The BLT: The Blog of Legal Times

Williams & Connolly Defeats Disqualification Attempt

Williams & Connolly can continue to represent the son of one of the firm’s partners in a business dispute in court, a Washington federal judge has ruled.

Brendan Sullivan III, the son of Williams & Connolly partner Brendan Sullivan Jr., sued his former business partner Robert Elwood in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia after the two had a falling out over management of a multimillion-dollar youth sports program.

Sullivan accused Elwood of stealing from the business—Headfirst Baseball LLC and related entities—and interfering after he was fired. Elwood, in his counterclaims, said Sullivan knew about and approved of his spending practices, and claimed Sullivan was trying to push him out to avoid sharing profits as the company became more valuable.

Lance Armstrong's Lawyers Seek Dismissal of Fraud Claims

Updated at 5:00 p.m.

A lawyer for Lance Armstrong today asked a Washington federal judge to dismiss the government's fraud case against the famed cyclist, arguing prosecutors failed to meet deadlines to file their claims.

U.S. District Judge Robert Wilkins did not rule on the motions to dismiss filed by Armstrong and the other defendants. The judge said at the end of today's hearing he doubted he would dismiss the case in its entirety, but didn’t indicate which defendants he might be inclined to dismiss.

The U.S. Department of Justice accused Armstrong and others of making false claims while receiving millions of dollars in sponsorships from the U.S. Postal Service. Prosecutors said Armstrong's use of performance-enhancing substances violated the sponsorship agreement.

Va. Attorney Makes Splash in Triple Crown Swimming

By Alex Zank

For Courtney Moates Paulk, practicing law isn’t her only passion that requires daily commitment and dedication.

Paulk, a litigation partner in the Virginia firm Hirschler Fleischer, is about to dive into the final stretch of ocean to complete the Triple Crown of Open Water Swimming.

The Triple Crown is a three-part physical and mental endurance challenge that tests even the best swimmers’ abilities in open waters. The three swims include a 21-mile trip across the English Channel, 20.2 miles across the Catalina Channel in Southern California and 28.5 miles around Manhattan Island in New York.

Having completed two of the three courses, only Catalina stands in Paulk’s way.

In Insurance Dispute, Washington Nationals Cry Foul Over Player's Age

A dispute between the Washington Nationals baseball club and its insurance company, rooted in fraud claims over a prospect's actual identity and age, was moved this week to the city's federal district court.

The Nationals originally sued Westchester Fire Insurance Co. in May in District of Columbia Superior Court, accusing the company of wrongfully denying a request for coverage after the team said a new recruit duped the club about his actual age. Yesterday, Westchester removed the case to U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.

Williams & Connolly is going to bat for the Nationals. Partner Dane Butswinkas could not immediately be reached for comment and associate Liam Montgomery declined to comment. A team spokeswoman also wasn't available. The Nationals' general counsel, Damon Jones, was an associate at Williams & Connolly before joining the ball club.

The Morning Wrap

March Agenda: Congress doesn't intend to reverse across-the-board spending cuts that took effect Friday, The Washington Post reports. But it is hoping to avert a government shutdown that could happen by the end of the month.

Wiping Away: U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Francisco on Friday took away roughly $450 million of the $1.05 billion in damages a jury awarded last August to Apple Inc. in its smartphone patent war against Samsung Electronics Co., The Recorder reports. The award stood as one of the largest ever in a patent infringement case.

OMB Chief: President Barack Obama will tap Sylvia Mathews Burwell as the next director of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, Politico reports. Burwell is the president of the Walmart Foundation.

D.C. Circuit Appears Skeptical of FCC in Tennis Channel Case

A federal appeals court in Washington today appeared poised to strike down a Federal Communications Commission decision that found the country's largest cable television provider discriminated against the Tennis Channel by restricting its distribution to a sports package.

A lawyer for the commission, Peter Karanjia, faced tough questions from a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, where Comcast Cable Communications LLC is fighting the FCC order. The agency ruling was the first-ever in two decades under a provision of federal communications law that Congress enacted to promote competition and diversity in cable television programming.

Judges on the D.C. Circuit panel expressed concern about whether the Tennis Channel's complaint is time-barred and whether the agency order could expand the power of the government to regulate the speech of other entities. One judge, Brett Kavanaugh, said the FCC "has a serious problem with the First Amendment here."

The appeals court didn't immediately rule in the closely watched case. Bloomberg L.P. filed papers in support of the FCC. On the other side, the National Cable & Telecommunications Association wants the FCC order vacated. A team from Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher represents Comcast.

The Morning Wrap

Oil Spill: The civil trial against BP PLC over the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill is starting on Monday in New Orleans, The Times-Picayune reports.

Sunday Blessing: Speaking at his last Sunday blessing as pope, Benedict XVI told Catholics he won't abandon them when he resigns, The New York Times reports. "On the contrary, if God asks me, this is because I can continue to serve" the church "with the same dedication and the same love which I have tried to do so until now, but in a way more suitable to my age and to my strength," Benedict said.

Sandy Help: Several lawyers in parts of Long Island hit by Hurricane Sandy are applying their expertise to assist their neighbors pro bono, even as they continue to deal with their own challenges, the New York Law Journal reports. "I try to let them know they're not alone," Long Island attorney Tracey Discepolo said. "I'm in the same boat."

DOJ Intervenes in Whistleblower Suit Against Lance Armstrong

For a couple of years, the federal government has remained on the sidelines of a lawsuit in Washington that alleges Lance Armstrong and others made false claims to the U.S. Postal Service in connection with the agency's sponsorship of a professional cycling team.

The U.S. Justice Department announced today, ending months of speculation, that the government is jumping into the suit to back the plaintiff, Floyd Landis, who rode with Armstrong on the professional team the USPS-sponsored between 2002 and 2004. The government alleges Armstrong's use of performance-enhancing substances was a violation of the USPS sponsorship agreement. This amended complaint was filed today.

"Lance Armstrong and his cycling team took more than $30 million from the U.S. Postal Service based on their contractual promise to play fair and abide by the rules—including the rules against doping,” Ronald Machen Jr., the U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, said in a statement. “The Postal Service has now seen its sponsorship unfairly associated with what has been described as ‘the most sophisticated, professionalized, and successful doping program that sport has ever seen.’"

Lawyers who represent whistleblower said the case will be closely watched for what will likely be the battlefield of the dispute: Was the USPS harmed?

Appeals Court Affirms $775K Judgment for Injured MLB Umpire

Updated at 1 p.m.

The Wilson Sporting Goods Co., struck out in its appeal of a $775,000 judgment awarded to a Major League Baseball umpire who sued after being injured by a foul ball. The District of Columbia Court of Appeals affirmed the judgment in an opinion (PDF) released this morning.

Edwin Hickox sued Wilson in District of Columbia Superior Court after a foul ball knocked off his Wilson-made face mask during a Washington Nationals game in 2005. A jury sided with Hickox in March 2011 and ordered Wilson to pay $775,000 to Hickox and $25,000 to his wife. Wilson appealed, challenging the admission of an expert who testified for Hickox at trial, among other things.

A three-judge appellate panel upheld the judgment today. Wilson had pointed to flaws in the expert's testimony – such as the fact that he didn't do his own testing of the face masks at issue – but the appeals court found that any deficiencies went to the weight the jury gave that testimony, as opposed to whether it should be admissible.

The Morning Wrap

Layoffs: With layoffs running rampant at Allen & Overy, DLA Piper, and Eversheds, The American Lawyer asks whether U.S. law firms will be next. "These are not outliers. They're not anomalies," Zeughauser Group consultant Kent Zimmermann said of the recent layoffs. "It is something that's happening quietly in many, many firms in the industry."

Contraception Battles: Roman Catholics, evangelicals and Mennonites are flooding courts with challenges to a provision in the new health care law that requires employers to cover birth control in worker health plans, The New York Times reports. "This is highly likely to end up at the Supreme Court," said Douglas Laycock, a law professor at the University of Virginia and one of the country’s top scholars on church-state conflicts. "There are so many cases, and we are already getting strong disagreements among the circuit courts."

Stepping Down: Lisa Gomer, the general counsel of the U.S. Agency for International Development, is leaving the agency on February 9 amid an ongoing probe into alleged contract rigging, Corporate Counsel reports. Gomer’s attorney, David Schertler of Schertler & Onorato, said his client "did not violate any law." He added that she "cooperated completely" with the Office of Inspector General investigation, according to an emailed statement.