Probably no one was more anxious to read Judge Beryl Howell's written ruling than lawyers for AT&T and T-Mobile at Kellogg Huber and Cleary Gottlieb, who are fighting off the Justice Department's challenge to their own clients' planned $39 billion merger. They won't find much to like in Judge Howell's opinion.

A $5 million investment in this case could turn into a very nice payday for the litigation funding company Burford Capital. It's entitled to 33 percent of any settlement before judgment and 40 percent of any judgment.

The appeals court affirmed a lower court's finding that a digital music download is not a public performance under copyright law. It also ordered a revaluation of the fees Yahoo! and RealNetworks owe to play copyrighted music on their sites.

More homes plagued by defective Chinese drywall have been slated to be repaired under a new agreement between plaintiffs lawyers representing homeowners, manufacturer Knauf Plasterboard (Tianjin) Co., and a homebuilders' committee in ongoing multidistrict litigation in New Orleans. But according to homebuilders' lead lawyer at Greenberg Traurig, the builders could have expanded the remediation efforts long ago.

The huge non-profit often shows up as an amicus in qui tam litigation, but this appears to be the first time AARP is wading directly into the fray.