EchoStar, FCC Reach Deal To Settle Auction Defaults

By Christopher Cole

EchoStar inked a deal Friday with the Federal Communications Commission to settle debt claims from spectrum auction defaults for up to $2.9 billion, depending on how much money the FCC brings in from a new round of license sales.

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Comcast Says EchoStar Must Face Contract Meddling Suit

By Benjamin Morse

Comcast urged a Colorado federal judge to reject Dish Wireless parent EchoStar's bid to escape a suit alleging the company directed Dish Wireless to abandon a fiber connection contract through baseless force majeure claims after EchoStar had sold $42 billion in spectrum licenses.

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5th Circ. Lets Texas Enforce App Age-Check Law

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

The Fifth Circuit has temporarily allowed enforcement of a state law that restricts app downloads by age and requires app stores to display age ratings in Texas, lifting a court order blocking the law while an appellate panel considers the litigation on its merits.

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House Panel To Consider Ideas For New Navigation Systems

By Christopher Cole

A U.S. House subcommittee will hold a hearing June 4 on proposals to deploy new Earth-based systems that would buttress the GPS in case of sabotage and signal disruptions.

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1st Circ. Says Mass. Police Head Immune Over Recording App

By Julie Manganis

The First Circuit has ruled that the superintendent of the Massachusetts state police is immune from civil rights claims in a proposed class action over the use of a Motorola app that secretly records phone conversations.

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Chime Can't Dodge Class Action Over 'Refer-A-Friend' Texts

By Ben Adlin

A Washington federal judge on Friday declined to throw out a proposed class action accusing online banking company Chime Financial Inc. of violating state law through its refer-a-friend text messages, ruling that the marketing texts don't fall under an exception to Washington's Commercial Electronic Mail Act.

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AI Comms Co. Wants Calif. Phone Service Suit Moved To NY

By Matt Perez

Connex One, a customer communications software company that uses AI, asked a California federal judge to dismiss or transfer a lawsuit by personal injury firm DK Law alleging it oversold the capabilities of its call center platform, delivered defective services and improperly extended the parties' contract.

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Adtran, Telecom Patent Owner Enter Deal To End Fight

By Adam Lidgett

Telecommunications company Adtran said Friday it has resolved a lawsuit in Alabama federal court accusing it of infringing five communication network and data transmission patents it had argued weren't valid.

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Fed. Judge Rips Altice, Touchstream For Patent Case Delays

By Bonnie Eslinger

A New York federal judge denied broadband and video provider Altice's request for judgment on the pleadings in patent litigation brought by Touchstream Technologies, calling it "a delayed, misfiled, hyper-technical and largely meritless motion," while criticizing Touchstream as "also responsible for tactical decisions which led to significant delays."

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Telecom Shareholders Seek Fees Over 'Frivolous' Stay Bid

By Joyce Hanson

Minority shareholders of a telecommunications infrastructure company have pressed a New York federal judge to order the majority shareholders to pay attorney fees incurred while defending against what the judge called one of the most "frivolous" stay requests he has ever seen.

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Skechers Seeks To Boot Wash. Anti-Spam Suit To Arbitration

By Ben Adlin

Two Washington shoppers behind a proposed class action accusing Skechers USA Inc. of sending false and misleading marketing emails must take their claims to arbitration, the footwear brand told a Seattle federal court Friday.

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Telehealth Co. Hims Likely To Get Suicide Suit Trimmed

By Rachel Riley

A Washington state judge indicated Friday that he'll narrow a family's lawsuit blaming a 19-year-old's suicide on allegedly subpar mental health treatment he received through telehealth company Hims & Hers and its partner businesses, saying he'll nix corporate negligence claims and free online pharmacy XeCare from the case.

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T-Mobile Denied Call Center Workers Preshift Pay, Suit Says

By MJ Koo

T-Mobile required its hourly call center workers to boot up computers and log in to multiple software systems before their shifts without paying them for any of it, a former employee said in a collective and class action filed in Washington federal court.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Megan Norcott

The past week in London has seen the billionaire who donated £5 million ($6.7 million) to Nigel Farage sue Ben Habib, the leader of far-right party Advance UK, for defamation; Mashreqbank bring claims against three subsidiaries of dissolved private equity giant Abraaj Group for commercial fraud; and the property and investment vehicle of the State of Kuwait be targeted by four real estate figures who filed a miscellaneous claim. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Your Next Litigation Hold Should Cover AI Chat Logs

The Delaware Chancery Court’s recent decision in Fortis Advisors v. Krafton to treat a CEO’s artificial intelligence chats as substantive evidence is being read as a discovery warning to litigators, but there is a second duty-to-preserve lesson that is especially pertinent to in-house counsel, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.

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Double Shooting Renews Courthouse Safety Fears In NC

By Hayley Fowler

The shooting of two Fox Rothschild LLP attorneys outside a courthouse in Raleigh, North Carolina, ahead of Memorial Day weekend has renewed calls to protect the safety of judges and lawyers in an increasingly volatile justice system.

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Baker McKenzie Asks Judge Not To Toss Suit Against Ex-Atty

By Alison Knezevich

A lawyer for Baker McKenzie on Friday urged a Washington, D.C., judge not to dismiss the BigLaw firm's defamation suit against a former tax associate who accused a firm office leader of sexual assault, telling the court the accusations were false and made with "malice."

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Bonus Spotlight

Selendy Gay Doles Out Spring Associate Bonuses

By Aebra Coe

New York litigation boutique Selendy Gay PLLC paid its associates spring bonuses of as much as $25,000 this week, according to the firm.

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Akin Gump Owes Fees For Winebow's 'Self-Indulgent' Appeal

By Dorothy Atkins

The Ninth Circuit on Thursday ordered an importer's Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP attorneys to pay a European winemaker fees for having to defend against the importer's "spurious objections" to the winemaker's valid arbitral award, ruling that the importer's "self-indulgent" appeal warrants sanctions in the form of fees.

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Calif. Panel Reverses Order For Citing Atty's Bogus Case Law

By Dorothy Atkins

A California appellate panel on Thursday reversed a judgment in favor of a man accused of abusing his son, finding that "without doubt" the trial judge abused her discretion by incorporating the man's bogus legal citations into her ruling, despite being alerted to the mistakes in advance.

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NY Judge Doubts Nussbaum-Linked Firms Belong In Ch. 11

By Emily Lever

A New York bankruptcy judge on Friday questioned whether his court was the proper venue to wind down two commercial real estate law firms headed by Mark J. Nussbaum as the debtors sought to ditch an assignment for the benefit of creditors process in New York state court.

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Dems Say DOJ Blocked Bondi On Trump Questions

By Courtney Bublé

Democrats were incensed on Friday that the U.S. Department of Justice attorneys who accompanied former Attorney General Pam Bondi to her committee interview stopped her from answering questions about President Donald Trump.

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Civil Rights Icon Clarence B. Jones Dies At 95

By Andrea Keckley

Civil rights icon Clarence B. Jones, a speechwriter and personal attorney to Martin Luther King Jr., died May 22 at an assisted living facility in the Santa Clara County city of Cupertino, California, his family confirmed earlier this week. He was 95.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Kirkland & Ellis says it's investing a half billion dollars into developing its own artificial intelligence platform to better serve clients. And Law360 looks at the general counsel who is guiding BP through its latest leadership crisis after the company abruptly dismissed its board chair.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Phillips Black Inc., Hogan Lovells and Watkins & Eager PLLC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Black Mississippi death row prisoner who argued racial discrimination tainted his jury selection is entitled to habeas corpus relief.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Boies Schiller's Matthew Schwartz

By Sarah Jarvis

Matthew L. Schwartz oscillated among many career aspirations as a kid, from astronaut to mayor of New York. When it was time to head off to college, the man who would go on to handle the prosecution of employees tied to Bernie Madoff and become chair of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP set his sights on science, earning an undergraduate degree in physics.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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