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Good morning. Here’s what you need to know today: Delaware’s top court upheld a blockbuster fee award in a shareholder case against Dell, but the ruling may not help some other lawyers seeking similarly huge fees in the state’s court system. Plus, J&J is getting ready to announce that it has the votes to resolve the talc cases through bankruptcy, Missouri’s anti-ESG law was struck down, and a judge ruled against UCLA in a lawsuit brought in the wake of the Israel-Gaza conflict protests. Grab your iced latte and scroll!
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REUTERS/Sarah Meyssonnier
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In one of the largest fee awards ever for shareholder litigation, the Delaware Supreme Court ruled that five law firms should receive $267 million in legal fees for obtaining a $1 billion settlement for shareholders of Dell Technologies.
The court rejected arguments that the fee award, initially approved by a Delaware Court of Chancery judge, was a windfall for the firms, which include Labaton Keller Sucharow and Quinn Emanuel. The lawyers represented Dell shareholders who alleged that they were short-changed in a controversial $23.9 billion transaction in 2018 that marked Dell’s return as a publicly traded company.
Chief Justice Collins Seitz said the potential for large fees gives lawyers an incentive to take tough cases, and risk getting paid nothing if they lose. A Delaware trial court is weighing two other requests for huge legal fees, both in cases involving Tesla, and Seitz’s ruling contained language that might be seen as helpful for the carmaker’s efforts to fight those fees.
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- The State Bar of California finalized a $8.25 million deal with test prep company Kaplan to produce the state’s bar exam for the next five years. Beginning in February, California will no longer use any test components developed by the National Conference of Bar Examiners and it will not give the NCBE’s new version of the national bar exam set to debut in July 2026.
- Big U.S. law firms are advising Mars and Kellanova on the year’s biggest deal to date that brings together brands from M&M’s and Snickers to Pringles and Pop-Tarts. Skadden is serving as legal adviser to Mars in its nearly $36 billion acquisition of Kellanova, which is being guided by Kirkland.
- Justice Juan Merchan in New York declined for a third time to step aside from the case in which Donald Trump was convicted of charges involving hush money paid to a porn star, dismissing the former president’s claim of conflict of interest related to political consultancy work by the judge’s daughter. Merchan is scheduled to sentence Trump on Sept. 18.
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That’s how much seafood giant StarKist, its parent Dongwon Industries and private equity firm Lion Capital, owner of Bumble Bee Foods, have agreed to pay to settle U.S. class actions claiming they overcharged consumers and other purchasers of packaged tuna. U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw will consider the proposed agreements at a hearing on Aug. 23. Read more about the pair of settlements.
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The test for disqualifying opposing counsel in federal court in Washington, D.C., is extremely stringent: You have to show that the other side’s lawyer engaged in “truly egregious misconduct likely to infect future proceedings.” On Tuesday, the magistrate in Dominion Voting System’s defamation lawsuit against former Overstock CEO Patrick Byrne found that Byrne’s lawyer did all that and more. Alison Frankel has the “flabbergasting” story of why Stefanie Lambert – a Donald Trump ally facing criminal election interference charges in Michigan – was disqualified from continuing to represent Byrne. Lambert told Frankel she plans an immediate appeal of the DQ decision.
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“You’re going to end up paying something to make the world right after having been found to be a monopolist.“
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—U.S. District Judge James Donato, who said at a hearing in San Francisco that he was planning to issue an order forcing Alphabet’s Google to give Android users more ways to download apps, but would not micromanage the tech giant’s business following a jury verdict last year for “Fortnite” maker Epic Games. Epic’s lawsuit accused Google of monopolizing how consumers access apps on Android devices and how they pay for in-app transactions. Donato showed impatience for Google’s protests about the costs and difficulty of implementing many of Epic’s proposals and signaled he would issue a ruling that would maximize users’ and developers’ flexibility to download and distribute apps outside the Play store.
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- Artist Ryder Ripps will ask the 9th Circuit to reverse a California court’s decision that he counterfeited Bored Ape Yacht Club non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. Ripps argues that his Bored Ape copies were protected commentary under the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment. The appeals court rejected a related challenge from Ripps last year.
- The 9th Circuit is slated to hear arguments in a Washington state church’s challenge to a state law requiring it to provide coverage for abortions and contraception in its health insurance plan. The church, which is represented by the Alliance Defending Freedom, has argued that the law violates its constitutional rights, but a district court rejected that argument last year.
- U.S. District Judge Adrienne Nelson in Portland, Oregon, is scheduled to hear oral arguments as she considers whether to halt Oregon’s law against “ghost guns” after the Firearms Policy Coalition filed a lawsuit challenging it.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- The Montana Supreme Court issued a unanimous opinion holding that a law requiring minors to get their parents’ consent when seeking an abortion violated the state’s constitution. The court found that the state had not shown that the law was justified to protect minors.
- In what appears to be the first ruling against a university connected with the demonstrations protesting the Israel-Gaza conflict, U.S. District Judge Mark Scarsi said UCLA cannot allow pro-Palestinian protesters to block Jewish students from accessing campus buildings, classes and services.
- U.S. District Judge James Robart in Seattle threw out a jury’s $72 million verdict against Boeing in a trade secrets lawsuit brought by electric-aircraft startup Zunum Aero, saying Zunum had not shown that the information Boeing allegedly misused was eligible for trade-secret protection. Zunum said it will appeal.
- AstraZeneca convinced a federal judge in Delaware to throw out a jury’s decision that the company owes $107.5 mln for infringing cancer-drug patents belonging to Pfizer subsidiary Wyeth. U.S. District Judge Matthew Kennelly determined that the two patents Pfizer accused AstraZeneca of infringing with its blockbuster lung-cancer drug Tagrisso were invalid.
- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the Biden administration in an effort to block a new federal rule on minimum staffing for nursing homes, saying it would force rural nursing homes out of business. Paxton said in the lawsuit that the administration has not explained why the rules are needed.
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- Loeb & Loeb added New York-based art and cultural property partners Diana Wierbicki and Amanda Rottermund. They join the firm’s private client group from Withers. (Loeb & Loeb)
- DLA Piper hired partner Diana Kelley for the firm’s telecom practice, based in D.C. Kelley comes from SpaceX, where she was the satellite policy, spectrum and regulatory affairs manager. (DLA Piper)
- Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough picked up tax partner Renesha Fountain in Houston. Fountain joined the firm from Chamberlain Hrdlicka. (Nelson Mullins)
- Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner hired D.C.-based antitrust and competition partner David Schwartz. He previously was a lead investigative attorney at the FTC. (BCLP)
- Buchalter added partner Talbott Ottinger as chair of its Nashville office’s real estate practice. He was founder and managing partner of Ottinger Law Group. (Buchalter)
- Arnold & Porter picked up real estate partner Matthew Cudrin in New York from Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner. (Arnold & Porter)
- Winston & Strawn picked up transactions partners Kevin Brophy and Ming Lei in Houston from McDermott. (Winston)
- Duane Morris added Thomas Curran and Doris Short as New York-based partners in its trial practice. They previously were at Peckar & Abramson. (Duane Morris)
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Pursuant to the Federal Trade Commission Act, the FTC is issuing the Non-Compete Clause Rule effective Sept. 4, based upon findings in a 165-page report. Prohibiting the use of non-compete clauses will have no negative impact on trade secrets law, writes R. Mark Halligan of FisherBroyles. Employers will now take advantage of trade secrets laws to establish policies, practices and procedures for the identification, classification, protection, and valuation of trade secret assets, he writes.
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