A federal judge in Philadelphia allowed class antitrust claims against some of the country's top egg producers to move forward, though she granted motions to dismiss by one producer and an industry trade group.

We weren't the only ones struck by Vivendi's Paris gambit aimed at preventing French class members from participating in the company's securities fraud trial in New York. On Tuesday, class counsel for the plaintiffs in New York demanded that Vivendi withdraw the suit.

Nothing succeeds like success. Following McKool Smith's $200 million verdict against Microsoft last month on behalf of Toronto-based i4i, another small tech company has hired the firm for an ongoing battle against the software giant, replacing a team from McDermott Will & Emery. VirnetX Holding of Scotts Valley, Calif., announced Thursday that it had signed McKool to pursue a patent infringement suit that it filed in 2007.

The plaintiffs lawyers leading El Paso shareholders' assault on the company's planned $21 billion acquisition by Kinder Morgan lost their bid to enjoin the sale late Wednesday, but they sure got the judge's attention. Can they translate the opprobrium of Delaware Chancery Court chancellor Leo Strine Jr. into a big payday--and more than a little embarrassment for El Paso advisor Goldman Sachs?