'Anticompetitive Friction': Google Must Fix App Store Search

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge Thursday ordered Google LLC to streamline the steps for Android users to find rival app stores as part of his court-ordered remedies in antitrust litigation won by Epic Games Inc. against Google, saying the current user process includes "anti-competitive friction" to discourage competition.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Albertsons Didn't Flag Suspicious Opioid Orders, Judge Hears

By Ben Adlin

Albertsons failed to report its pharmacies' unusual opioid orders to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration despite explicit instructions from the agency to do so, the retailer's vice president of pharmacy compliance testified Thursday during a bench trial in Washington's lawsuit accusing the chain of exacerbating the state's opioid epidemic.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Supreme Court's Apple App Store Pause Lifted After 24 Hours

By Bryan Koenig

Following the expiration of a roughly 24-hour pause on the App Store dispute between Apple and Epic Games, Apple put a 15% commission on the table Thursday to try to comply with a mandate forcing it to dramatically cut what it charges for App Store sales.

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

6th Circ. Jails Minnesota Activist Over Anti-ICE Threats

By Parker Quinlan

A self-described "antifa" member from Minneapolis must return to jail on federal charges of cyberstalking and making threats against supporters of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, with a divided Sixth Circuit panel determining he still poses a threat to the public.

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

7th Circ. Vacates Gun Sentence Over 'Conspiracy' Definition

By Parker Quinlan

The Seventh Circuit has vacated a nearly eight-year prison sentence for an Indiana man convicted of gun possession as a felon, finding he was incorrectly given a crime of violence enhancement for a prior state charge that caused him to receive an inflated sentence.

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

Rising Star: The Lanier Law Firm's Rachel Lanier

By Cara Salvatore

Rachel Lanier of The Lanier Law Firm played a lead role in bellwether litigation against Meta over claims that social media causes personal mental health injury and has also been involved in talc and opioid litigation, earning her a spot among the trial attorneys under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

NC Biz Court Bulletin: Judges Retire, HCA Suit Heads To Trial

By Hayley Fowler

The North Carolina Business Court dropped a host of heavy-hitting opinions in July ahead of two judicial retirements and a new chief judge rising in the ranks.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Warehouse Owner Faces Manslaughter Charge In Blast Death

By Susan Smiley

For the second time, a Michigan warehouse owner on Thursday saw a judge say involuntary manslaughter charges against him should move forward, in a case over a March 2024 explosion where shrapnel struck and killed a 19-year-old man.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

4th Circ. Won't Rehear Tort Atty's $25M Extortion Conviction

By Y. Peter Kang

The Fourth Circuit has declined to reconsider its affirmance of the conviction of a prominent medical malpractice attorney for attempting to extort the University of Maryland Medical System for $25 million.

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

Texas Man Cops To Role In $43M Tax Shelter Scheme

By Zak Kostro

A Texas man pled guilty to conspiring to defraud the IRS by promoting and selling a fraudulent tax shelter in a scheme that resulted in a tax loss to the federal government of approximately $43 million, the U.S. Department of Justice said Thursday.

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

9th Circ. Revives $140M Robo-Surgery Antitrust Case

By Jared Foretek

The Ninth Circuit on Thursday revived a surgical instrument repair company's antitrust suit accusing the makers of the da Vinci surgical robot of illegally blocking third parties from repairing its machines, ruling that a district judge erred in applying the U.S. Supreme Court's Kodak factors to the dispute.

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

J&J Says No To Reviving Stelara Case

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

Johnson & Johnson has asked the Fourth Circuit not to revive CareFirst's antitrust suit alleging the company tried to monopolize the market for the immunosuppressive drug Stelara.

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

Lindberg Carriers Urge NC Panel To Affirm $467M Judgment

By Jennifer Mandato

Several insurance companies asked a North Carolina state appeals court to affirm a $467 million fraud damages award granted by a trial court against convicted insurance magnate Greg Lindberg and his private investment firm Global Growth Holdings, maintaining that Lindberg recycled "already rejected" arguments regarding the insurers' recovery.

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

Ill. Jury Awards UN Worker's Family $29M For Boeing Crash

By Lauraann Wood

An Illinois federal jury awarded $29 million Wednesday to the family of a U.N. engineer who died alongside 156 others when a Boeing 737 Max 8 jet carrying Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET302 crashed within minutes of takeoff.

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

Ohio High Court Reinstates $1.9M Farmworker Injury Verdict

By Mike Curley

The Ohio Supreme Court has revived a $1.9 million verdict in favor of a farmworker over injuries he sustained on the job, finding the appeals court wrongly required that he prove that his employer had deliberately not reattached a safety guard on the tractor that injured him.

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

Texas Appeals Court Flips $34M Verdict In Hospital Suit

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas appeals court wiped out a $34 million verdict against a healthcare company Thursday, saying the trial court interpreted the parties' contract incorrectly and the company did not breach its agreement with a private orthopedic practice group.

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

Series

Going To Hardcore Shows Makes Me A Better Lawyer

While government contracts law and the hardcore scene may seem entirely unrelated, in my experience, both are about community, focus, being prepared for the unexpected and managing chaos, says Isaac Natter at Fluet.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Anti-DEI Group Asks FTC To Probe Law Fellowship Program

By Dorothy Atkins

An advocacy organization against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives filed an antitrust complaint with the Federal Trade Commission Wednesday, accusing Sponsors for Educational Opportunity of engaging in anticompetitive practices by allegedly colluding on DEI metrics and falsely advertising its program.

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

Baker Botts Atty Cleared Of Defamation In Inventor's Suit

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida federal judge on Thursday tossed a defamation claim against a Baker Botts LLP patent attorney after agreeing with a magistrate judge's conclusion that an inventor had not shown that the lawyer's comments to a reporter were defamatory.

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

NYC Bar Committee Calls For Nationwide AI Rules Framework

By Andrea Keckley

A New York City Bar Association committee concluded in a policy paper published Wednesday that artificial intelligence tools "may assist legal work but cannot substitute for professional legal judgment," calling for a national framework to be built into the Model Rules of Professional Conduct governing its use.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Trump Picks Ex-Arkansas SG, Walmart Lawyer For 8th Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump has announced that he's looking to elevate Judge Lee Rudofsky of the Eastern District of Arkansas to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

State Farm Attys Admit Filing Motions Full Of AI Hallucinations

By Jonathan Capriel

A law firm representing State Farm has admitted that its pretrial motions contained citations to nonexistent cases and legal quotes, errors that were seemingly "hallucinations" generated by AI software designed for lawyers and caught by the plaintiff's attorneys as they prepared for trial in a California state court case about fire damage coverage.

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

Brief

DOJ Fraud Division To Reach 500 Staffers This Month

By Courtney Bublé

By the end of the month, there will be about 500 attorneys and staff in the U.S. Department of Justice's new fraud division, with more to come as time goes on.

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

JP Ward Attorney Exodus Delays Pa. Labor Trafficking Suit

By Matthew Santoni

A "staffing disruption" at the Pittsburgh law firm J.P. Ward & Associates led the firm to request a stay of a labor-trafficking case against hotels in Pennsylvania and West Virginia, after the firm was reduced to one attorney and two staff members, according to court filings.

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