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A recent court order dealt a blow to military service members and their families alleging injuries from contaminated water at Camp Lejeune, Diana Novak Jones reports. Plus, the full 5th Circuit will reconsider a challenge to Nasdaq’s board diversity rule; Cox Communications got a $1 billion copyright verdict thrown out; and a Delaware judge said TripAdvisor can move to Nevada, but shareholders can seek damages in a case that has gotten publicity through Elon Musk. Coming up today, Sam Bankman-Fried is due back in court for a hearing over his new lawyer’s possible conflict of interest. Thanks for reading!
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U.S. Marine Corps/Handout via REUTERS
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Plaintiffs lawyers wrapped up in the Camp Lejeune water contamination litigation in North Carolina federal court are decrying a judicial order that did not expressly allow for jury trials, Diana Novak Jones reports. Jury trials are likely now out of reach for more than 160,000 claimants, and judges instead will hear the trials.
The plaintiffs’ leadership team for the Camp Lejeune litigation has notified the court that it wants to appeal the jury trial order. Ed Bell , the plaintiffs’ lead lawyer, said in a statement through a spokesperson that for now they will “continue to push cases forward” and to “pursue trials as expeditiously as possible.” The DOJ declined to comment.
Meanwhile, a settlement option announced last year by the U.S. government to try to resolve the cases has netted just 17 settlements of the more than 166,000 claims against the U.S. government, case documents show. The “elective option” offers payouts of between $100,000 and $550,000 to a specific subset of victims. Some plaintiffs attorneys and victims have said the elective option payouts are much smaller than the amounts a jury might award.
Attorney Hunter Shkolnik said the elective option settlement offers are fair and are the best option for many of his clients, who are elderly and suffering from health problems. Shkolnik said he submitted about 600 of his cases to the government for consideration for settlement. “I’m not scared to try a case, but I want my clients to get fair compensation while they’re alive,” Shkolnik said.
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- Rudy Giuliani secured a U.S. bankruptcy judge’s approval to challenge a $148 million defamation verdict won by two former Georgia election workers after he showed that he would not be spending his own money to do so. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Sean Lane required the former mayor to pay his attorneys with donations received by two legal defense funds. After Lane previously said Giuliani must provide more information about his donors, Giuliani filed disclosures in court last week that listed Elizabeth Ailes, the widow of former Fox News CEO Roger Ailes, among the donors.
- Kirkland lost its bid to get a former associate’s employment records from her prior firms Paul Hastings and Fish & Richardson. Zoya Kovalenko, who is suing Kirkland for alleged workplace bias, had called the subpoenas “invasive and harassing” in nature. Kirkland, which has denied the allegations, called Kovalenko’s objections to the subpoenas “meritless.”
- A judge said a lawsuit filed last week against Sullivan & Cromwell by a group of FTX investors will proceed as part of multidistrict litigation in Miami federal court over the defunct cryptocurrency exchange’s collapse. The proposed class action claims the law firm participated in FTX’s multi billion-dollar fraud before further enriching itself as its bankruptcy counsel. A firm spokesperson declined to comment.
- Epic Games’ team at Cravath is fighting Apple’s bid for $73 million in legal fees for defending against the “Fortnite” maker’s antitrust claims in California federal court. Epic maintains Apple isn’t entitled to that amount but instead a “far narrower” unspecified payment for its work on a contract claim. Apple’s Weil and Gibson Dunn lawyers contend the iPhone maker’s legal work was intertwined.
- Sidney Powell, Lin Wood and a group of other lawyers lost their effort to overturn attorney sanctions imposed on them in Michigan for their work challenging Joe Biden’s 2020 election win over Donald Trump. The U.S. Supreme Court turned away petitions arguing attorney misconduct sanctions were improper.
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The SEC told the 2nd Circuit last week that investors place significant faith in auditors’ certifications of corporate financials, calling on the court to reconsider the dismissal of securities fraud claims against auditor BDO USA by shareholders of the insurer AmTrust Financial . The AmTrust shareholders brought the claim against BDO as part of a sweeping class action against the insurer after AmTrust restated years of financial results. Pointing to an SEC order sanctioning three BDO accountants, plaintiffs claimed BDO’s 2013 audit certification was false. The 2nd Circuit said it was nonetheless immaterial — but then asked the SEC for its views. Alison Frankel has the story.
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“The road to tradition, I fear, may be
a road to perdition.”
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- The U.S. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral arguments in a bid to block the EPA from enforcing a federal regulation aimed at reducing ozone emissions that may worsen air pollution in neighboring states. The justices acted on requests by the states of Ohio, Indiana and West Virginia, as well as pipeline operators, power producers and U.S. Steel Corp to avoid complying with the federal “Good Neighbor” plan. Andrew Chung and John Kruzel have more on the case here.
- The trial of “Rust” chief weapons handler Hannah Gutierrez over the death of the film’s cinematographer is set to begin with jury selection in New Mexico state court. Cinematographer Halyna Hutchins died in 2021 after Gutierrez mistakenly loaded a live round into a reproduction Colt .45 revolver that actor Alec Baldwin was rehearsing with on a movie set outside Santa Fe. The case against Gutierrez is likely to shape actor Alec Baldwin’s defense of his role in Hollywood’s first on-set shooting fatality in nearly 30 years, Andrew Hay reports.
- The justices also will hear arguments in an appeal by two music publishing companies — Warner Music’s Warner Chappell as well as Artist Publishing Group — of a lower court’s ruling that defendants in copyright infringement cases can be held liable for actions that occurred prior to the three-year statute of limitations for filing such litigation. The high court’s ruling could clarify the time period for which copyright plaintiffs can recover damages, Blake Brittain reports.
- Sam Bankman-Fried, founder of now-bankrupt cryptocurrency exchange FTX who was convicted of fraud in November, is due in Manhattan federal court for a hearing over a potential conflict of interest involving his new lawyer, Marc Mukasey. Luc Cohen reports that Bankman-Fried brought on Mukasey to represent him for his sentencing and likely appeal. Mukasey also represents Alex Mashinsky, founder of cryptocurrency lender Celsius and who also has been indicted for alleged fraud.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- Justices on the U.S. Supreme Court sounded skeptical of claims by a subsidiary of Wonder Bread maker Flowers Foods that a federal law exempting workers involved in interstate commerce from mandatory arbitration of legal disputes only applies to employees of transportation companies.
- A challenge by conservative groups to a Nasdaq rule requiring companies to disclose board diversity or lack thereof will be reconsidered by the full 5th Circuit after an earlier panel of the court upheld the requirement. The conservative-leaning court voted in favor of reconsideration and tentatively scheduled arguments for mid-May.
- The U.S. Supreme Court declined a chance to further restrict efforts to promote diversity in education, turning away an appeal by a coalition of parents and students who argued that an elite Virginia public school’s revised admissions policy racially discriminates against Asian Americans
- Cox Communications convinced the 4th Circuit to throw out a $1 billion jury verdict in favor of major record labels that had accused it of failing to curb user piracy, in a decision that sets the stage for a new trial. A Virginia jury in 2019 found Cox liable for its customers’ violations of over 10,000 copyrights belonging to labels including Sony Music, Warner Music and Universal Music . A Cox spokesperson said the company disagreed with part of the ruling that left the finding of liability in place.
- Missouri, Kansas and Idaho will not be allowed to join an appeal at the U.S. Supreme Court that will decide the availability of the abortion pill mifepristone, the high court ruled. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk in Amarillo, Texas, where anti-abortion groups filed the challenge to the FDA’s approval of the drug, last month had allowed the three Republican-led states to join the lawsuit.
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