Plaintiffs’ lawyers representing about 20 crew workers aboard the Deepwater Asgard drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico when Hurricane Zeta hit in October 2020 have asked a Houston judge to issue sanctions and possibly remove defense attorneys for Transocean Offshore Drilling for a “false and inflammatory” pretrial filing last week that the lawyers say “tainted the jury pool” and “deprived plaintiffs of their right to an impartial jury.” Attorneys for Arnold & Itkin claim that opposing counsel Ahmad Zavitsanos & Mensing violated disciplinary rules when AZA publicly accused the Houston plaintiffs’ firm of being involved in a financial scheme that includes medical experts and a private equity funding source.

A federal jury in Marshall began deliberating Thursday whether South Korean technology company Samsung Electronics infringed on cell phone wireless-charging patents obtained by California-based startup Mojo Mobility. McKool Smith lawyers asked for $303.5 million for its client. A legal team led by Paul Hastings denied Samsung infringed and asserted the patents at issue were invalid.