The Federal Communications Commission on Monday floated new power limits for nongeostationary orbit satellites in a move the feds say could boost the availability of broadband service beamed from space, and that was requested by SpaceX.
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TUESDAY, APRIL 29, 2025 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

FCC Eyes New Power Limits For NGSO Satellites

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission on Monday floated new power limits for nongeostationary orbit satellites in a move the feds say could boost the availability of broadband service beamed from space, and that was requested by SpaceX.

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FCC Aims To Fight Robocall Scams With Caller ID Reg

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission on Monday proposed new rules to make sure phone networks that haven't adopted internet technology are still authenticating caller ID.

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UScellular, Investors Ink $7.7M Deal In Postpaid Biz Suit

By Nadia Dreid

UScellular and the investors who sued the company over its representations about the health of its postpaid mobile phone outfit have agreed to settle their differences for $7.7 million and are asking an Illinois federal judge to sign off on the deal.

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FCC Tells Courts 5th Circ. Wrong To Kill $57M AT&T Fine

By Ali Sullivan

The Federal Communications Commission defended multimillion-dollar fines against T-Mobile and Verizon in letters to the D.C. Circuit and Second Circuit, urging the appeals courts not to heed the Fifth Circuit's toss of a related $57 million privacy fine against AT&T.

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Exec 'Can't Believe' X Offers Itself As Place For Friends

By Bryan Koenig

The Federal Trade Commission pressed executives and former leaders from X Corp., Strava, Pinterest and Reddit on Monday for all the things that distinguish their services from Meta Platforms Inc., painting Facebook and Instagram in D.C. federal court as effectively the only place to really connect with friends and family to show the social media giant's alleged monopoly.

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POLICY & REGULATION

DOJ's Slater Outlines 'America First Antitrust' Priorities

By Matthew Perlman

The head of the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division said Monday that robust antitrust enforcement meshes with conservative principles, and the agency's priorities will be on pocketbook issues and protecting individual liberty online.

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ENFORCEMENT

Feds No Longer Want Convicted Ex-Ill. Speaker To Forfeit $3M

By Celeste Bott

The federal government has reversed course on a bid for former Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan to forfeit more than $3 million in the wake of his partial conviction on public corruption, saying it stands by its legal arguments but was backing off as "a matter of discretion."

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Brief

ITC Affirms Optimum's Network Patent Case Is Over

By Andrew Karpan

The U.S. International Trade Commission has decided not to breathe any new life into Optimum Communications Services Inc.'s patent infringement case against several Chinese tech companies over network switching and routing patents, but it also cut part of an agency judge's findings on ownership of the patents.

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LITIGATION

Altice Must Show Arbitration Clause Was Sent, NJ Justices Told

By George Woolston

An Altice USA customer urged the New Jersey Supreme Court on Monday to revive his discrimination suit against the cellular provider, arguing that the company has provided no evidence of an arbitration agreement that precluded his claims in lower courts.

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DOJ Wants Live Nation Case Split Between Liability, Damages

By Matthew Perlman

The U.S. Department of Justice asked a New York federal court on Monday to split the case accusing Live Nation of quashing competition in the live entertainment industry by having a jury decide if the company violated antitrust law and the judge decide what remedies to impose.

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Meta Gets Jury In Damages Trial Over NSO's WhatsApp Hack

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge empaneled eight jurors Monday to decide how much Israeli spyware-maker NSO Group owes Meta Platforms for hacking into 1,400 WhatsApp users' devices, selecting from a pool of dozens of San Francisco Bay Area residents, many of whom criticized Meta, its CEO Mark Zuckerberg and the Israeli government.

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Mobile Comm Co. Sued For Docs In Del. Ahead Of Board Vote

By Jeff Montgomery

Two Sonim Technologies Inc. corporate stockholders have accused the mobile communications tech company of weaponizing board nomination rules "purely for entrenchment" of incumbents, in a Delaware Court of Chancery suit and preliminary injunction bid filed ahead of an upcoming annual meeting and takeover fight.

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Justices Won't Disturb 9th Circ.'s AT&T 401(k) Suit Revival

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear AT&T's bid for review of a Ninth Circuit panel decision reviving a class action against the telecom giant alleging mismanagement of an employee 401(k) plan, rejecting employers' request for more clarity from the court on the pleading standard for federal benefits lawsuits alleging excessive fees.

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Brief

9th Circ. Nixes COVID-19 App Suit Appeal Against Apple

By Jared Foretek

The Ninth Circuit has once again shut the door on a doctor's suit accusing Apple of illegally refusing to distribute his COVID-19 tracking app through its app store, affirming a lower court ruling from October 2024 that denied his motion to reopen.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

The 2025 Lawyer Satisfaction Survey

Law firms and the legal profession are facing new uncertainties, shifting the stress levels, economic pressures, and overall contentment of lawyers in private practice, according to the 2025 Law360 Pulse Lawyer Satisfaction Survey.

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'The Court Is Not A Cartoon': Judge Rips Dragon Watermark

By Hailey Konnath

A Michigan federal magistrate judge Monday ordered an East Lansing, Michigan, firm called Dragon Lawyers PC to stop plastering its pleadings with a large, suit-clad purple cartoon dragon watermark on each page, saying it's not only "distracting, it's juvenile and impertinent."

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Analysis

Feds Have Strong Hand On Judge Charged With Blocking ICE

By Danielle Ferguson and Carolyn Muyskens

A Wisconsin state judge faces an uphill battle in defending against federal criminal allegations that she helped a man evade immigration officials at a Wisconsin courthouse, but she may be able to stake out a defense in arguing the government can't prove intent, experts told Law360. 

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California Judge Loses Pay After Conviction For Murdering Wife

By Gina Kim

The California Commission on Judicial Performance formally suspended a California judge without pay after a state jury found him guilty of second-degree murder last week for shooting his wife to death in their Anaheim Hills home on Aug. 3, 2023, following a heated argument. 

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Q&A

Sullivan M&A Chief Sees Opportunities Amid Tariff Turmoil

By Al Barbarino

After a rocky start to 2025, the mergers and acquisitions landscape is grappling with economic volatility, shifting trade policies and a complex regulatory environment. But even in a "choppy" market, there are always deals to be made, says Melissa Sawyer, global head of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP's M&A group and co-head of its corporate governance practice.

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NJ Judge Apologizes Through Waylon Jennings Lyrics

By George Woolston

Clark Township, New Jersey, Municipal Judge Antonio Inacio said Tuesday that he isn't proud of all the things that led him to appear before a Garden State judiciary disciplinary committee, but he can say that he never intentionally hurt anyone by his conduct.

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$10M Brown Rudnick Deal With Guo Trustee Gets Judge's OK

By Aaron Keller

A Connecticut bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved a $10 million deal between Miles Guo's Chapter 11 trustee and the Chinese exile's onetime attorneys at Brown Rudnick LLP, and greenlighted 10 lesser settlements with other firms and luxury retailer Versace.

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Analysis

GOP Plan To Shutter Audit Watchdog Could Strain SEC

By Jessica Corso

Congressional Republicans are renewing the push to get rid of a financial regulator that conservatives have complained is costly and lacks proper oversight, but some former staffers at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board wonder whether the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has the manpower or expertise to take over the board's duties.

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Federal Defenders Of NY Staff Announce Union Drive

By Andrea Keckley

Staff members at the Federal Defenders of New York have announced their plans to join their attorney colleagues as members of the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys.

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Justices Scoff At Feds' Defenses In Mistaken FBI Raid Case

By Chart Riggall

Supreme Court justices Tuesday appeared flummoxed by the government's "ridiculous" arguments it should be immune to a Georgia resident's lawsuit over a mistaken FBI raid on her house, but seemed unlikely to issue a blanket ruling on when an officer's discretion trumps their liability for injuries caused by their actions.

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Alex Jones Wants High Court Look At $1.3B Sandy Hook Case

By Brian Steele

Bankrupt Infowars host Alex Jones will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate a mammoth libel judgment that families of Sandy Hook shooting victims secured against him and his company over his conspiratorial broadcasts calling the massacre a hoax, he told a Connecticut appellate court in seeking to extend a pause on the payout.

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Breyer To Talk Pragmatism At NJ Bar Association Convention

By Carla Baranauckas

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will bring his pragmatic legal philosophy to center stage when he appears at the New Jersey State Bar Association Convention on May 16 in Atlantic City.

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COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

AT&T Inc.

Altice SA

Altice USA

American Benefits Council

Apple Inc.

Commonwealth Edison Co.

EchoStar Corp.

Epic Games Inc.

Exelon Corp.

FMR LLC

FTI Consulting Inc.

Financial Engines, Inc.

Google LLC

Instagram Inc.

Institute for Justice

LinkedIn Corp.

Live Nation Entertainment Inc.

Meta Platforms Inc.

New Jersey State Bar Association

Optimum

Pegasus

Pinterest Inc.

Public Co. Accounting Oversight Board

Reddit Inc.

Snap Inc.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

State Bar of Michigan

T-Mobile US Inc.

Telephone & Data Systems Inc.

The ERISA Industry Committee

TikTok Inc.

Twitter Inc.

United States Cellular Corp.

Verizon Communications Inc.

Viasat Inc.

Walmart Inc.

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Advisors LLC

ArentFox Schiff LLP

Baker & Hostetler

Breen & Pugh

Broocks Law Firm

Brown Rudnick

Clement & Murphy

Cohen Milstein

Cohn Birnbaum

Cravath Swaine

Davis Polk

GPS Legal

Gibson Dunn

Hodgson Russ

Katten Muchin

Kellogg Hansen

King & Spalding

Kirkland & Ellis

Koskoff Koskoff

Latham & Watkins

Law Offices of Dana Wefer

Levi & Korsinsky

Lowenstein Sandler

McManimon Scotland

NachtLaw

Neubert Pepe

Randazza Legal Group

Reyes Kurson

Richards Layton

Schneider Wallace Cottrell Konecky LLP

Sidley Austin

Spero Law LLC

Stone Conroy LLC

Sullivan & Cromwell

WilmerHale

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

California Commission on Judicial Performance

Delaware Court of Chancery

European Union

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Communications Commission

Federal Trade Commission

International Trade Commission

National Labor Relations Board

New Jersey Supreme Court

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Wisconsin

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of Illinois

U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Labor

U.S. District & Bankruptcy Courts of Southern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Supreme Court

United States Bankruptcy Court for the District of Connecticut