Video: FTC Threatens to Sue Google; Pot Legalization Aftermath; More Law Firm Mega-Mergers to Come?

Editor’s Note: We’re experimenting with using more video on ABAJournal.com and will be bringing you this short weekly legal news brief from Bloomberg Law for the next few weeks. Thanks for the feedback so far. Please note that adding video would not mean eliminating text-based stories. Rather, we’re exploring adding…

Nov 15, 2012 6:24 PM CST

DOJ’s Acting Antitrust Chief Wayland to Step Down, No Word About His Replacement

Joseph Wayland, acting head of the U.S. Justice Department’s antitrust division, is stepping down next week, Reuters reports. A former Simpson Thacher & Bartlett partner who also headed the agency’s civil enforcement division, according to the New York Times’ Deal Book, Wayland has been in his current position since April.…

Nov 8, 2012 7:00 PM CST

Supreme Court Considers Class Action Hurdles; Is Materiality a Requirement in Stock Case?

The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on Monday in a pair of cases in which companies are trying to fend off class action lawsuits by fighting certification. A comment by Justice Antonin Scalia illustrated why corporate defendants want evidence issues resolved at the certification stage, report the New York…

Nov 6, 2012 3:13 PM CST

A Touch of Class: Certification, Says One Brief, ‘Is the Ballgame’

Nov 1, 2012 8:19 AM CDT

Duncan School of Law Drops Lawsuit Against ABA Over Accreditation Denial

Lincoln Memorial University’s Duncan School of Law has dropped its federal antitrust suit against the ABA over the denial of its bid for provisional accreditation. The school, which has also withdrawn its appeal of a decision before an ABA appeals panel affirming the denial of its application, will file a…

Oct 30, 2012 8:51 PM CDT

Microsoft Could Face $7B Fine Over Claimed Breach of EU Antitrust Settlement Agreement

Microsoft failed to honor an agreement that the company would give Windows software users equal access to rival Internet browsers, European Union regulators charged Wednesday. The charge, which involves the European version of Windows 8, could leave Microsoft with a fine of up to $7 billion, the New York Times…

Oct 24, 2012 3:20 PM CDT

Class Action Filed Against Apple, Challenging AT&T Contract Deal

Software locks Apple installed on its early iPhones, which tied consumers into voice and data contracts with AT&T Mobility, violate antitrust laws, alleges a federal class action filed Friday in northern California. Apple entered a five-year exclusivity agreement with AT&T in 2007, CNET reports. The suit, Ward v. Apple Inc.,…

Oct 22, 2012 4:45 PM CDT

Judge Approves E-Book Price-Fixing Settlement, Quotes Emily Dickinson Poem

A federal judge has approved a price-fixing settlement between the U.S. Justice Department and three electronic book publishers in an opinion (PDF) that quotes Emily Dickinson. U.S. District Judge Denise Cote found the settlement is in the public interest. The settling defendants are HarperCollins, Simon & Schuster and the Hachette…

Sep 6, 2012 8:04 PM CDT

Faced with a Five-Page Limit, Lawyer Files Cartoon Amicus Brief with Proper Font Size

Updated: A lawyer who opposes the Justice Department’s proposed antitrust settlement with three publishers of e-books has filed an amicus brief (PDF) in the form of a comic strip. Bob Kohn tells Bloomberg and the New York Times Media Decoder blog that he opted for the unusual format after U.S.…

Sep 5, 2012 12:39 PM CDT

9th Circuit Cites ‘Egregious’ Ethics Violation, Denies Attorney Fees for McGuireWoods

A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that McGuireWoods can’t collect fees for work it did to help secure a $49 million settlement in an antitrust case against the publishers of BAR/BRI. The panel’s ruling Aug. 10 (PDF) upholds a decision by U.S. District…

Aug 14, 2012 2:10 PM CDT

Supreme Court Beefs Up Docket with Business Cases

The U.S. Supreme Court added three business cases to its docket last week that were mostly overshadowed by blockbuster opinions on health care and immigration. The cases “will offer the court more opportunities to cement its generally pro-business reputation,” the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. The cases are: •…

Jul 3, 2012 11:00 AM CDT

Supreme Court to Decide Class Certification Issue; Expert Says Case Could Be ‘the Big One’

The U.S. Supreme Court has granted cert in a suit alleging antitrust violations by Comcast Corp. that could make it more difficult for plaintiffs to bring class actions in federal courts. At issue in Comcast v. Behrend is whether a district can certify a class action without resolving whether the…

Jun 26, 2012 4:02 PM CDT

7th Circuit Nixes ‘Feeble’ Sears Class Action, Says Its ‘Only Goal’ Is Fees for Plaintiffs Lawyers

Saying that a shareholder derivative suit’s “only goal” appeared to be generating fees for the plaintiffs counsel, a federal appeals court on Wednesday not only held that a federal district judge had erred in refusing to permit an objector to intervene in a shareholder derivative suit but directed the judge…

Jun 14, 2012 4:42 PM CDT

Law Prof Volokh Argues Google Has a Free Speech Right to Determine Search Results

Search engines have the same First Amendment rights to determine their results as newspapers do to choose news stories, according to a white paper co-authored by UCLA law professor and First Amendment expert Eugene Volokh. The paper (PDF), commissioned by Google, is likely aimed at preventing the government from regulating…

May 14, 2012 11:00 AM CDT

Quinn Emanuel Opens 2nd Office in Germany with 11-Lawyer A&O Team; More Euro, Asia Growth Planned

For the second time in a year or so, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan has raided Allen & Overy to set up a new office in Germany. This time, Nadine Herrmann, formerly A&O’s local intellectual property practice group chief, led an 11-attorney group to Quinn, where they are now resident,…

May 1, 2012 5:46 PM CDT