Akin Gump triggered a worldwide criminal probe back in 2008 when it accused Pittsburgh-based Alcoa of racketeering and fraud on behalf of Aluminium Bahrain. On Tuesday, the firm beat prosecutors to the punch yet again, wresting a long-awaited settlement from Alcoa.

U.S. District Judge Gene Pratter in Philadelphia can't resist cracking egg-related jokes every time she rules on allegations that egg producers conspired to inflate egg prices. But as always, her latest ruling is serious business for the defendants in the case.

Once again, a federal judge in Philadelphia has clipped the wings of some of the country's largest egg producers hoping to hatch their way out of multidistrict class action litigation over alleged price-fixing for eggs and egg products. And this time the judge got just a few dozen words into her decision before cracking her first chicken joke.

A federal judge in Philadelphia allowed class antitrust claims against some of the country's top egg producers to move forward, though she granted motions to dismiss by one producer and an industry trade group.