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With billions of dollars potentially on the line, the National Association of Realtors and a group of plaintiffs lawyers are sparring over where to determine the fate of more than a dozen consumer lawsuits challenging a brokerage industry fee that has long been a facet of home sales.
The realtors association told the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in a filing that the growing spate of antitrust lawsuits should be consolidated and heard by a U.S. judge in Chicago. The trade group opposed an earlier request from plaintiffs lawyers to move all of the new cases to Missouri, where a jury last year awarded $1.8 billion in damages to home sellers in a related lawsuit.
U.S. courts have been flooded with lawsuits in the aftermath of the Oct. 31 verdict in Missouri federal court against the realtors association and several brokerages. New cases were lodged in New York, Pennsylvania, California, Texas and other venues in the weeks following the blockbuster verdict.
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- Harvard is working with King & Spalding to respond to a U.S. House panel’s probe of how the school has reacted to antisemitism and other discrimination on campus. Former Harvard President Claudine Gay had come under pressure from Harvard’s Jewish community and some members of Congress over her statements at a Dec. 5 congressional hearing.
- Spellbook, a legal software company focused on contracts, raised $20 million in a Series A funding round led by Montreal-based venture capital firm Inovia Capital. A growing number of startups are launching tools and raising capital as the legal sector explores ways to incorporate and capitalize on generative AI.
- U.S. Circuit Judge Charles Wilson plans to leave active service upon the confirmation of a successor but no sooner than Dec. 31, creating a new vacancy on the 11th Circuit.
- U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts selected U.S. District Judge Robert Conrad to serve as the new director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts starting on March 1. Conrad, a senior judge in North Carolina’s Western District, will succeed U.S. District Judge Roslynn Mauskopf.
- A U.S. judge appointed a new lawyer to represent Juan Orlando Hernandez and delayed his drug trafficking trial a week after the former Honduran president claimed the DEA sent a rabbi to “infiltrate” his defense team.
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“The district court’s injunction was a reasonable measure to protect the public.“
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- The 9th Circuit will consider whether to uphold a judge’s ruling declaring that California’s decades-old assault weapons ban is unconstitutional. The court put a hold on a permanent injunction against the ban that was issued by U.S. District Judge Roger Benitez while the case remains under review.
- The U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee is set to consider a group of court nominees from the Biden White House, including Ernesto Gonzalez and Leon Schydlower, who both would serve as Texas federal judges in the state’s Western District. Both have support from the state’s two Republican senators, Ted Cruz and John Cornyn. Gonzalez is a longtime federal prosecutor, and Schydlower has served as a federal magistrate judge in El Paso since 2015.
- British billionaire Joe Lewis is due back in Manhattan federal court for a status conference, after being charged in July of 2023 with insider trading. Lewis, whose family trust controls a majority of the Tottenham Hotspur soccer team, has pleaded not guilty to orchestrating what prosecutors called a “brazen” insider trading scheme. The government has alleged Lewis passed tips about companies in which he invested to friends, private pilots and a former girlfriend. Lewis founded the investment firm Tavistock Group, and is worth $6.1 billion according to Forbes magazine.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- Creative works generated entirely by AI should be eligible for copyright protection, computer scientist Stephen Thaler told the D.C. Circuit. Thaler asked the court to reverse the U.S. Copyright Office’s decision that human authorship is required for a work to be copyright-protected, arguing that granting copyrights for AI creations would support the broader goals of copyright law.
- Nomura Securities was sued in New York by a former quantitative researcher who said she was underpaid relative to men and fired after insisting that her team “should stop discriminating against women.” Nomura said the lawsuit had no merit.
- Cisco is squaring off in a Texas trial this week against independent reseller Dexon, which claims Cisco unlawfully impeded competition for key network components by questioning the credibility of its sales. The trial began amid a broader feud between the two companies.
- A 4th Circuit panel seemed unlikely to revive claims that real estate investment firm Diamondback broke the law by firing an employee who treated her medical conditions with legally-purchased products containing THC, the active ingredient in marijuana, after she failed a drug test.
- Apple asked a London tribunal to throw out a mass lawsuit valued at around $1 billion brought on behalf of more than 1,500 app developers over its App Store fees.
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- Mayer Brown added Sophie Mancall-Bitel as a Los Angeles-based litigation and dispute resolution partner. She arrives from Wilson Sonsini. (Mayer Brown)
- McDermott hired private equity partner Julia Boyd in New York from Reed Smith. (McDermott)
- Kaufman Dolowich brought on professional liability partner Loren Barron to lead a new Wilmington, Delaware, office. Barron was at Margolis Edelstein. (Kaufman Dolowich)
- Dorsey & Whitney hired capital markets partner Megan Penick in New York. She comes from Michelman & Robinson, where she was the firm’s public securities chair. (Dorsey & Whitney)
- Blank Rome hired Phil Yannella as a partner in the corporate litigation group and co-chair of the firm’s privacy, security and data protection practice in Philadelphia. He was at Ballard Spahr. (Blank Rome)
- Dinsmore & Shohl brought on a five-lawyer cybersecurity and privacy team in Cleveland from Brouse McDowell, led by partner Craig Horbus. (Dinsmore)
- Petrillo Klein + Boxer added New York-based partner Emma Spiro, who most recently served as a federal prosecutor in New Jersey. (Petrillo Klein + Boxer)
- Honigman hired partner Colleen Clarkson for its regulatory department and insurance group in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. Clarkson arrives from UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust, where she was assistant general counsel and compliance officer. (Honigman)
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A case in Pennsylvania federal court involving Vintage Brand will be watched closely by stakeholders in the sports apparel industry. But however the district court rules on summary judgment, the decision will not be the last word on the U.S. Supreme Court’s Jack Daniel’s ruling and sport merchandising, write Anthony Dreyer and Jordan Feirman of Skadden.
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