 //sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591700&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=31669279&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
//sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591701&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=31669279&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
//sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591702&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=31669279&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
//sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591703&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=31669279&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
//sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=126591704&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=31669279&stpe=pixel” width=”2″ height=”6″ border=”0″ /> |
|
|
|
| //sli.reutersmedia.net/imp?s=874768&li=&e=gjjtuyu768@gmail.com&p=31669279&stpe=static” border=”0″ style=”max-height:12px;” /> |
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Good morning. Prince Harry is set to be the first British royal to testify in court in more than 130 years next week at a trial over allegations a UK newspaper group resorted to illegal tactics to get information about him. Plus, a lawsuit brought by a group of young people against the U.S. government over claims its fossil fuel-friendly policies contributed to climate change gets rebooted, and Deutsche Bank’s $75 million Epstein settlement hits a roadblock. And just like that, it’s Friday.
Were you forwarded this email? Subscribe here.
|
Prince Harry’s expected testimony in his lawsuit against a British newspaper group will mark the first time a senior royal has given evidence since Edward VII sat in the witness box in 1890 in a slander trial over a card game, reports Michael Holden.
Harry, who is fifth in line for the throne, is set to appear next week at London’s High Court as part of the case he and more than 100 other celebrities and high-profile figures have brought against the publisher of the Daily Mirror, Sunday Mirror and Sunday People. The lawsuit claims the newspapers used phone hacking and other illegal tactics to get information on famous figures.
David Yelland, a senior communications adviser and a former editor of Rupert Murdoch’s Sun tabloid newspaper — a publication Harry is also suing — said the royal family had long sought to avoid court cases, because they were not in control of the situation.
“These cases are often a case of mutually assured destruction. I don’t think anyone will get out looking great,” he said.
More about the trial, and the history of British royals in court.
|
|
|
|
- Former Trump-era appointee James Abbott of the Federal Labor Relations Authority was sued by the U.S. in D.C. federal court over his alleged failure to file a required public financial disclosure report after he left government service last year. Abbott did not respond to a message seeking comment. (Reuters)
- U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes in D.C. at a hearing raised questions about whether Crowell would be allowed to continue representing insurer Humana in an arbitration fight in her court. Walgreens contends Crowell previously advised the retail pharmacy on the drug-pricing issues at the heart of a “staggering” $642 million arbitral award for Humana. Crowell has denied any ethics conflict. Reyes will receive additional briefing over attorney ethics rules.
- Florida and several other states said they will seek legal fees for their antitrust trial win with the DOJ that challenged American Airlines’ alliance with JetBlue in the northeast. U.S. District Judge Leo Sorokin in Boston ruled last month that the airlines’ “Northeast Alliance” broke antitrust law, and he ordered the companies to dissolve the arrangement within 30 days. American Airlines said this week it will appeal the decision.
|
REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration
|
Class action objectors are generally not a popular bunch, often accused — even by judges — of acting in bad faith to delay settlements until someone pays them to drop their protests. But U.S. District Judge William Alsup of San Francisco has escalated those concerns to a whole new level. Alsup issued an order last week alerting San Francisco federal prosecutors about a pro se objector who threatened to gum up a proposed $24 million securities class action settlement unless class counsel from Kaplan Fox & Kilsheimer paid him $10,000. “This is a hold-up threat, a form of extortion,” Alsup said in a previous order. Alison Frankel has the story.
|
“Workers are not indentured servants, bound to continue laboring until any planned work stoppage would be as painless as possible for their master.”
|
—Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, who was the sole dissenter from the high court’s ruling that makes it easier for employers to sue unions over strikes that cause property destruction. The 8-1 decision overturned a lower court’s ruling that said the lawsuit filed by Glacier Northwest, which sells and delivers ready-mix concrete, against a local affiliate of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters was preempted by the National Labor Relations Act. Jackson, in a 27-page dissent, wrote that the ruling “risks erosion of the right to strike.”
|
|
|
What to catch up on this weekend
|
- A 7th Circuit panel 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, represented by the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, claims it is protected against liability because Fitzgerald served as a “minister.” Fitzgerald’s attorneys at Americans United for Separation of Church and State contend that exception only applies to school employees who perform “key religious activities.” Fitzgerald disputed she played a religious role at the school, but the district court sided with the school.
- The DOJ and defense lawyers for U.S. Rep. George Santos face a deadline to respond to media outlets that are seeking to unseal information about bond guarantors in the prosecution of the New York Republican member of the U.S. House. Santos was charged last month with fraud, money laundering and theft of public funds. The New York Times in a letter to U.S. District Judge Joanna Seybert argued the requested files are “judicial records that are properly open to the public.” Santos, who has resisted calls to resign for lying about his resume, said after appearing in court recently he would “fight my battle.” Santos was released on a $500,000 bond and is due back in court for his next appearance on June 30.
- Oath Keepers members David Moerschel and Joseph Hackett, who were convicted of seditious conspiracy for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack at the U.S. Capitol, will be sentenced before U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in D.C. federal court. Hackett and Moerschel were co-defendants in the trial in which fellow Oath Keepers Robert Minuta and Edward Vallejo were convicted. The prosecution has recommended a sentence of 12 years in prison for Hackett and 10 for Moerschel. Stewart Rhodes, founder of the far-right militant Oath Keepers, was sentenced last month to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy, the longest sentence imposed to date over the Capitol riot that sought to deny Joe Biden’s presidential win over Donald Trump.
|
Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
|
- The Gap beat a shareholder lawsuit claiming the company’s directors breached their duties by making misleading statements in securities filings about the retailer’s commitment to racial diversity in its leadership ranks. An en banc panel of the 9th Circuit in a 6-5 ruling said the retailer can enforce a corporate bylaw requiring shareholder derivative litigation to be filed in Delaware Chancery Court, even when it blocks federal securities claims that can only be heard in federal court. (Reuters)
- U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff stopped short of approving Deutsche Bank’s $75 million settlement with women who said that Jeffrey Epstein abused them and that the German bank facilitated the late financier’s sex trafficking. Rakoff said he needed more specifics about who qualified as members of the proposed class of Epstein victims, saying people without legal training might not be able to figure out whether they qualified, and that lawyers were required to make it easy for them to understand whether they did. (Reuters)
- Ford Motor Co’s lawyers at Dinsmore sued Blue Cross Blue Shield entities in Detroit federal court, accusing them of a price-fixing scheme that artificially inflated how much the automaker had paid for health insurance for its employees. Blue Cross Blue Shield agreed in 2020 to pay $2.7 billion in a related class action, but Ford opted out of that settlement to pursue its own claims. (Reuters)
- A 1st Circuit panel in a newly unsealed order upheld the dismissal of a whistleblower lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson as a sanction for the plaintiffs’ misuse of confidential records they obtained through related litigation. The lawsuit, which accused J&J’s DePuy Orthopaedics unit of defrauding the federal government by marketing defective hip implants, was dismissed in December 2021. J&J has denied wrongdoing. (Reuters)
- Two conservation groups are suing the EPA, claiming it violated federal law by exempting crop seeds coated in a type of pesticide from regulatory oversight. The Center for Food Safety and the Pesticide Action Network say that the agency decision to exempt seeds coated in neonicotinoids, which can disrupt the nervous system of insects and other wildlife when consumed, was “arbitrary.” (Reuters)
|
|
|
- McDermott added Jonathan Ching in the firm’s New York office as transactions partner. Ching was previously at Linklaters. (Reuters)
- Paul Hastings hired Kenneth Deutsch in the firm’s Century City office in Los Angeles from Latham, where he was global co-chair of the entertainment, sports and media group. (Reuters)
- Gibbons hired Ricardo Solano as a co-chair for its white-collar and investigations practice group. Solano was previously at healthcare company CareOne. (Reuters)
- Sidley Austin hired Carrie Mahan in D.C. as an antitrust and consumer protection partner. Mahan joins the firm from Weil. (Sidley)
- Morgan Lewis hired Maarika Kimbrell as a D.C.-based FDA and healthcare partner. Kimbrell previously was director of the FDA’s Office of New Drug Policy. (Morgan Lewis)
- Foley & Lardner added finance practice partner Kyle Hayes in the firm’s New York office. Hayes was previously at Baker Botts. (Foley)
- Ropes & Gray added tax partner Eric Behl-Remijan to the firm’s New York office. Behl-Remijan was previously at Weil. (Ropes & Gray)
|
|
|
Sponsors are not involved in the creation of newsletter or other Reuters news content.
Get Reuters News App
Want to stop receiving this newsletter? Unsubscribe here.
To manage which newsletters you’re subscribed to, click here.
|
|
|
|
