 //sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591700&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=34075935&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
//sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591701&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=34075935&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
//sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591702&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=34075935&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
//sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591703&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=34075935&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
//sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591704&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=34075935&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
|
|
|
| //sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=874768&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=34075935&stpe=static” border=”0″ style=”max-height:12px;” /> |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Good morning. Creditor groups and law professors are calling for a rule change to prevent what they say is “judge shopping” in bankruptcy court. Plus, Rudy Giuliani got limited permission to challenge a $148 million defamation verdict; Zillow beat a bid for a new trial in a consumer deception lawsuit; and law schools are concerned about the impact of the Supreme Court’s affirmative action ruling on law student diversity. Welcome to Monday!
Were you forwarded this email? Subscribe here.
|
Creditor groups and several law professors are calling for an end to what they say is “judge shopping” in a Houston, Texas, bankruptcy court that directs all large cases to a couple of judges, saying that the practice creates “the perception of a two-tiered justice system,” reports Dietrich Knauth.
In a letter, they asked the federal judiciary to adopt a nationwide rule change that would require new “mega” bankruptcy cases with more than $100 million in debt to be randomly assigned among all judges within the district where they are filed. A uniform rule would reinforce the “impartiality” of the federal court system and prevent bankruptcy courts from competing “to attract the largest and most high-profile bankruptcy cases,” the group wrote.
Bankruptcy courts currently have wide latitude in how they assign cases, which has sometimes allowed bankrupt companies to “effectively pick and choose the judge of their choice,” according to a letter signed by eight law professors, the Creditor Rights Coalition, Loan Sales & Trading Association and Cliff White, a former director of the DOJ’s bankruptcy watchdog. The proposed rule change is aimed in particular at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, which assigns all “complex” cases to just two judges in Houston.
Under pressure, some courts have changed their practices around assigning bankruptcy cases. But not Houston, writes Knauth.
|
|
|
|
- A U.S. bankruptcy judge gave Rudy Giuliani limited permission to challenge a $148 million defamation verdict won by two former Georgia election workers whom he had falsely accused of fraud after former President Donald Trump’s 2020 election loss.
- The Illinois Supreme Court imposed a three-year suspension on a former federal prosecutor and ex-shareholder at Polsinelli who made incendiary comments about judges, prosecutors and Jewish people.
- Arkansas is the latest state to successfully utilize a year-old federal law, the State Antitrust Enforcement Venue Act of 2022, to keep antitrust actions from being transferred into coordinated legal proceedings. The rulings raise the stakes for corporate defendants that could be forced to fight related lawsuits in multiple courts.
|
Trading the name-brand prestige and predictability of Big Law for more volatile, even crusading work representing people who allege they’ve been injured by misconduct or negligence is uncommon, especially among well-established defense lawyers. In her latest column, Jenna Greene looks at lawyers who’ve switched sides – including a prominent Dechert litigator who just jumped to Seeger Weiss – and what draws them to the other side of the “v.”
|
“The collapse of FTX caused catastrophic losses for its worldwide investors but also raised implications for the evolving and volatile cryptocurrency industry.“
|
—3rd Circuit Judge L. Felipe Restrepo wrote in a decision ordering the appointment of an independent bankruptcy examiner to investigate the 2022 collapse of FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange once led by the convicted Sam Bankman-Fried. Reversing a lower ruling, the appeals court panel agreed with the U.S. Trustee that appointing an examiner was mandatory under the U.S. Bankruptcy Code because of the size of the FTX case and was necessary to protect debtors and creditors in a case of “great” public interest, an interest that should be taken into account in FTX’s Chapter 11 reorganization.
|
|
|
|
- Today, a state court judge in Delaware will kick off a four-day hearing on what evidence can be used in about 70,000 lawsuits claiming that the heartburn drug Zantac, once sold by GSK and others, caused cancer. The outcome will determine whether the Delaware cases, which make up the majority of Zantac cases nationwide, can go forward.
- Also today, in a rescheduled hearing, lawyers for cryptocurrency exchange Binance will urge U.S. District Judge Amy Berman Jackson in D.C. to dismiss the SEC’s fraud case. The SEC in June sued Binance, its then-CEO Changpeng Zhao and the operator of its purportedly independent U.S. exchange for allegedly operating a “web of deception.”
- On Tuesday, the full 5th Circuit will hear arguments in a challenge to a Mississippi law that imposes a lifetime ban on voting for people convicted of certain crimes. A 5th Circuit panel held the law was unconstitutional, and the full court voted to reconsider the case.
- On Wednesday, the 9th Circuit will consider whether to uphold a judge’s ruling declaring that California’s decades-old assault weapons ban is unconstitutional. The court put a permanent injunction against the ban issued by U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez on hold while the case remained under review.
- On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in D.C. will consider 96-year-old Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman’s request to halt a Federal Circuit order that suspended her for failing to comply with an investigation into her mental and physical fitness to serve. The court will also consider the Federal Circuit’s request to dismiss Newman’s lawsuit over the suspension.
- On Friday, U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White in Oakland, California, will hear arguments in a lawsuit brought by Palestinian relief organizations and Palestinian-Americans with relatives in Gaza that seeks an injunction barring the U.S. from providing further aid to Israel as it wages war against Hamas. Arguing for the injunction on behalf of the plaintiffs are Van Der Hout LLP and the Center for Constitutional Rights, while the U.S. is urging White to dismiss the case.
|
Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
|
- Actor Alec Baldwin was indicted by a grand jury in New Mexico for a second time on charges of involuntary manslaughter stemming from the shooting death of cinematographer Halyna Hutchins on the set of the Western film “Rust.” The indictment followed an independent forensic test concluding that Baldwin would have had to pull the trigger of a revolver he was using in a rehearsal for it to fire the live round that killed Hutchins. Prosecutors had dropped earlier charges against Baldwin.
- JetBlue Airways and Spirit Airlines said they are appealing a judge’s ruling this week blocking the air carriers’ planned tie-up to the 1st Circuit. U.S. District Judge William Young in Boston said JetBlue’s planned $3.8 billion acquisition of ultra-low-cost carrier Spirit was anticompetitive and would harm consumers, ruling in favor of the DOJ and six states.
- Harvard University urged a judge in Boston to dismiss lawsuits by families accusing it of mishandling the bodies of loved ones that were donated to its medical school and whose organs and parts were then sold on the black market by the former manager of its morgue. An attorney for the school said that under a Massachusetts law that governs the donation of bodies to medical schools, Harvard enjoyed broad immunity from lawsuits unless the families can show it failed to act in “good faith.”
- Zillow defeated a bid by discount home brokerage REX for a new trial in a Seattle federal lawsuit accusing the online home-listing giant of deceptive business practices.
- Britain’s Prince Harry withdrew his libel claim against Associated Newspapers, the publisher of the Mail on Sunday newspaper, over an article about his security arrangements. His spokesperson said he wanted to focus on his family’s safety. A spokesperson for Associated declined to comment.
|
|
|
- Baker McKenzie hired Eric Schwartzman as head of private equity in California Latham & Watkins. (Reuters)
- Steptoe hired financial services and payments technology partner Stephen Aschettino in New York. He most recently was U.S. head of fintech at Norton Rose Fulbright. (Steptoe)
- Greenberg Traurig hired Shane Foster for its financial regulatory and compliance practice in Phoenix. Foster previously served as the chief deputy director at the Arizona Department of Insurance and Financial Institutions. (Greenberg Traurig)
- Vedder Price brought on Hoyoon Nam, who focuses on maritime and transportation finance, in New York and London. Nam previously was at Seward & Kissel. (Vedder Price)
- Orrick added partner Alfred Weightman to its global renewable power purchase agreements practice in London. He arrives from Golden Peaks Capital. (Orrick)
- Squire Patton Boggs brought on corporate and energy partner Paolo Zamberletti in Milan from K&L Gates. (Squire Patton Boggs)
|
|
|
While generative AI and other AI initiatives present novel opportunities, they also introduce complex legal challenges related to data privacy, intellectual property rights, ethical considerations and contractual obligations, writes Anup Iyer of Moore & Van Allen. Iyer focuses on responsible utilization of data in AI initiatives.
|
|
|
|
