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In a ruling that could have implications for similar laws in other states, a judge in Oklahoma blocked a state law that prohibits state pension systems from contracting with companies that limit investment in the oil and gas industry.
Legal experts told Clark Mindock and Ross Kerber the judge’s decision, while specific to Oklahoma law, may illustrate legal vulnerabilities of other “anti-boycott” laws passed by Republicans in other states.
Oklahoma’s 2022 law is among dozens of Republican-sponsored bills across the country that aim to free fossil fuel companies from climate-driven constraints adopted by some Wall Street firms. In her ruling, Oklahoma County District Court Judge Sheila Stinson said the state constitution requires retirement funds be managed for the exclusive benefit of their beneficiaries, but the law appears aimed at countering certain political agendas and to help the oil and gas sector.
Robert Skinner, a lawyer at law firm Ropes & Gray, said “the principles animating the court’s reasoning should resonate broadly” in other states with similar laws.
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- An international oil trader whose company was sanctioned earlier this year for allegedly skirting sanctions on Russia has sued its former U.S. law firm BakerHostetler, claiming to be the victim of a plot to steal his assets involving the firm and a phony U.S. intelligence agent. Dutch oil trader Niels Troost filed the lawsuit in Los Angeles Superior Court. The law firm did not respond to requests for comment.
- A progressive watchdog group says a Texas federal judge should recuse himself from a lawsuit challenging the FTC’s ban on noncompete agreements because he owns stock in tech companies that would benefit if the rule is struck down. U.S. District Judge J. Campbell Barker in Tyler, Texas, owns up to $500,000 of shares in Apple, up to $100,000 in IBM and a smaller amount in Amazon.com, according to financial disclosure reports, all companies that have been involved in litigation over their use of noncompete agreements.
- The Biden administration’s latest court picks include 11th Circuit nominee Embry Kidd, who has served as a U.S. magistrate judge in Florida since 2019. The White House picked two other magistrates, Adam Abelson in Maryland and Joseph Saporito in Pennsylvania, to serve on federal district courts. Biden also nominated Monroe County Acting State Supreme Court Judge Meredith Vacca, a Korean American in Rochester, to become the first woman of color to serve as a life-tenured judge in the Western District of New York.
- The former CFO of McElroy, Deutsch, Mulvaney & Carpenter pleaded guilty to embezzling more than $1.5 million from the New Jersey firm, the state attorney general’s office said. John Dunlea also pleaded guilty to evading state income tax payments in relation to the alleged fraud
- Four attorneys were appointed as co-lead mass tort litigation in Philadelphia federal court over claims that Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly failed to warn of the risks of harsh side effects associated with blockbuster diabetes and weight loss drugs including Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro. The co-leaders are Paul Pennock of Morgan & Morgan; Parvin Aminolroaya of Seeger Weiss; Sarah Ruane of Wagstaff and Cartmell; and Jonathan Orent of Motley Rice. An earlier order named the plaintiffs’ leadership but did not appoint lead counsel, leaving it to the lawyers to decide the details.
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That’s how many requests for assistance were made to the California bar’s newly created Public Trust Liaison, according to a report outlining its initial accomplishments and future plans. The bulk of those requests pertained to the state bar’s attorney discipline system. Other questions focused on attorney-admissions. The bar established the public trust liaison role in 2023 to handle complaints about the organization’s attorney discipline system and admissions. The state bar has come under mounting pressure to reform its attorney discipline system.
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For TikTok and its parent company ByteDance, the decision about where to file a petition contesting the constitutionality of a U.S. law requiring the Chinese company to divest the online microvideo platform was easy: The law itself says that only the D.C. Circuit can hear a challenge to the statute. That jurisdiction mandate, writes Alison Frankel, is not unprecedented in statutes with national security implications — but the TikTok venue mandate, Frankel says, raises some unique questions about how the D.C. appeals court will handle the case — and whether the U.S. Supreme Court will ultimately have the authority to review the appellate court’s ruling.
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“CCHS considered it ‘vital’ to its religious mission that its teachers bring a Catholic perspective to bear on Shakespeare as well as on the Bible.“
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- U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley in San Francisco will hear Elon Musk’s appeal of a magistrate judge’s order requiring him to testify in the SEC’s probe into whether Musk followed the law in his acquisition of Twitter. The agency is examining whether Musk followed the law when filing the required paperwork about his purchases of Twitter stock, and whether his statements in relation to the deal were misleading. Musk has accused the regulator of harassing him.
- In Kansas City, Missouri federal court, U.S. District Judge Stephen Bough will weigh final approval for $208 million in consumer antitrust settlements covering claims that major brokerages Anywhere, Re/Max and Keller Williams conspired to keep commissions artificially high. The deals face objections, including from home buyers, who contend that the sellers’ accords unfairly block them from pursuing their separate claims. The brokerages and others that have also settled denied any wrongdoing.
- A 9th Circuit panel will hear an appeal of a judge’s decision to not block enforcement of an Idaho law that requires public school students to use the bathroom or locker room that corresponds with their biological sex. The family of a student and a student association sued the state last year. They said the state law illegally discriminates on the basis of gender identity and violates students’ right to privacy.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- U.S. District Judge Jeremy Kernodle in Tyler, Texas, rejected the Biden administration’s bid to dismiss a lawsuit by Republican-led Texas and two conservative media companies accusing the U.S. Department of State of funding technologies used to counter disinformation online that they say censors right-leaning news outlets. Kernodle concluded that the state as well as The Daily Wire and The Federalist had sufficiently alleged they had standing to challenge the State Department’s actions.
- Alphabet’s Google urged a 4th Circuit panel to force a South Carolina state agency to turn over internal records that it hopes to use to fend off claims that it unlawfully dominates the market for digital advertising. The agency’s lawyer said it should be allowed to assert immunity from a subpoena, even though South Carolina joined other states in suing Google over its digital ads practices.
- The 4th Circuit revived a lawsuit claiming that prison inmates in Baltimore County, Maryland, who sorted recyclables in a voluntary work program were the county’s employees and should have been paid the minimum wage. A unanimous three-judge panel said a judge who dismissed the proposed collective action must take another look at whether the program’s primary purpose was to generate cheap labor for the county or to rehabilitate prisoners.
- Wedding-dress designer and influencer Hayley Paige Gutman convinced a New York federal court to give her total control of “Hayley Paige” social-media accounts as part of a dispute with JLM Couture over their broken partnership. U.S. District Judge Laura Swain reversed her previous decision that gave JLM sole control of the accounts but upheld an order banning Gutman from using the “Hayley Paige” name and selling competing dresses for five years.
- Three insurers have rejected Chevron’s $57 million claim over the seizure last year of an oil cargo tanker by Iran, according to a complaint filed on Tuesday in a U.S. court in California. Zurich American Insurance, Liberty Mutual Insurance and Great American Insurance asked a San Francisco federal judge to uphold their rejection of Chevron’s claim.
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- Skadden added partners Adam Cohen in D.C. and Mark Chorazak in New York as co-heads of the financial institutions regulatory group. Cohen previously was general counsel to SoFi Bank, and Chorazak was at the firm now known as A&O Shearman. (Skadden)
- Sidley added labor and employment partner Rebecca Stuart to its Palo Alto office. Stuart was previously at Wilson Sonsini. (Sidley)
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