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Good morning. As Oklahoma debates approving a taxpayer-funded charter school run by the Catholic church, advocates on both sides see a U.S. Supreme Court fight in their future. Plus, U.S. News & World Report surprises everyone with the release of its top 14 law schools, and Johnson & Johnson subsidiary LTL Management faces some skepticism as it launches its second bankruptcy. We’re here, it’s Wednesday, let’s go.
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An Oklahoma school board’s vote rejecting the Catholic Church’s application to create the first taxpayer-funded religious charter school in the country is likely to ignite a legal battle testing the concept of separation of church and state, reports Brad Brooks.
Oklahoma’s Statewide Virtual Charter School Board voted down an application backed by the Roman Catholic Church to create St. Isidore of Seville Catholic Virtual School, and now the church has 30 days to make changes to its application. Board chairman Robert Franklin said in an interview before the board meeting that it was not unusual to deny a school’s application on a first vote but later approve it.
But supporters and critics of the proposed school predict a legal fight — perhaps before the U.S. Supreme Court — regardless of the outcome of the vote.
“This idea of separation of church and state is not constitutional; it’s not anywhere in the Constitution’s text,” said Brett Farley, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Oklahoma, which represents the church on policy issues.
Rachel Laser, president of Americans United for Separation of Church and State, disagreed and said her organization would fight the Catholic church in any court over publicly-funded religious schools.
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In a surprise move, U.S. News & World Report released the top 14 schools on its latest law school rankings. Spoiler alert: Yale remains on top — although this year, it’s sharing the spot with Stanford. (Reuters)
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A judge in Waco, Texas, who has refused to perform same-sex marriage ceremonies asked the Texas Supreme Court to revive her lawsuit against a judicial ethics agency that rebuked her in 2019 over concerns about impartiality. An appeals court last year dismissed Dianne Hensley’s suit as an “impermissible” attack on the judicial commission’s public warning. (Reuters)
- Lawyers for American Airlines are entitled to seek legal fees after a $1 antitrust verdict against flight-booking company Sabre, a U.S. magistrate judge in Manhattan ruled. The airline’s attorneys at O’Melveny have not publicly revealed a dollar amount they will seek in the long-running case, but a partner at the firm last year described the fees at issue as “very substantial.” Sabre’s lawyers at Skadden had urged the court to deny American’s bid for compensation.
- A former longtime assistant U.S. attorney in Ohio should be suspended from the practice of law for six months for professional misconduct involving his workplace interactions with a law school intern, the state Board of Professional Conduct said in a new report. The board last year rejected a proposed sanction of a “fully stayed” six month suspension. Mark Bennett has admitted his actions were inappropriate and has expressed remorse. The board’s recommended reprimand of Bennett now heads to the Ohio Supreme Court for review.
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If you can’t beat ‘em at your own game, change the rules. That seems to be Samsung Electronics America’s latest tactic as it combats demands for arbitration from more than 100,000 Galaxy users who allege their Samsung smartphones contain embedded facial recognition software that violates Illinois’ biometric data privacy law. Samsung has refused to pay hundreds of millions in arbitration fees, prompting motions to compel from Labaton Sucharow and Robbins Geller, which accuse Samsung of not abiding by the very contract it imposed on its consumers. In the midst of that litigation, the company has changed the contract. Alison Frankel details how Samsung is making it even harder for consumers to arbitrate their claims.
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“Ms. Holmes’s misrepresentations to Theranos investors involved more than just whether Theranos technology worked as promised.“
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—U.S. District Judge Edward Davila, who rejected Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes’ request to remain free on bail while she appeals her conviction on charges of defrauding investors in the failed blood-testing startup that was once valued at $9 billion. Davila, who sentenced Holmes to 11 years and three months in prison, concluded that even if Holmes won her appeal to challenge the Theranos technology evidence, it wouldn’t result in a reversal or a new trial of all the counts she was found guilty of.
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In San Francisco federal court, U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley will hold a status conference in the private antitrust suit that a group of video gamers filed against Microsoft to try to block its $69 billion bid to acquire “Call of Duty” maker Activision. Last month, Corley dismissed the gamers’ first suit over its failure to provide sufficient supporting information that the deal would harm market competition. Microsoft and its lawyers at Wilkinson Stekloff and Alston & Bird have denied allegations of any industry harm. The plaintiffs’ lawyers, who include Joseph Saveri, filed an amended complaint this week. The suit is separate from a pending FTC administrative action over the proposed deal.
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U.S. District Judge Stephen McGlynn in East St. Louis, Illinois, will hold a hearing in a consolidated group of lawsuits challenging Illinois’ new gun control laws, brought by gun rights organizations including the National Shooting Sports Foundation. Oral argument is scheduled on the gun groups’ request for a preliminary injunction against the state’s ban on assault weapons and high capacity magazines, which is based on the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling last year limiting state laws regulating guns. Paul Clement of Clement & Murphy is representing the gun groups.
Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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A 9th Circuit panel revived a lawsuit alleging HP defrauded shareholders by secretly using unprofitable tactics to boost sales of its printing supplies in 2015 and 2016. The court reversed a judge’s ruling dismissing the lawsuit as filed too late. Investors say they did not discover the alleged fraud until the SEC fined HP $6 million over its sales practice disclosures in September 2020. HP did not immediately reply to a request for comment. (Reuters)
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Environmental groups sued the EPA over pollution guidelines it issued earlier this year, claiming it failed to update limits on the release of toxic chemicals in wastewater from oil refineries, plastic manufacturing plants and other industrial facilities. The groups said in a petition to the 9th Circuit that the EPA violated provisions of the Clean Water Act that require the federal environmental regulator to tighten pollution controls every five years if new technology is available. (Reuters)
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The Federal Circuit handed Moderna a win when it affirmed a decision to cancel an Arbutus Biopharma patent related to the companies’ legal fight over Moderna’s blockbuster COVID-19 vaccines. Arbutus had sued Moderna for allegedly infringing other related patents, claiming Moderna began challenging its patents at the PTO after failing to acquire a license to Arbutus technology used in mRNA vaccines. (Reuters)
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Fisher Phillips hired D.C.-based labor and employment partner Robin Repass, who previously was a senior corporate counsel for workplace safety at Amazon. (Reuters)
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Clifford Chance brought on Francis Monaco as an insurance partner in the firm’s New York office. Monaco was previously at Mayer Brown, where he was co-leader of the mergers and acquisitions and private equity team for the firm’s global insurance group. (Reuters)
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Milbank added antitrust partner Richard Parker in D.C. from Gibson Dunn, and hired Grant Bermann, also an antitrust partner, from the DOJ. (Reuters)
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Duane Morris added Baltimore-based corporate partner Nicholas Stewart from Saul Ewing. (Duane Morris)
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Greenberg Traurig’s Steven Bartz and Jerry Fellows dig into the ins and outs of central matters tied to intellectual property involving joint ventures. IP is often a key part of joint ventures, the authors write, but many parties who enter into such agreements don’t adequately address the many issues upfront. Here’s how to think things through.
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