No 'Conspiracy To Hide Asbestos' In Talc, J&J Atty Tells Jury

By Craig Clough

An attorney for Johnson & Johnson said Thursday during closing arguments of a six-week bellwether trial that the only way three women's deadly ovarian cancers were caused by the company's talc would be a vast worldwide conspiracy to hide that asbestos is present in the products, but it just "doesn't make sense."

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Meta Says Section 230 Foils Social Media Addiction Verdict

By Rae Ann Varona

Meta urged a Los Angeles judge on Thursday to toss a landmark verdict against the social media giant and Google for harming a young woman's mental health, saying it deserves a total victory under Section 230 because the plaintiff was addicted to third-party content, not the platforms themselves.

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Fed. Circ. Solidifies Google, Oath Wins In Arendi Patent Suits

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Thursday upheld Google LLC and Oath Holdings Inc.'s wins over Arendi SARL's lawsuits that accused them of infringing various data system patents, agreeing with a Delaware federal court that the patents weren't valid to begin with.

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Miami F1 Track Flaw Suit Settles At Start Of Trial

By Carolina Bolado

After trying and failing to boot the judge overseeing a case over the construction of a track that failed during the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix race in 2022, a British racetrack consultant avoided a trial with a last-minute settlement.

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Ecobee's $11.5M Thermostat IP Trial Loss Erased By Fed. Circ.

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Thursday threw out an $11.5 million award against Ecobee Technologies in a smart thermostat patent infringement suit from Ollnova Technologies, citing problems with the verdict form and how jurors were instructed to look at the patents.

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SEC Disgorgement Powers Stay Intact After High Court Fight

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday said that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could collect ill-gotten gains from alleged fraudsters without having to identify victims who were financially harmed by the fraud, declining to place further limits on the agency's disgorgement powers six years after it last did so.

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Justices Say FCC Fines Can Stand Without Jury Trial

By Christopher Cole

The U.S. Supreme Court upheld the Federal Communications Commission's authority to issue monetary penalties Thursday, knocking down challenges to nearly $200 million in fines against the Big Three wireless carriers for failing to protect consumer data privacy.

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Karen Read Sues Police For Lax Oversight Of 'Unfit' Officers

By Carolyn Muyskens

Karen Read, the Massachusetts woman acquitted last year of killing her police officer boyfriend in a trial that garnered national attention, said in a suit filed Thursday that police agencies were negligent for entrusting the case to "biased and corrupt" officers whose private messages were filled with bigoted language.

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Amgen Won't Face 'Nonsensical' Rodent Antibody IP At Trial

By Dani Kass

A Delaware federal judge has trimmed Harbour Medical's infringement suit against an Amgen unit just days before trial, saying two of the company's mouse antibody patents are indefinite based on a term that "everyone agrees" is "nonsensical."

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Fed. Circ. Invalidates Spinal Implant Patent Claims

By Elliot Weld

The Federal Circuit on Thursday invalidated patent claims covering parts used to make expandable implant devices in spinal fusion surgeries that were the basis of a $9.5 million jury verdict against Life Spine Inc. and that had been upheld by the Patent Trial and Appeal Board.

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Trucking Co. Will Pay $4.5M To End Applicant's Race Bias Suit

By Kelcey Caulder

A trucking company has reached a $4.5 million deal to resolve a lawsuit in which a Black applicant who said the company walked back a job offer because of his race scored a $3.4 million jury award in 2023, according to recent filings in Georgia federal court.

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Ex-FirstEnergy Execs Face New Bribery Charges After Mistrial

By Dorothy Atkins

An Ohio grand jury hit two former FirstEnergy executives Wednesday with a fresh round of corruption charges alleging they bribed a utility regulator to secure a controversial $1.3 billion bailout for two FirstEnergy nuclear plants, beefing up accusations against the executives after a jury deadlocked on the initial charges.

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NY AG Must Preserve Cohen Docs In Trump's Civil Fraud Case

By Frank G. Runyeon

The New York state trial court judge overseeing President Donald Trump's civil fraud case granted his request to preserve notes from private meetings between state litigators and Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen after the key witness said he felt "pressured" to testify.

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Goldstein Seeks Sentencing Delay, Citing New Tax Claims

By Jared Foretek

SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein renewed his push Wednesday in Maryland federal court for a delayed sentencing, saying prosecutors blindsided his defense by including additional uncharged years of alleged tax avoidance in the government's sentencing memorandum.

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Atlantic City Mayor Sues County Prosecutor After Acquittal

By George Woolston

Atlantic City Mayor Marty Small has sued Atlantic County Prosecutor William E. Reynolds for malicious prosecution and violation of his civil rights, alleging Reynolds' prosecution of Small on child abuse charges was a politically motivated attempt to remove him from office.

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NC Doctor Seeks Probation In $11M Medicare Fraud Case

By Parker Quinlan

A North Carolina doctor convicted of making false statements as part of an $11 million Medicaid fraud scheme has asked a federal judge in the state to not send her to federal prison and instead give her probation after a jury found her guilty.

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7th Circ. Upholds Drug-Premises Enhancement In Meth Case

By Parker Quinlan

The Seventh Circuit has upheld a nearly 16-year prison sentence for an Indiana man, finding that a home he used primarily to sell drugs makes him eligible for a prison sentence increase under the federal sentencing guidelines.

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Syngenta Again Tries To Move Paraquat Mass Tort From Philly

By P.J. D'Annunzio

Syngenta has filed a motion challenging Philadelphia's mass tort program as the venue for claims that its herbicide paraquat contributes to Parkinson's disease in those exposed to the chemical.

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Live Nation Remedies Discovery To Wait On New Trial Motions

By Bryan Koenig

A New York federal judge said that state attorneys general will have to wait on discovery to bolster their bid for a Live Nation Entertainment Inc. breakup, preferring to first tackle the live music giant's bid to upend jury findings faulting the company for monopolizing the industry.

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Baker Donelson Seeks 'No Recovery' Ruling In Ponzi Fallout

By Emily Sawicki

Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC on Thursday asked a Mississippi federal court to issue a single check-box form ruling that states the firm does not owe a monetary judgment stemming from a jury's verdict finding it committed negligent supervision amid a timber company's nine-figure Ponzi scheme, which was perpetrated in part by two of the firm's then-partners.

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Panel Unsure Fraud Suit Against Conn. Atty Was Late

By Brian Steele

Connecticut appellate judges suggested Thursday that an attorney may have waived the right to claim a three-year statute of limitations protected her from a client's fraud suit, which resulted in a $27,000 verdict, by failing to correctly raise the issue in a trial court.

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Jury Hears Closings In Trial Over Alleged Tax Shelter Scheme

By Rachel Konieczny

Prosecutors told a Colorado federal jury Thursday that four individuals defrauded the government by using their businesses to help promote and sell abusive and illegal trust tax shelters, while the defendants argued they lacked knowledge of the alleged scheme and can't be held responsible.

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Citron Founder Verdict Tests Reach Of 'Half-Truth' Fraud

A California federal jury's conviction this week of Citron founder Andrew Left may be remembered less as a conventional manipulation prosecution than as a case about how far the "half-truth" doctrine can reach when applied to modern market speech, says Elisha Kobre at Sheppard.

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2nd Circ.'s Embedded Video Ruling May Protect Publishers

The Second Circuit's recent decision in Richardson v. Townsquare, dismissing an infringement claim arising from an embedding of a YouTube-hosted interview, reaffirms a potent defense for publishers who regularly use social media platforms' embed functionality, says Amanda Harris at Jassy Vick.

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Series

Competing At Poker Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Playing poker in male-dominated rooms taught me to treat skepticism as background noise when my opponents seem to underestimate me, to apply pressure when it matters and to adapt without losing strategic discipline — skills that are all indispensable in restructuring and insolvency matters, says Alexis Gambale at Pashman Stein.

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Quinn Emanuel, Texas Boutique Match Milbank Associate Pay

By Kevin Penton

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP and a Texas-based litigation boutique are the latest firms to match Milbank LLP's pay hikes for associates, with annual increases of $10,000 to $20,000 that top off at $455,000.

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Blanche's AG Bid Could Face Rocky Path In Senate

By Courtney Bublé

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will be tapped for the permanent role, but he might not have a smooth path to confirmation.

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Georgia Fed. Judge Facing Impeachment Threat, New DQ Bid

By Emily Johnson

A Georgia federal judge reportedly disciplined for having sexual intercourse in her chambers and attending a political event is facing renewed pressure, as a former UPS employee seeks her disqualification from his dismissed racial discrimination lawsuit and a Georgia congressman drafts articles of impeachment to remove her from the bench.

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Deepfake Mocks Judge Spearheading Judiciary Deepfake Rule

By Jeff Overley

The New York federal judge developing policies for phony audiovisual materials revealed Thursday firsthand experience with the subject: an artificial intelligence video on social media that depicts him as a maniacal Nazi who recently sentenced a private equity executive to prison "for being a Republican."

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Analysis

'Parallel' DOJ, SEC Investigations Not So Parallel Anymore

By Phillip Bantz

The level of coordination between the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has decreased under the Trump administration, resulting in disjointed investigatory efforts and misaligned timing in parallel investigations, experts say.

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'Kentucky Hammer' Tries To Control Attys, PI Market, Suit Says

By James Boyle

The principal attorney of personal injury firm Isaacs & Isaacs PCS, who advertises as the "Kentucky Hammer," has been accused by a former attorney at the firm of bullying his employees into signing unfavorable contracts and attempting to monopolize the local personal injury market.

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Calif. Bar Accuses More Attys In Unlicensed Practice Scheme

By Lauren Berg

Three more attorneys at the Los Angeles personal injury firm facing investigation for its involvement in a record $4 billion sex abuse settlement against Los Angeles County are facing disciplinary charges by the State Bar of California, alleging the firm illegally practiced law outside the state.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Robbins Geller's David Knotts

By Sydney Price

Right after graduating from Cornell University Law School, David Knotts, a native of Kansas City, Missouri, landed at one of the world's largest corporate defense firms.

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