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Good morning. Disbarred plaintiffs attorney Tom Girardi is due to stand trial today on federal fraud charges, marking a new chapter in the once prominent lawyer’s fall. Plus, Google is vowing to appeal a U.S. judge’s landmark ruling declaring the tech giant an illegal monopolist; ex-U.S. bankruptcy judge David Jones is facing increasing pressure in a battle over fees he approved for his romantic partner’s former law firm; and a group of federal judges was cleared of wrongdoing over a law clerk hiring boycott. So much for a sleepy August. Let’s go!
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Starting today, Tom Girardi, the now-disbarred lawyer whose legal battle against a California utility inspired an Oscar-winning film, faces a federal jury trial in Los Angeles over charges that he stole millions of dollars in settlement funds from his clients, our colleague David Thomas reports.
Federal prosecutors charged Girardi, 85, with four counts of wire fraud for allegedly embezzling $15 million from clients over a decade. A fifth wire fraud charge was dismissed by the government last week.
Girardi’s career collapsed in 2020 amid accusations that he misappropriated client funds belonging to victims’ families in a 2018 airline crash in Indonesia. Those claims form the basis of separate criminal charges pending against Girardi and others in Chicago. He has pleaded not guilty in both cases.
Prosecutors in Los Angeles accused Girardi of stealing funds from clients in cases involving severe injuries, including two people whose son was paralyzed from the neck down. Girardi’s federal public defenders did not respond to a request for comment. A spokesperson for the Los Angeles U.S. Attorney’s office declined to comment.
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- Former U.S. bankruptcy judge David Jones in Houston is under increasing pressure in a battle over attorneys’ fees that he approved for his romantic partner’s former law firm. Jones is due to appear in court on Wednesday to explain his recent “off the record” discussions with the firm, Jackson Walker. Jones resigned from the bench last year after admitting to a long-term, undisclosed relationship with a lawyer at the firm.
- Eight federal judges were cleared of wrongdoing over their decision in May to boycott hiring law clerks who graduated from Columbia University in response to its handling of pro-Palestinian demonstrations prompted by Israel’s war in Gaza. The 5th Circuit Judicial Council upheld a decision by Chief U.S. Circuit Judge Priscilla Richman to dismiss a judicial misconduct complaint by an unnamed prisoner who accused the judges of political bias and argued they should be removed from office.
- Law schools should allow students to receive pay and academic credit for externships, the American Bar Association said in adopting a resolution.
- Quinn Emanuel’s Michael Carlinsky is on a team defending CrowdStrike, rejecting a claim from Delta Air Lines that the cybersecurity firm should be blamed for disruptions following a July 19 global outage sparked by a faulty update. Boies Schiller’s David Boies is advising Delta. On Monday, CrowdStrike was sued by air travelers whose flights were delayed or canceled.
- U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas took additional undisclosed travel paid for by billionaire benefactor Harlan Crow that the conservative justice failed to disclose, according to Senator Ron Wyden, who cited international flight records obtained by the Senate Finance Committee.
- McGuireWoods and Blank Rome hired lawyers from insurance recovery law firm Pasich, which has disbanded after seven years in business. An 11-attorney Pasich team, including founding partners Kirk Pasich and Shaun Crosner, joined McGuireWoods in Century City, California.
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“Google is a monopolist, and it has
acted as one to maintain its monopoly.“
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- Texas-based U.S. District Judge David Ezra will hold a hearing in the Biden administration’s bid to force Texas to remove a 1,000-foot long floating barrier placed in the Rio Grande river to deter illegal border crossings, part of a series of legal conflicts between the Republican-led state and the federal government over immigration policies. The 5th Circuit declined to force the removal of the barrier while the legal fight plays out.
- U.S. District Judge Margaret Garnett in Manhattan will begin a week-long hearing over whether to block Disney’s sports streaming deal with Fox and Warner Bros. Sports-focused streaming service FuboTV in February sued to stop the joint venture, saying it violated U.S. antitrust law. Disney and the other defendants have denied the deal will harm consumers.
- In Chicago, U.S. Magistrate Judge Heather McShain will hold an off-the-record meeting with the plaintiff’s lawyer whose law-student client accused the Chicago Bears football team of unlawfully favoring women and minority job candidates over white ones. McShain met with defense counsel privately for a discussion on July 31 in furtherance of reaching a settlement.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- The 8th Circuit said a former Chipotle employee does not have to arbitrate claims that she was sexually harassed and raped by a coworker, because she sued the restaurant chain after a federal law banning agreements to keep such claims out of court took effect. The three-judge panel said the law passed in 2022 applies to any lawsuit filed after it was enacted, rejecting Chipotle’s claim that it only covers conduct that occurred after that date. The ruling could salvage some pending cases and invite new ones.
- Novartis and Viatris were sued in Maryland federal court by the family of a woman whose tissue cells were taken from her body in the 1950s to fuel research and development. The estate of Henrietta Lacks accused the companies of unlawfully profiting from the use of the cells to create drugs that have been “integral to their market presence” without paying or gaining permission from her estate. Novartis and Viatris did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
- The 4th Circuit revived an antitrust lawsuit accusing Duke Energy of monopolizing the wholesale power market in North Carolina, unlawfully blocking competition from rival power company NTE Carolinas. The panel overturned a judge’s order that said Duke’s business practices did not violate U.S. antitrust law.
- Cassava Sciences ended its defamation lawsuit against four short sellers who expressed doubts about its experimental Alzheimer’s drug after a medical professor whose research underpinned the treatment was charged with fraud.
- Buca di Beppo filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, saying it intends to keep its current locations open despite a significant drop in sales, rising food and labor costs, and staffing challenges. It joins other restaurant chains that have cited rising costs as reasons for filing for bankruptcy in 2024, including Red Lobster and Rubio’s Coastal Grill.
- Agriculture technology giant Corteva can move forward with its lawsuit accusing startup Inari of unlawfully copying its patented seeds. U.S. District Judge John Murphy found in refusing to dismiss the lawsuit that Inari failed to prove for now that its Belgian subsidiary could develop its own genetically modified plants from Corteva’s seeds without violating U.S. IP laws.
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- Laura Vartain Horn, the federal prosecutor who led the criminal case against the man who broke into former U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s home and struck her husband with a hammer, joined Kirkland in San Francisco. (Reuters)
- Fried Frank added New York-based restructuring partners Rachel Strickland, Daniel Forman and Andrew Mordkoff from Willkie. Strickland will be global chair of Fried Frank’s restructuring department. (Fried Frank)
- Goodwin hired New York-based partner Kaitlin Betancourt, who previously was chief legal officer of cybersecurity, data privacy and AI at Prudential Financial. The firm also added employment partner Alexander Flynn-Tabloff in Boston from Kirkland.
- Kirkland will open a new office in Frankfurt with M&A partner Tobias Larisch, who most recently was at Latham. (Kirkland)
- Duane Morris added Joseph Walsh as a trial lawyer in the firm’s Houston and New York offices. Walsh previously was assistant general counsel at Exxon Mobil. (Duane Morris)
- Baker Donelson brought on complex litigation and class actions partner Tracy Tomlin in Charlotte, North Carolina, from Nelson Mullins. (Baker Donelson)
- Womble Bond Dickinson hired Carl King as a trusts and estate partner in the firm’s Charlotte office. King was previously at Culp Elliott & Carpenter. (Womble)
- Paul Hastings brought on structured finance partner Brian Maher in London from Weil. (Paul Hastings)
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The U.S. Supreme Court in May 2023 issued the unanimous decision on patent enablement in Amgen v. Sanofi. Patent practitioners in the life science and chemical industries have started to shift their approaches to patent drafting in order to minimize the impact of the decision in the event that the ensuing patents are ultimately challenged for lack of enablement, write Jeffrey Morton and Jeffrey Wolfson of Haynes and Boone.
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