Good morning. An industry that represents a critical financing tool for personal injury cases has won new protections in Colorado -- and beaten back challenges in other states. Plus, how three law firms brought in new associates amid the Delta wave, and Alec Baldwin’s movie-set shooting victim, whose husband is a Latham lawyer, is remembered for her “passion and vision.” It’s a big week for judicial confirmation votes and vaccine litigation. Let’s dig in.
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Medical lien companies, which work with personal injury attorneys to cover the costs of their clients’ medical care in exchange for a cut of any eventual settlement or damages, just scored a major legislative win in Colorado, reports Diana Novak Jones.
A new law bars information about their involvement in a case from courtrooms, a significant protection for their business model, as judges were allowing more scrutiny of their practices.
And the law in Colorado follows other good news for medical lien proponents in Florida and Georgia, which debated legislation cracking down on the businesses. Those bills went nowhere, Novak Jones writes.
Read more about the industry and its ties to personal injury cases.
The cinematographer killed on the set of the movie “Rust” after actor Alec Baldwin discharged a prop gun was married to a Latham & Watkins attorney.
Halyna Hutchins, who died Thursday, was the director of photography for the movie, which Baldwin is acting in and producing. Her husband is Matt Hutchins, who joined Latham as an associate this year.
Baldwin posted on social media on Friday to say "my heart is broken for her husband, their son, and all who knew and loved Halyna." Baldwin was seen over the weekend outside a hotel in Santa Fe, New Mexico, embracing and talking with Matt Hutchins and his nine-year-old son.
A speaker at a candlelight vigil on Saturday read aloud a statement from Hutchins. "Halyna inspired us all with her passion and vision, and her legacy is too meaningful to encapsulate in words," he wrote. "Please take time to remember her, and we will all work together to honor her memory and emulate her determination and her creativity."
Read more.
- A Lowenstein Sandler associate is set to marry his college sweetheart this week… Princess Mako of Japan. (Reuters)
- Reuters caught up with partners and talent managers from Reed Smith, Akin Gump and Skadden that took different approaches to associate onboarding to find out how they are getting their first years up to speed. (Reuters)
- Heather McManus has been promoted to general counsel of the American Kennel Club, which has seen a steady increase in canine membership as pet purchases and adoptions surged during the coronavirus pandemic. McManus was vice president and deputy general counsel prior to her promotion. (Reuters)
- Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace, formerly a Cleary Gottlieb partner, is “going to be a strong leader, and he’s going to be good for the office,” U.S. District Judge Sterling Johnson Jr says. (NYT)
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White House Counsel Dana Remus has assembled a 33-person team, emphasizing kindness, diversity and teamwork capabilities. The counsel’s office is 65% female, 20% LGBTQ and 40% people of color. (AP)
That’s the amount of the first settlement under a new Biden administration initiative to combat discriminatory lending practices. U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said the DOJ would “make far more robust use of our lending authorities. Tennessee's TrustMark National Bank, which the government said avoided offering home loans in predominantly Black and Hispanic neighborhoods, entered into the first settlement. Learn more about the initiative.
Last week, Chancery Court judge Joseph Slights ruled that activist investors in the biotech company CytoDyn aren’t entitled to an injunction forcing the company to allow shareholders to vote on their alternative slate of directors. The activists wouldn’t take no for an answer. Alison Frankel’s latest column describes their legal maneuver as an attempt “to sneak in the back door when the front door has been slammed in your face.”
Reuters video journalist Tom Rowe gives you an early view of the week ahead in legal news. Watch the video. And to hear what’s coming up this week, listen to Alex Cohen’s Audio Lookahead.
- The U.S. Senate is expected to vote on the Biden administration’s nomination of Myrna Pérez to serve on the 2nd Circuit. Pérez, director of the voting rights and election program at the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law since 2019, drew Republican objections to her voting-rights advocacy. Judiciary Chairman Dick Durbin, the Illinois Democrat, called Pérez at her confirmation hearing "an experienced litigator who has dedicated her career to defending the right to vote, a fundamental right."
- USA Gymnastics will hold a hearing on its request to begin soliciting creditor votes for its proposed reorganization plan. The organization proposed a $425 million settlement to athletes who were sexually abused by former team doctor Larry Nassar. Catherine Steege of Jenner & Block is on the legal team for USA Gymnastics.
- U.S. District Judge Philip Brimmer in Colorado will preside over a criminal antitrust trial in which the DOJ has alleged executives and sales leaders participated in a bid-rigging and price-fixing conspiracy to reduce competition in the broiler chicken market. Broiler chickens are raised to provide meat for human consumption. Defendants have denied any conspiracy. They argue in part that any sharing of pricing information on its own can’t justify anticompetitive behavior. Firms including O’Melveny; Latham; Robbins Russell; and Troutman Pepper are defending clients.
- The 2nd Circuit will hear oral arguments in a dispute between wedding-dress designer and influencer Hayley Paige Gutman and bridal fashion company JLM Couture. JLM received a preliminary injunction from a Manhattan federal court that blocked Gutman from posting to her social media accounts or using her name as a trademark after she allegedly breached her employment agreement with the company. Gutman argues on appeal that the order "improperly enjoins Hayley from earning a living" and "includes the grievous injury of taking away Hayley's identity." Richard Rochford and Joseph Lawlor of Haynes and Boone represent Gutman. Sarah Matz and Gary Adelman of Adelman Matz represent JLM.
Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
Coming up later this week
- On Tuesday, the en banc D.C. Circuit will consider whether the denial of a lateral transfer amounts to an adverse employment action under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Mary Chambers, a former child support enforcement specialist for the District of Columbia who says her requests for transfers were denied because she complained about sex discrimination, says existing D.C. Circuit precedent that lateral transfers are not actionable under Title VII is wrong. She is backed by the DOJ. David Branch of Law Office of David A. Branch and Associates and Brian Wolfman of Georgetown University Law Center are representing Chambers.
- A 2nd Circuit panel on Wednesday will consider temporarily blocking New York's statewide COVID-19 vaccination mandate for healthcare workers seeking religious exemptions, in a pair of consolidated lawsuits. A judge in one case refused to grant a preliminary injunction barring the state from requiring employers to deny religious exemptions, while the other judge issued a temporary restraining order. Norman Pattis of the Pattis Law Firm and Christopher Ferrara of the Thomas More Society represent the plaintiffs. Steven Wu of the New York Attorney General's Office will argue for the state.
- The Senate Judiciary Committee on Thursday has set a vote on the nomination of U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, California, to serve on the 9th Circuit. Judiciary committee Democrats broadly praised Koh's long career in the law at her confirmation hearing. Koh would become the first Korean-American woman to serve on a federal appeals court if she is confirmed. Republicans criticized Koh for her February ruling that said California could ban small religious gatherings in homes as a measure to stop the spread of the COVID-19 virus. The U.S. Supreme Court overturned her order.
- And on Friday, environmental groups including Wild Virginia and the Sierra Club will urge the 4th Circuit to vacate January decisions by the U.S. Forest Service and the Bureau of Land Management to allow the Mountain Valley Pipeline to cross 3.5 miles of the Jefferson National Forest, which spans areas of southwest Virginia, West Virginia and Kentucky. The groups allege the agencies did not properly analyze the environmental impacts of construction-related erosion and soil loss along the pipeline route. Donald Verrilli Jr of Munger Tolles represents intervenor Mountain Valley Pipeline. Nathan Matthews of the Sierra Club is advocating for Wild Virginia. Brian Toth of the DOJ represents the federal agencies.
Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
"The state’s gambit has worked. The impact is catastrophic."
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, who dissented from the high court’s decision not to halt implementation of Texas’ law outlawing nearly all abortions after six weeks of pregnancy until it hears arguments in a pair of lawsuits challenging the law on Nov. 1. Sotomayor said the impact of the law, which leaves enforcement up to private citizens, has already had a devastating effect on women’s health in the region. Read more about the court’s order.
- The SEC has dusted off a narrower clawback power created in 2002 following the Enron and WorldCom accounting scandals, lawyers familiar with behind-the-scenes enforcement talks with companies say. The rule allows the SEC to force a public company's CEO or CFO to return bonuses or other incentive-based pay in the event the company restates its results due to misconduct. (Reuters)
- A Cravath team for "Fortnite" creator Epic Games says a California federal judge's antitrust injunction against Apple should not be paused while the companies ask the 9th Circuit to take up the case over the company's App Store rules. (Reuters)
- Norfolk Southern Railway Co has filed a lawsuit in Chicago to block its employees' unions from suing over a COVID-19 vaccine mandate and to prevent its workers from striking or picketing in protest of the requirement. The company, represented by Jones Day, says any objections to the mandate have to be brought in arbitration because they implicate the bargaining agreement. (Reuters)
- U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan has set a Nov. 4 hearing to weigh former President Donald Trump’s assertion of executive privilege in response to a document request from the U.S. House committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. (Reuters)
- Halkbank's lawyer at Williams & Connolly lost a bid to dismiss an indictment accusing the state-owned Turkish lender of helping Iran evade American sanctions. Even if the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act shielded the bank, the 2nd Circuit said in its ruling, the charge against Halkbank falls under the commercial activity exception. (Reuters)
- The DOJ has told Swedish telecommunications equipment maker Ericsson that it has breached a 2019 deferred prosecution agreement by failing to provide certain documents and factual information. (Reuters)
- Venable said tax specialist Daniel Lorenzen has rejoined the firm as an estate planning partner in its Los Angeles office. Lorenzen formerly practiced at Fox Rothschild. (Venable)
- Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner boosted its Paris-based litigation and investigations practice with a four-lawyer team from White & Case. The group will be led by Philippe Métais and includes partner Elodie Valette. (Reuters)
- Greenberg Traurig said Tamara Rizkalla has joined the firm as a shareholder in Washington, D.C., focused on healthcare transactions, regulatory and compliance matters. She joins from McGuireWoods. (Greenberg Traurig)
Senior corporate leaders and in-house counsel have the qualifications to make big decisions involving strategy and more. But, as Bradley Merrill Thompson of Epstein Becker Green writes, “that expertise does not include understanding AI and the risks associated with it.” Artificial intelligence, he says, isn’t mysterious or magic. It’s math and stats. Learn more about understanding the value of AI.
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