REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann/File Photo
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Antitrust …
Epic Games won its high-profile antitrust case against Google, which claimed Google’s app store operated as an illegal monopoly … Amazon will defend its $1.4 billion purchase of iRobot at a closed EU hearing on Dec. 18, three weeks after EU antitrust regulators said the deal may squeeze out rival robot cleaners … Six U.S. lawmakers wrote to the FTC opposing Kroger’s proposed $24.6-billion acquisition of Albertsons … Health insurer Cigna ended its attempt to acquire Humana, which would have created a company with a value exceeding $140 billion … Online retailer Zulily sued Amazon, accusing the e-commerce giant of working to “destroy” it through a price-fixing scheme.
Trump in court …
A New York state appeals court denied Donald Trump’s bid to overturn a gag order in his New York civil fraud trial … Trump did not testify in his civil fraud trial this week. The testimonies in the New York case wrapped up on Wednesday and the judge is expected to issue a verdict in writing after closing arguments on Jan. 11 … In another legal setback, the 2nd Circuit ruled that Trump cannot assert presidential immunity from a defamation lawsuit by writer E. Jean Carroll … Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is prosecuting the former president on federal charges of trying to overturn his 2020 election defeat, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to launch a fast-track a review of Trump’s claim that he is immune from prosecution.
Abortion rights …
The U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear a bid by the Biden administration to preserve broad access to the abortion pill, mifepristone … The high court passed up a chance to consider overruling its own precedent allowing protective “bubble” zones around abortion clinic patients … The New Mexico Supreme Court appeared poised to block several local ordinances in the state that aim to restrict distribution of the abortion pill … The Texas Supreme Court ruled against a woman who sought emergency abortion. Here’s more on what that ruling could mean for patients … Lawyers for a Kentucky woman who filed a class action last week challenging the state’s near-total ban on abortion called on more plaintiffs to join the case because their client was no longer pregnant.
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For the second time in the last 12 months, the prominent and prolific antitrust plaintiffs lawyer Steve Berman of Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro has been denied temporary admission to practice before a California judge. Alison Frankel has the story on why U.S. District Judge Jeffrey White said Berman — who, by his own count, has appeared in 74 cases in federal court in California — doesn’t qualify for pro hac vice admission. Read more.
Check out other recent pieces from all our columnists: Alison Frankel, Jenna Greene and Hassan Kanu
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Additional writing by Kuheli Biswas.
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