Filed under: Litigation

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Prosecutor: Facebook, Twitter used in stock fraud

Facebook and Twitter social networking sites were used to tout stocks in a classic “pump and dump” fraud of about $7 million that was uncovered during a cocaine-trafficking probe, U.S. prosecutors said on Tuesday. Get the full story »

Apple challenges $626M patent verdict

Apple Inc.  is challenging the verdict in a patent infringement lawsuit that could force the consumer goods giant to pay up to $625.5 million in damages, according to documents filed with a federal court in Texas on Sunday. Get the full story »

Allstate sues Toyota over acceleration claims

Allstate Corp. has sued Toyota Motor Corp. over sudden-acceleration-related claims it has paid, alleging that the accidents were caused by vehicle defects.

SEC delays proxy access rule during challenge

U.S. regulators Monday delayed implementation of their rule giving shareholders more power to influence corporate boards, a win for business groups trying to overturn the rule.

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Business Roundtable sued the Securities and Exchange Commission last week, saying its recently adopted rule was arbitrary and capricious. Get the full story »

Microsoft sues Motorola over smart phone patents

Microsoft Corp. said Friday it has sued Motorola Inc., claiming that the Schaumburg-based company has violated nine of its patents with smartphones running Google’s Android operating system.

Microsoft, which is headquartered in Redmond, Wash., filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington on Friday. The company said it also filed a complaint with the International Trade Commission. Get the full story »

BHP says it’s close to lodging Potash legal challenge

BHP Billiton said on Friday it expected to lodge a motion within the next few days to challenge a lawsuit filed by Potash Corp. to fend off the miner’s $39 billion hostile takeover bid. Get the full story »

Whistleblower suit says Allstate cheated on claims

From The New Orleans Times-Picayune | A whistleblower suit alleging that Allstate Insurance Co. defrauded taxpayers by overbilling the National Flood Insurance Program has been unsealed in federal court in New Orleans.

State fines unlicensed firms selling health insurance

The Illinois Department of Insurance said it has taken steps to prohibit several companies from “marketing and selling non-comprehensive health insurance” in the state without a license. Get the full story »

Black’s lawyer urges court to throw out conviction

Conrad Black and wife Barbara Amiel in July of 2010, leaving the Dirksen U.S. Courthouse in Chicago. (Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/MCT)

Bloomberg News | Conrad Black’s 2007 convictions for fraud and obstructing justice should be thrown out because it’s impossible to tell whether jurors found him guilty under a now-invalid legal theory, his lawyer told a federal appeals court.

A three-judge panel in Chicago is hearing Black’s case today for the second time following a U.S. Supreme Court decision that narrowed the scope of the so-called honest services fraud statute, the law used to prosecute the former Hollinger International Inc. chairman.

“None of the fraud or obstruction convictions can survive examination of the trial record,” Black’s appellate lawyer, Miguel Estrada, told the judges during oral arguments. Prosecutors, in court filings, said there’s ample evidence to support Black’s conviction on other grounds. Get the full story »

U.S. business groups sue SEC over proxy access

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Business Roundtable sued the Securities and Exchange Commission Wednesday over its rule giving shareholders an easier way to influence corporate boards. Get the full story »

Conrad Black’s attorneys in appeals court today

From Canada’s National Post | Attorney’s for former Sun-Times publisher and media mogul Conrad Black will appear in Chicago’s 7th Circuit Court of Appeals to argue that Black’s fraud convictions should be tossed. Black was released from prison after serving two years of a 6.5-year sentence for breaking the so-called “honest services” law.
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Judge denies antitrust injunction in United merger

Bloomberg News | A federal judge in California denied a request that he enjoin the merger of UAL Corp. with Continental Airlines Inc. on antitrust grounds, according to a ruling in San Francisco late yesterday.

Potash Corp sues BHP to block takeover bid

Potash Corp. said Wednesday it filed a lawsuit against BHP Billiton that seeks to block the mining giant’s $39 billion hostile bid for the Canadian fertilizer producer.

The lawsuit filed in a U.S. District Court alleges that BHP misrepresented and failed to inform investors about material facts, and it accuses BHP of engaging in fraudulent, deceptive and manipulative behavior related to its offer. Get the full story »

Shareholder sues to bar Discover’s Citi deal

A Student Loan Corp. shareholder has sued to block the sale of the company by majority owner Citigroup Inc. because it benefits the Wall Street bank at the expense of minority investors, according to a lawsuit.

Citigroup, which owns 80 percent of the Stamford, Connecticut-based student lender, agreed last week to sell it to Discover Financial Services for $600 million. Get the full story »

Bridgeport couple sued for housing discrimination

Radio personality and comedian George Willborn arriving at a press conference to talk about the discrimination suit on Aug. 26, 2010. (Heather Charles/Chicago Tribune)

The federal government filed a civil lawsuit Monday against a couple living in Chicago’s Bridgeport neighborhood and their real estate agent, for allegedly refusing to sell their home to an African-American family.

The filing, made in U.S. District Court in Chicago, names as defendants Daniel and Adrienne Sabbia; their real estate agent, Jeffrey Lowe; and Midwest Realty Ventures, which does business as Prudential Rubloff Properties.

The lawsuit was expected. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development originally filed a federal housing discrimination complaint last month against the parties after it determined that Chicago radio personality George Willborn’s failed efforts to buy the Sabbias’ home was the result of housing discrimination. The case was moved to the Justice Department in late August. Get the full story »