Lookzy: all your daily legal news in 0.1 billable hours. Litigation, deals, lateral moves and industry news; we cover it all.

Welcome to Lookzy. In today's Lookzy:

• Quinn loses a $185 million fee award

• An attorney married to a "Real Housewives" star is indicted

• Adani Group scraps its multi billion-dollar stock sale

• A proposed law firm merger is called off

QUINN LOSES A $185 MILLION FEE

When Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP represented a class of healthcare insurers that received $3.7 billion in a settlement with the US government related to the Affordable Care Act, the firm knew to wait to spend the $185 million it was awarded in legal fees.

Although just 5% of the total settlement amount, this fee amount was clearly incredibly large and Quinn Emanuel attorneys in the suit had already been criticized for being "aggressive".

The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit now formally overturned that fee award, citing that Federal Claims Court Judge Kathryn Davis should have performed a "lodestar cross-check" that considers hours worked and billing rates.

Overturning Quinn Emanuel's fee award will cause a fresh review of an appropriate fee for their work for the class. Sheppard Mullin, representing objecting class members, argued that a fee award of $8 million, no greater than $20 million, was more appropriate.

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ECON SNAPSHOT

The difference between special bonuses and layoffs

THE VERDICT

Arguing today's litigation news

FTC loss. A California federal judge has reportedly rejected the FTC's request and refused to impose a preliminary block of Meta's acquisition of VR maker Within Unlimited. The FTC must decide whether it will continue to try to fight the transaction via its in-house process or whether to appeal.

Elon on trial. James Murdoch, the former 21st Century Fox CEO and a Tesla board member, testified in Elon Musk's "funding secured" trial over his proposed take-private of Tesla that he wasn't surprised that Musk was confident a deal with the Saudi Public Investment Fund was certain because that aligns with how Murdoch has done business in the Middle East previously.

Breach notification. Digital healthcare company GoodRx agreed to pay $1.5 million and be barred from sharing users' sensitive health data with third-party advertisers in a settlement under a first-of-its-kind enforcement action by the FTC under its Health Breach Notification Rule.

Real Housewives' husband. A Chicago grand jury on Wednesday indicted disbarred attorney Tom Girardi, his son-in-law and the former CFO of his law firm, Girardi Keese, on eight counts of wire fraud stemming and four counts of contempt stemming from the firm's theft of millions of dollars from its clients' settlements. Girardi is also a "Real Housewives" spouse.

Last minute lawsuit. Security training platform KnowBe4 Inc. was sued by investors in two separate DE Chancery Court actions, with investors seeking information on the events leading up to KnowBe4's sale to a consortium of PE firms including Vista Equity Partners Management LLC on the eve of a preliminary shareholder vote approving the transaction.

THE DEAL

Wheelin' and dealin' today's corporate news

SPAC attack. Electric vehicle company Lotus Technology Inc. agreed to merge with L Catterton Asia Acquisition Corp., a SPAC, taking Lotus public in a deal worth $5.4 billion. Skadden is representing Lotus and Kirkland is representing L Catterton.

Levering up. Grupo Mexico announced that it secured a $5 billion debt package from a group of banks, facilitating its attempt to acquire Banamex, Citigroup Inc.'s retail operations in Mexico, in a $7-8 billion deal.

Take private. PE firm GI Partners agreed to acquire Atlas Technical Consultants Inc., an engineering firm, for $1.05 billion in cash. Ropes & Gray is representing GI Partners and Kirkland is representing Atlas.

Under review. Biotech firm Amgen Inc. disclosed that the FTC is reviewing its proposed $28 billion merger with Horizon Therapeutics PLC in a "second request", setting up delays and uncertainty in the companies' path to closing the transaction.

Scrapped sale. As a follow up to Tuesday's story that Indian conglomerate Adani Enterprises Ltd.'s $2.5 billion stock sale was fully subscribed, Adani ultimately canceled the sale yesterday. Short seller Hindenburg Research had published a report on Adani claiming that it was “pulling the largest con in corporate history”; Adani's market cap has since dropped over $100 billion.

BUSINESS OF THE FIRM

Lateral Moves:

• Goodwin Procter hired partner Debora Hoehne from Weil and four additional partners from Troutman Pepper, adding to the 14 partners just hired from Troutman.

• Dentons hired former US Congressman Jeff Denham from K&L Gates.

• Latham hired partner Brian Patterson from Gunderson.

• Kirkland hired tax partner David Foster from Skadden.

• Vinson & Elkins hired tax partners Kathleen Pakenham and Adriana Wirtz Strengthen from Cooley.

• Paul Hastings hired partner Jamie Madell from Kirkland.

• Walmart's General Counsel and EVP Karen Roberts announced she is stepping down after 27 years at Walmart; Walmart did not announced Roberts' replacement.

Industry News:

• Scrapped merger. Womble Bond Dickinson and BDB Pitmans announced that they have decided to call off a merger of the two firms previously announced in October 2022.

• No Trump in 2024. Jones Day announced it will not advise President Trump in his 2024 election campaign, noting that it was winding down existing Trump matters related to previous campaigns. According to FEC records, Jones Day earned nearly $14 million from the Trump campaign from 2015 to 2020.

BOILERPLATE

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