New & Noteworthy - August 5, 2025

New Issue: Tech News & Trends -- Newest issue includes stories on new EU AI rules going into effect this month, government layoffs making us less safe in cyberspace, lawsuits claiming that California health insurers are sharing private data with Google and others, an Outlook web feature for sending out emails, the concerns over court transcript errors in the digital age, and how China is getting ready for an AI battle with the U.S. View issue.

Vegas Paper Once Led by Adelson Wins Media-Market Antitrust Case (Bloomberg) "The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that a district court should have let the Review-Journal owners out of a 2005 revised joint operating agreement between the two papers while they challenged the same deal. The ruling by Judge Daniel P. Collins deals a setback to the Las Vegas Sun, which alleged the defendants’ efforts to terminate the agreement violated antitrust laws. Sheldon Adelson, a casino magnate and major GOP donor, bought the Review-Journal in 2015 and was the lead defendant. He died in 2021." See also: Ninth Circuit Voids Pact Between Las Vegas Review-journal and Rival Sun (Courthouse News Service).

Las Vegas Beats Appeal of Firefighter’s Race, Gender Bias Suit (Bloomberg) "Las Vegas escaped race and gender discrimination claims from a Black female firefighter Monday after a federal appeals court held her lawsuit was correctly resolved by a jury. The district court didn’t err in its jury instructions related to Latonia W. Lister’s Title VII claims and didn’t abuse its discretion when it didn’t resubmit the jury verdict or grant Lister a new trial, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said, upholding the lower court verdict in favor of the city."

Sodexo, Live Nation Suits Get Nuanced 9th Cir. Arbitration Take (Bloomberg) "The appeals court on Monday issued its first significant words on arbitration in Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases in more than five years, addressing lawsuits against Sodexo and Live Nation Entertainment Inc. In largely rejecting Sodexo’s arbitration bid, the Ninth Circuit embraced a legal doctrine several other circuits have used in declining to send employee benefit plan disputes into arbitration while putting its own spin on the issue." 

Venture Capital Fund Loses Appeal in Startup Insurance Dispute (Bloomberg) "A venture capital fund backing Cuff Inc., a startup that aimed to develop and market jewelry with location-transmitting capabilities, lost its appeal pursuing insurance coverage for damages awarded by an arbitration panel over fraudulent concealment by the startup’s top brass. The arbitration award wasn’t insurable under California law barring coverage for claims seeking restitution of ill-gotten gains, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit said in a split ruling Monday, handing a win to Scottsdale Insurance Co, a Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. unit."

Members of Former Drug Unit Sued Pierce County. Here's What Federal Judges Ruled (News Tribune) "The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit on Friday ruled that a federal judge in Tacoma wrongly dismissed parts of a lawsuit against Pierce County brought by former members of a Sheriff’s Office drug investigation unit. The federal appeals court ruled that three actions of the Prosecuting Attorney’s Office were not entitled to absolute immunity, a defense from civil liability for government officials carrying out the functions of their office. Western Washington’s U.S. District Court will now take back up that aspect of the case to determine if qualified immunity applies to the defendants."

Chemical Group Says Fluoride Judge Got It Wrong (Law360) "The American Chemistry Council told the Ninth Circuit that a California federal judge who ruled that current limits on fluoride in drinking water aren't protective enough misinterpreted the Toxic Substances Control Act and urged reversal of his decision. Green groups sued the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency for its refusal to grant their request to ban fluoride in drinking water, and U.S. District Judge Edward M. Chen [N.D. - CA] in September ordered the EPA to take some kind of action on the issue. The agency has appealed the decision, and in an amicus brief filed Friday, the ACC said Judge Chen inappropriately allowed new evidence into the litigation record that wasn't present in the administrative record."

Anthropic Asks 9th Circ. to Review Authors' Class Cert. (Law360) "Anthropic, the maker of the AI model Claude, said in a Thursday brief that the circuit court should hear the case now and resolve important questions about fair use while several other pending federal cases challenge the use of copyrighted books to train large language models. U.S. District Judge William Alsup [N.D. - CA] approved the class on July 17, saying he thought it would be ‘straightforward’ for the authors' to prove that Anthropic pirated millions of books in an effort to train Claude quickly."

Judge Rejects RICO Suit Over Loans to Failed Las Vegas Resort (Courthouse News Service) "TACSIS APC and Ken Limson sued under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act. They argued that a handful of people and organizations fraudulently led them to issue seven loans, at over $2 million, for the failed All Net Resort and Arena that would have housed an NBA expansion team. However, U.S. District Chief Judge Andrew Gordon found that the plaintiffs filed the 2024 suit over four years after learning the defendants supposedly failed to repay the loans and didn’t secure them with surety bonds. The deadline to file under the RICO Act is four years, leading him to grant the defendants’ motions to dismiss."

Duane Morris Avoids Employee's Tax Withholding Claim (Law360) "A Duane Morris LLP employee cannot bring a claim that the firm failed to withhold taxes for employees who were misclassified as partners, a California federal court found, partially dismissing the proposed class action while giving her the option to amend her complaint. U.S. District Judge Cathy Bencivengo [S.D. - CA] dismissed Meagan Garland's claim that Duane Morris failed to make required tax withholdings, agreeing with the firm that federal law precludes Garland from bringing a failure-to-withhold claim, according to a Friday order. Garland also failed to give Duane Morris adequate notice of the exact nature tax claims she said she brought against the firm, the judge said."

Axos Wins $40M in Trade Secrets Case Against Calif. Rival (Law360) "A California federal court has ordered Nano Banc and several former employees and executives to pay $40 million to rival Axos Bank after they were found liable for trade secret misappropriation and other claims. In the Thursday judgment, U.S. District Judge Jesus G. Bernal [C.D. - CA] said Nano Banc owed Axos $14 million in damages, a former vice president owed $10 million and a Nano Banc co-founder owed $14 million. Another former employee was hit with a $2 million damages sum, according to the judgment."

Judges Openly Doubt Government as Justice Dept. Misleads and Dodges Orders (New York Times) "In yet another case, a judge in Los Angeles handling a request to drop fraud charges against Andrew Wiederhorn, a Trump donor who created the restaurant chain Fatburger, asked the Justice Department to further outline its reasons for wanting to do so. Late last week, the judge, R. Gary Klausner, said in an order that judges should ‘grant considerable deference to prosecutors’ seeking to dismiss charges, but still insisted on an explanation for the dismissal by Friday.... Judges are not the only players in the legal system who have shown a measure of distrust in the Justice Department. In an almost unheard-of move, federal grand juries in Los Angeles have been refusing to indict many defendants whom prosecutors have sought to charge in connection with immigration protests, according to recent news reports." See also: Judge Questions DOJ Move to Drop Deputy's Assault Case (Daily Journal).

Kavanaugh Was Confirmed Almost 7 Years Ago. The Saga Still Haunts the Senate. (Politico) "As the Senate prepared to vote last week to confirm Emil Bove to a lifetime seat on the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, one familiar name kept cropping up: Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. It will be seven years this October since senators confirmed Kavanaugh in the culmination of a politically fraught and highly emotional ordeal that tested personal beliefs and partisan loyalties. And while Bove’s confirmation process was nowhere near as explosive, Democrats and Republicans made comparisons to the Kavanaugh affair throughout."

How to Maximize Federal Benefits in 2025 (FedSmith) "Federal employees often hear about the fantastic benefits they receive, but many of these benefits are underutilized simply because they are not fully understood."