 //sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591700&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=34115079&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
//sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591701&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=34115079&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
//sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591702&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=34115079&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
//sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591703&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=34115079&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
//sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591704&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=34115079&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
|
|
|
| //sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=874768&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=34115079&stpe=static” border=”0″ style=”max-height:12px;” /> |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Good morning. A D.C. federal judge will weigh a bid by 96-year-old Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman to halt an order that suspended her from the bench. Plus, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to block Alabama from going ahead with the nation’s first execution using nitrogen gas; Brown, Yale and Columbia universities are among the latest schools to settle litigation over financial aid; and British billionaire Joe Lewis pleaded guilty to U.S. insider trading charges. Thanks for joining us!
Were you forwarded this email? Subscribe here.
|
Circuit Judge Newman’s case heads to court
|
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit/Handout via REUTERS
|
A D.C. federal judge this morning will hear arguments on whether to block the suspension of a 96-year-old federal appeals judge who was removed from the bench amid a probe of her mental fitness. Lawyers for Pauline Newman, a respected figure in patent law, want U.S. District Judge Casey Cooper to enjoin what they call an “unlawful and ongoing suspension.” Newman was appointed to the patent-focused Federal Circuit by President Ronald Reagan in 1984 and is the oldest active U.S. federal judge.
A council of judges on the D.C.-based Federal Circuit court in September unanimously said Newman had failed to cooperate with an investigation into her fitness to continue serving on the bench. The council barred her from hearing new cases for at least one year or until she sits for court-ordered medical examinations. Newman has defended her ability to remain on the bench.
The public and contentious internal dispute over competency is highly unusual in the federal judiciary, our colleagues Blake Brittain and Nate Raymond have reported. Cooper at an earlier hearing said “this case really cries out for some sort of mediation,” He likened the dispute to a family disagreement that had spiraled out of control, according to our colleague Andrew Goudsward. Newman is represented by attorneys from the New Civil Liberties Alliance, a conservative-leaning advocacy organization.
|
|
|
|
- A committee in D.C. federal court has closed a matter and taken no further action in a matter involving a lawyer who unsuccessfully sued to block Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential win. Erick Kaardal had denied any wrongdoing as part of his advocacy in the litigation. A U.S. judge in dismissing the case referred Kaardal to a grievance committee, which closed its review in December.
- The U.S. Senate voted 80-17 to confirm Jacquelyn Austin to a life-tenured position on the federal bench in South Carolina and 67-32 to approve Cristal Brisco’s nomination to serve on the district court in Indiana’s Northern District. The confirmations came after Republican senators from those states provided crucial support to their nominations.
- A senior attorney with the FDIC pleaded guilty to one charge of sexually exploiting children.
|
That’s the amount in proposed settlements that a prospective class of current and former college students has won so far in litigation accusing major U.S. universities of unlawfully restricting financial aid. The latest schools to exit the case include Brown, Yale and Columbia. Ten other schools are named defendants in the lawsuit, filed in 2022 in Chicago federal court. Two other schools, Vanderbilt and University of Chicago, previously agreed to settle. The settling schools and others have denied any wrongdoing in how they award aid. The plaintiffs said they want subsequent settlements to be even larger than the initial ones.
|
Fox Corporation won the right on Wednesday to proceed with a counterclaim accusing voting technology company Smartmatic of filing a frivolous $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit in order to chill Fox’s reporting. The decision to deny Smartmatic’s motion to dismiss Fox’s anti-SLAPP counterclaim means Smartmatic has to keep battling Fox on two fronts — and gives extra heft, writes Alison Frankel, to an unusual appellate dispute over a WhatsApp exchange between Smartmatic’s CEO and another company executive. Intrigued? Read on!
|
“SPAC investors are no less deserving of our time-tested investor protections.“
|
—SEC chairman Gary Gensler, at a meeting where the commission adopted new rules that he said are aimed to bring special-purpose acquisition companies more closely in line with IPO rules. The SEC voted 3-2 to adopt the proposal, under which U.S. SPACs and their acquisition targets will take on more liability for disclosures about projected earnings and other material information. The rules come as investors have cooled on SPAC deals.
|
|
|
|
- An 11th Circuit panel will consider whether to uphold an injunction blocking a new Florida law backed by Republicans that puts restrictions on voter registration groups, calling it “Florida’s latest assault on the right to vote.” The law included a provision that barred noncitizens from registering citizens to vote, even if they were living in the United States legally. U.S. District Judge Mark Walker in Tallahassee last July blocked the law.
- A U.S. judiciary panel will hear arguments in consumer and other disputes about choosing a court venue to bring related cases together. In one of the matters, attorneys representing people who claim they weren’t properly warned about side effects associated with weight loss drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy are pushing to centralize a growing number of lawsuits in a Louisiana federal court. Related actions have been filed in nearly 20 federal districts. Novo Nordisk has proposed the cases be consolidated in the Middle District of North Carolina. Novo Nordisk has said its drugs have been extensively studied and their safety is under continuous monitoring.
- Writer E. Jean Carroll’s latest civil defamation case against Donald Trump is expected to resume, following a pause after one juror reported feeling ill and one or more parents of Trump’s lead lawyer tested positive for COVID-19. Lawyers for Carroll are expected to wrap up their case in federal court in Manhattan, and Trump could testify as soon as today in his own defense after they finish. Jurors will determine how much Trump should pay Carroll for defaming her in June 2019, when he denied raping her in the mid-1990s.
- Peter Navarro, who served as President Donald Trump’s trade adviser, will be sentenced for contempt of Congress for defying a subpoena from a U.S. House committee that was investigating the 2021 attack on Capitol by a throng of Trump supporters. A D.C. federal jury last year found Navarro guilty. Prosecutors are seeking a six-month prison term for Navarro, while his defense lawyers want U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta to impose a term of probation.
|
Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
|
- Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones could exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy by late March or early April, after U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez in Houston allowed his creditors to vote on competing proposals for handling $1.5 billion in legal judgments owed by Jones. The right-wing personality for years had claimed the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary was a hoax, and victim families pursued defamation claims against him.
- A lawsuit by families and healthcare providers challenging an Indiana law that would ban the use of puberty blockers and hormones for transgender children under the age of 18 can go forward as a class action. U.S. District Judge James Hanlon in Indianapolis, who blocked the law from taking effect last year while he considers the lawsuit, certified three classes.
- A nanny who worked nearly 80 hours a week for a Florida family should have been paid overtime because she did not reside at the family’s home, a unanimous three-judge panel of the 11th Circuit said in a ruling.
- A citizen journalist in Texas cannot sue officials over her arrest for asking a police source questions, a divided 5th Circuit held in a ruling that dissenting judges warned posed a threat to free speech and news gathering. The appeals court on a 9-7 vote ruled that police officers and county prosecutors were entitled to qualified immunity from claims that they violated Priscilla Villarreal’s rights under the First and Fourth Amendments. A lawyer for Villarreal said his client would appeal.
- Levi Strauss accused the Italian luxury fashion brand Brunello Cucinelli in a new lawsuit of infringing its trademarked rectangular pocket tab. Brunello Cucinelli had no immediate comment.
|
|
|
- Benesch hired Douglas DiMedio from Kirkland in New York to co-lead its private equity group. (Reuters)
- Loeb & Loeb picked up Chicago-based partner Nicole Mann, who focuses on tax and estate planning and litigation. She arrives from McDermott. (Loeb & Loeb)
- Seyfarth Shaw added three partners from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner, including Chicago-based lawyer Jason DeJonker, who will lead a new restructuring and insolvency practice. Scott Olson, based in San Francisco, will also join the restructuring team, while Richard White adds to the servicing practice in Atlanta. (Seyfarth)
- Dorsey & Whitney brought on Dana Herberholz and Jordan Stott as IP partners in Boise. They were at Parsons Behle & Latimer. (Dorsey)
- Simpson Thacher brought on tax partner Adam Arikat in Houston from Kirkland. (Simpson Thacher)
- Orrick hired partner Timothy Carroll, who focuses on tech and life sciences IP litigation, in Chicago and D.C. He previously was at Venable. (Orrick)
- DLA Piper added Lily Wound to the firm’s corporate practice in New York. Wound was previously at Goodwin. (DLA Piper)
|
|
|
|
