Reuters Legal

Texas Judge Dianne Hensley said she will not drop her lawsuit against a state commission that publicly sanctioned her for refusing to officiate at same-sex weddings, even though the commission withdrew its ethics warning last month. ? Subscribe to The Daily Docket: https://reut.rs/3Y8Vcvq

The American Hospital Association has urged a federal appeals court to stop Idaho from enforcing its near-total abortion ban in cases where doctors believe abortion is needed to save a pregnant woman's life or prevent serious harm. The AHA, along with the Association of American Medical Colleges, a medical school and teaching hospital group, and America's Essential Hospitals, which represents hospitals serving low-income communities, said in an amicus brief on Oct. 11 that the 9th Circuit should find that a federal law requiring hospitals that receive federal funds to provide certain emergency care takes precedence over the state ban. Otherwise, it said, patients could be endangered. Anti-abortion groups including the American Association of Pro-Life OBGYNs and National Right to Life last month filed amicus briefs in support of the state, which is defending its ban against a lawsuit by the Biden administration. Read Brendan Pierson's report: https://reut.rs/4eFcuXW

Good morning. A growing number of voters are going to court to ensure that they have access to the polls and their ballots are counted in the Nov. 5 U.S. presidential election. Roughly 95 election-related lawsuits have been filed in the seven battleground states that will decide the 2024 election, according to Democracy Docket, a website founded by Democratic lawyer Marc Elias that tracks election cases. A Reuters/Ipsos poll shows Democratic candidate Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, her Republican challenger, locked in a tight race with both parties fighting for every vote. As a result, voters, advocacy groups and the two main political parties have filed lawsuits over everything from the location of polling places to voter registration procedures. Subscribe to The Daily Docket: https://reut.rs/3Y8Vcvq

Sean 'Diddy' Combs was confronted with six new sexual abuse lawsuits, including one accusing the rap mogul of assaulting a minor. The lawsuits were filed a month after Combs was?criminally charged?for what prosecutors describe as a long-running scheme of sex trafficking and racketeering. The lawsuits were filed in New York federal court by anonymous plaintiffs, including one man who accuses Combs of assaulting him when he was a minor. Combs was arrested in September and charged with three felony counts for racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. He pleaded not guilty on Sept. 17. Read Jack Queen's report: https://reut.rs/4h9ntuz

?A Texas judge said she will not drop her lawsuit against a state commission that publicly sanctioned her for refusing to officiate at same-sex weddings, even though the commission withdrew its ethics warning last month. Judge Dianne Hensley, an elected Texas justice of the peace who hears small claims and misdemeanor cases, said in a?filing in an appeals court in Austin last week that the about-face by the State Commission on Judicial Conduct does not undermine her case. Hensley is suing the commission for allegedly violating her religious rights as a Christian. The lawsuit seeks an order barring future sanctions, but does not ask the court to overturn the public warning. The Texas Supreme Court in June?revived?Hensley’s lawsuit. Read Mike Scarcella's report: https://reut.rs/4eGUlc9

Russian aluminium tycoon Oleg Deripaska won a bid in a London court to force Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan to reveal who provided the law firm with an allegedly forged report used in a legal battle with his former business partner. Deripaska, founder of aluminium giant Rusal, has been involved in?a bitter dispute?with former Russian finance minister Vladimir Chernukhin since 2010 over a joint venture to develop real estate in Moscow. The billionaire, who is?subject to Western sanctions?imposed over his perceived links to the Kremlin, took legal action at London's High Court against Quinn Emanuel, which acted for Chernukhin in an advisory capacity over the dispute. Judge Neil Calver at London's High Court ordered the U.S. based law firm to tell Deripaska's lawyers who provided the firm with the allegedly forged report. Read more: https://reut.rs/3Y4m3su

U.S. consumers suing French luxury house Hermes have revised their lawsuit once again, hoping to persuade a skeptical judge that the company is forcing buyers to spend thousands of dollars on other products before they can purchase one of its famed Birkin bags. The three California plaintiffs filed their?third complaint adding more allegations and details after Hermes asked the federal court in San Francisco to throw out the closely watched case. Learn more in The Afternoon Docket. Subscribe: https://reut.rs/4aVlZjE?

A federal prosecutor in Boston who oversaw the 'Operation Varsity Blues' probe into the U.S. college admissions scandal and secured the conviction of a Kremlin-linked businessman who was part of August's prisoner swap between Russia and the West has joined the law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan, LLP. Stephen Frank, who had been the chief of the securities, financial and cyber fraud unit of the U.S. Attorney's Office in Massachusetts, joined Quinn Emanuel as a partner based in Boston and New York, where he expects to focus on white collar crime, investigations and litigation. The 1,000-attorney litigation-oriented firm has been growing in Boston in recent years. It has 40-plus lawyers in Boston, including former Acting U.S. Attorney William Weinreb, who joined its ranks in 2018 as a white-collar defense attorney. Read Nate Raymond's report: https://reut.rs/4h1wjKL

Google has asked a California federal judge to pause his sweeping court order requiring it to open up its app store Play to greater competition. In a?court filing, Google said U.S. District Judge James Donato’s injunction order, which goes into effect on Nov. 1, would harm the company and introduce 'serious safety, security, and privacy risks into the Android ecosystem.' The judge issued the?injunction on Oct. 7?in a case brought by 'Fortnite' maker Epic Games, which persuaded a federal jury last year that Google was illegally monopolizing how consumers download apps on Android devices and how they pay for in-app transactions. If Donato denies Google's bid to put the injunction on hold, the company can ask the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to do so while it appeals the jury's underlying antitrust verdict. Read Mike Scarcella's report: https://reut.rs/3Y3Pc78

Paul Cassell, a lawyer representing the families of the 346 people who perished in two crashes of Boeing 737 Max jets, urged U.S. District Judge Reed O’Connor to reject a plea deal that the company struck with the DOJ. The victims had the chance to voice their objections to the deal at a hearing, arguing it allows a cash-flush corporation to dictate its punishments before sentencing and fails to fully hold Boeing or its executives accountable for the deaths. O’Connor pressed the DOJ to justify the terms of Boeing's agreement but stopped short of ruling on whether to accept the deal. Subscribe to The Daily Docket: https://reut.rs/4dsTnQ1 #legal #legalnews #litigation