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Good morning. The investigation into 95-year-old Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman’s ability to carry out her duties is switching gears to focus on her failure to cooperate. Plus, the first trial against 3M over water contaminated with toxic “forever chemicals” was put on hold while the parties work on a settlement, and Texas’ antitrust lawsuit over Google’s ads gets kicked back to Texas. We’ve got a lot to get to!
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A committee investigating a 95-year-old U.S. appeals court judge over her competency is narrowing its probe to focus only on whether the judge’s refusal to cooperate amounts to misconduct, reports Andrew Goudsward.
Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman was initially under investigation into whether she has a mental disability that impairs her ability to carry out her responsibilities. But after Newman declined to undergo a neurological examination and turn over medical records, the investigative committee said it wouldn’t have enough information to determine if Newman had a disability, according to a court order.
The committee, which is composed of three Federal Circuit judges, ordered Newman to explain by July 5 why she did not commit misconduct and scheduled a closed-door hearing on the issue for later next month.
Newman is suing the appeals court’s chief judge and others in Washington federal court, seeking to block their investigation into her fitness to hold office.
Read more about the investigation.
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- The name partners of U.S. law firm Barber Ranen have resigned after their former law firm Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith found dozens of emails that showed the lawyers using racist, sexist, homophobic and antisemitic language while they were there, according to Barber Ranen’s chief executive officer. In a statement, John Barber and Jeffrey Ranen said, “The last 72 hours have been the most difficult of our lives, as we have had to acknowledge and reckon with those emails.” Lewis Brisbois’ management committee said Lewis Brisbois is conducting a full review of Barber and Ranen’s correspondence. (Reuters)
- A federal judge in North Carolina appointed a coalition of four firms — Korein Tillery, Lowey Dannenberg, Cohen Milstein and Quinn Emanuel — to lead private claims accusing Syngenta, Corteva and other companies of a conspiracy to restrict competition for generic pesticides. The defendants have denied liability. The private civil cases are proceeding at the same time as the FTC’s case. (Reuters)
- London-founded Clifford Chance will open an office in Houston with a team of 10 partners to expand energy and infrastructure work. The firm said it has hired seven partners from rival law firms, including Jonathan Castelan and Trevor Lavelle from Latham. (Reuters)
- Private civil cases filed in the aftermath of the collapse of the FTX cryptocurrency exchange will be consolidated before U.S. District Judge K. Michael Moore in Miami, a federal judicial panel said in a new order. Litigator David Boies had argued for the Florida venue, against a group of other plaintiffs who asserted California was a better fit. The transfer order noted that one or more panel members who could be potential class members did not participate in the decision.
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That’s how many days a federal judge gave to 3M to reach an agreement to resolve claims over water contamination from toxic “forever chemicals” before a trial, which had been set to begin on Monday, would be rescheduled. U.S. District Judge Richard Gergel in Charleston, South Carolina, granted a delay of a trial in a lawsuit brought by the city of Stuart, Florida, against the industrial conglomerate. The lawsuit is one of the more than 4,000 filed against 3M and other chemical companies by U.S. municipalities, state governments and individuals. The parties said they were close to a settlement in the litigation, which was set to have been a test case.
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“It is the use of these methods by a national media group that has brought him here, not some vendetta against the press generally.“
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—David Sherborne, lawyer for Prince Harry, who laid the foundation for his client’s historic testimony in London’s High Court at a trial over claims the the publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People, used phone-hacking and other illegal methods to get information on public figures like Harry. Prince Harry, who was expected to appear in court on Monday, is set to take the witness stand today, becoming the first senior British royal to give evidence in court for 130 years.
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- In New Orleans, a 5th Circuit panel will consider pausing enforcement of a Texas federal judge’s order that blocked an Obamacare mandate requiring health plans to cover preventive care, including screenings for certain cancers and pre-exposure prophylaxis against HIV (PrEP), at no cost to patients. U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor in Fort Worth, Texas, previously found that the PrEP mandate violated a federal religious freedom law and that other no-cost preventive care mandates were based on recommendations by an illegally appointed task force. O’Connor then blocked the federal government from enforcing the mandates, a victory for conservative businesses and individuals who sued to challenge them in 2020.
- Facebook and lawyers for the DOJ and FTC are due to provide a status report to U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly in D.C. in a dispute over whether and how the U.S. can modify a prior $5 billion settlement involving the social media company. Facebook’s lawyers at Davis Polk argue the FTC wants to impose “sweeping new prohibitions and requirements,” including a “blanket prohibition” on providing services to teenage users. The FTC said in May that Facebook violated the terms of the 2020 privacy consent order. The agency’s consumer protection head, Samuel Levine, said “the company’s recklessness has put young users at risk, and Facebook needs to answer for its failures.”
- “Cowboys for Trump” founder Couy Griffin is expected to file his opening brief in the D.C. Circuit in his challenge to his conviction and 14-day jail sentence for his role in breaching the U.S. Capitol grounds during the Jan. 6, 2021, riot. Griffin received credit for the 20 days he had served in pretrial detention, and was not required to report to prison. Griffin, a Republican member of a governing commission in New Mexico, was convicted in a bench trial before U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden in March 2022 of a misdemeanor count of entering and remaining on restricted grounds. Griffin was removed from his post as an Otero County commissioner after his conviction. He said he would appeal his removal.
- The conservative Heritage Foundation will try to convince U.S. District Judge Carl Nichols in D.C. to force the U.S. Homeland Security Department to fast-track a public-records request for immigration-related records of Prince Harry. Prince Harry said in his memoir that he had consumed cocaine on several occasions, and Heritage said in its legal complaint that he would have needed a waiver to enter the U.S. The lawsuit seeks information about Prince Harry’s travels into the U.S., and whether he was given special treatment based on his “celebrity status, political views, or political affiliations.” The DOJ has opposed the Heritage Foundation’s request. Heritage, the government argued, had not shown any “imminent event or date after which the information they seek will be stale.”
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- The Biden administration asked a federal judge in Texas to toss a lawsuit by Republican-led states seeking to strike down a rule allowing socially-conscious investing by employee retirement plans. The DOJ said the rule was needed to replace improper limitations that the Trump administration had placed on considering environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG) factors in making investment decisions. (Reuters)
- The DOJ told the D.C. Circuit that antitrust enforcers should be allowed to resume their probe of the National Association of Realtors, as the government fights a trial judge’s order barring a civil subpoena. The association’s lawyers at Quinn Emanuel assert the government closed its probe and should not be allowed to reopen it. (Reuters)
- The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ordered Texas’ antitrust lawsuit against Alphabet’s Google over its dominance of online advertising returned to federal court in Texas after Google had it moved to New York. Texas utilized a new federal law that grants state attorneys general the right to choose where an antitrust lawsuit will be litigated. (Reuters)
- Texas and an anonymous anti-abortion activist in a joint filing urged U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk to decide a $1.8 billion fraud lawsuit they brought against Planned Parenthood in their favor, saying a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling strengthened the case. The state and the anonymous plaintiff are seeking to force reproductive rights organization to return money it collected from Texas’ and Louisiana’s state Medicaid programs after the states tried to cut off its funding. (Reuters)
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- Gibson Dunn brought on L. Kieran Kieckhefer in San Francisco as an IP litigator. Kieckhefer was previously at Shearman & Sterling. (Reuters)
- Seyfarth added Neil Weisbard as a New York-based real estate partner. He was previously chair of Pryor Cashman’s zoning and land use practice. (Seyfarth)
- Stinson added financial services and class action partner Jeetander Dulani in the firm’s D.C. office. Dulani, who focuses on antitrust and the False Claims Act, was previously at Pillsbury Winthrop. (Stinson)
- Foley Hoag hired Jeffrey Schultz as New York-based partner in the firm’s business department and cannabis industry practice. Schultz was previously at private fund Navy Capital. (Foley Hoag)
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