Good morning. Lots of news today, beginning with the 2nd Circuit’s last-minute reversal, allowing New York City’s mandate that public school teachers and staff get vaccinated against COVID-19 to go forward. And we have an in-depth look at a special case on the rights of Puerto Ricans that the U.S. Supreme Court will take up when it comes back in session next week. Plus, find out how Gary LeClair responded to allegations that he drove his namesake firm into bankruptcy and read why several former bankruptcy judges say a 2nd Circuit ruling undermines the integrity of the Chapter 13 bankruptcy process. Grab a chair, let’s get to it!
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In a three-sentence order late Monday, the 2nd Circuit dissolved its injunction against New York City’s mandate that all of its public school teachers and staff get vaccinated against COVID-19, allowing the deadline of midnight Monday to go ahead.
Mayor Bill de Blasio had told school staff they had until Monday to get the shots, but the 2nd Circuit paused that requirement over the weekend in response to a challenge brought by several teachers. It set a hearing in the case for Wednesday, making it appear as though the deadline would be stayed until at least then. The surprise ruling on Monday reversed that decision, but de Blasio said he would extend the deadline and give teachers until next Monday morning to get their shots.
Read more about the ruling here.
The new U.S. Supreme Court term is set to begin next Monday, and one of the early cases on the argument docket will put a fresh focus on the legal status of Puerto Ricans.
At issue in the case United States v. Jose Luis Vaello-Madero is whether the denial of the Supplemental Security Income benefit to Puerto Rico's residents violates the U.S. Constitution, Lawrence Hurley writes.
The litigation will give the justices a chance to roll back or overturn a series of Supreme Court rulings known as the “Insular Cases,” which date back more than a century. The rulings, some infused with racist language, endorsed the notion that the people of newly acquired U.S. territories could receive different treatment than citizens living in U.S. states, Hurley writes.
Read more about the upcoming Supreme Court argument, and what’s at stake.
- Gary LeClair, co-founder of LeClairRyan, filed a 42-page response to allegations made by the Chapter 7 trustee overseeing the dissolution of the firm that he enriched himself prior to its bankruptcy filing, saying that the accusations “defy human nature and logic.” (Reuters)
- Brown Rudnick claims in a new lawsuit in Massachusetts state court that an Austrian multinational industrial plant construction company owes the law firm $8 million in fees after it successfully represented the company in an international arbitration. (Reuters)
- Ahead of its return to in-person oral arguments next week, the U.S. Supreme Court told arguing attorneys they will have to get a PCR COVID-19 test the morning before they appear at the high court. The court will cover the cost, it said. Read more about the court’s new protocols.
- While many law firms are considering allowing their attorneys to work more from home, Lowenstein Sandler is expanding its New York City office and adding a restaurant-style dining space and expanded fitness offerings. (Reuters)
- Attorney Deveraux Cannick, who joined singer R. Kelly’s legal team in June, has represented high profile clients before — he defended a man accused of kidnapping Chicago rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine. But his addition — and his argument comparing Kelly to Martin Luther King, Jr. — wasn’t enough to earn Kelly an acquittal. (Reuters)
That’s how many counts R&B singer R. Kelly was convicted on after a Brooklyn federal jury agreed with prosecutors that Kelly had used his fame and power to trap women and girls in a web of sexual abuse. He was convicted on one count of racketeering and eight counts of violating the Mann Act, all of the charges he faced at the more than 5-week trial. (Reuters)
Last month, a divided three-judge panel at the 2nd Circuit vacated $300,000 in sanctions levied against the mortgage servicer PHH for allegedly improper late and property inspection fees to three mortgage holders in Chapter 13. A trustee for the mortgage holders has asked the entire 2nd Circuit to take up the case. Alison Frankel’s latest column discusses new amicus briefs from six former bankruptcy judges who warned the panel’s ruling undermines the integrity of the entire Chapter 13 regime.
- Natural gas producer Chesapeake Exploration will ask the 9th Circuit to reverse a lower court order denying its motion to intervene in a lawsuit by environmental groups challenging several Bureau of Land Management oil and gas lease sales. The suit says the sales violate several statutes because they involve land that is greater sage-grouse habitat. Chesapeake Exploration is represented by William Sparks of Beatty & Wozniak and the environmental groups are represented by Andrew Missel of Advocates For The West.
- U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C., will oversee a status conference in the DOJ’s antitrust case against Alphabet's Google. Mehta has been tasked in recent weeks with resolving document production disputes involving third-parties, including Microsoft and Apple. The United States is represented by Kenneth Dintzer of the Justice Department and Google is represented by John Schmidtlein of Williams & Connolly.
- The U.S. Senate judiciary subcommittee on the U.S. Constitution is set to hold a hearing titled “Toxic Conservatorships: The Need for Reform.” The spotlight comes amid a court dispute over terminating the 13-year conservatorship that oversees Britney Spears’ personal life and finances. Zoe Brennan-Krohn, staff attorney at the American Civil Liberties Union’s disability rights programs, is set to testify with David Slayton, vice president for court consulting services at the National Center for State Courts.
Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
"I am going to, after all these years, grant unconditional release to Mr. Hinckley."
U.S. District Judge Paul Friedman in Washington, D.C., federal court, at a hearing where he said John Hinckley, who shot and wounded former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, no longer poses a danger. Friedman in 2016 allowed Hinckley to leave the Washington psychiatric hospital where he had lived for three decades. The restrictions Friedman imposed then on Hinckley’s travel and internet usage have now been set aside. Learn more about the judge’s order.
- Former Xerox executive Barry Romeril can't ditch his agreement not to deny accounting fraud allegations as part of a settlement with the SEC, the 2nd Circuit said. (Reuters)
- U.S. District Judge Paul Crotty in Manhattan dismissed a shareholder lawsuit accusing Canadian company Tilray, the world's largest cannabis producer by sales, of fraudulently overstating the value of a marketing and revenue-sharing agreement with Authentic Brands Group. (Reuters)
- The 1st Circuit restored the convictions of a co-owner and former employee of a Massachusetts compounding pharmacy accused of deceiving regulators before its drugs sparked a deadly fungal meningitis outbreak in 2012. (Reuters)
- The Federal Circuit has moved Google LLC and Sonos Inc's West Texas patent case in the companies’ global dispute over multi-room audio technology to California federal court. (Reuters)
- Gas utility Southern California Gas, a unit of Sempra Energy, said it has reached agreements that are expected to resolve substantially all civil litigation related to a 2015 natural gas storage facility leak. The company will record an after-tax charge of about $1.1 billion this month, it said. (Reuters)
- Two former McGuireWoods financial technology lawyers, Jamie Wells and Alexander Gershen, have joined the virtual law firm Scale as partner and counsel respectively. (Reuters)
- Perkins Coie has added partner Eric Evans, a former Mayer Brown lawyer who represents technology companies in complex litigation and intellectual property matters. (Reuters)
- McKool Smith has snagged entertainment trial lawyer Grant Maxwell as a principal in Los Angeles. He arrives from McDermott Will & Emery. (Reuters)
- Kirkland & Ellis has brought on private equity lawyer Laura Steinke as a partner in New York. Steinke arrives from Ropes & Gray. (Kirkland)
- K&L Gates has hired Amanda Albert in New York as a partner focused on benefits, employee stock ownership plans and executive compensation. She joins the firm from Allen & Overy. (K&L Gates)
- Cleary Gottlieb has brought on Lillian Tsu as a New York-based partner focused on capital markets, corporate governance and compliance. Tsu earlier practiced at Hogan Lovells. (Cleary Gottlieb)
Shareholders are filing increasing numbers of lawsuits against Delaware corporations that won’t let them access the company’s books and records, but that hasn’t deterred many corporations from resisting the requests, write Thomas Briggs Jr. and Michael Slobom Jr. of Morris Nichols Arsht & Tunnell. That could change, they write, as the Delaware Court of Chancery has proved itself increasingly willing to order corporations to pay fees if they aren’t cooperative with shareholders. Read more to find out what the court has required of some corporations facing these suits.
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