Lawyers for Twitter, now X, and for the nine former employees, on behalf of thousands of others, who are petitioning to compel their claims against the company to arbitration (see 2309010040) met for mediation Dec. 1 but were unable to resolve their dispute, said their joint status report Tuesday (docket 4:23-cv-03301) in U.S. District Court for Northern California in San Francisco. They ask that the stay that was ordered Sept. 21 pending the outcome of that mediation be lifted immediately, and that the court enter a briefing and hearing schedule for the petitioners’ motion to compel arbitration and for a preliminary injunction, said the report. Under that proposed schedule, the petitioners’ motion would be due Friday, and X’s response in opposition would be due Feb. 2, said the report. The parties are also asking the court to schedule a hearing on the motion for Feb. 29 at 2 p.m. PST, it said. The former employees contend that X refuses to engage them in arbitration, despite having compelled those employees in previous lawsuits to arbitrate their claims (see 2307060033).
The Commerce Department has released the final results of the antidumping duty administrative review on stainless steel sheet and strip in coils from Taiwan (A-583-831). These final results will be used to set final assessments of AD on importers for subject merchandise entered July 1, 2021, through June 30, 2022.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Jan. 5 on AD/CVD proceedings:
A listing of recent Commerce Department antidumping and countervailing duty messages posted on CBP's website Jan. 4, along with the case number(s) and CBP message number, is provided below. The messages are available by searching for the listed CBP message number at CBP's ADCVD Search page.
The opening brief of Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R) is due Jan. 31 in his 9th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court appeal to vacate the district court’s preliminary injunction that blocks him from enforcing SB-419, Montana’s statewide TikTok ban (see 2401030007), said a time schedule notice Wednesday (docket 24-34). The answering brief of five TikTok users and TikTok itself is due Feb. 28, said the notice. The plaintiffs in the two consolidated cases against Knudsen argued that SB-419 violates the First Amendment and the Constitution’s supremacy and commerce clauses. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy’s opinion and order held that the plaintiffs “have shown a likelihood of success as to the merits of each claim,” and that a preliminary injunction on the Jan. 1 effective date of SB-419 was “warranted.”
A less stringent "reasonable cause" standard for adding companies to the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act Entity List is justified on statutory and policy grounds, the U.S. told the Court of International Trade in a brief opposing Chinese exporter Ninestar Corp.'s motion for a preliminary injunction. Using a higher standard, such as a preponderance of the evidence standard, for making listing decisions, would undermine the UFLPA's goal of placing a burden on exporters to show that their goods are not made with forced labor (Ninestar Corp. v. U.S., CIT # 23-00182).
The FTC hailed Friday’s order signed by U.S. District Judge Edgardo Ramos for Southern New York in Manhattan granting the agency’s motion for a preliminary injunction that blocks Iqvia’s Propel Media buy (see 2307200024). The FTC “has satisfied its burden of demonstrating that a preliminary injunction of the proposed acquisition is in the public interest,” said Ramos’ order (docket 1:23-cv-06188). The agency also has shown that there’s “a reasonable probability that the proposed acquisition will substantially impair competition in the relevant market and that the equities weigh in favor of injunctive relief,” said the order. The injunction is pending the commission’s administrative proceeding seeking to permanently block the proposed deal. An administrative trial is scheduled to begin Jan. 18. “We are pleased with the federal court’s decision and look forward to continuing to fight to permanently enjoin this anticompetitive deal via the Commission’s administrative proceedings,” said Bureau of Competition Director Henry Liu in a statement Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge David Barlow for Utah in Salt Lake City granted in part the parties’ stipulated motion for an amended briefing schedule in NetChoice’s Dec. 20 motion for a preliminary injunction to block Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes (R) from enforcing the Social Media Regulation Act when it takes effect March 1 (see 2312230004), said the judge’s text-only docket order Tuesday (docket 2:23-cv-00911). Reyes’ deadline for filing an opposition to the injunction motion is Jan. 23, and NetChoice’s reply brief is due Feb. 6, said Barlow’s order. The parties were seeking deadlines of Jan. 31 and Feb. 12, respectively. Reyes’ response to the NetChoice complaint is due 21 days after Barlow rules on the motion for an injunction, as the parties requested, said the order. Due to the “issues being litigated," more extended deadlines "are unlikely to be workable" in light of the statute's fast-approaching March 1 effective date, said the order. NetChoice contends that the Utah statute is unconstitutional because it uses content-, viewpoint- and speaker-based definitions to restrict minors’ and adults’ ability to access and engage in protected speech. NetChoice also contends that the statute uses those definitions to restrict how certain websites organize, display and disseminate protected speech. NetChoice argues that the entire statute violates the First Amendment and the due process clause, and that Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act preempts parts of it.
The Commerce Department and the International Trade Commission published the following Federal Register notices Jan. 4 on AD/CVD proceedings:
Montana Attorney General Austin Knudsen (R) waited only until the first court date of 2024 to appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Appeals Court the district court’s Nov. 30 granting of a preliminary injunction blocking him from enforcing SB-419, Montana’s statewide TikTok ban, when it took effect Jan. 1 (see 2312010003), said Knudsen’s notice of appeal Tuesday in U.S. District Court for Montana in Missoula. The plaintiffs in two consolidated cases, including multiple TikTok users (docket 9:23-cv-00056), plus TikTok itself (docket 9:23-cv-00061), argued that SB-419 violates the First Amendment and the Constitution’s supremacy and commerce clauses. U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy’s opinion and order held that the plaintiffs “have shown a likelihood of success as to the merits of each claim,” and that a preliminary injunction on the effective date of SB-419 was “warranted.” Despite the injunction, Knudsen’s office said it was looking forward “to presenting the complete legal argument to defend the law that protects Montanans from the Chinese Communist Party obtaining and using their data.”