Reuters Legal

A group of TikTok creators said they filed suit in U.S. federal court seeking to block a law signed by President Joe Biden that would force the divestiture of the short video app used by 170 million Americans or ban it, saying it has had ‘a profound effect on American life.’   The law, signed by Biden on April 24, gives ByteDance until Jan. 19 to sell TikTok or face a ban. The White House has said it wants to see Chinese-based ownership ended on national security grounds but not a ban on TikTok.   The suit, which seeks injunctive relief, says the law threatens free speech and ‘promises to shutter a discrete medium of communication that has become part of American life.’   Last week, TikTok and its Chinese parent company ByteDance filed a similar lawsuit, arguing that the law violates the U.S. Constitution on a number of grounds including running afoul of First Amendment free speech protections.   The White House and Justice Department did not immediately comment.   Read more: https://reut.rs/4dEGgvW 

Donald Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen awaits what promises to be a bruising cross-examination from the Republican presidential candidate's lawyers. Cohen testified for about nine hours over two days that Trump was intimately involved in a hush-money plot to pay off porn star Stormy Daniels.   Cohen, the prosecution's star witness at Trump's criminal trial, told jurors on May 14 about a 2017 Oval Office meeting where the newly elected Trump confirmed a plan to reimburse Cohen secretly for paying Daniels to keep quiet about a 2006 sexual encounter she says she had with Trump.   Subscribe to The Afternoon Docket: https://reut.rs/4aVlZjE

Delaware law professor Charles Elson accused electric car-maker Tesla on May 13 of threatening to fire longtime Tesla outside counsel from Holland & Knight if Elson — a Holland & Knight consultant for nearly 30 years — proceeded with plans to file a friend-of-the-court brief criticizing the company’s bid to restore CEO Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay package. Elson claims Tesla’s bullying of the law firm forced him to resign from Holland & Knight to spare the firm from retaliation. The firm told columnist alison frankel that it was not bullied or coerced but decided Elson’s brief 'was inconsistent with the firm’s obligations to its client, Tesla.' Read more: https://lnkd.in/gUxuCg3B

New York Justice Juan Merchan, Donald Trump declared on Truth Social, is a 'highly conflicted' overseer of a 'kangaroo court.' Trump supporters swiftly replied to his post with a blitz of attacks on Merchan. The comments soon turned ugly. Some called for Merchan and other judges hearing cases against Trump to be killed. 'Treason is a hangable offense,' one wrote. 'They should all be executed,' added another. The April 23 post by Trump and the menacing responses from his followers illustrate the incendiary impact of his angry and incessant broadsides against the judges handling the criminal and civil suits against him. As his presidential campaign intensifies, Trump has baselessly cast the judges and prosecutors in his trials as corrupt puppets of the Biden administration, bent on torpedoing his White House bid. Read the Reuters special report here: https://lnkd.in/g5CRzc4b

Donald Trump's former fixer Michael Cohen testified that the Republican presidential candidate was furious that porn star Stormy Daniels was shopping a story in 2016 about an alleged sexual encounter with him, telling Cohen it would be catastrophic for his campaign. Cohen on May 13 began testifying at Trump's trial in New York state criminal court in Manhattan, where #Trump was charged in a scheme to buy Daniels’ silence about the alleged 2006 encounter. Trump's defense has suggested a payment to Daniels could have been made to spare Trump and his family embarrassment, not to boost his campaign. #Cohen testified that Trump appeared solely concerned with the effect on his White House bid. Subscribe to The Daily Docket: https://reut.rs/4aBvwvO #legal #legalnews #hushmoneytrial #stormydaniels

An Uber-backed Nevada ballot initiative that would impose the most sweeping and draconian contingency fee limit in the US has survived its first legal challenge. District Court Judge James Russell of Carson City ruled, on May 10 that the ballot initiative to cap contingency fees in all civil cases at 20% complies with Nevada requirements for petitions seeking signatures from Nevada voters. Opponents of the fee cap, including the Nevada Justice Association and an association for Uber riders who allege they were sexual assaulted by Uber drivers, have argued that the initiative is misleading because it does not inform prospective petition signers of the follow-on effects of the fee cap. Challengers presented Russell with declarations from nearly three dozen Nevada lawyers who said the fee cap would make it harder for all kinds of plaintiffs – from patent owners and defrauded shareholders to law enforcement officers injured in the line of duty – to find lawyers to handle their cases. Columnist alison frankel has more: https://reut.rs/3UxxwyY #legal #legalnews #litigation

When Donald Trump attacks the integrity of judges hearing cases against him, his followers often respond with posts urging that the jurists be beaten, tortured and killed. White law students are more likely to land full scholarships and less likely to receive scholarships covering less than half their tuition compared with their non-white classmates, according to new data, from the American Bar Association. An Uber-backed Nevada ballot initiative that would impose the most sweeping and draconian contingency fee limit in the US has survived its first legal challenge. Plastic pipe maker JM Eagle has sued a US law firm that filed hundreds of asbestos personal injury cases against it. Here's your legal file 👇 #legal #legalnews #legalindustry #litigation

More than two dozen companies have filed 72 liens since 2019 against projects developed by #SpaceX and its contractors in Texas, according to a Reuters investigation. Combined, the liens have sought payments totaling more than $2.5 million. SpaceX didn't respond to requests from Reuters for comment. Reuters couldn't determine for every lien whether outstanding bills were owed by SpaceX or by one of its contractors who commissioned work or materials on its behalf. Either way, the liens are a legal mechanism through which creditors can secure claims against SpaceX for work done at its properties. A former Texas official described SpaceX as 'the big bully on the playground.' Subscribe to The Daily Docket: https://reut.rs/4aBvwvO #legal #legalnews  

Plastic pipe maker JM Eagle has sued a US law firm that filed hundreds of asbestos personal injury cases against it, marking the latest counterstrike by a defendant against the asbestos plaintiffs bar. JM Eagle's #lawsuit, filed May 10 in Chicago federal court under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, alleged that law firm Simmons Hanly Conroy suppressed evidence, used perjured or falsified testimony and statements, and committed fraud in the course of recovering billions of dollars from asbestos defendants in thousands of cases. Simmons Hanly is based in Alton, Illinois, and specializes in asbestos-related mesothelioma claims. The firm's managing partner, Laurence Nassif, said in a statement that JM Eagle's claims are 'baseless' and that the company is trying to avoid 'accountability for its dangerous practices and the harm it has caused innocent people.' JM Eagle is seeking an unspecified amount of damages. In addition to its federal racketeering claim, its lawsuit alleges unjust enrichment, fraud and civil conspiracy. David Thomas has more: https://reut.rs/3wzKJ2a #legal #legalnews #litigation

Good morning. A new Reuters special report takes a deep look at how Donald #Trump’s incendiary language against judges is inspiring calls for violence. Plus, #Tesla allegedly threatened to fire one of its longtime law firms over a friend-of-the-court brief in Elon #Musk’s $56 billion pay package case; American Bar Association data reveals racial disparities in the biggest law school scholarships; and Michael #Cohen has a big moment on the witness stand. In court today, MLB star Shohei #Ohtani’s interpreter is due to appear for arraignment. Batter up. Subscribe to The Daily Docket for the latest legal news: https://reut.rs/4aBvwvO #legal #legalnews