Good morning. Elon Musk is bringing the Twitter whistleblower into his fight with the social media company – will it work? Plus, the DOJ reveals new details on the Mar-a-Lago documents, and Dentons can’t escape a $32 million malpractice verdict. These are the last few days of summer, but the news is not slowing down.
Were you forwarded this email? Subscribe here. |
A Twitter whistleblower who came forward last week is poised to make his mark on billionaire Elon Musk’s fight with the social media company over his intention to back out of a $44 billion deal to acquire it.
Peiter Zatko, a famed hacker known as "Mudge" who worked as Twitter’s security head, said in a complaint made public last week that Twitter prioritized user growth over reducing spam and falsely claimed it had a solid security plan. Musk subpoenaed Zatko, seeking information about spam accounts, which could bolster Musk’s claims that Twitter wasn’t forthcoming about how many bots and spam users it has.
But the whistleblower’s claims could give Musk new angles to explore as he attempts to escape the deal – and it seems like Musk is interested in exploring them. In his subpoena, Musk also sought documents and communications about alleged attempts to hide security weaknesses and "Twitter's engagement in any unlawful activity," among other things.
Musk has issued a new letter of deal termination to Twitter that reflected some of Zatko’s claims. He also asked to delay the planned October trial in the lawsuit, and to amend his complaint. |
|
|
| 2022 State of Corporate Law Departments Report
|
Based on data driven and reliable insights: -2,000+ telephone interviews with in-house counsel -1,000+ survey responses -Detailed spend data from the Legal Department Operations (LDO) Index |
|
|
2022 State of Corporate Law Departments Report
|
Based on data driven and reliable insights: - 2,000+ telephone interviews with in-house counsel
- 1,000+ survey responses
- Detailed spend data from the Legal Department Operations (LDO) Index
|
|
|
Russia's VTB Bank has hired small New York-based law firm Ford O'Brien Landy to defend it from a federal lawsuit over the downing of a flight over eastern Ukraine in 2014, after a Manhattan court last week found the lender was in default due to a lack of legal representation. VTB's prior attorneys with global law firm Latham & Watkins sought to end their work for the bank in May, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine earlier in the year. (Reuters)
-
The Ohio Supreme Court declined to hear Dentons' bid to overturn a $32 million malpractice verdict stemming from an alleged client conflicts issue involving the firm’s US and Canadian branches. Dentons, like several other international firms, operates under a "Swiss verein" structure allowing largely separate legal entities to exist under a shared banner. The firm has said the malpractice verdict posed "serious threats" to the legal profession. (Reuters)
- Five federal appeals courts are set to open their courtrooms to the public for the first time since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic more than two years ago. The 9th Circuit is planning to reopen this week. (Reuters)
-
U.S. Rep. Paul Gosar and state secretary of state nominee Mark Finchem are among three Arizona Republicans ordered to pay $75,000 in legal fees after an Arizona judge said their defamation lawsuit against former Democratic State Rep. Charlene Fernandez was filed “primarily for purposes of harassment.” The lawsuit, which was filed after Fernandez called for an investigation into Finchem and Gosar’s roles in the Jan. 6 insurrection, was dismissed in April. (AP)
|
That’s the fine ExxonMobil will have to pay after a split 5th Circuit panel upheld a lower court’s ruling that the energy giant can be held responsible for the pollution that occurred over an eight-year period at its “massive” Baytown, Texas complex, which includes a chemical plant and refinery. This is the largest penalty ever assessed in a citizen enforcement lawsuit over air pollution in U.S. history, according to environmental attorneys in the case. Read more about the fine.
|
Orrick, Herrington & Sutcliffe is quickly running out of arguments to duck an arbitration summons from Jones Day in a fight over a Paris-based partner Orrick hired away from the firm. And according to Jones Day, Orrick has only itself to blame for its dwindling options. Alison Frankel digs into the latest development in the battle between the Big Law behemoths. Frankel’s conclusion: It looks like Orrick is going to have to show up for the arbitrator overseeing Jones Day’s case against the former partner who moved to Orrick in 2019.
|
Even amidst a bloody civil war, the massacre of 600 civilians who sought refuge at a Red Cross shelter inside St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Monrovia, Liberia in 1990 stood out for its brutality. Now, a team of lawyers from Debevoise & Plimpton working pro bono alongside the Center for Justice and Accountability has scored a historic $84 million award for four survivors. Jenna Greene looks at the case, which Debevoise partner Catherine Amirfar says breaks new ground. Read the column and watch the video.
|
"I know you agree it is critical that we hold ourselves to the highest ethical standards to avoid even the appearance of political influence as we carry out the Department's mission." |
-
U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel in Manhattan will hear oral argument on Google’s motion to dismiss the latest complaint filed by a group of states accusing the company of misusing its dominance of the online advertising market and improperly teaming up with Facebook to limit competition. The states, led by Texas, are represented by firms including the Lanier Law Firm and Keller Postman. Google is represented by a team from Freshfields, Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider and Wilson Sonsini.
-
The 2022 Sixth Circuit Judicial Conference begins today in Louisville, Kentucky. Speakers on the agenda include Kannon Shanmugam of Paul Weiss, Eugene Scalia of Gibson Dunn, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth Polite Jr, Paul Clement of Clement & Murphy and the chief justices of the Kentucky, Tennessee, Michigan and Ohio Supreme Courts.
-
A hearing is scheduled in litigation over the failure of a Chart Industries cryogenic tank at a San Francisco fertility clinic. The case, which has been referred to a magistrate judge for settlement talks, stems from hundreds of claims against Chart over the March 2018 tank failure and the resulting destruction of thousands of eggs and embryos. Chart has denied that its product was defective and has blamed misuse by clinic employees for the incident.
Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
|
In a filing responding to former President Donald Trump's request for a special master to review the documents taken from Mar-a-Lago, the DOJ said it found evidence to suggest that documents removed from the White House when Trump left office were later concealed at his Florida home to obstruct a federal investigation into their whereabouts. A Trump lawyer "explicitly prohibited" FBI agents from looking in boxes in a storage room at Trump's property during a June search, the department said. (Reuters)
California Superior Court Judge Evelio Grillo denied a request by Tesla and its attorneys at Holland & Knight to dismiss a California Civil Rights Department lawsuit accusing the electric vehicle-maker of widespread discrimination and harassment against Black workers at its Fremont assembly plant. Tesla has denied wrongdoing in the matter. (Reuters)
-
A unanimous 3rd Circuit panel revived a lawsuit by defunct medical testing company LabMD accusing cybersecurity firm Tiversa Holding Corp (thereafter acquired by Kroll) of defaming it by illicitly accessing LabMD's patient data and then claiming the "leak" showed lax security practices, fueling a federal investigation that ultimately resulted in its collapse. Tiversa’s attorney at McGuireWoods denied LabMD's claims. (Reuters)
-
A lawsuit by Abengoa shareholders accusing the Spanish engineering and energy company of conducting a massive accounting fraud between 2013 and 2015 that masked a liquidity crisis and culminated in bankruptcy was dismissed in Manhattan federal court. U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos said Abengoa did not mislead shareholders by publicly touting its "strict financial discipline," and said receipt of performance-based bonuses did not by itself establish a motive to defraud. (Reuters)
-
Lawyers for Sony Music Entertainment at Oppenheim & Zebrak told a Manhattan federal court that the makers of the short-form video app Triller failed to pay millions of dollars under a 2016 license agreement and have been committing "massive" copyright infringement since March. The label's lawsuit included a "representative sample" of 50 songs that Triller has allegedly misused on its platform by musicians including Britney Spears, Harry Styles, George Michael and Janis Joplin. (Reuters)
|
-
King & Spalding has hired U.S. Department of Treasury senior official J. Philip Ludvigson as an international trade partner in Washington, D.C. Ludvigson comes from Treasury’s Office of Investment Security, which chairs the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States. (Reuters)
- Mayer Brown added Paul Rosen as a partner in its London-based corporate & securities practice. Rosen was previously at Katten. (Mayer Brown)
-
Buchalter added Thomas O'Connell, Jennifer Misetich and Natalie Bryans. O’Connell will lead the firm’s franchise law group from San Diego. Misetich and Bryans, who will be part of the firm’s labor and employment practice, will work out of Los Angeles. All were formerly with Best Best & Krieger. (Buchalter)
-
Bradley Arant has hired partners Nathan Harris and Benjamin Katz from Frost Brown Todd in Nashville. Harris joins the corporate and securities practice group and Katz will be a part of the litigation and finance teams.
|
Economic valuation of trade secrets is an essential corporate governance practice, but most companies do not have an internal accounting system designed to identify, classify, protect and value trade secrets, writes R. Mark Halligan of FisherBroyles. Halligan discusses different models to accurately value trade secrets. |
|
|
Sponsors are not involved in the creation of these or any other Reuters news articles. Get Reuters News App
To manage which newsletters you're subscribed to, click here. Want to stop receiving this email? Unsubscribe here. |
|
|
|