In-House Counsel
Tesla s board failed to appoint general counsel who could keep Elon Musk in line, unsealed suit alleges
Elon Musk at the Tesla factory in Fremont, California, in 2011. Photo by Maurizio Pesce via Wikimedia Commons.
Tesla’s board of directors failed to secure a general counsel who could curtail “erratic” tweeting Tesla CEO Elon Musk, according to a shareholders’ derivative lawsuit unsealed Friday.
The lawsuit, originally filed March 8, says Musk repeatedly tweeted Tesla-related information that violated settlements with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission requiring advance corporate approval of the posts. According to the suit, the board breached its duties “by failing to appoint an independent general counsel and prevent Musk from interfering with the general counsel’s duties.”
Judge accuses Arizona GOP of gaslighting him, orders $18K payment for flimsy excuses for a lawsuit
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An Arizona judge has ordered the Arizona Republican Party and its lawyers to pay more than $18,000 in attorney fees for filing a “groundless” lawsuit seeking a hand count audit of votes in the 2020 presidential election that differed from the method established by the secretary of state.
Judge John Hannah Jr. of Maricopa County, Arizona, said he had no power to order a new audit method. The court “is not a roving commission to declare the law and order people to follow it,” Hannah said.
Comedian s podcast remarks during jury duty spur appeal by convicted defendant
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A convicted former currency trader has filed an appeal that is partly based on podcasts by an unhappy juror during the federal trial in New York City.
Akshay Aiyer has contended that juror Jake Letizia’s podcasts were “a flagrant violation of the judge’s instructions” to refrain from discussing the case with others or on any blog or website, the New York Times reports. Aiyer also said Letizia’s podcast remarks revealed his “contempt for the jury’s responsibilities.”
Aiyer was convicted in November 2019 of conspiring to manipulate prices in the global foreign currency exchange markets.
Legal Writing
Justice Thomas goes rogue on the Bluebook with cleaned up citation to the delight of appellate lawyers
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas went rogue on the Bluebook when he embraced an appellate lawyer’s suggestion for dealing with “citation baggage” that comes with some quoted material.
Jack Metzler, an appellate lawyer with the Federal Trade Commission, outlined the problem in an article at SSRN in March 2017. When court decisions and briefs quote from an earlier source, and the earlier source sometimes quotes an even earlier source, the Bluebook rules make for a lot of “citation baggage” that distracts from the point.
5th Circuit sanctions Marc Elias and other Perkins Coie lawyers for redundant and misleading motion
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A federal appeals court has sanctioned Perkins Coie attorneys who represent Democratic groups for a “redundant and misleading” motion in election litigation.
The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at New Orleans imposed the sanctions on lawyer Marc Elias and his legal team in a March 11 order, report Law360, Bloomberg Law and Law.com. A March 12 press release is here.
The court imposed the sanctions in a case in which Perkins Coie lawyers argued that the elimination of straight-ticket voting in Texas disproportionately affected minorities.