When we close up shop for a spell twice a year here at the Litigation Daily, we try to time our “go dark” weeks to less busy stretches on the court calendar. Typically that’s the time around the Fourth of July and some time between Christmas and New Year’s.

Well, lo-and-behold, this year that Independence Day stretch and the days right before saw big trial news break again and again and again. We’ll get to all that on Friday when tap the winner of our two-week blowout Litigator of the Week cycle and fete the runners-up. But given the number of noteworthy nominations already in the hopper, let’s give out some early week shout outs.