Ex-FDA Chief Accuses J&J Of Hiding Talc Risks For 50 Years

By Craig Clough

A former head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration spent a contentious day under cross-examination Tuesday in a Los Angeles bellwether trial over claims that Johnson & Johnson's talc products caused two women's ovarian cancer, accusing the company of hiding the products' health risks for over 50 years.

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9th Circ. Halts 1 Of 2 Calif. Corporate Climate Disclosure Laws

By Rachel Riley

The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday blocked a new California law requiring large companies to publicly disclose financial risks tied to climate change, barring enforcement as an appeal by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups challenging the policy unfolds in federal appellate court.

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Skaggs' Contract Worth Over $124M Had He Lived, Jury Told

By Gina Kim

Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs' contract through the 2027 MLB season would've been worth up to $124 million had he lived and continued to improve in his professional career, an expert for the plaintiffs told California state jurors considering his family's wrongful death claims against the ball club on Tuesday. 

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Sick With Cancer, Jack Abramoff Avoids Jail In Crypto Fraud

By Bonnie Eslinger

Disgraced Washington, D.C., lobbyist Jack Abramoff avoided a second stint in prison when a California federal judge sentenced him Tuesday to probation for his role in a cryptocurrency fraud, citing his cooperation with law enforcement and his stage-four cancer.

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Health Co. Execs Convicted In $100M Adderall Sales Scheme

By Lauren Berg

A San Francisco federal jury weighing a first-of-its-kind case on Tuesday convicted two digital healthcare company executives of scheming to sell Adderall through deceptive advertising, allegedly bringing in $100 million in illicit profits.

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Texas Redistricting Blocked Over Racial Gerrymandering

By Jared Foretek

A Texas federal judge on Tuesday struck down Texas' newly redrawn congressional map, ruling that the state likely engaged in unconstitutional racial gerrymandering and ordering the state to revert to its 2021 map for next year's midterm elections.

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9th Circ. Doubts Suit Over Seattle's Response To BLM Protest

By Rachel Riley

The Ninth Circuit appeared skeptical Tuesday about reviving claims that the city of Seattle violated the constitutional rights of two businesses by abandoning several city blocks during the 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, with one judge questioning whether city officials put them in a "more dangerous situation" than others in the neighborhood.

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Flagstar Urges 9th Circ. Redo For Escrow Interest Ruling

By Isaac Monterose

Flagstar Bank pushed the entire Ninth Circuit to reconsider its prior ruling in a putative class action that accused the bank of violating a California law that requires banks to make interest payments for escrow accounts connected to certain types of residential mortgage loans, arguing that the court deciding that the state law is not preempted by the National Bank Act clashes with the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in a similar case.

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Judge Questions If Trump's Say-So Makes Wind Edict Legal

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge on Tuesday lamented a lack of clear guidance from higher courts as she considered whether wind farm permits can be put on hold indefinitely based solely on a directive from the president.

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Insurer Needn't Cover LA Zoo Org. In City Contract Dispute

By Hope Patti

An insurer doesn't owe coverage to the Los Angeles Zoo's nonprofit arm in a contractual dispute brought by the city, a California federal court has ruled, finding that all claims are excluded under the association's nonprofit asset protection policy.

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Calif. Panel Won't Revive Hip Replacement Med Mal Suit

By Mike Curley

A California appeals panel won't reinstate a man's suit alleging he needed to have his hip replacement redone after his leg shrank two inches, saying he failed to rebut the doctor's expert testimony that the initial surgery was within the standard of care.

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Plaintiffs Seek Meta Research Docs On Youth Users

By Emily Field

Plaintiffs urged a Los Angeles judge to compel Meta to produce unredacted internal documents that they say show its attorneys changed company research about the effects of social media on the young, citing a recent order by a Washington, D.C., judge in related litigation.

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Software Provider Can't Shake Suit Over AT&T Call Recordings

By Allison Grande

A California federal judge has refused to toss a putative class action accusing conversation analytics software provider Invoca Inc. of illegally recording AT&T customers' phone calls, finding that a pair of recent district court decisions supported the conclusion that the plaintiffs had adequately asserted a claim for wiretapping.

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DSW Faces Sony IP Suit Amid Jurisdictional Issues For Others

By Ivan Moreno

A California federal judge has ruled that Sony Music Entertainment and other music companies can proceed with a lawsuit that accuses DSW Shoe Warehouse of infringing song copyrights with social media ads, but the plaintiffs must do more to establish jurisdiction over other defendants.

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Agilent Wants Justices To Eye Invalidation Of CRISPR Patents

By Adam Lidgett

Agilent Technologies wants the U.S. Supreme Court to take up its challenge to a Federal Circuit finding that claims in a pair of its patents on the gene-editing tool CRISPR were invalid, arguing the decision conflicts with rules on which side faces the burden of proving invalidity.

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San Francisco Nurses Can't Challenge FLSA OT Exemption

By Irene Spezzamonte

Nurses who claim that the city of San Francisco failed to pay them the proper overtime rates fall under a Fair Labor Standards Act exemption, a California federal judge ruled, finding summary judgment necessary following a sanctions order limiting the nurses' evidence.

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AT&T Avoids Plan Participant's 401(k) Forfeiture Suit

By Kellie Mejdrich

An AT&T worker failed to state a claim for violations of federal benefits law in a proposed class action alleging that employee 401(k) plan forfeitures were misspent, a California federal judge found, tossing the suit.

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Tax Return Preparer Gets 18 Months For $25 Million Fraud

By Anna Scott Farrell

A California tax return preparer who admitted he participated in a scheme that claimed $25 million in false refunds was sentenced to 18 months in prison by a California federal court, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

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Brief

Crypto Scammer Admits Role In $263M RICO Conspiracy

By Sydney Price

An eighth defendant has pled guilty to participating in a scam ring accused of stealing at least $263 million in cryptocurrency from victims across the U.S. to spend on high-priced goods, prosecutors said Tuesday.

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Brief

Rumble Alerts 9th Circ. To Recusal Bid Over Google Ties

By Emily Sawicki

Days after Rumble asked a California federal judge to consider recusal in the event the Ninth Circuit revives its antitrust lawsuit against Google, the video-sharing site flagged its recusal bid to the Ninth Circuit itself, filing a motion for judicial notice of the district court judge's friendship with Google's top in-house litigation chief.

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States Can Intervene Over DOJ's HPE Merger Deal

By Matthew Perlman

A California federal court granted a request on Tuesday from state enforcers asking to participate in a review of the U.S. Department of Justice's controversial settlement allowing Hewlett Packard Enterprise to move ahead with its $14 billion purchase of Juniper Networks.

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CVS Pays $18.2M To Settle False Claims Act Allegations

By Rae Ann Varona

CVS Pharmacy Inc. paid the federal government and California a total of $18.2 million to settle allegations it submitted claims for medication reimbursements without verifying that the medications would be for approved diagnoses, the U.S. Department of Justice has announced.

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1st Circ. May Nix Trump Funding Freeze In 'Weird' Case

By Chris Villani

The First Circuit on Tuesday hinted that a federal judge may have been in bounds when blocking the Trump administration from withholding certain funds for states, expressing skepticism that the judge's order was improper or overly broad.

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Warner Bros. Appeals Village Roadshow's Ch. 11 Rights Sale

By Clara Geoghegan

Hollywood studio Warner Brothers asked a Delaware bankruptcy judge on Tuesday to pause the $18.5 million sale of its bankrupt former business partner Village Roadshow's derivative film rights while it challenges the deal.

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DHS Unlikely To Exit Suit Over Protected Status Terminations

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge Tuesday tentatively denied the government's request to dismiss a class action challenging Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's termination of temporary protection status for immigrants from three countries, expressing disbelief at the government's assertion during the hearing that Noem's discretion is "unfettered" and "unreviewable."

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Noem Says US Security Behind Job Denial, Not Religious Tea

By Elaine Briseño

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem countered a job applicant's lawsuit alleging religious discrimination, telling a Florida federal court that the judiciary system lacks the authority to scrutinize the department's national security decisions.

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Calif. Species Protections Will Increase Compliance Burdens

California's recently enacted A.B. 1319 automatically protects species when the federal government rolls back its own protections — which could mean an onslaught of state-level compliance mandates for the regulated community that come with no advance notice or public hearings, says attorney David Smith.

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Litigation Funding Could Create Ethics Issues For Attorneys

A litigation investor’s recent complaint claiming a New York mass torts lawyer effectively ran a Ponzi scheme illustrates how litigation funding arrangements can subject attorneys to legal ethics dilemmas and potential liability, so engagement letters must have very clear terms, says Matthew Feinberg at Goldberg Segalla.

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Bonus Spotlight

Cravath Unveils Associate Bonuses, Multiple Firms Follow

By Aebra Coe

Multiple firms swiftly fell in line Tuesday evening just hours after Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP announced associate bonuses in line with those offered last year, continuing a long tradition of BigLaw firms following Cravath's lead on compensation.

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Pillsbury Winthrop Latest Firm Targeted By Data Breach Suit

By Hailey Konnath

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP on Tuesday was hit with a proposed class action stemming from a data breach the firm says happened in April, adding to the growing litigation firms are facing in the aftermath of cyberattacks.

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Analysis

Perkins Coie's Trump Fight Doesn't Scare Off UK Suitor

By Chris Villani

Perkins Coie LLP's ongoing fight with the Trump administration did not deter a proposed combination with British law firm Ashurst, signaling that the legal community is not worried about fallout from the president's suspension of the firm's security clearances.

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Republican Senators Seek Judge Boasberg's Suspension

By Courtney Bublé

Six Republican senators, three of whom sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, are asking that Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg of the District of Columbia be administratively suspended while Congress considers his impeachment.

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Sanctioned Atty Convinces Mo. Court Errors Not Caused By AI

By Emily Sawicki

A Missouri federal judge sanctioned former counsel for Liberty Mutual Personal Insurance Co. Monday for including citation errors in a motion this fall, finding that, although the attorney likely inserted the errors herself without the use of AI software, "such carelessness, exacerbated by a lack of internal guardrails, is entirely unacceptable."

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Brief

Conn. Atty Fined $500 For AI-Generated Errors In Wage Suit

By Emily Sawicki

In an order that noted an attorney's remorse, a Connecticut federal judge sanctioned a solo practitioner $500 this week for submitting a brief packed with false, AI-generated case citations, finding the fake authorities wasted court resources, risked misleading a pro se litigant and undermined trust in the judicial system.

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Disbarred NC Atty Must Pay $5.2M For Escrow Fund Misuse

By Abigail Harrison

A disbarred attorney was ordered to pay $5.2 million in restitution and serve four years of probation during a Tuesday sentencing hearing in North Carolina federal court, after he pled guilty to a criminal wire fraud charge related to the misuse of escrow funds.

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Judge Upholds NY Law Blocking ICE Courthouse Arrests

By Andrea Keckley

New York beat back a federal lawsuit challenging the state's policy barring immigration officials from arresting people near its courthouses, after a federal judge rejected the U.S. Department of Justice's preemption claims.

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NY AG James Blasts 'Outrageous Conduct' Behind Indictment

By Adrian Cruz

New York Attorney General Letitia A. James has told a Virginia federal court to dismiss the U.S. government's indictment of her, calling it "patently unconstitutional" and "outrageous conduct."

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McGuireWoods Is Delaying Defamation Case, NC Justices Told

By Hayley Fowler

The former CEO of a managed care organization who alleges McGuireWoods and one of its ex-partners defamed him during a press conference more than seven years ago has told North Carolina's top court not to take up the case, panning their petition as yet another stalling tactic.

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Brief

Missouri Federal Judge To Take Senior Status

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. District Judge Douglas Harpool of the Western District of Missouri has given notice he will take senior status upon the confirmation of state Judge Megan Benton, whose nomination to the federal bench President Donald Trump announced Friday.

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CFPB's Gradler Takes Deputy Post Amid Agency Uncertainty

By Jon Hill

Geof Gradler, a former industry lobbyist who recently joined the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's front office, said that he is taking over as the agency's deputy director, a job that positions him as a potential successor to acting director Russell Vought.

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