NEXT

Yes, Charlie Sheen, Please Do Arbitrate Your Sex Partner Disputes

November 18, 2015
There's been a lot of criticism lately about arbitration being unfair. But here's an instance where confidential, binding arbitration seems eminently appropriate—actor Charlie Sheen reportedly required would-be paramours to agree to arbitrate all disputes.
4 minute read

Don't Want a 150-Foot Cell Tower Next Door? Too Bad

November 18, 2015
On the list of things homeowners don't want, a giant new cell tower next door has got to be near the top. But if you live in Connecticut, New York or Vermont, there may not be much you can do about it, not if there's a gap in cell phone coverage in your area.
3 minute read

How One Lawyer Scored a DPA in a Huge Tax Fraud Case

November 17, 2015
Prosecutors said it was the biggest criminal tax fraud case in history. How did Barry Berke's client walk away with a deferred prosecution agreement?
7 minute read

Full Speed Ahead for Litigation Funders

November 17, 2015
In an out-of-the-blue announcement, litigation funder Bentham on Monday said that it has struck more than $30 million in deals with seven law firms. The takeaway: It's full speed ahead for the young but fast-growing litigation funding industry, never mind a recent inquiry into the inner workings of the industry by suspicious Senate Republicans.
5 minute read

Monday Mashup: Fee Fights, Celeb Settlements and Wilmer's Revolving Door

November 15, 2015
Hausfeld's curiously timed $120M settlement; why the city of San Francisco is paying Journey guitarist Neal Schon $290,000; another Wilmer partner lands a top SEC job. All this and more in The Lit Daily's take on under-the-radar legal news.
6 minute read

Litigator of the Week: Michael Myers of McClanahan Myers Espey

November 12, 2015
A Houston plaintiffs lawyer and a dentist took on the International Trade Commission's authority to regulate data transmissions, and they won.
5 minute read

Pedophile's Suit Tests How Far Prisons Must Go to Accommodate Sex Changes

November 11, 2015
In 2014, Dillon Shadle pleaded guilty to first-degree sexual assault of a 3-year-old boy and possession of child pornography. He now identifies as a woman, and wants the state of Nebraska to pay for hormone treatment and sex reassignment surgery. If prior holdings by other courts are any indication, Shadle has a good chance of winning.
6 minute read

If a Picture Is Worth a Thousand Words, Is a Trial Tech Expert Worth $200 an Hour?

November 10, 2015
Trial technology consultants offer expertise and experience—the best of them have seen more trials than most lawyers. But do you really need them?
4 minute read

Shout-Out: Patterson Belknap Scores for Abbott in Diabetes Test Strip Imports

November 09, 2015
When Abbott Laboratories found the domestic market for its diabetes test strips flooded with cheaper gray market imports from Europe, it tapped lawyers from Patterson Belknap Webb & Tyler to shut down the scheme.
2 minute read

Ride 'EmCounsel: Weil Lassoes Rodeo Antitrust Suit

November 09, 2015
It's hard to imagine a world more removed from Weil, Gotshal & Manges' Fifth Avenue offices in Manhattan than a dusty rodeo ring. But Weil partners James Quinn and Eric Hochstadt are leading the charge on behalf of championship rodeo riders, filing an antitrust class action on their behalf in Dallas federal court on Monday.
5 minute read

Pot, Hookers, Debts: What Can Kill a Security Clearance for Would-Be DOJ Lawyers

November 08, 2015
DOJ hires hundreds of laterals every year, but for some would-be government lawyers, there's one scary obstacle: the background investigation and security clearance. So will the pot you smoked in college disqualify you from getting the job?
6 minute read

Litigators of the Week: James Thompson of Winston & Strawn and Lisa Blatt of Arnold & Porter

November 05, 2015
Is Philip Morris finally clear of a $10.1 billion verdict for misleading smokers? The roller-coaster case is still too early to call, but Thompson and Blatt may be close to claiming a final victory.
4 minute read

HCA to Pay $215M in Latest Big Securities Class Settlement

November 04, 2015
For the first six months of the year, it looked like securities class actions were in the doldrums. But since June 30, there's been a series of big-ticket settlements in cases brought by Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd. The latest: a $215 million payout by HCA.
5 minute read

Oh, the Humanity!: Peet's Coffee Sued Over French Press Serving Sizes

November 04, 2015
Peet's Coffee is allegedly short-changing customers who order 12- or-32 ounce French press coffees. It's one in a series of less than compelling class actions over food labeling.
6 minute read

Same Court, Same Judge, Same Facts: What Gibson Dunn Did Differently to Win

November 02, 2015
Prism Technologies LLC was on a roll, suing the five largest cellular telephone service providers for infringing the same two patents. The first two cases, against AT&T and Sprint, went Prism's way—until it was Gibson Dunn and T-Mobile's turn.
3 minute read

Shout-Out: Cooley Kills $380M Antitrust Suit

November 02, 2015
“Expensive, bitter, time‐consuming and hard‐fought.” That's how a federal judge in Miami described a $380 million antitrust battle between two pharmaceutical manufacturing and marketing companies.
3 minute read

On the Gridiron, the Ice or in Court, Latham Partner Thomas Heiden Plays to Win

November 01, 2015
In law and sports, fielding the right team is everything. The Illinois High School Association found its champion in Latham & Watkins partner Thomas Heiden, who scored a win last week in a case with far-reaching implications for high school football and other contact sports.
5 minute read

Halloween Special [FICTION]: A Trial Lawyer's Nightmare

October 29, 2015
"I was going to give my first opening statement, and it was brilliant, if I do say so myself... I took a deep breath, and then looked at the jury. And then I saw her. I saw her, and I lost control." A spooky Halloween tale by Lowenstein Sandler partner Dave Elkind.
10 minute read

Litigator of the Week: Robert Schwartz and Victor Jih of Irell & Manella

October 29, 2015
After steadily chipping away at claims that online video provider Hulu LLC broke privacy laws by sharing users' viewing histories, Schwartz and Jih finally closed the book on the case.
3 minute read

Ghostly Sightings and a Demonic Statue: Tales From the Federal Circuit (Seriously, Some Say It's Haunted)

October 29, 2015
It's hard to think of anything less supernaturally spooky than patent infringement or takings claims, but the two federal courts charged with hearing such cases are among the most haunted places in Washington DC--at least according to popular legend.
5 minute read

Criminal Defense Star Billy Martin on Dog Fighting, Monica's Blue Dress and the Worst Thing a Judge Ever Said to Him

October 29, 2015
Professional athletes, entertainers and politicians in a world of trouble have all turned to Billy Martin, who recently joined Miles & Stockbridge as a partner. He spoke to the Lit Daily about his practice, his work to diversify the legal profession and why getting rear-ended by a guy in a Porsche changed his life.
13 minute read

When the Feds Get the Wrong Guy: A Shocking Tale of False Arrest

October 27, 2015
In popular culture, FBI agents—think Mulder and Scully or Clarice Starling—are brilliant investigators who relentlessly seek the truth. In real life, not so much, as an appalling case of false arrest in Texas makes clear.
7 minute read

The Best Law Firm for Patent Litigation Right Now Is …

October 26, 2015
What law firm has the top patent litigation practice? It depends on how you measure it, but new data from Lit Daily affiliate Corporate Counsel suggests one possible answer. When you factor in other surveys, though, it's not so clear-cut.
4 minute read

Cure Cancer? Nah, Let's Just Sue Each Other

October 25, 2015
Corporate disputes are often dry, bloodless things, but every once in a while, a case comes along with enough drama, scheming and betrayal to be worthy of a soap opera. That's what happened last week in a fight over control of Genelux Corp., a privately held company with a mission to cure cancer.
7 minute read

Litigator of the Week: Christine Lepera of Mitchell Silberberg & Knupp

October 22, 2015
Months after Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams suffered a major blow in the "Blurred Lines" case, Lepera helped score a big win for music copyright defendants in the battle over Jay-Z's "Big Pimpin'."
4 minute read

What a Week for Laterals—A Look at the Most Interesting Moves

October 21, 2015
Conventional wisdom has it that the fourth quarter is slow for lateral moves—partners are supposed to hunker down and wait for the end of the year. But in the past week, we at the Lit Daily have been struck by a number of notable lateral moves. Here's a look at the most interesting among them, and what they tell us about the market.
7 minute read

Shout-Out: Quinn Emanuel Delivers in a Literal Bet-the-Company Case

October 21, 2015
“Bet the company” litigation is a phrase we legal journalists like to use, but it's not often literally true. The stakes were actually that high, though, in a suit against Athilon Capital Corp. and its board of directors in Delaware Chancery Court. After a weeklong trial, a team from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan on Tuesday scored a resounding win.
3 minute read

When a $787M Penalty Is a Good Outcome

October 20, 2015
Even for a bank, $787 million is a big penalty. But in many ways, the deal that lawyers from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom on Tuesday secured for Crédit Agricole SA for sanctions violations was a good one. How does it stack up compared to what Sullivan & Cromwell negotiated for BNP Paribas last year?
5 minute read

Commentary: Dewey & LeBoeuf, Good Riddance

October 20, 2015
In a way, it's fitting that the Dewey & LeBoeuf trial ended with a hung jury. You take a group of people, throw them together, ask them to work for a common purpose—and they fail to reach consensus when it counts. A lot like the Dewey & LeBoeuf partnership, the unindicted co-conspirators in the proceedings.
4 minute read

In $100M Boxing Brawl, O'Melveny Lawyers Left on the Mat

October 19, 2015
In the world of professional boxing, there's no question that manager Al Haymon is a heavyweight. But that's not the same thing as being a bully who KO'ed antitrust laws, as a team of lawyers from O'Melveny & Myers led by Daniel Petrocelli found out.
5 minute read

Shout-Out: Foley Wins Dismissal in Case That Could Reshape Shareholder Suits

October 18, 2015
In a case that could offer a template for other companies looking to cut off shareholder class actions, lawyers from Foley & Lardner secured dismissal with prejudice last week of a suit against Emergent Capital Inc. in Florida federal court.
3 minute read

Life Sciences Star Jay Lefkowitz on Warning Labels, Briefing the President and School Choice

October 18, 2015
When Jay Lefkowitz rejoined Kirkland & Ellis in 2003 after serving as a top adviser to President George W. Bush, he could naturally have slid into the role of lobbyist or public policy hired gun. Instead, he's helped turn Kirkland into a go-to firm for pharma litigation, racking up wins from the Supreme Court on down. He spoke with the Lit Daily about his practice and his time in government.
16 minute read

Litigator of the Week: Eric Maier of Maier Shoch

October 15, 2015
Maier and his tiny firm prevailed over top-shelf opposing counsel in a copyright fight with controversial hot yoga guru Bikram Choudhury.
4 minute read

Aunt Who Sued Nephew Not Actually the Worst Person in the World

October 14, 2015
Jennifer Connell became infamous overnight, dubbed “the worst aunt ever,” for suing her 12-year-old nephew for $127,000 because she broke her wrist when he hugged her. But what got lost in the din was an entirely reasonable motivation for bringing the suit—one that did not make her a “nasty witch” or a “fruitcake with no morals."
5 minute read

Full Eighth Circuit Lets Employer Off the Hook in Gruesome Workplace Accident Case

October 13, 2015
In an en banc decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit on Tuesday weighed the death of 59-year-old lathe operator in Missouri. Where were the workplace protections? And why did the Department of Labor sue itself?
4 minute read

If You Were Justin Bieber's Lawyer, What Would You Be Doing Today?

October 12, 2015
When it comes to litigation, stars are not just like us. For the lawyers who represent them, the overriding question is "How do you protect a person's talent?" It's not easy.
5 minute read

Shout-Out: Winston & Strawn Scores $30M Patent Win for Artificial Turf Maker

October 12, 2015
A federal jury in Michigan on Friday awarded Winston & Strawn client FieldTurf USA Inc. $30 million in a patent infringement suit against rival Astroturf LLC, and left the door open for treble damages by finding that the copying was willful.
3 minute read

Super Spin: Lanny Davis, Bo Dietl and the Court of Public Opinion

October 11, 2015
There are some lawyers who, when asked to comment on litigation, reply with a slight sneer, “We don't intend to try our case in the media.” And there are others who seem to like nothing more—because sometimes, the court of public opinion is exactly the right forum for a dispute. Case in point: a press conference on Friday by Lanny Davis and his client, former New York City police detective Richard “Bo” Dietl.
6 minute read

Litigators of the Week: John O'Quinn and Steven Cherny of Kirkland & Ellis

October 08, 2015
In a $2 billion patent battle with roots as old as the lawyers who fought it, Cherny and O'Quinn can finally claim a final victory.
5 minute read

Crazy Cases and (Unintentionally) Funny Opinions

October 07, 2015
Every court has its crazy filings—it comes with the territory. But the U.S. Court of Federal Claims seems to get more than its share. Like the guy who wants money for a patent he called “Vice President Special Prosecutor Honeymoon Vacation,” or the one seeking $1 trillion for infringement of his interstellar spaceship and weather machine. The way the court handles the complaints is laudable.
5 minute read

Say Goodbye to Mandatory Arbitration—And Hello to Class Actions

October 06, 2015
Mandatory arbitration as we know it is on the way out. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Wednesday announced that it plans to propose rules that would prevent consumer financial services companies from using arbitration clauses to block class actions. The implications are huge.
5 minute read

In Wake of Oregon Shooting, Don't Expect Gun Makers to Pay

October 05, 2015
Survivors and families of the victims of the shooting rampage at Umpqua Community College in Oregon may have viable claims against the school for failing to do more to protect the students, or perhaps against the family of shooter. But if prior lawsuits are any guide, the victims would have an extremely difficult time making claims stick against the companies that made the guns or bullets.
5 minute read

Shout Out: Skadden Racks Up Four Wins in 48 Hours

October 04, 2015
Securities litigators at Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom are on a hot streak, winning dismissal of four potential mega-suits last week.
2 minute read

Judge Torches American Apparel Ex-CEO in Hilarious Hearing

October 04, 2015
“You know, I think there's a greater likelihood that I'll be the first American astronaut stranded on Mars" before American Apparel ex-CEO Dov Charney wins this lawsuit, said Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Terry Green, who called Charney's alleged conduct "so far over the top that you can't see the top anymore."
8 minute read

Litigators of the Week: Jonathan Cohn and Mark Hopson of Sidley Austin

October 01, 2015
Litigation's always a gamble, and there was no exception for Sidley Austin as it defended Bayer AG in a dispute with the Federal Trade Commission over Bayer's promotion of its Phillips Colon Health probiotic supplement.
4 minute read

Shout-Out: Covington Saves Small Company From FCPA Peril

October 01, 2015
When a small oil exploration company came under investigation for violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, it could have been the end. Instead, a team from Covington & Burling saved the day.
2 minute read

The O.J. Trial and the Lethal Paralegal, 20 Years Later

September 30, 2015
It's been 20 years since a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury acquitted O.J. Simpson of the murders of his ex-wife, Nicole Brown Simpson, and her friend Ronald Goldman. A key behind-the-scenes player in the subsequent civil trial was 21-year-old Stephen Foster, dubbed the “lethal paralegal." Now a law firm partner, he shared previously unreported details about the case with the Lit Daily.
4 minute read

O.J. Lawyers: Where Are They Now?

September 30, 2015
The O.J. Simpson trial—televised for 134 days to a mesmerized nation— made celebrities out of the lawyers involved. Twenty years later, where are they now?
4 minute read

How a Contractor Laid Claim to Yosemite's Trademarks

September 29, 2015
An unseemly trademark fight has erupted between the federal government and the outgoing contractor that has run Yosemite's food and lodging concessions since 1993. Delaware North wants $51 million for trademarks including the Ahwahnee Hotel and "Yosemite National Park" on souvenirs. How did it come to this?
5 minute read

Magic Diet Powder Didn't Work? Tell Anyone and We'll Sue You

September 28, 2015
It sounds great: Mix a powder in your drink and lose up to 21 pounds a month. Eat chocolate cake and ice cream and all the foods you love! The success rate is 90 percent! Or so claimed Roca Labs Inc., which was sued by the Federal Trade Commission last week in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida for deceptive advertising. But this case has a twist.
4 minute read

Shout-Out: Wilmer Brokers $186M Settlement for Indian Tribes

September 28, 2015
Lawyers from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr helped broker a $186 million settlement on behalf of the Chickasaw and Choctaw nations, which sued the federal government in 2005 for mismanaging tribal assets.
2 minute read

Randy Mastro on Teddy Bears, Bridgegate and How He'll Beat You in Court

September 27, 2015
Randy Mastro has been described by publications including The New York Times and The New Yorker as merciless, fierce and formidable—a lawyer who will fight you until the end. But the New York-based Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partner and co-chair of the firm's litigation practice said that he thinks of himself “as a big teddy bear.” Which makes sense, if teddy bears also have teeth and claws.
12 minute read

Litigator of the Week: Mark Rifkin of Wolf Haldenstein Adler Freeman & Herz

September 24, 2015
It took a class action plaintiffs lawyer to make sure no one ever gets sued again over “Happy Birthday.”
4 minute read

"THANK YOU! THANK YOU!" Inmate Serving Life on Drug Charge Released Because of These Pro Bono Lawyers

September 23, 2015
After 30 years behind bars for a drug charge, Luis Anthony Rivera was released last week—but not because he was wrongly convicted or granted clemency. He was released because it was the right thing to do. He had been punished enough. Credit an incredible pro bono effort by lawyers from Quinn Emanuel and Starnes Davis Florie.
5 minute read

Why the Law Can't Touch CEO Who Raised Pill Price 5,000 Percent

September 22, 2015
Turing Pharmaceuticals CEO Martin Shkreli has become one of the most reviled people in America after raising the price of a drug used to treat life-threatening parasitic infections 5,000 percent. But there's not much the feds can do, if a prior attempt by the Federal Trade Commission is any guide.
3 minute read

Shout-Out: A $94M Verdict for Kirkland and Winston Lawyers

September 22, 2015
Kirkland & Ellis partner James Hurst along with Winston & Strawn partner Steven D'Amore came out on top against a team from Williams & Connolly, scoring an under-the-radar $94 million verdict on behalf of AbbVie Inc. against MedImmune LLC.
2 minute read

Autistic Boy's Parents Sued by Neighbors for Lowering Property Values

September 21, 2015
The parents of an 11-year-old autistic boy in California are fighting a lawsuit by neighbors who say that their son's behavior created a public nuisance that has lowered their property values. The suit, which has been going on for more than a year, is more than baseless: it's dangerous.
5 minute read

Top Lawyers Dish on the Art of the Client Pitch

September 20, 2015
Lawyers who have a strong track record of winning beauty contests share what makes a pitch work—and how it can fall flat.
5 minute read

Litigator of the Week: Corynne McSherry, Electronic Frontier Foundation

September 17, 2015
A former Bingham McCutchen associate, McSherry has found her nonprofit niche pressing for limits on digital copyright protections that could restrict free speech.
4 minute read

Shout-Out: Gibson Dunn Knocks Out Fraud Suit Against DLA Piper

September 16, 2015
Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher partners Kevin Rosen and Matthew Kahn delivered big for DLA Piper, winning dismissal of a suit alleging that the firm helped an investment manager misappropriate funds.
2 minute read

SEC Nemesis Mark Cuban Strikes Again—But on the Wrong Side

September 16, 2015
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission must rue the day it ever picked a fight with Mark Cuban. But the the billionaire basketball team owner/reality show star is on the wrong side as an amicus in a case challenging the SEC's ability to bring administrative cases.
5 minute read

The Actress, the 80-Year-Old and the $800 Million Estate

September 15, 2015
A classic trusts and estates battle is brewing in Nevada state court, with a lineup straight out of central casting: the rich old man, the much younger second wife—a beautiful actress who was not technically divorced from her first husband —and the outraged children who found themselves cut out of the will. It's one of those stories that's like a car crash. You can't help but gawk.
7 minute read

Shout-Out: Skadden Strikes Again for American Apparel in Fee Dispute

September 14, 2015
Lawyers from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom are five for five in representing American Apparel Inc. in a series of disputes with former CEO Dov Charney. The latest win came Friday, when the Delaware Court of Chancery rebuffed Charney's request to have the clothing retailer cover his legal expenses in an ongoing fight over his standstill agreement.
2 minute read

In Horrific Sex Harassment Case, $17M Verdict for Illegal Workers

September 14, 2015
The allegations are appalling: migrant women farm workers leered at, groped and raped by supervisors. Last week, a federal jury in Miami awarded five of the victims—four of whom are undocumented—$17.4 million. The case sends a powerful message: even if you entered the United States illegally, you have civil rights once you're here.
5 minute read

IP Legend Morgan Chu on Winning at Trial, Retirement and Poker

September 13, 2015
“Lucky” is a word that Morgan Chu uses often. Lucky enough as a young lawyer to be tapped to take a major patent case to trial. Lucky enough to win—again and again. But what the Irell & Manella partner doesn't say is that you also make your own luck. Because you don't get called “beyond doubt the most gifted trial lawyer in the USA” by Chambers thanks to luck. Chu spoke to the Lit Daily about his biggest cases and keys to success.
16 minute read

Shout Out: Weil Wins 10-Year False Claims Fight

September 11, 2015
After a 10-year fight that included one trip to the U.S. Supreme Court and two to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, Weil Gotshal & Manges lawyers got a False Claims Act suit against Schindler Elevator Corp. dismissed on summary judgment.
2 minute read

Shout-Out: Fenwick & West Saves Secret Text Message App

September 11, 2015
“Someone you know has anonymously invited you to join Whisper, a mobile social network for sharing secrets.” As far as text messages go, it's definitely creepy. But is it illegal?
2 minute read

Litigator of the Week: Jeffrey Kessler of Winston & Strawn

September 10, 2015
The NFL's toughest courtroom foe struck again, just in time for kickoff.
4 minute read

Amal Clooney: Beautiful? Yes. Famous? Yes. But Is She a Good Lawyer?

September 09, 2015
Amal Clooney may be the most famous practicing lawyer in the world, and is certainly the most photographed. But is she a good lawyer? In some ways, it's the wrong question to ask.
6 minute read

Shout-Out: Latham Unplugs Securities Fraud Suit Against Car Battery Maker

September 08, 2015
Latham & Watkins litigators on Tuesday won dismissal of a would-be securities fraud class action against a company that made electric car batteries for the beautiful but ill-fated Karma by Fisker.
2 minute read

Small-Time, Boring Cases? Well Done, SEC

September 08, 2015
Under the heading “They don't make 'em like they used to” add accounting fraud suits by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. But that's a good thing.
6 minute read

Shout-Out: Kramer Levin and Greenberg Traurig Get Securities Fraud Suits Tossed

September 04, 2015
A team of lawyers from Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel and Greenberg Traurig on Friday won dismissal of two securities fraud class actions against mortgage servicer Ocwen Financial Corp.
2 minute read

White Collar Titan Reid Weingarten on Juries, Clients and the Scariest Federal Prosecutors

September 04, 2015
Steptoe & Johnson LLP partner Reid Weingarten is one of the country's top white collar defense lawyers. He spoke at length with the Litigation Daily about his practice—including what it means when he wants the “smart jurors" and what he says to prosecutors in their offices to convince them not to bring a case.
13 minute read

Litigator of the Week: Joseph Neuhaus of Sullivan & Cromwell

September 03, 2015
Thanks to Neuhaus, after nine years of litigation, Argentina's central bank is off the hook from having to cover more than $2 billion in defaulted Argentinian bond debt.
5 minute read

If You're Not Throwing Up Today, Thank These Lawyers

September 02, 2015
Food safety lawyers are the white knights of the plaintiffs bar. Because who wants to get violently ill or even die from something that you ate? A new reports argues lawsuits are "the most effective, and sometimes the only, mechanism for deterring negligent behavior" when it comes to food production.
5 minute read

Shout-Out: Covington & Burling

September 02, 2015
Covington & Burling lawyers won their third trial in four weeks on behalf of Eli Lilly and Co. for allegedly failing to warn about the risks of withdrawing from the antidepressant Cymbalta.
1 minute read

Air Cargo Fight Ready for Takeoff

September 01, 2015
Hausfeld threw down the gauntlet on Monday with a press release headlined “Multibillion-Dollar Air Cargo Price-Fixing Litigation Headed to Trial in Brooklyn.” Plaintiffs lawyers say they're ready to go to court, but will the holdout defendants chance a jury trial?
4 minute read

Shout-Out: Cleary Gottlieb

August 31, 2015
2 minute read

Feds Seek Contempt Sanctions Against Nonparty Firms

August 31, 2015
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau wants a federal judge in California to sanction several small law firms for violating an order that they aren't a party to. As a legal move, it's undeniably aggressive and possibly brilliant.
4 minute read

The Best and the Nicest: Making the Grade With the American College of Trial Lawyers

August 30, 2015
Want to know what you can do to be invited to join the ultraprestigious American College of Trial Lawyers? The answer, according to the group's president: not much. "'Campaigning' for membership is discouraged and counterproductive." So who gets in, and why?
6 minute read

Shout-Out: Quinn Emanuel

August 28, 2015
Lawyers from Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan saved the day for a bank accused of money laundering, securing a last-minute injunction that stopped draconian penalties from taking effect Friday.
3 minute read

Litigator of the Week: Michael Mueller of Hunton & Williams

August 27, 2015
Mueller knocked out a pair of wage-and-hour class actions against Tyson Foods this week, even as he and his longtime client face an even bigger test at the U.S. Supreme Court.
4 minute read

Q&A With White-Collar Titan Reid Weingarten on Juries, Clients and the Scariest Federal Agency

August 27, 2015
12 minute read

Shout-Out: Skadden Forces Would-Be Class to Arbitrate

August 27, 2015
Derailing a would-be class action against a company that makes roofing shingles, lawyers from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom on Wednesday convinced a federal judge in Sacramento that the plaintiffs must arbitrate their claims individually.
3 minute read

The Dilly in Philly: Clement v. Olson

August 26, 2015
It was the legal equivalent of the Floyd Mayweather-Manny Pacquiao matchup: in one corner, the 42nd solicitor general of the United States, Theodore Olson. In the other, the 43rd SG, Paul Clement, plus a team from Skadden. Clement scored the KO before the Third Circuit, beating an attempt by the state of New Jersey to legalize sports betting.
5 minute read

Shout-Out: Latham & Watkins

August 26, 2015
It's been a big week for lawyers at Latham & Watkins, who chalked up major wins in insurance and antitrust disputes.
3 minute read

Clients on Yelp Give Lawyers an Earful

August 25, 2015
Yelp reviews are a great way to choose a restaurant for brunch. But what about for hiring a lawyer?
5 minute read

Shout-Out: Cooley and Kirkland & Ellis

August 25, 2015
Win-win is a cliché, but it's an apt description of what went down between Cooley client Gevo Inc. and rival Butamax Advanced Biofuels, represented by Kirkland & Ellis.
2 minute read

In Slender Man Stabbing, How Can 12-Year-Olds Be Adults?

August 24, 2015
Looking at one of the most bewildering crimes in years— two Wisconsin girls, then 12, lured a friend into the woods and stabbed her 19 times to curry favor with a fictional Internet monster called Slender Man—from a mother's perspective.
4 minute read

For Kirkland's Hurst, a Win From Afar in Cancer Drug Fight

August 21, 2015
When James Hurst left Winston & Strawn, where he was chairman of the litigation department, to join Kirkland & Ellis in December, he knew conflicts would prevent client Sandoz Inc. from following him. But he scored a final win for the company on Thursday, when a Delaware federal judge ruled for the company in a patent fight over a cancer drug.
2 minute read

Sanctions Smack-Down—Six Years Later

August 21, 2015
Ruling on sanctions motions that have been pending for nearly six years, a federal judge in Delaware found that Rembrandt Technologies LP engaged in widespread document spoliation, unethical payments to witnesses and fraudulent revival of patents. What took so long?
4 minute read

Litigator of the Week: Todd Harrison of McDermott Will & Emery

August 20, 2015
Despite the shifting landscape in insider trading law, it's still rare these days for a jury to clear an accused inside trader. But that's what happened this week, when Todd Harrison of McDermott Will & Emery won an acquittal for a retired hedge fund manager.
4 minute read

What Litigators Need to Know—and Get Wrong—About Patents

August 20, 2015
As outside patent counsel for Facebook Inc., Baker Botts partner Travis Thomas is a nitty-gritty patent lawyer, an electrical engineer by training who can write a patent or litigate it in court. The Litigation Daily spoke to him about IP litigation and what general litigators need to know—and often get wrong—about patents.
8 minute read

IRS Hack Shows Feds Have Double Standard on Data Breaches

August 18, 2015
It's hard to square recent data security breaches by the federal government with the Federal Trade Commission's zealous prosecution of two companies—LabMD and Wyndham Hotels and Resorts—for cybersecurity breaches.
4 minute read

Labor Board's Surprising Punt in Football Case

August 17, 2015
The National Labor Relations Board in a unanimous holding declined to assert jurisdiction over a bid by football players at Northwestern University to unionize. It was the right call, a surprisingly practical move by an agency that in other circumstances has leaped to expand its reach.
4 minute read

It's True—Sometimes Clients Do Things Just To Mess With You

August 17, 2015
A high-level client dishes on what he thinks about in-house counsel and the formidable roster of AmLaw 100 lawyers he routinely interacts with. And he confirmed every lawyer's secret suspicion. Sometimes clients do things just to mess with you.
3 minute read

Covington Lawyers Kill on Cross-Exams in Cymbalta Case

August 14, 2015
There's nothing like a devastating cross-examination to clinch a victory in court. Covington & Burling partners Phyllis Jones and Paul Schmidt delivered doozies for Eli Lilly & Co. in Los Angeles federal court, cutting short a bellwether trial over the antidepressant Cymbalta with a directed verdict. How did they do it?
5 minute read

Litigators of the Week: Floyd Abrams and Joel Kurtzberg of Cahill Gordon

August 13, 2015
The Cahill duo successfully wielded the First Amendment in a closely watched case against the FDA, persuading a judge that pharma companies can't be hit with off-label marketing claims based on truthful statements about their drugs.
4 minute read

Does This Bank Deserve a $35 Milllion Fine?

August 12, 2015
Citizens Financial Group failed to fix customers' math mistakes on deposit slips when the discrepancy was less than $25. Half of them lost money. The other half got free money, kind of like drawing the Monopoly card, "Bank Error in Your Favor."
3 minute read

A Real Fight Over Virtual Reality

August 11, 2015
Facebook's Oculus Rift virtual reality headset is poised to transform the $90 billion video gaming industry. But like most lucrative inventions, it's also the subject of a fierce intellectual property dispute, pitting lawyers from Skadden against a team from Cooley. This week, Skadden scored big.
5 minute read

In Airline Forum Fight, Plaintiffs Argue My Court's Better Than Yours

August 10, 2015
Plaintiffs lawyers jockeying for position in 68 yet-to-be-consolidated antitrust suits against the major domestic airlines are mounting campaigns worthy of a local Chamber of Commerce visitor's brochure. Here's what the six courts in contention have going for them.
7 minute read

When Juries Get Patent Suits Wrong: Judge Voids $28M Judgment Against Comcast

August 09, 2015
It was a victory-from-the-jaws-of-defeat moment for lawyers from Davis Polk & Wardwell and Winston & Strawn when a federal judge in Delaware on Friday voided a $27.6 million jury verdict against their client Comcast IP Holdings. The case raises the question: Why try patent suits before juries in the first place?
4 minute read

Judge Issues Hilarious Opinion Refusing to Seal Docs

August 07, 2015
U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer clearly didn't think much of motions by firms including Wachtell and Skadden asking for documents to be sealed in a suit against Hewlett-Packard Co. How he responded is classic.
2 minute read

Litigator of the Week: Michael Sommer of Wilson Sonsini

August 06, 2015
In the Teva-Mylan M&A fight, a preliminary litigation win helped keep a hostile bidder at bay.
4 minute read

SEC Pay Ratio Rule in the Crosshairs, but It's Not an Easy Target

August 06, 2015
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is all but certain to be sued over rules adopted Wednesday that require public companies to disclose the ratio between their chief executive officers' pay and that of their median employees. But how likely is a lawsuit to succeed?
5 minute read

The CFPB May Be Unpopular, but Is It Unconstitutional?

August 04, 2015
It's hard to see Consumer Financial Protection Bureau head Richard Cordray, who comes across about as menacing as Opie Taylor on "The Andy Griffith Show," as “the very definition of tyranny.” But that's what lawyers at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher would have you believe in their constitutional challenge to the 4-year-old agency.
4 minute read

Five Things Law Firm Publicists Do Wrong—And What Lawyers Can Do Right

August 04, 2015
From fake "exclusives" to tardy announcements, law firm publicists can drive reporters crazy. Here's how lawyers can make the process better.
5 minute read

Plaintiffs Bar Giant Michael Hausfeld on Winning, Losing and Playboy Magazine

August 03, 2015
Michael Hausfeld is one of the best-known and most-feared plaintiffs lawyers in America, racking up billions in settlements for cases involving antitrust and human rights violations. He spoke recently with the Litigation Daily, and shared his thoughts on topics including settlement negotiations, legal writing and obnoxious behavior by opposing counsel—and how he scored a profile in Playboy magazine.
6 minute read

MoFo, Cleary, Gibson Dunn and Latham Have a Good Week

August 02, 2015
MoFo, working pro bono, secured a temporary restraining order against the release of more anti-abortion videos in the Planned Parenthood controversy. In other news, Cleary Gottlieb, Gibson Dunn and Latham had victories of their own.
5 minute read

A Judge Passionately Defends Trial By Jury

July 31, 2015
“I did not try this case very well,” wrote Massachusetts federal Judge William Young, the first sentence of an extraordinary opinion in a $60 billion reverse payment antitrust suit. Over 104 pages, Young muses on the art of judging and passionately defends the importance of trial by jury.
4 minute read

O'Melveny, Cravath Lawyers Are Litigators of the Week

July 30, 2015
Jonathan Hacker of O'Melveny & Myers (pictured at left) and Keith Hummel of Cravath, Swaine & Moore convinced a federal appeals court that Ford Motor Co. and IBM couldn't be tied to human rights abuses in apartheid South Africa under the U.S. Alien Tort Statute.
5 minute read

SEC Plays Gotcha in Case Against Baby Formula Maker

July 29, 2015
Enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sometimes feels like small-time, gotcha-style litigation. Case in point: the $12 million settlement with Mead Johnson Nutrition Co. over marketing baby formula to health care professionals in China.
4 minute read

To Nail Your Closing Argument, Follow This Kirkland Partner's Guide

July 28, 2015
It's hard enough to make a riveting closing argument in, say, a murder trial, but to do it in a patent case takes a special kind of finesse. In a recent win before a Chicago federal jury on Samsung Electronics Co.'s behalf, Kirkland & Ellis partner Luke Dauchot managed to make patent infringement (dare we say it?) interesting.
4 minute read

The Donald v. The World

July 27, 2015
Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump has a long track record as a litigant. A look at his forays in court shows a fondness for lawsuits at odds with GOP calls for tort reform.
4 minute read

How Not to Hire Teenage Girls

July 26, 2015
A Subway manager who sent job applicants texts like "Bang my brains out the job is yours" doesn't leave lawyers for the franchise owner much room to mount a defense. And the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission knows it.
2 minute read

In Peanut Food Poisoning Case, Punishment Doesn't Fit the Crime

July 26, 2015
The feds want life in prison for the ex-CEO of Peanut Corporation of America for producing products tainted with salmonella. But the unprecedented sentence may actually undermine food safety.
4 minute read

Litigator of the Week: D. Maimon Kirschenbaum of Joseph & Kirschenbaum

July 23, 2015
Raising novel questions about what it means to practice law, Kirschenbaum is taking on top law firms over their failure to pay overtime for the drudgery of contract lawyer document review.
4 minute read

Meet Monique Pressley, Bill Cosby's Lawyer

July 22, 2015
Defending a once-beloved superstar in the court of public opinion has meant sometimes evading questions. Plus, AT&T's outside counsel at Crowell & Moring, Arnold & Porter and Sidley Austin get a second chance.
7 minute read

Who's Winning Pay-for-Delay Suits Against Drugmakers?

July 21, 2015
Huge potential damages make these suits a tempting new target for plaintiffs lawyers. But they shouldn't expect easy victories.
4 minute read

After Failing to Boot Plaintiffs Firm, JPMorgan Inks $388M MBS Settlement

July 20, 2015
For the Robbins Geller lawyers, who could earn close to $100 million in fees for their work, a $388 million settlement with JPMorgan must be all the sweeter since they first had to defeat efforts to disqualify them from spearheading the case.
3 minute read

Plaintiffs Reload in Fraud Case Against Cahill, BASF

July 20, 2015
After getting their case back on track at the Third Circuit last year, a group of asbestos plaintiffs has filed a beefed-up complaint accusing Cahill Gordon and BASF Catalysts of deceiving the courts in long-running asbestos litigation.
2 minute read

A Note to Litigation Daily Readers

July 20, 2015
Some exciting changes are coming to the Litigation Daily this week.
1 minute read

TV Streamer FilmOn Wins Round Against Broadcasters

July 17, 2015
Aereo and FilmOn relied on similar technology to stream TV shows without getting licenses from the major networks. After Aereo lost at the Supreme Court and went bankrupt, FilmOn tweaked its litigation strategy.
3 minute read

Chiquita Fails to Block SEC Release of Colombian Documents

July 17, 2015
In response to a FOIA request by the National Security Archive, the SEC plans to release sensitive documents about a Chiquita subsidiary's payments to Colombian paramilitary groups.
4 minute read

Personal Injury Firm Joins Swedish Model, Ex-Cravath Lawyer in Libel Fray

July 16, 2015
The defamation suits keep piling up against Benjamin Wey, the New York-based financier and stock promoter who bills himself as an "investigative journalist" on his online magazine The Blot.
2 minute read

Litigator of the Week: William Dawson of Gibson Dunn

July 16, 2015
Dawson successfully defended drugmaker Sanofi-Aventis against a novel False Claims Act case alleging that his client defrauded the government by improperly getting a drug patent on a blood thinner.
4 minute read

Kilpatrick Lodges New Challenge to In-House SEC Proceedings

July 15, 2015
The firm hopes to reprise a rare success in a growing trickle of cases challenging the constitutionality of the SEC's administrative enforcement regime.
3 minute read

Judge Certifies Class of Plaintiffs Lawyers to Sue Plaintiffs Lawyers

July 15, 2015
In a dispute arising from Bayer CropScience's $750 million settlement of litigation over rice crop contamination, a judge has certified a class of plaintiffs firms to pursue unjust enrichment claims against another set of plaintiffs firms.
3 minute read

Stuck Facing Sidley, Patricia Cornwell Skips Retrial in $51M Fight With Anchin

July 15, 2015
After saying goodbye to a $51 million jury verdict and losing a bid to disqualify opposing counsel at Sidley Austin, crime novelist Patricia Cornwell has decided to take her fight against her former financial advisers to a federal appeals court.
3 minute read

Signal Bankruptcy Plan Reserves $20M for Guest Workers

July 14, 2015
The plan would set aside money for more than 200 Indian workers who claimed that Signal deceived and mistreated them when they were lured to this country to help in post-Katrina cleanup efforts.
3 minute read

Beanie Babies Billionaire Beats Appeal Over Tax Dodge Penalty

July 13, 2015
Here's some advice if you're a billionaire who wants to hide millions of dollars from the U.S. government: Make sure you have plenty of supporters who will testify about your charitable side if you eventually get caught. And if you need an appellate lawyer, hire the best.
3 minute read

SAC Capital Pursues Discovery Over Lawsuit Funding

July 13, 2015
SAC Capital wants to know who's financing a case brought by shareholders of Elan Corp. against the hedge fund.
3 minute read

Plaintiffs Strike Out in Lehman Employee Stock Plan Case

July 12, 2015
The U.S. Supreme Court's 2014 ruling in Fifth Third v. Dudenhoeffer may have transformed the pleading requirements for ERISA plaintiffs, but it couldn't save claims against the administrators for Lehman Brothers Holding Inc.'s employee stock ownership plan.
3 minute read

Kasowitz Firm Wins Trial Over Stent Patent

July 10, 2015
After 10 years of litigation, a federal jury found that Boston Scientific's Express stent infringed a patent held by Dr. G. David Jang, and that the company breached a 2002 agreement with Jang. The doctor is seeking more than $100 million.
4 minute read

Sirius XM Accused of Stiffing Class in $210M Copyright Deal

July 09, 2015
Sirius XM's settlement with major record labels improperly sidelined copyright claims by the rock band the Turtles, ignored the class that the band's founders represent and neglected to include attorney fees for class counsel, the band's attorneys argued on Wednesday.
4 minute read

Litigators of the Week: Matthew McGill of Gibson Dunn and Thomas Mayer of Kramer Levin

July 09, 2015
When bondholders challenged a Puerto Rico debt restructuring law, their lawyers set off on a difficult quest to convince a federal judge in San Juan to invalidate the law aimed at helping the commonwealth grapple with crippling municipal debt.
3 minute read

Plaintiffs Ordered to 'Start Over' On Eve of Securities Class Action Trial

July 08, 2015
U.S. District Judge Sam Sparks in Austin let a group of lawyers have it this week after he was forced to scuttle a long-planned securities class action trial against drugmaker Pain Therapeutics Inc.
3 minute read

Apple Knocks Out $533 Million Smartflash Damages Verdict

July 08, 2015
The company's lawyers at Ropes & Grey and Gibson Dunn won a damages retrial in an East Texas showdown with patent holder Smartflash LLC.
3 minute read

After Third Circuit Win, Wal-Mart Stumbles in the Sixth

July 07, 2015
It's been a big week for Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and its go-to appellate lawyer, Theodore Boutrous Jr. of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, who got to revel in one long-awaited ruling but suffered a setback in another.
4 minute read

Kramer Levin, Gibson Dunn Prevail in Puerto Rico Bond Battle

July 07, 2015
In what is likely the leading edge of a rash of multibillion-dollar disputes involving the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, the first round has gone to a group of bondholders.
4 minute read

MoFo, Macquarie Square Off in Puda Coal Malpractice Case

July 07, 2015
Macquarie Capital appears to have made peace with U.S. regulators over the messy demise of China's Puda Coal. But Macquarie's fight with its former lawyers at Morrison & Foerster is just heating up.
3 minute read

Apple Keeps Lid on $533 Million Smartflash Patent Verdict

July 06, 2015
The technology giant hasn't escaped the massive infringement verdict, but defense lawyers at Ropes & Grey headed off a potential $1.6 billion trebled damages award.
3 minute read

Goldman Pulled Strings in Failed Aleynikov Case, Lawyer Says

July 06, 2015
Defense lawyers usually react with jubilation when a judge throws out a client's conviction. Kevin Marino of Marino, Tortorella & Boyle used the occasion to lash out at Cyrus Vance and Goldman Sachs.
3 minute read

Litigator of the Week: Neal Katyal of Hogan Lovells

July 02, 2015
Katyal won an important victory for employers when the Second Circuit adopted a more employer-friendly test to determine when interns need to be paid.
4 minute read

United Can Be Sued by Employee Who Got Death Threats

July 02, 2015
An African-American flight attendant for United Air Lines who received anonymous death threats on the job can proceed with her hostile work environment against the airlines, now that the Fourth Circuit has vacated a lower court ruling.
3 minute read

Cablevision Wins Delaware Ruling on Executive Pay

July 01, 2015
Vice Chancellor John Noble implied he was troubled by some pay decisions at Cablevision, but deferred to the company's compensation committee.
3 minute read

Citibank Can't Dodge Long-Running Forex Fraud Suit

July 01, 2015
More than a dozen years after Allfirst Bank discovered $691 million fraud by foreign exchange trader John Rusnak, Citibank NA faces a potential trial in Manhattan on claims that it aided Rusnak's scheme.
3 minute read

Foley Fends Off Patent Claims by Kickstarter Rival

June 30, 2015
Lawyers at Foley & Lardner convinced a Manhattan federal judge that ArtistShare's crowd-funding patent covered an abstract idea, making it ineligible for protection under Section 101 of the Patent Act.
3 minute read

Risky Bet Pays Off for Plaintiffs in Apple e-Book Case

June 30, 2015
An unusual settlement between Apple and private plaintiffs who challenged e-book prices looks like quite a good deal for the plaintiffs and their lawyers, now that the Second Circuit has upheld the DOJ's antitrust win against Apple.
3 minute read

Ex-Intern Wins $18M Verdict Against Financier Wey

June 29, 2015
A Manhattan federal jury awarded Hanna Bouveng $18 million, including $16 million in punitive damages, in her sexual harassment and defamation lawsuit against Benjamin Wey.
2 minute read

JPMorgan Loses Round in Arbitration Dispute

June 29, 2015
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit rejected JPMorgan's attempts to force a group of financial advisers into individual arbitration.
2 minute read

KKR Taps Ex-SEC Lawyer at Debevoise for SEC Fees Case

June 29, 2015
When KKR faced a groundbreaking investigation by the SEC into its allocation of expenses, it turned to someone who is familiar with the agency's views on that topic. It hired Debevoise partner Robert Kaplan, the former co-chief of the SEC's asset management unit.
2 minute read

Sirius Settles With Record Companies for $210 Million

June 26, 2015
The company will pay $210 million to settle claims by five recording companies, including Capitol Records and Sony Music. Sirius still appears to be fighting two other lawsuits filed by '60s rock group The Turtles.
2 minute read

Sexual Harassment Trial Closes Against Wall Street Trader

June 26, 2015
Swedish national Hanna Bouveng sued Benjamin Wey and his company, New York Global Group, for sexual harassment. Wey made a name in the business world by connecting Chinese companies with advisers and investors in the U.S.
3 minute read

Litigator of the Week: Merrill Davidoff of Berger & Montague

June 25, 2015
Over 25 years of litigation ups and downs, Davidoff has represented property owners near the Rocky Flats nuclear weapons plant in Colorado who sued Dow and Rockwell. With a dramatic win from the Tenth Circuit, Davidoff and his clients may finally get some relief.
4 minute read

Tenth Circuit Berates Cox Legal Team's Tactics

June 25, 2015
The court made it clear that it didn't appreciate the legal strategy of cable TV giant Cox in an antitrust class action, stating that it had engaged in a willful attempt to play "hide the ball."
3 minute read

Stanford Ponzi Suit Continues for Chadbourne and Proskauer

June 24, 2015
A Texas federal judge has allowed lawsuits to continue against Proskauer, Chadbourne and a former lawyer at the two firms over the roles they played representing convicted Ponzi scheme promoter R. Allen Stanford.
3 minute read

Surprising Reversal in Rocky Flats Case

June 24, 2015
The Tenth Circuit rules for Colorado property owners in the quarter-century-old Rocky Flats litigation, dealing a blow to Dow and Rockwell and their lawyers at Kirkland & Ellis.
4 minute read

Second Circuit Rejects Forbes' Bid for New Trial

June 23, 2015
Walter Forbes, the former chairman of Cendant Corp. who was given a 12 1/2-year sentence for fraud, argued that he had newly discovered evidence in the form of testimony of a former CFO.
2 minute read

Kazakhstan Wins Access to Documents of Law Firm Clyde & Co

June 23, 2015
In a battle over foreign oil and gas assets, the Republic of Kazakhstan has won a ruling that the New York office of U.K.-based law firm Clyde & Co must turn over information about the value of an oil and gas plant seized by the republic.
3 minute read

O'Melveny Gets Win in Florida for Sirius XM

June 22, 2015
In a turn of events, Sirius XM Radio and its lawyers at O'Melveny & Myers convinced a Florida judge that the founders of the 60s rock group the Turtles can't stop the radio company from playing their music.
2 minute read

Judge Scolds Intellectual Ventures, But Claims Survive

June 22, 2015
Intellectual Ventures can pursue a patent infringement case against JPMorgan, but a judge warned it that "further gamesmanship will not be tolerated."
3 minute read

Dow Gets $6M in Attorneys Fees in Bayer Patent Dispute

June 19, 2015
Bayer raised multiple objections to the fees of Dow's lawyers at Orrick, including overstaffing claims, but the judge noted that Bayer had the same number of attorneys working for it.
2 minute read

Deutsche Bank Gets Another Statute of Limitations Win

June 19, 2015
For the second time in a week, a Deutsche Bank affiliate has won a federal appeals court ruling on statute of limitations that has been a boon to banks.
2 minute read

Litigator of the Week: David Woll of Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

June 18, 2015
Banks that sold or sponsored mortgage-backed securities in the run-up to the financial crisis breathed a sigh of relief last week, when Woll persuaded New York's highest court that the deadline for most investors to sue has long since passed.
3 minute read

Microsoft Gets Hearing to Explore Quinn Emanuel's Role for IRS

June 18, 2015
With billions of dollars possibly at stake, a federal judge granted the company's request for a hearing to explore the IRS' use of Quinn Emanuel for a tax audit of the technology giant.
3 minute read

Entrepreneur Slapped by SEC Apologizes, Explains in Video

June 17, 2015
On the same day that the SEC announced that it had reached a $20,000 settlement with Sand Hill Exchange for illegally running a fantasy stock trading operation, one of the company's young founders posted a self-made video apologizing.
4 minute read

Steak and Wine Cement Insider Trading Conviction

June 17, 2015
Boston federal prosecutors won a conviction of golfer Eric McPhail, despite defense arguments that the Second Circuit's ruling last year in Newman barred cases like this.
3 minute read

Second Circuit Sinks London Whale Derivative Suit

June 16, 2015
While lamenting how much deference it had to give a lower court judge, the court cleared away a derivative shareholder lawsuit against JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon and others over massive trading losses.
3 minute read

Judge Cuts Sheppard Mullin's Fees in Beastie Boys Case

June 16, 2015
The judge declined to award the $2.4 million in legal fees that the Beastie Boys had requested after a copyright victory over the maker of Monster energy drink, granting instead less than $668,000.
3 minute read

Hogan Lovells Wins Anthem Class Action Trial

June 15, 2015
After 13 years of litigation, Hogan Lovells has won a defense verdict for Anthem Inc., beating a class action brought by thousands of Connecticut state employees seeking nearly $100 million.
2 minute read

Broadcasters Lose Challenge to TV Airwaves Change

June 12, 2015
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld a FCC plan to repackage television airwaves for use by mobile Internet providers.
3 minute read

Capital One Gets Favorable Ruling in Security Patent Dispute

June 12, 2015
A special patent master urged a federal judge to grant summary judgment in Capital One's favor on two data security patents that Intellectual Ventures accuses the bank of infringing.
2 minute read

Simpson Thacher Wins Key RMBS Ruling

June 11, 2015
New York's highest court imposed strict time limits for investors to bring so-called put-back lawsuits against banks that packaged and sold mortgage-backed securities.
2 minute read

Litigators of the Week: Michael Magner of Jones Walker; Brian Heberlig and Reid Weingarten of Steptoe & Johnson

June 11, 2015
This defense team convinced a New Orleans jury to acquit former BP executive David Rainey of charges he lied to federal investigators about the Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
3 minute read

Mayer Brown Notches Another Win for Medtronic

June 10, 2015
This week's decision by the Second Circuit marks the latest in a string of mostly favorable rulings the firm has secured for Medtronic in litigation over its Infuse spinal fusion device.
3 minute read

Kirkland Loses Round in Mylan Conflict Fight

June 10, 2015
As Kirkland & Ellis continues to fight claims that it violated conflict of interest rules to advise Teva in a hostile takeover bid for rival Mylan, Teva has opted to move on, hiring Sullivan & Cromwell.
3 minute read

Judge Suggests SEC's Administrative Cases Unconstitutional

June 09, 2015
A federal judge blocked the SEC from continuing administrative proceedings against a real estate developer. Siding with lawyers at Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton, the judge ruled that the SEC's administrative process may violate the Appointments Clause of the Constitution.
3 minute read

Skadden Wins Round for American Apparel

June 09, 2015
Two allies of American Apparel founder Dov Charney have been dealt a setback in their lawsuit attempting to help Charney regain control of the company.
2 minute read

SCOTUS to Consider Class Actions Again

June 08, 2015
Carter Phillips of Sidley Austin convinced the court to review an employment case against Tyson Foods that used a statistical model to compute class damages.
2 minute read

Billionaire Wife's Case Tossed for Failure to Show

June 08, 2015
Real estate mogul Roger Wang's failure to show for a deposition caused the dismissal of a securities case brought by his wife over Bear Stearns' collapse.
3 minute read

Vermont Judge Allows Challenge to Patent Troll Law

June 08, 2015
In an early test of state laws that attempt to curb patent trolls, a Vermont federal judge has allowed a challenge to proceed under that state's law.
2 minute read

Chicago Indictment Cites Payments From Tobacco Settlement

June 07, 2015
The firm was forced to deny that it made improper payments to a Chicago lawyer indicted for tax evasion.
3 minute read

Ostrager Takes Up Gavel As NY Looks to Deepen Commercial Bench

June 06, 2015
Simpson Thacher & Bartlett partner Barry Ostrager, freshly retired from the firm at 67, reported to his new chambers at 60 Centre Street in Manhattan this week as New York's newest acting Supreme Court justice.
6 minute read

Athletes Can't Reprise Hausfeld Win in NCAA Antitrust Case

June 05, 2015
While Michael Hausfeld presses for massive class action fees in California, a similar case over the use of college players' likenesses has fizzled in Tennessee.
4 minute read

Convicted UBS Execs Lose Muni Bond Bid-Rigging Appeals

June 04, 2015
Marc Mukasey of Bracewell & Giuliani, who represents former UBS VP Gary Heinz, said he's considering his next legal steps after Thursday's Second Circuit ruling.
3 minute read

Litigator of the Week: John Elwood of Vinson & Elkins

June 04, 2015
This time of year the U.S. Supreme Court enters its version of postseason play, doling out many of its most-anticipated rulings before the term winds down at the end of June. For Elwood, the fast pace made for a big week.
4 minute read

Contractors, Insurers Dodge $2B Wartime Benefits Class Action

June 03, 2015
Workers injured while supporting the U.S. war effort in Iraq and Afghanistan suffered a courtroom defeat this week, when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit stamped out a proposed $2 billion class action against their employers and insurers.
3 minute read

Skadden Helps JPMorgan Unravel $70M Patent Settlement

June 03, 2015
DataTreasury, which has wrested more than $350 million in licensing fees from banks over the years, was ordered to return $69 million for breaching a 2005 deal with JPMorgan.
3 minute read

Harassment Suit Moves Forward Against China Stock Promoter

June 02, 2015
A former employee of a U.S. firm that shepherds Chinese companies through reverse mergers claims that its owner, Benjamin Wey, sexually harassed her and then used his own online soapbox to defame her.
3 minute read

Ruling Ends Plaintiff's Online Shopping Patent Spree

June 02, 2015
Safeway Inc. and its lawyers at Reed Smith finally cut Kroy IP's litigation campaign short last week, when a judge found the company's patent invalid on multiple grounds.
3 minute read

RMBS Investors Get Green Light in Megabillions HSBC Suit

June 01, 2015
The decision comes in one of six lawsuits that Bernstein Litowitz brought last year against banks that served as trustees for more than $2 trillion in residential mortgage-backed securities.
4 minute read

Another Securities Case Founders on Confidential Witnesses

June 01, 2015
Relying on informants can help nudge a case past a motion to dismiss—but the practice has become minefield for the securities class action plaintiffs bar.
3 minute read

Skadden Fights Contract Lawyer's Claims at Second Circuit

May 31, 2015
The appeal, which could help decide the fate of overtime claims against both Skadden and Quinn Emanuel, explores whether some contract lawyers' work shouldn't be considered legal practice.
4 minute read

Sirius XM Must Face Class Action Over Pre-1972 Songs

May 30, 2015
Changing lawyers hasn't changed fortunes so far for Sirius XM Radio Inc. in its copyright battle with the founders of the 60s rock group The Turtles.
2 minute read

S&C Reloads in Battle over NYC Bank Regulations

May 28, 2015
With Mayor de Blasio intent on enforcing the city's Responsible Banking Act, H. Rodgin Cohen and Robert Giuffra Jr. of Sullivan & Cromwell renewed their efforts to block the law on behalf of the New York Bankers Association.
3 minute read

Litigator of the Week: Mark Werbner of Sayles Werbner

May 28, 2015
In his U.S. Supreme Court debut, Werbner prevailed over one of the high court's most seasoned veterans in a closely watched patent case against Cisco Systems Inc.
4 minute read

For-Profit Schools Lose Challenge to New Federal Aid Rules

May 27, 2015
An industry group represented by Cooley failed to persuade a federal judge that new Department of Education regulations were devised "in a fit of anti-proprietary school zealotry."
3 minute read

Another Patent Test for the Supreme Court?

May 27, 2015
If Ultramercial's lawyers at McKool Smith get their way, the company's foiled patent case could offer the justices a chance to rein in the Federal Circuit.
2 minute read

High Court Won't Hear NVIDIA Securities Case

May 26, 2015
Proving that an apparent circuit split isn't always a ticket to the U.S. Supreme Court, the justices on Tuesday declined to review whether a company's failure to abide by a certain securities regulation can give rise to fraud claims.
3 minute read

Second Circuit to Weigh Overtime Pay for Contract Lawyers

May 26, 2015
The appeal, which asks whether some attorney duties are so mechanical that they don't amount to practicing law, could decide the fate of overtime cases facing Skadden and Quinn Emanuel.
3 minute read

Pfizer Fights to Keep Lid on 10-Year-Old Class Action

May 23, 2015
Lawyers hoping to resurrect a decade-old securities class action against Pfizer Inc. will make their case to the Second Circuit on Tuesday.
3 minute read

Actavis Injunction Survives Second Circuit Appeal

May 23, 2015
Arnold & Porter's Lisa Blatt didn't fare any better than White & Case in fending off New York's efforts to block a "forced switch" to a new version of Actavis' Alzheimer's drug, Namenda.
3 minute read

So Long (For Now), Benjamin Lawsky

May 23, 2015
After wresting billions from Wall Street, the departing New York regulator is steering clear of the big law firms that cater to the banking industry. But whether he remains in private practice or shoots for public office, it's a good bet we'll all be hearing from him again.
4 minute read

Kirkland Blasts 'Preposterous' Mylan Conflicts Claims Ahead of Hearing

May 21, 2015
Kirkland & Ellis came out swinging this week against a lawsuit alleging that it ignored a conflict of interest by advising Teva Pharmaceutical Industries in an ongoing $42 billion bid for rival drugmaker Mylan N.V.
2 minute read

Litigator of the Week: Neal Katyal of Hogan Lovells

May 21, 2015
Katyal turned a troubling defeat for Google and its industry allies into a major copyright victory at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
3 minute read

Citi Settles Private Forex Case for $394 Million

May 20, 2015
Citi is the fourth bank to settle with private antitrust plaintiffs, bringing the collective settlements above $800 million.
2 minute read

Laster Takes Traditional Route in Activision Case

May 20, 2015
Approving a record $275 million settlement in a derivative case, a Delaware judge opted not to allow some of the money to go directly to shareholders, as another court recently did.
3 minute read

Boies, Quinn Reap More Settlements in Foam Antitrust MDL

May 19, 2015
Two months after the Supreme Court refused to undo certification of a "gargantuan" antitrust class action, a half-dozen foam manufacturers have agreed to pay big bucks to bow out of the price-fixing case.
3 minute read

Philips Can't Escape $467M Blood Monitor Patent Verdict

May 19, 2015
A federal judge in Delaware turned away Philips' attack on its adversary's conduct before the PTO, setting the stage for a likely appeal.
3 minute read

Law Firms' Fight With Facebook Heads to Appeals Court

May 19, 2015
After losing an early bid to escape the wrath of Facebook Inc., DLA Piper, Milberg and others are hoping they'll have better luck before a New York appeals court.
2 minute read

Supreme Court Tackles Class Action 'Pick-Off' Settlements

May 18, 2015
Granting a cert petition lodged by Latham's Gregory Garre, the high court agreed to consider whether defendants can derail class actions before they're certified by offering the named plaintiff full individual relief.
4 minute read

For IRS, Quinn Emanuel Hire Stirs Trouble in Congress and in Court

May 18, 2015
Amid its $20 billion triumph for the FHFA, Quinn Emanuel is facing scrutiny over the firm's latest litigation venture for the U.S. government.
5 minute read

No Securities Fraud in Lululemon Missteps, Court Affirms

May 17, 2015
The business press may never tire of reminding Lululemon Athletica about its see-through yoga pants debacle. But for the securities class action plaintiffs bar, Lululemon is proving to be an elusive target.
3 minute read

Milbank Scores for BMI in Pandora Licensing Row

May 16, 2015
Fresh off a Second Circuit win against ASCAP, Pandora and its lawyers at King & Spalding ran into trouble in their parallel royalty dispute with Broadcast Music Inc.
3 minute read

Decade-Old Vioxx Investor Class Action Moves Forward

May 14, 2015
The case, which dates back to 2004, has been pending for twice as long as Merck's blockbuster painkiller was offered for sale.
3 minute read

Litigator of the Week: Philippe Selendy of Quinn Emanuel

May 14, 2015
Even if Selendy had lost his landmark securities trial for the Federal Housing Finance Agency, it would be hard to call the FHFA's litigation campaign against Wall Street anything but a victory. But boy, did he ever win.
3 minute read

Acacia Stumbles on Prior Ruling in Wireless Patent Suits

May 13, 2015
A federal magistrate judge in Texas ruled that Acacia subsidiary Adaptix can't escape a loss in parallel California patent litigation involving AT&T, Verizon and major handset makers.
3 minute read

Polo Association Notches Win in Trademark 30 Years' War

May 13, 2015
The Second Circuit on Wednesday added some clarity but no more finality to a seemingly endless dispute between the owner of the Ralph Lauren POLO trademark and the U.S. Polo Association, the sport's governing body.
2 minute read

Intellectual Ventures Clears Hurdle in Capital One Case

May 13, 2015
Two weeks after JPMorgan Chase persuaded a federal judge that three Intellectual Ventures patents failed the test for patent eligibility under Section 101 of the Patent Act, IV has beaten back a parallel defense in its related infringement case against Capital One.
3 minute read

Nucor Race Bias Class Action Divides Fourth Circuit

May 12, 2015
In a sign that the courts are still grappling with the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court's ruling in Wal-Mart v. Dukes, a bitterly divided federal appeals court on this week ordered the certification of a class of black steelworkers at Nucor Corp.
4 minute read

Goldman Loses $100M FINRA Ruling as CDO Headaches Rage On

May 12, 2015
In yet another dispute alleging that Goldman Sachs marketed a CDO that it was wagering would fail, a FINRA panel sided with the bank's adversaries at Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan.
3 minute read

With Help from Orrick, Anti-Nuke Nun Beats Sabotage Rap

May 12, 2015
It sounds like the setup to a joke: an octogenarian nun and two Army vets break in to a nuclear facility. But the government wasn't amused, and to a group of pro bono lawyers at Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe, the case was too good to pass up.
3 minute read

FHFA Trial Produces Big Loss for Banks, Big Win for Quinn Emanuel

May 11, 2015
Sullivan & Cromwell and Simpson Thacher couldn't pull off a surprise win before U.S. District Judge Denise Cote.
4 minute read

Law Firms Must Face Facebook's Revenge Over Ceglia Case

May 11, 2015
DLA Piper, Milberg and other firms will have to face claims of malicious prosecution and attorney deceit lodged by Facebook Inc., a New York state judge ruled Monday.
2 minute read

Judge's Mea Culpa Puts Microsoft Patent Case Back on Track

May 11, 2015
A Seattle federal judge backtracked from a decision tossing a patent infringement lawsuit against Microsoft Corp. after acknowledging she used the wrong standard to dismiss the wrong claim.
2 minute read

Chicago Suffers Setback in Painkiller Suit

May 10, 2015
A Chicago federal judge on Friday dismissed most of the city's lawsuit, which alleges that several drug manufacturers concealed the true addiction risks of OxyContin and other opioid painkillers.
3 minute read

American Apparel Founder Ratchets Up Litigation Over Ouster

May 09, 2015
Jones Day's involvement in American Apparel's nasty spat with founder Dov Charney landed it back in the news this week, when Charney suggested that the firm carried out a hatchet job at the company's behest.
4 minute read

Reduced to Scrap, Aereo Makes Peace With Broadcasters

May 08, 2015
Three years after Aereo Inc. first rattled the broadcast television industry with its online TV streaming service, the company's copyright battle with the nation's major networks is finally over.
2 minute read

Litigators of the Week: Jeffrey Bucholtz and Kenneth Steinthal of King & Spalding

May 07, 2015
As the music industry struggles to adapt to an endless stream of tunes online, Bucholtz and Steinthal reminded ASCAP and the major music publishers of the limits of their clout.
3 minute read

Setting New Standard, Fourth Circuit Says Fontainebleau Must Face Bias Suit

May 07, 2015
A federal appeals court on Thursday dealt with a question most employers would prefer never to confront: whether a manager has created a hostile work environment by slinging two vicious racial slurs at an employee within a 24-hour period.
3 minute read

Kasowitz Revives ACA Lawsuit Over Goldman ABACUS CDO

May 07, 2015
Being called a "sophisticated investor" may be less of a handicap for plaintiffs in New York after a ruling by the state's highest court Thursday in ACA v. Goldman Sachs.
4 minute read

King & Spalding Preserves Pandora Win in ASCAP Royalty Fight

May 06, 2015
The Second Circuit ruled that ASCAP and music publishers can't bypass new media outlets like Pandora when licensing songs from the ASCAP catalog.
4 minute read

AIG Dodges Employers' Class Action Over Workers' Comp Fraud

May 06, 2015
Siding with Quinn Emanuel, a judge dismissed the last in a series of cases targeting AIG and its former CEO Maurice Greenberg for a decades-old fraud involving workers' compensation premiums.
3 minute read

Employers Tackle Bias Claims by Spotlighting EEOC Policy

May 06, 2015
Facing allegations that they discriminated against black job applicants by using criminal background checks to vet potential hires, Dollar General and BMW both tried to shine a spotlight on the EEOC's own hiring policies, with differing results.
3 minute read

Judge OKs Allergan Counterclaims in $600M Botox Fight

May 05, 2015
Allergan's counterattack in a contract battle gained steam Tuesday, when a judge refused to dismiss claims that patent holder Miotox misused its patents by trying squeeze Allergan for Botox royalties.
2 minute read

Kirkland Looks to Gibson Dunn in Mylan Conflicts Case

May 05, 2015
The firm has tapped Kevin Rosen, the chair of Gibson Dunn's law firm defense group, to contest claims that it ignored a conflict of interest when it agreed to advise Teva in its hostile takeover bid for Mylan Inc.
3 minute read

High Court Rejects Lehman Petition in Barclays Brawl

May 04, 2015
Cementing a victory for Barclays plc and its lawyers at Boies, Schiller & Flexner, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday cleared the way for Barclays to keep some $4 billion in a long-running asset dispute stemming from the bank's frenzied 2008 buyout of Lehman Brothers' brokerage business.
3 minute read

EEOC Goes to Bat Over Duty to Investigate

May 04, 2015
Less than a week after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that judges can review the EEOC's efforts to resolve employment bias disputes before suing, a federal appeals court will weigh another aspect of the agency's pre-suit obligations.
3 minute read

Sweet Briar Closure Draws in White & Case

May 03, 2015
A top bankruptcy and restructuring lawyer from Miami and Manhattan heads to horse country.
5 minute read

Aleynikov Trial Ends With Split Verdict

May 01, 2015
The case began with Goldman Sachs' foray into high-frequency trading and was nearly derailed by a missing avocado.
3 minute read

DuPont Finally Collects in Kevlar Secrets Case

April 30, 2015
McGuireWoods' Brian Riopelle must have known it would be a major undertaking when he signed on to a trade secrets case against Kolon Industries. But he couldn't have foreseen the scope of what followed: A $920 million verdict, a reversal, a criminal prosecution, and now a guilty plea and a settlement worth more than a quarter-billion dollars for his client DuPont Co.
3 minute read

Litigator of the Week: Mark Harris of Proskauer Rose

April 30, 2015
Who says you need an IP specialist to win a major patent appeal?
3 minute read

JPMorgan Wins Ruling on Intellectual Ventures Patents

April 29, 2015
Siding with defense lawyers at Durie Tangri, Dontzin Nagy and Kirkland & Ellis, a judge ruled that three Intellectual Ventures patents were too abstract to warrant protection under the Patent Act.
3 minute read

DISH Fends Off RICO Suit in Sprawling LightSquared Battle

April 29, 2015
Sullivan & Cromwell's Bob Giuffra scored a win in the latest chapter of a litigation saga involving Charles Ergen of DISH Network and Philip Falcone of Harbinger Capital Partners.
3 minute read

Programmers and Traders and Dark Pools, Oh My

April 29, 2015
The high-frequency trading exploits depicted in Michael Lewis' 2014 bestseller "Flash Boys" were keeping at least three Manhattan judges busy this week.
3 minute read

Section 101 Plea Falls Short in WhatsApp Patent Case

April 28, 2015
The mobile messaging giant failed to persuade a judge to recommend rejecting a patent at the heart of an infringement lawsuit brought by cloud services company TriPlay Inc.
2 minute read

Latham Scores for InterDigital in ITC Odyssey

April 28, 2015
For eight years InterDigital Inc. and a succession of top IP counsel have pursued an ITC case against Nokia and Microsoft—and after detours to the Federal Circuit and the U.S. Supreme Court, the company has finally won a key ruling from an ITC judge.
4 minute read

Ralph Lauren Must Face Rolex Trademark Lawsuit

April 28, 2015
Keeping Ralph Lauren and its lawyers at Greenberg Traurig on the defensive, a judge refused to toss claims that the PTO improperly allowed the company to seek trademark protection for watches bearing the mark "RLX."
3 minute read

Appeals Court Hands PTO a Win in Trademark Row

April 27, 2015
In a ruling that could handicap trademark applicants fighting to salvage their brands, the Fourth Circuit concluded that the government can recover legal fees from applicants that look to district courts to challenge adverse rulings by the Patent and Trademark Office.
4 minute read

In Replay of FHFA Appeal, Banks Urge Second Circuit To Topple FDIC Claims

April 27, 2015
Can Sullivan & Cromwell's Bob Giuffra succeed where his predecessors failed?
4 minute read

Supremes Take a Pass on Dairy Class Action Appeal

April 27, 2015
The justices rebuffed claims that a California judge ignored prior Supreme Court rulings when he certified an antitrust class of more than 100 million consumers alleging billions of dollars in damages.
3 minute read

Barclays Can't Escape 'Dark Pool' Securities Class Action

April 26, 2015
Barclays' lawyers at Sullivan & Cromwell managed to trim but not defeat claims that the bank misled investors about safeguards in its Liquidity Cross dark pool.
2 minute read

AIG Agrees to Drop Trade Secrets Case for $72 Million

April 24, 2015
The deal comes three years after AIG accused billionaire Steven Udvar-Hazy of pilfering its aircraft leasing unit, and three months after Quinn Emanuel stepped into the case.
4 minute read

Litigators of the Week: Barry Berke and Eric Tirschwell of Kramer Levin

April 23, 2015
Most top white-collar litigators don't spend part of their careers battling the U.S. Mint over missing coins. But most coins aren't anything like the 1933 Double Eagle.
5 minute read

The Global Lawyer: Will Chevron Lose in the Second Circuit?

April 23, 2015
Ted Olson didn't quite live up to his legend on Monday. The question is whether Chevron blew the case.
8 minute read

Citigroup Can't Dodge Lawsuit Over Soured CDO

April 22, 2015
A financial crisis case that stumbled on South Korean law regained its footing on Wednesday, when a U.S. appeals court revived claims that Citigroup Inc. duped a Korean bank into investing in a complex investment product that went belly-up in the global recession.
3 minute read

The Global Lawyer: Back to the Future for Chevron in Ecuador

April 22, 2015
The Second Circuit suggests a do-over of the world's most messed-up case. Others mock the idea—but here's how it could be done.
5 minute read

Greenberg Traurig Faces Trial Over Alleged Client Forgery

April 22, 2015
A judge in Manhattan reused to grant either side summary judgment in a lawsuit accusing Greenberg Traurig of helping a former client deceive his adversaries and the court.
3 minute read

Mayer Brown Scores Two More Pre-Emption Wins for Medtronic

April 21, 2015
Partner Andrew Tauber built on previous defense victories in litigation related to Medtronic's Infuse spinal fusion device, persuading the Tenth Circuit to rule Tuesday that a plaintiff's state law tort claims over Infuse are pre-empted.
4 minute read
SIGN IN TO SEE YOUR FEED
Latest
Trending

Who Got The Work

Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.

Read More

Who Got The Work

Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.

Read More

Who Got The Work

Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.

Read More

Who Got The Work

David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.

Read More

Who Got The Work

Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.

Read More

Learn More About Radar

Trending Stories

Your Compass Points

Data-driven reporting using ALM's proprietary resources

Go To Legal Compass

Understand Which Practice Areas Competitors Are Marketing Through Events

More from ALM

More from ALM

Legal Speak is a weekly podcast that makes sense of what’s happening in the legal industry.