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April 25, 2024
Attys, Insurance Agent Found Guilty Of Tax-Avoidance Scheme
Two St. Louis tax attorneys and a North Carolina insurance agent on Thursday were found guilty on all counts of conspiring to defraud the federal government and aiding in the filing of false tax returns for their role in a tax avoidance scheme that prosecutors claim cost the Internal Revenue Service more than $4 million.
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April 25, 2024
Valero Seeks $75M In Tax Refunds For Fuel Mixtures
Energy company Valero asked a Texas federal court for $75 million in excise tax refunds, claiming the Internal Revenue Service failed to recognize that its production of specific fuels such as butane blends and biomass derivatives qualified for the alternative fuel mixture credit.
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April 24, 2024
Tax Fraud Case Skewed By Prosecutors' Spin, NC Jury Told
Prosecutors and defense attorneys in a tax fraud trial against two lawyers and an insurance agent traded final barbs Wednesday in a North Carolina courtroom before sending the jury to deliberate, with the defendants again defending the tax plan at the center of the government's case and accusing prosecutors of making up facts.
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April 24, 2024
3 Takeaways On How AI Is Forcing Publicity Rights To Evolve
As digital replicas of someone's voice, image or likeness become easier to create with the help of artificial intelligence, this new era of deepfakes is shining a spotlight on the nation's patchwork of right-of-publicity laws and raising questions over when Congress may act to pass a national framework.
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April 24, 2024
World Cup Workers' Abuse Suit Still Falls Short, US Cos. Say
A Texas engineering company and a Colorado subsidiary have asked a federal court to dismiss claims from Filipino workers alleging they were subjected to inhumane labor conditions when helping construct stadiums for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, arguing the workers' latest attempt doesn't even show the defendants recruited or hired them.
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April 24, 2024
SpaceX Stalling Case's Launch To Calif., NLRB Says
The National Labor Relations Board told a Texas federal judge it should disregard SpaceX's "last ditch" effort to keep a case challenging the employment agency's constitutionality in the Lone Star State, arguing that the rocket company is revisiting arguments the court already decided.
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April 24, 2024
Texas Appeals Panel Partially Reverses Atty's Fee Victory
An Austin, Texas, trial lawyer who defeated a breach of fiduciary duty claim brought after he represented one half of a business partnership that went sour has had part of his victory overturned, with a Texas appellate court Wednesday determining that the trial court overstepped when also throwing out a fee claim against the attorney.
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April 24, 2024
Foxtrot, Dom's Kitchen Closures Violate WARN Act, Suit Says
Former employees of Foxtrot Market and Dom's Kitchen & Market hit the stores' parent company with a lawsuit in Illinois federal court Thursday, alleging it failed to give workers 60 days' notice of mass layoffs as required by federal law when all 33 locations abruptly shuttered Tuesday.
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April 24, 2024
DOJ Wants To Weigh In On Texas Google Ad Tech Discovery
The U.S. Department of Justice asked a federal judge Wednesday for permission to file a statement of interest in a Texas-led lawsuit accusing Google of anticompetitive conduct in the display advertising market, writing that the states' request for certain discovery items may violate an order in a substantially similar suit the DOJ is pursuing in Virginia.
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April 24, 2024
Forex Trader Must Pay $11.8M For Ponzi-Like Scheme
A Michigan federal judge on Tuesday said a purported forex commodity pool operator and its agent must pay more than $11.8 million in penalties and restitution for bilking participants in a Ponzi-like scheme, after the defendants ignored a Commodity Futures Trading Commission suit.
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April 24, 2024
Groups Back Intuit's 5th Circ. Challenge To FTC Over Ads
Business and conservative groups defended tax software giant Intuit Inc. in its Fifth Circuit constitutional challenge to the Federal Trade Commission's findings that the company engaged in deceptive advertising, saying the agency acts as both prosecutor and jury and that its administrative judges have unchecked power.
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April 24, 2024
Under Armour Must Show Shoe Sponsor Deals In Patent Row
Under Armour is being forced to turn over information relating to deals it has with athletes like basketball star Stephen Curry as part of a patent infringement lawsuit, but the Texas federal judge in the case limited how much the sportswear company has to provide.
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April 24, 2024
Chamber Of Commerce Sues FTC Over New Noncompete Rule
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has lodged a promised lawsuit challenging the Federal Trade Commission's new rule banning noncompete agreements, contending the pacts are good for the economy and that the agency lacks authority to issue the regulation.
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April 24, 2024
Biden Admin Closes $362M Loan To Texas EV-Wiring Maker
The Biden administration has finalized a $362 million loan to help pay for a Texas automotive-wiring component plant, a move intended to boost the U.S. domestic supply chain for electric vehicles.
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April 24, 2024
Bradley Arant Gains Real Estate Pro In Dallas From Gray Reed
Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP continues to expand in the Lone Star State, adding a real estate and environmental law partner in Dallas from Gray Reed & McGraw LLP.
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April 24, 2024
Tesla Must Put Musk's Potential Payday In Trust, Investors Say
Class attorneys for Tesla stockholders have asked Delaware's chancellor to seize or shelter in a trust tens of billions in company stock sidelined by a ruling that struck down CEO Elon Musk's 10-year compensation plan in January, pending a fast-track hearing.
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April 24, 2024
Samsung Unit Says Exclusion Doesn't Apply To Storm Losses
A Samsung unit seeking coverage for more than $400 million in damage to its semiconductor manufacturing facility related to Winter Storm Uri in 2021 asked a Texas federal court to rule that power loss during the storm did not trigger the policy's so-called lack of services exclusion.
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April 23, 2024
Houston Firm Sues Client For Fees In Explosion Settlement
The Daspit Law Firm PLLC is taking a former client to court in order to recoup money allegedly owed from a settlement to a personal injury lawsuit stemming from a chemical plant fire almost six years ago.
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April 23, 2024
BNSF Says Zurich Should Pay For Defense In Asbestos Cases
BNSF asked a Texas appeals court Tuesday to consider hundreds of asbestos exposures in Libby, Montana, as separate occurrences to trigger an insurance policy provision, saying during oral arguments that Zurich American Insurance Co. needed to cough up defense costs in cases relating to the exposures.
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April 23, 2024
Seller Fights Lender Over First Dibs On $3 Million Property
A lender that took possession of a $3 million property in Haslet, Texas, seems to have negotiated the sale of the tract to an unaffiliated party, Texas appeals court justices said during oral arguments in Fort Worth on Tuesday, in a fight over whether the original seller gets right of first refusal after the land went into foreclosure.
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April 23, 2024
Nuclear Plant Contractor Inks $18.4M Deal To End FCA Claims
The U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday that Consolidated Nuclear Security LLC will pay $18.4 million to resolve allegations that it knowingly submitted false claims for time not worked at a nuclear weapons plant.
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April 23, 2024
Texas Orders Digital Gold Vault Scheme To Shut Down
Texas financial regulators have ordered the operators of a digital gold vault scheme to stop operating in the state, alleging individuals and companies were running a fraudulent multilevel marketing scheme to lure investors in unregistered securities.
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April 23, 2024
Nexstar Calls FCC's Floated $1.2M Fine Over WPIX 'Unlawful'
Broadcast giant Nexstar slammed the Federal Communications Commission's proposed $1.2 million penalty over its "de facto control" of New York station WPIX, saying the fine is unconstitutional and that the agency is running afoul of both the Communications Act and procedural law.
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April 23, 2024
Texas Justices Freeze Harris County Income Program
The Texas Supreme Court entered an order Tuesday blocking Harris County from issuing payments under a guaranteed income program a day after the pilot was greenlit by a lower appellate panel and a day before the first of 18 monthly payments was set for distribution.
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April 23, 2024
EPA Tells 5th Circ. To Sink Texas' Ozone Plan Challenge
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency urged the Fifth Circuit to reject Texas' attempt to challenge the agency's denial of its revised plan to control ozone in the Dallas and Houston metropolitan areas, saying the Lone Star State's arguments "do not withstand scrutiny."
Expert Analysis
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Series
Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
A lifetime of skiing has helped me develop important professional skills, and taught me that embracing challenges with a spirit of adventure can allow lawyers to push boundaries, expand their capabilities and ultimately excel in their careers, says Andrea Przybysz at Tucker Ellis.
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High Court Social Media Speech Ruling Could Implicate AI
In Moody v. NetChoice and NetChoice v. Paxton, the U.S. Supreme Court is considering whether certain state laws can restrict content moderation by social media platforms, but the eventual decision could also provide insight into whether the first amendment protects artificial intelligence speech, say Joseph Meadows and Quyen Dang at GRSM50.
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Texas Insurance Ruling Could Restore Finality To Appraisal
The Texas Supreme Court's decision in Rodriguez v. Safeco, determining that full payment of an appraisal award precludes recovery of attorney fees, indicates a potential return to an era in which timely payment undoubtedly disposes of all possible policyholder claims, says Karl Schulz at Cozen O'Connor.
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Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC
The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Complying With Enforcers' Ephemeral Messaging Guidance
Given federal antitrust enforcers’ recently issued guidance on ephemeral messaging applications, organizations must take a proactive approach to preserving short-lived communications — or risk criminal obstruction charges and civil discovery sanctions, say attorneys at Manatt.
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How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts
Among associates, women now outnumber men for the first time, but progress toward gender equality at the top of the legal profession remains glacially slow, and firms must implement time-tested solutions to ensure associates’ gender parity lasts throughout their careers, say Kelly Culhane and Nicole Joseph at Culhane Meadows.
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7 Common Myths About Lateral Partner Moves
As lateral recruiting remains a key factor for law firm growth, partners considering a lateral move should be aware of a few commonly held myths — some of which contain a kernel of truth, and some of which are flat out wrong, says Dave Maurer at Major Lindsey.
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No AI FRAUD Act Is A Significant Step For Right Of Publicity
The No Artificial Intelligence Fake Replicas and Unauthorized Duplications Act's proposed federal right of publicity protection, including post-mortem rights, represents a significant step toward harmonizing the landscape of right of publicity law, Rachel Hofstatter and Aaron Rosenthal at Honigman.
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Series
Cheering In The NFL Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Balancing my time between a BigLaw career and my role as an NFL cheerleader has taught me that pursuing your passions outside of work is not a distraction, but rather an opportunity to harness important skills that can positively affect how you approach work and view success in your career, says Rachel Schuster at Sheppard Mullin.
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After TikTok, Tiptoeing Toward Patent Transfer Alignment
Following the Fifth Circuit's TikTok decision, which aimed to standardize transfer analysis in patent cases, the Federal Circuit and Texas federal courts facing transfer requests have taken small steps to consider the practical realities of patent litigation, reinforcing the intensely factual focus of the analysis, says Charles Fowler at McKool Smith.
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Opinion
J&J Bankruptcy Could Thwart Accountability For Victims
Johnson & Johnson's latest attempt at a "Texas Two-Step" bankruptcy proceeding exemplifies the way in which corporate defendants can use bankruptcy to evade accountability, limit resources available to victims, and impose flawed, one-size-fits-all resolutions on diverse groups of plaintiffs, says Michelle Simpson Tuegel at Simpson Tuegel Law.
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Inside The PTAB's Seagen Cancer Drug Patent Decision
The Patent Trial and Appeal Board's recent finding that Seagen's claims for antibody-drug conjugate technology were unpatentable — for lack of enablement, lack of written description and anticipation — mark the latest chapter in the complex patent dispute as the case heads for director review, says Ryan Hagglund at Loeb & Loeb.
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6 Pointers For Attys To Build Trust, Credibility On Social Media
In an era of information overload, attorneys can use social media strategically — from making infographics to leveraging targeted advertising — to cut through the noise and establish a reputation among current and potential clients, says Marly Broudie at SocialEyes Communications.
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5 Lessons For SaaS Companies After Blackbaud Data Breach
Looking at the enforcement actions that software-as-a-service provider Blackbaud resolved with state attorneys general, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission in the past year can help SaaS companies manage these increasingly common forms of data breaches, say attorneys at Orrick.
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A Post-Mortem Analysis Of Stroock's Demise
After the dissolution of 147-year-old firm Stroock late last year shook up the legal world, a post-mortem analysis of the data reveals a long list of warning signs preceding the firm’s collapse — and provides some insight into how other firms might avoid the same disastrous fate, says Craig Savitzky at Leopard Solutions.