Special District Members Seek To Block Disney Depo Request

By Carolina Bolado

Members of the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District asked a state court to block Disney's attempt to depose them in its suit trying to revoke two land use agreements the company signed with the predecessor district board over the property surrounding Walt Disney World.

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Flyers Say JetBlue-Spirit Deal Case Not Done, Push For Win

By Carolina Bolado

The private plaintiffs challenging the failed JetBlue-Spirit merger indicated they're not done despite the companies' abandonment of the deal, pushing a Massachusetts federal court to grant them a win on their antitrust claims.

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Trump Media SPAC CEO Accused Of Misleading Investors

By David Minsky

A sponsor of the special-purpose acquisition company approved to take Donald Trump's social media website public has sued its CEO in Florida federal court, saying a "coup d'etat" was orchestrated to oust the former leader and mislead investors in an effort to assume control over the enterprise.

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Dollar General Can't Nix $1.48M Slip-And-Fall Verdict

By Mike Curley

A Florida appeals panel on Friday affirmed a $1.48 million slip-and-fall verdict against Dollar General, saying the company "falls far short" of showing that there was no evidence it was aware of water on the floor after bringing a pair of carts in from the rain.

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Firearms Co. Agrees To Dissolve Amid Conn. 'Ghost Gun' Suit

By Brian Steele

One of four firearms companies that the Connecticut attorney general sued in 2023 over the online sale of "ghost gun" parts has stopped operating and agreed to dissolve, according to a stipulated judgment that would release Florida-based Steel Fox Firearms Inc. from the litigation.

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Ga. GOP Chair Must Face State Court Charges, 11th Circ. Told

By Chart Riggall

Fulton County prosecutors on Thursday urged the 11th Circuit to keep former Georgia GOP Chair David Shafer's election interference case in state court, arguing that his federal removal bid is based on the "fiction" that his role as a would-be elector for the 2020 election somehow grants him federal officer status.

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11th Circ. Says Pipefitting Co. Must Rehire Union Workers

By Emily Brill

A Georgia pipefitting company violated federal labor law when it prematurely terminated a project labor agreement with a union, then fired or rescinded job offers to 18 union-represented workers, the Eleventh Circuit ruled Friday, upholding decisions by a National Labor Relations Board panel and an agency judge.

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Marketers Want FCC Robocall Rule Put On Ice During Appeal

By Christopher Cole

A trade group has asked the Federal Communications Commission to hold off on a rule approved in December clamping down on robocalls and texts while the organization pursues an Eleventh Circuit challenge to the new regulations.

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US Trustee Says Fla. Healthcare Co. Can't Seal Stock Sale Bid

By Emlyn Cameron

The U.S. Trustee's Office has urged a Delaware bankruptcy judge to deny a Miami-based primary healthcare group's request in its Chapter 11 case to redact information in the debtor's motion to sell its shares in a healthcare claims reimbursement servicer.

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Roundup

Real Estate Authority: NAR, Climate, Data Center Dollars

By Real Estate Authority Staff

Law360 Real Estate Authority covers the most important real estate deals, litigation, policies and trends. Catch up on this week's key developments by state — as well as on how the National Association of Realtors could shift broker fees, what the country's patchwork of climate action plans means for real estate, and why private equity is hot on data centers.

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Fla. Judge Allows Sale Of Ex-MLBer's House In Fraud Suit

By David Minsky

A Florida state court judge on Friday allowed the sale of a house owned by ex-Boston Red Sox outfielder Rusney Castillo to go forward over the objection of a sports managing company, which accused the baseball player of fraudulent transfer in order to avoid a $3 million judgment against him.

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Businessman Indicted Over Hiding Of $20M In Swiss Accounts

By Anna Scott Farrell

A Brazilian-American businessman accused by the government in a criminal complaint of hiding $20 million from the Internal Revenue Service over 35 years by using Swiss bank accounts was indicted by a federal grand jury in Miami and charged with tax evasion, according to a Florida federal court.

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Ex-Ga. Insurance Head Cops To Healthcare Kickback Scheme

By Chart Riggall

Former Georgia Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine pled guilty Friday to working with an Atlanta-area doctor to run a multimillion-dollar medical testing kickback scheme just weeks before he was set to face trial in federal court.

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BigLaw's Shanghai Exodus Continues With Orrick Closure

By Aebra Coe

The list of large, international law firms downsizing in China — and, in particular, shuttering Shanghai offices — continues to grow, with an Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP spokesperson revealing Friday that the firm plans to close its office in the city and has already terminated its lease in Taipei, Taiwan.

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Ill. Judges End Diversity Rules That Drew Conservative Ire

By Celeste Bott

The Seventh Circuit's chief judge has resolved judicial misconduct complaints targeting allegedly discriminatory standing orders by some Illinois federal judges encouraging younger, female and minority attorneys to handle oral arguments, after two of the judges rescinded their policies in response to the complaints.

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Calif. Releases Interim Guidlines On GenAI Use

By Matt Perez

The state of California on Thursday released interim guidelines for public-sector procurement, uses and training of generative artificial intelligence by state leaders in preparation for all state agencies to consider pilot projects using the technology by July, per Gov. Gavin Newsom's executive order issued last year.

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Feature

Trump Election Case Gives Young Ga. Judge 'A World Stage'

By Kelcey Caulder

As Fulton County Superior Court Judge Scott McAfee prepares for perhaps the highest profile case he will ever see, legal experts and former state justices told Law360 that the young jurist has the ethics and temperament to not let the politically charged Donald Trump prosecution derail a promising legal career.

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Analysis

Del. Courts Examining 'Colonoscopy'-Like Bylaw Rules

By Leslie A. Pappas

Invasive advance-notice bylaws that some observers say make shareholder board nominations as intrusive as a "colonoscopy" are reviving old questions in Delaware courts about how far boards can go to protect themselves against shareholder activism.

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Analysis

Push For Camp Lejeune Jury Trials Seen As Long Shot

By Emily Field

The legal strategy to secure jury trials in the massive Camp Lejeune water contamination case hangs on a single phrase in a special law stating "nothing" shall impair such trials, but the plaintiffs' gambit is a long shot because Congress didn't go far enough in creating a framework for such trials against the government.

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In 107K Pro Bono Hours: Hogan Lovells Tackles Racial Justice

By Aebra Coe

Hogan Lovells pledged to dedicate 65,000 pro bono hours to advancing racial justice in June 2020, and, according to a report out this week, the firm's personnel have exceeded that goal by dedicating approximately 107,000 hours through 2023 to causes across the globe aimed at advancing racial justice.

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Calif. Bar Slightly Lowers Atty License Fees Hike Bid To 31%

By Jack Karp

California's state bar will ask legislators for a $125 increase in its attorney licensing fees, a little less than the $150 hike it was previously considering, the state bar confirmed to Law360 on Friday.

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Feds, Girardi Agree To Delay Trial More Than 2 Months

By Ryan Boysen

Disgraced attorney Tom Girardi's criminal trial could now be pushed back from May to August, after prosecutors and Girardi's defense attorneys filed a mutual request for a few more weeks of preparation in the closely watched case.

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DOJ Atty, Magistrate Judge Secure Texas Court Seats

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 88-7 on Friday to confirm Ernest Gonzalez, a senior attorney adviser in the U.S. Department of Justice's Criminal Division, Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs Section, and then 90-8 to confirm Magistrate Judge Leon Schydlower both to the Western District of Texas.

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Amazon, Apple Say Antitrust Attys Can't Ditch 'Fatal' Class Rep

By Rachel Riley

Amazon and Apple say plaintiffs' counsel in a proposed antitrust suit should be stuck with their class representative, who apparently ghosted his attorneys, arguing the lawyers should have to live with a plaintiff whose purchasing habits undercut the suit's very premise.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a Second Circuit panel rejected what it characterized as a lower court's "new standard" for so-called patent monopolies.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Federal antitrust prosecutors have added Apple Inc. to the list of Big Tech companies it is suing for anti-competitive behavior; and a law firm general counsel explains how he put guardrails into the firm's AI policy.

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Up Next At High Court: Abortion, Jury Trials And Estate Tax

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear oral arguments this week over the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's decision expanding access to popular abortion pill mifepristone as well as whether juries should determine a defendants' eligibility for repeat offender enhanced sentencing under the Armed Career Criminal Act and how long federal employees have to appeal adverse employment decisions.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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