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Good morning. Just hours before it was slated to begin, the highly anticipated trial over Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation lawsuit against Fox Corp was delayed as Fox pursues settlement talks. Plus, Justice Alito presses pause on the fight over the abortion pill mifepristone, and the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee holds a hearing looking at Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg’s policies on violent crime. Welcome to this fine spring Monday!
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Dominion Voting Systems and Fox Corp were set to square off in court this morning in the voting technology company’s $1.6 billion defamation case accusing the network of airing false allegations that Dominion’s voting machines rigged the 2020 election against Donald Trump. But at the last minute, the judge delayed the trial by a day — and a source familiar with the situation told Reuters it was because Fox is pursuing settlement talks, reports Helen Coster.
Opening statements from the lawyers had been slated for this morning, after Delaware Superior Court Judge Eric Davis finished picking the jury. If the trial goes forward, Fox Corp chairman Rupert Murdoch is expected to testify, and Fox has said Tucker Carlson, Sean Hannity and Maria Bartiromo would be available to take the stand as well.
Fox’s massive legal team includes Dan Webb of Winston & Strawn and Paul Clement of Clement & Murphy, as well as lawyers from at least three other firms. Dominion is represented by a huge team from Susman Godfrey led by Davida Brook, Justin Nelson and Stephen Shackelford, in addition to Thomas Clare of Clare Locke and others.
Dominion says that Fox’s conduct was damaging to American democracy and that the network must be held accountable, while Fox calls Dominion’s lawsuit an assault on the free press. The voting technology company is seeking $1.6 billion in damages, a figure Fox has said is unrealistic and based on flawed economic modeling.
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Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman is under investigation by her own court for allegedly failing to carry out her duties and refusing to respond to other judges’ concerns, court officials said. An order signed by Federal Circuit Chief Judge Kimberly Moore said a three-judge committee had determined that Newman, who is 95, may “suffer a disability that interferes with her ability to perform the responsibilities of her office.” Newman and Moore did not immediately respond to emailed requests for comment. (Reuters)
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New 5th Circuit nominee Irma Carrillo Ramirez would be the first Hispanic woman and only active Hispanic judge on the conservative-leaning court, the White House said. Carrillo Ramirez is a longtime magistrate judge in the Northern District of Texas. The Biden administration also nominated U.S. District Judge Ana de Alba of the Eastern District of California to serve on the 9th Circuit. (Reuters)
- A litigation funder was sentenced to 36 months in prison for his participation in a $31 million personal injury fraud scheme that also allegedly involved two attorneys and two doctors. Adrian Alexander, 76, was prosecuted for taking part in a scam that the U.S. attorney’s office said defrauded businesses and insurance companies with fraudulent lawsuits over staged tip-and-fall accidents. (Reuters)
- U.S. News & World Report will delay the release of its graduate school rankings — including its closely watched annual list of best law schools — to address “an unprecedented number of inquiries from schools.” (Reuters)
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That’s the amount of an arbitration award at the center of a lawsuit that a Hong Kong-based investment fund brought against Orrick in San Francisco Superior Court. Global Industrial Investment is suing the firm over claims that it deceived a tribunal in Hong Kong into issuing an enforcement order confirming the award. Orrick has denied the claims, and said this week it will challenge the lawsuit. A trial judge last month ruled against the firm’s early bid to dismiss the case.
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Can a plaintiffs lawyer who was a member of the steering committee in consolidated multidistrict litigation get out of paying common benefit fees for cases resolved outside of the MDL’s confines? That’s the question that will be argued next week before the 9th Circuit in a case arising from consolidated litigation over C.R. Bard’s blood clot filter implants. Ben Martin, who has served on the MDL steering committee since 2015, contends that the MDL judge doesn’t have the authority to force him to pay fees to other committee members for about 300 cases his firm settled outside of the consolidated litigation. The rest of the committee says MDL judges do have that power — and that Martin agreed to pay the fees when he signed on to MDL leadership. Alison Frankel has a detailed look at an issue that she says has vexed the courts for at least a decade.
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“We are a profession in crisis.“
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The U.S. Supreme Court will hear a bid by Slack, part of Salesforce, to block a lawsuit accusing the workplace communication software company of misstatements in its 2019 direct listing, which is an alternative to an initial public offering. Gibson Dunn’s Thomas Hungar is counsel of record for Slack, and Kevin Russell of Goldstein & Russell is representing Slack investor Fiyyaz Pirani. Lawyers from Bragar Eagel & Squire also represent Pirani. The Supreme Court is weighing a 9th Circuit ruling that said the investors’ claims could move forward.
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The Republican-led House Judiciary Committee said it will hold a “field hearing” in New York to examine violent-crime policies of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, who is leading the criminal prosecution of Donald Trump. Witnesses at the hearing will include the mother of a homicide victim and the founder of a victims rights group. Bragg last week sued Republican U.S. Representative Jim Jordan, who chairs the judiciary committee, to stop what Bragg called a “campaign of intimidation” against the criminal prosecution of Trump. The lawsuit aims to block a subpoena of Mark Pomerantz, a former prosecutor who once led the multi-year investigation of Trump. A Manhattan federal judge on Wednesday will hold the first hearing in Bragg’s lawsuit against Jordan.
Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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On Tuesday, bankrupt Johnson & Johnson subsidiary LTL will ask a U.S. bankruptcy judge in New Jersey to impose a long-term pause of tens of thousands of lawsuits alleging that J&J’s baby powder and other talc products cause cancer. The talc lawsuits have been on hold since the company first filed for bankruptcy in 2021, but plaintiffs argue that they should be allowed to continue their lawsuits now that an appeals court ruled that the bankruptcy was improper. The talc company’s second bankruptcy — filed two hours after its first case was dismissed — has reopened the legal battle over the bankruptcy’s legitimacy and its impact on already-filed lawsuits. J&J has maintained that its talc products are safe.
- Also Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in an evangelical Christian former mail carrier’s fight with the U.S. Postal Service over his refusal to work on Sundays. Gerald Groff, a former mail carrier in Pennsylvania, is appealing a lower court’s ruling rejecting his claim of religious discrimination against the Postal Service for refusing to exempt him from working on Sundays, when he observes the Christian Sabbath. Groff sued after being disciplined for repeatedly failing to show up when assigned a Sunday work shift.
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On Wednesday, Jack Douglas Teixeira is due back in Boston federal court for a detention hearing after his arrest last week on charges that he unlawfully copied and transmitted classified materials, leaking top secret military intelligence records online. Teixeira, a 21-year-old member of the U.S. Air National Guard, made his initial appearance on Friday. Boston’s top federal national security prosecutor, Nadine Pellegrini, requested that Teixeira be detained pending trial. The court appointed a public defender to represent Teixeira. U.S. Magistrate Judge David Hennessy will preside at the detention hearing.
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On Friday, New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron is holding a hearing in New York State Attorney General Letitia James’ $250 million business fraud case against Donald Trump. The hearing concerns onetime Trump fixer and personal attorney Michael Cohen’s alleged failure to respond to a subpoena served by the former president. The lawsuit claims Trump, three of his adult children and others participated in a decade-long scheme to manipulate property values and his net worth to obtain favorable loans and tax and insurance benefits. James said she began her probe after Cohen said in Congressional testimony that the president’s financial statements inflated some asset values to save money on loans and insurance, and deflated other asset values to reduce real estate taxes.
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The U.S. Supreme Court made it easier to challenge the regulatory power of federal agencies in two important rulings: one that backs Taser maker Axon Enterprise’s bid to sue the FTC, and another that involves a Texas accountant’s gripe with the SEC. The justices’ 9-0 ruling revived Axon’s lawsuit contesting the lawfulness of the FTC’s structure in a bid to counter an antitrust action. The court upheld a lower court’s decision allowing accountant Michelle Cochran to sue the SEC. (Reuters)
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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is expected to sign a bill allowing juries to recommend the death penalty in capital cases on an 8-4 vote, a move spurred by the less-than-unanimous vote that led to the Parkland school shooter being sentenced to life in prison. Under the new law, Florida prosecutors would need to convince only two-thirds of the 12-member jury that someone who is convicted deserves the death penalty, rather than a unanimous decision by a jury. (Reuters)
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The United States has charged leaders of the Mexico-based Sinaloa Cartel — including three of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s sons — with running a fentanyl trafficking operation fueled by Chinese chemical and pharmaceutical companies. Federal prosecutors unsealed three separate indictments charging more than two dozen defendants based in Mexico, China and Guatemala, eight of whom are in custody. Prosecutors also charged four owners of Chinese companies that allegedly provided precursor chemicals to the cartel. (Reuters)
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