Post by Reuters Legal

A federal appeals court in Chicago appeared skeptical of arguments by Japanese pachinko billionaire Kazuo Okada that he shouldn't be forced to pay $50 million in legal fees stemming from an earlier court fight with Wynn Resorts. Grilling Okada's lawyer Alex Gude from Dentons Bingham Greenebaum, a 7th Circuit panel asked how Okada's due process rights were violated when an arbitration panel awarded the fees to Chicago-based litigation boutique Bartlit Beck LLP by default in 2019. Okada had hired Bartlit Beck to represent him in a lawsuit against Wynn Resorts after the U.S. casino giant forced Okada's Universal Entertainment Corp to sell back its stake in the company at a discount following an internal anti-corruption investigation. That case settled in March 2018 for $2.6 billion. Sean Berkowitz, the global chair of Latham & Watkins' complex commercial litigation practice, is representing Bartlit Beck in the fee dispute. David Thomas has more: https://lnkd.in/g2Yzbbs6 #legalnews