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Good morning. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will face a historic impeachment trial in the Lone Star State’s Senate. Could this be the end of the road for the Trump ally – and Biden antagonist? Plus, DLA Piper beats a $180 million malpractice case, Google loses a patent fight with Sonos, and we have our preview of the week’s biggest court happenings. It’s a short week – but we’re long on news!
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Newly-suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will face a historic trial in Texas over claims of abuse of office, after state House members voted 121-23 to impeach the conservative firebrand and Donald Trump ally. A Texas Senate resolution on Monday said Paxton’s trial must start before Aug. 28.
The 20 articles of impeachment presented by a Republican-led House committee accused Paxton of improperly aiding a wealthy political donor, conducting a sham investigation against whistleblowers in his office whom he fired, and covering up his wrongdoing in a separate federal securities fraud case against him, Brad Brooks and Maria Caspani report.
Paxton called the proceedings “illegal, unethical, and profoundly unjust” in a statement. His office on Saturday posted an investigative report from law firm Lewis Brisbois, which he said was hired “to conduct further investigation into the claims of retaliation by the former employees.” The probe from Lewis Brisbois, Paxton’s office said, showed he had “legitimate, non-retaliatory grounds for terminating each of these individuals.”
Paxton’s top deputy, Brent Webster, was reported to be leading the attorney general office following the House impeachment vote. Paxton named Webster his first assistant in 2020. Webster and Paxton both are contesting Texas attorney disciplinary claims against them for their roles litigating against Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential win. A court dismissed the case against Webster, but another judge said the claims against Paxton could move forward. Paxton appealed the order against him, and the Texas attorney commission appealed the Webster order.
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- U.S. District Judge P. Kevin Castel on June 8 will weigh possible sanctions against New York attorney Steven Schwartz of Levidow, Levidow & Oberman over his use of ChatGPT as a research tool to submit a brief in Manhattan federal court. In an order, Castel said of Schwartz’s filing that “six of the submitted cases appear to be bogus judicial decisions with bogus quotes and bogus internal citations.” Schwartz in an affidavit said he “greatly regrets” how he used ChatGPT. (New York Times)
- U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero in Manhattan dismissed a $180 million legal malpractice lawsuit against DLA Piper, ruling that its ex-client Link Motion filed the case too late. The court said a three-year statute of limitations on Link Motion’s claims expired in January 2022, eight months before the Chinese software company sued. (Reuters)
- DoorDash’s lawyers at Gibson Dunn and other firms lost their effort to force Chicago to turn over years of communications with the plaintiffs firm Cohen Milstein. The firm represents Chicago in a suit accusing the app-based food delivery company of deceiving consumers over fees, prices and restaurant listings. DoorDash, which has denied the claims, sought more information about Chicago’s arrangement with Cohen Milstein.
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“Today’s ruling ensures we have a fighting chance this fire season.“
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—Greg Bolin, the mayor of Paradise, California, which was destroyed by wildfires in 2018, commenting after U.S. District Judge Dana Christensen in Missoula, Montana, said the U.S. Forest Service is violating the Clean Water Act by dumping chemical fire retardant from planes above forests in the West. The judge allowed the dumps to continue while the agency seeks a permit from the EPA. The ruling comes after a nonprofit representing current and former employees of the agency sued last year, saying the unpermitted chemical drops kill fish and aren’t effective at fighting fires. The legal fight drew the attention of groups that opposed an injunction, which filed a friend-of-the court brief saying the fire retardant is a crucial tool needed to fight wildfires.
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- U.S. prosecutors are expected to urge the 2nd Circuit appeals court to uphold former British socialite Ghislaine Maxwell’s conviction and 20-year prison sentence for helping Jeffrey Epstein sexually abuse teenage girls. The government’s brief is due today, responding to Maxwell’s arguments in February that her conviction should be tossed because a slew of errors marred her trial. “The government prosecuted Ms. Maxwell as a proxy for Jeffrey Epstein” to satisfy “public outrage” over the case, Maxwell’s lawyers told the 2nd Circuit. Maxwell is serving the prison sentence after a Manhattan jury convicted her in December 2021 on five charges for recruiting and grooming four girls for abuse by Epstein between 1994 and 2004.
- In the 3rd Circuit, firearm advocates including Second Amendment Foundation and Firearms Policy Coalition must respond to a bid from New Jersey to pause a federal judge’s order that blocks the state from enforcing certain rules about where firearms can be carried. Lawyers for New Jersey told the 3rd Circuit last week that the trial court’s preliminary injunction “incorrectly bars the state from restricting carry in many sensitive places — including zoos and libraries, public gatherings and parks, and even bars.” The state argued that a stay of the court’s order is “urgently needed,” as it “bars the state from protecting residents and law enforcement from gun violence in sensitive places.”
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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REUTERS/Elijah Nouvelage/File Photo
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- On Wednesday, a 7th Circuit panel will take up an appeal from Wisconsin Democratic Governor Tony Evers to revive a court sanctions bid against Donald Trump ally Sidney Powell. Lawyers for Evers appealed an order from a federal judge who declined to sanction Powell, an attorney who pursued claims challenging Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential election win. U.S. District Judge Pamela Pepper ruled that sanctions would not be appropriate because she had quickly dismissed Powell’s lawsuit before delving into the merits. Michigan’s attorney grievance committee recently filed an ethics case against Powell and several others. Powell has disputed shirking attorney ethics obligations and court rules.
- On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Corley in San Francisco will hear arguments from a group of video gamer plaintiffs whose lawyers want to depose Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick. The plaintiffs want to question Kotick as part of their antitrust lawsuit seeking to stop Microsoft’s $69 billion plan to purchase Activision. Skadden’s Caroline Van Ness and Steven Sunshine are on the team for Activision. Corley on May 19 declined the plaintiffs’ request for a preliminary injunction to block the proposed deal. Microsoft’s lawyers have defended the tie-up as beneficial to consumers.
- On Friday, the 7th Circuit will hear arguments in guidance counselor Shelly Fitzgerald’s discrimination lawsuit against an Indianapolis Catholic high school over claims the school fired her when she married a woman. Roncalli High School claims it is protected against Title VII liability because Fitzgerald served as a “minister,” while Fitzgerald argues that exception only applies to school employees who perform “key religious activities.” Fitzgerald disputes she played a religious role at the school, but the district court sided with the school.
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- Joele Frank, a former public relations firm for Twitter, sued the social media company, saying it has not paid its bills since Elon Musk’s $44 billion buyout. The company says Twitter owes $830,498, comprising six unpaid invoices, plus costs for a subpoena in Twitter’s lawsuit to force Musk to complete the buyout after he tried to back out. (Reuters)
- Google must pay $32.5 million in damages for infringing one of Sonos’ patents in its wireless audio devices, a San Francisco federal jury said. The case is part of a sprawling IP dispute between the former collaborators that includes other lawsuits in the U.S., Canada, France, Germany and the Netherlands. (Reuters)
- U.S. energy company Equitrans Midstream Corp’s long-delayed $6.6 billion Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline from West Virginia to Virginia suffered another blow when the D.C. Circuit ruled FERC “inadequately explained its decision not to prepare a supplemental environmental impact statement.” Meanwhile, the 4th Circuit, which has vacated several of the project’s federal and state permits — some more than once — is still weighing lawsuits, including a challenge against authorizations from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. (Reuters)
- British actor Hugh Grant’s claims that journalists at the Sun used private investigators to tap his phone and burglarize his house can proceed to trial, but his allegations about voicemail interception were made too late, London’s High Court ruled. Judge Timothy Fancourt said that Grant’s allegations of voicemail interception came after a six-year deadline to bring the claims, but a jury will have to decide whether Grant’s allegations of “landline tapping, bugging, blagging, burglary and instructions to private investigators to do any of those things” were brought too late. (Reuters)
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