Lindsey.

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BigLaw Insider Trading Defendants Have Big-Name Legal Help

By Chris Villani

An insider trading case involving nonpublic information prosecutors say was stolen from some of the largest law firms in the U.S. has ensnared more than two dozen defendants, many of whom have turned to lawyers with notable clients including Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein and Luigi Mangione.

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Hueston Hennigan Follows Milbank's Lead In Associate Pay

By Tracey Read

The race to match Milbank LLP's attorney pay hikes is officially on, with trial firm Hueston Hennigan the latest to announce it will increase associate pay by $10,000 to $20,000 annually.

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Analysis

The Plaintiffs Atty Now 5-0 At Supreme Court With No Dissents

By Jeff Overley

It's true that Jennifer Bennett is undefeated at the U.S. Supreme Court, but it's also an understatement. Bennett's five wins, including two recent ones, were all unanimous decisions. They showed that the plaintiffs bar can still persuade a conservative supermajority. And they turned the tide after a spree of decisions keeping workers and consumers out of court.

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Goldstein Cites Addiction To Avoid Time, DOJ Seeks 8 Years

By Jared Foretek

Federal prosecutors recommended a 97-month prison sentence for convicted SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein, telling a Maryland federal court he has bilked the government out of more than $9.5 million in unpaid taxes. Goldstein, meanwhile, asked for a suspended sentence and supervised release, citing a "severe and longstanding gambling addiction."

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Rocade Capital Buys LFG To Create Combined $2B Lit Funder

By Ryan Boysen

Rocade Capital LLC has acquired fellow litigation funder Law Finance Group LLC, creating a combined platform that has deployed more than $2.3 billion and specializes in $10 million to $50 million deals, including post-judgment financing, portfolio deals and lending to plaintiff's firms.

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Court Reporter Shortage A 'Crisis,' Calif. Supreme Court Told

By Bonnie Eslinger

Two legal nonprofits urged the California Supreme Court to issue an order entitling low-income civil litigants to electronic recording if a live court reporter is not available, saying at a hearing Wednesday that a court reporter shortage in the Golden State has created a "crisis."

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9th Circ. Suspends 2 Attys For 6 Months Over AI Hallucinations

By Rae Ann Varona

The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday temporarily suspended two California immigration attorneys from practicing before the appellate court for filing briefs in a deportation relief case containing artificial intelligence-generated hallucinations, finding no excuse for their "extraordinary confession" of not vetting citations used by unlicensed brief writers.

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Tenn. Firm Sanctioned For AI Misuse In Baker Donelson Suit

By Emily Sawicki

A Tennessee federal judge has sanctioned a Memphis, Tennessee, law firm over its misuse of artificial intelligence amid a malpractice suit against Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC, ordering the regional firm to reimburse costs associated with the matter and report the misconduct to the state's disciplinary counsel.

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Feature

'Read The Cases': Conn. Judge Offers AI Advice To Attys

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut federal judge told a gathering of attorneys Tuesday that his law clerks are not allowed to use generative artificial intelligence for any purpose involving legal research, his interns are barred from using it at all, and lawyers must be careful when relying on the material that the tools produce.

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Atty Can't Shake $120M Verdict In RICO, Defamation Dispute

By Carolina Bolado

An Alabama federal judge refused to disturb a $120 million verdict against a former Conrad & Scherer LLP managing partner, ruling there was enough evidence at trial for a jury to find the attorney liable on Drummond Co.'s racketeering and defamation claims.

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Graham Pushes Federal Tort Path After DOJ Drops $1.8B Fund

By Courtney Bublé

The U.S. Department of Justice seemed, at least briefly, to support a Republican senator's alternative solution to the "anti-weaponization" $1.8 billion fund that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday the department is abandoning.

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DOJ Sets New Healthcare Fraud Convictions Record

By Phillip Bantz

The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday announced that its Health Care Fraud Unit secured six jury trial convictions across the country in less than three weeks, with the cases involving more than $1.1 billion in fraud losses.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Dardarian Ho's Linda Dardarian

By Lynn LaRowe

Despite being on the other side of a disability rights case that will cost his municipality at least $150 million, Kevin McLaughlin, city attorney for Oakland, California, believes that if more lawyers were like Linda Dardarian, there would be far less lamenting about civility in the legal profession.

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