9th Circ. Upholds Google's Play Store Antitrust Trial Loss

By Dorothy Atkins

A Ninth Circuit panel Thursday affirmed Epic Games' 2023 antitrust jury trial win, along with an injunction requiring Google to open its Google Play Store to rivals, backing a landmark finding that Google monopolized the Android app-distribution market.

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'Abusive Behavior' Spurs $195M Add To Phillips 66 IP Verdict

By Cara Salvatore

A California state judge added $195 million in exemplary damages to a $605 million trade secrets verdict against oil giant Phillips 66 following its "abusive behavior" toward startup and onetime acquisition target Propel Fuels.

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Flo Settles Privacy Fight Midtrial, Leaving Meta To Face Jury

By Dorothy Atkins

Flo Health Inc. told a California federal judge Thursday it had reached an agreement to settle claims that its popular menstrual-tracking app illegally shared sensitive health data of millions of women with Meta Platforms Inc. and Google, partially resolving a sweeping privacy case midtrial, and leaving Meta as the sole remaining defendant.

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Calif. Med Mal Law Can't Apply To Ambulance Crash Suits

By Y. Peter Kang

The California Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that the state's one-year time limit for medical malpractice claims does not apply to suits over ambulance drivers' negligence, saying instead the two-year deadline for ordinary negligence governs.

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Apple Beats Suit Over Removing Apps From App Store

By Bryan Koenig

A California federal judge agreed Wednesday that Apple has "considerable discretion" over permitting apps on the App Store, dismissing for now a video editing app developer's contract breach, business interference and antitrust challenge to the ban of all its apps.

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Walnut Co. Says Firm Misled Court To Lead Super Micro Case

By Gina Kim

A Hagens Berman client who lost the fight against Universal Investment to lead investor claims against Super Micro Computer has blasted the fund's opposition to its bid for a California federal judge to reconsider the denial, arguing Universal's attorneys from Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP have a "documented history" of "misleading courts."

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Microsoft Fights Demand For AI Deal Data In Databricks Suit

By Dorothy Atkins

Third-party Microsoft Corp. urged a California magistrate judge Thursday to block a subpoena by a group of writers accusing San Francisco-based Databricks of using their copyrighted works to train its artificial intelligence tool MosaicML, arguing that Microsoft has already exceeded third-party obligations by providing certain data agreements and that the request is overbroad.

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GOP Bill Would Give President More Power Over US Atty Picks

By Courtney Bublé

The Trump administration has used maneuvers to keep interim U.S. attorneys in place beyond their statutory time limit, which detractors say subverts the Senate's advice and consent role. A bill that two Republican senators introduced on Thursday would shift more power over the process to the president.

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Judge Questions Gov't Objection To Shielding FEMA Funds

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge Thursday questioned the Trump administration's assertion that it has not redirected funds allocated by Congress for natural disaster mitigation efforts toward other Federal Emergency Management Agency programs, even as the government was objecting to states' narrow request to protect the funds for now.

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Lloyd's, Loan Provider Settle $3M Pitcher Coverage Feud

By Elaine Briseño

Lloyd's of London underwriters and loan service provider RockFence Baseball LLC have settled their dispute over coverage for the $3.16 million loan of a former Minnesota Twins pitcher, after a California federal judge ordered the parties into arbitration in January 2024.

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Plaintiffs Seek $345M For Fatal Crash In Tesla Autopilot Trial

By Carolina Bolado

The plaintiffs in a suit seeking to hold Tesla accountable for a fatal crash in the Florida Keys asked jurors Thursday to award $345 million in damages for putting out an allegedly defective autopilot product into the market.

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Amazon Customer Can't Nix Defenses In 'Bling' Blinding Suit

By Mike Curley

A California federal judge largely denied a woman's bid for an early judgment on Amazon.com Servies LLC's defenses and some claims in her suit alleging she was blinded in one eye by a "sparkly bling" steering wheel accessory when her airbag deployed in a collision.

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Pandora Says IP Suit Should Be Axed, Backing Special Master

By Lauren Berg

Pandora Media told a California federal judge on Wednesday that a special master was right to recommend handing it a summary judgment win in high-stakes copyright infringement litigation by a group of comedians who allege that the streaming service lacked licenses for the underlying jokes in their comedy routines.

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Crypto Co., NBA Arm Strike $7M Deal Over NFT Privacy Claims

By Katryna Perera

Users of the nonfungible token marketplace known as NBA Top Shot asked a California federal judge Thursday to grant the first green light to a $7.05 million settlement they reached with the marketing arm of the NBA and a cryptocurrency company that will resolve a class action over privacy concerns related to the marketplace.

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Zoom Investor Gets Final OK For Derivative Suit Settlement

By Katryna Perera

A Delaware federal judge granted final approval on Thursday to a settlement reached in a shareholder derivative suit accusing the top brass of Zoom of pulling in $172.9 million via insider sales after its 2019 initial public offering and before shares fell during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Capital One Says It Is Disputing FDIC Underpayment Claim

By Jon Hill

Capital One told investors on Thursday that the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is trying to make it pay a greater share of cleanup costs from the 2023 regional banking crisis after taking issue with its call reporting, an effort the bank said it is pushing back on.  

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Robotic Surgery Co.'s Antitrust Appeal Backed At 9th Circ.

By Matthew Perlman

Surgical Instrument Service Co. Inc. has received backing at the Ninth Circuit from a trade association and others groups as it looks to revive its case accusing Intuitive Surgical Inc. of blocking third parties from refurbishing components for its popular da Vinci surgery robot.

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DOJ Says Defense Co., PE Firm To Pay $1.75M For FCA Claims

By Tom Lotshaw

A defense contractor and private equity firm in California will pay $1.75 million to settle allegations that they failed to meet the cybersecurity requirements of a U.S. Air Force contract, federal prosecutors said Thursday.

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Immigration Board Raises Bar To Fight State Drug Convictions

By Britain Eakin

The Board of Immigration Appeals ruled that an individual fighting removal after being convicted on state drug charges has the burden of proving the law they were convicted under is broader than federal law to avoid deportation.

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Dems Aim To Make FTC's Blocked Click-To-Cancel Rule Law

By Nadia Dreid

Following an Eighth Circuit decision earlier this month that struck down the Federal Trade Commission's "click to cancel" rule, three House Democrats are trying to make it the law of the land to let consumers cancel subscriptions with a single click.

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Weil Lands Latham IP Litigation Trio In California, Texas

By Andrea Keckley

Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP announced Thursday that it has welcomed three intellectual property lawyers from Latham & Watkins LLP, two of whom began their legal careers at Weil and will now co-head its IP, technology and science litigation practice.

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CEQA Reform May Spur More Housing, But Devil Is In Details

A recently enacted law reforming the California Environmental Quality Act has been touted by state leaders as a fix for the state's housing crisis — but provisions including a new theoretically optional traffic mitigation fee could offset any potential benefits, says attorney David Smith.

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What To Know About NCAA Deal's Arbitration Provisions

Kathryn Hester at Jones Walker discusses the key dispute resolution provisions of the NCAA's recently approved class action settlement that allows for complex revenue sharing with college athletes, breaking down the arbitration stipulations and explaining how the Northern District of California will handle certain enforcement, administration, implementation and interpretation disputes.

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Series

Playing Soccer Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Soccer has become a key contributor to how I approach my work, and the lessons I’ve learned on the pitch about leadership, adaptability, resilience and communication make me better at what I do every day in my legal career, says Whitney O’Byrne at MoFo.

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Legal Job Sector Continued 5-Month Growth Streak In July

By Tracey Read

For the fifth straight month, the U.S. legal industry experienced job growth, adding 600 positions in July, according to preliminary data released on Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Brief

Test-Taker's Collapse At NY Bar Exam Sparks Criticism

By Anna Sanders

New York bar-takers were allegedly forced to continue the test after witnessing a Fordham University School of Law graduate suffer a medical incident and receive CPR while she took the exam, according to the school and accounts posted online by people who said they were present.

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DC Panel Calls For Former DOJ Official Clark's Disbarment

By Phillip Bantz

The majority of a Washington, D.C., lawyer ethics panel has called for the disbarment of Jeffrey Clark, a White House official and ally of President Donald Trump, over his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election.

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NJ Court Will Mull Legality Of Habba's US Atty Appointment

By Lauren Berg

If Alina Habba was illegally appointed acting U.S. attorney in New Jersey, a pair of defendants in a drug trafficking case are not entitled to dismissal of the indictment, but it "appears appropriate" that Habba would be barred from prosecuting them, a federal judge ruled Friday.

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Politics And Privacy Laws Collide 5 Years After Salas Shooting

By Jack Karp

Five years after a disgruntled litigant killed a New Jersey federal judge's son at their home, experts and judges disagree over whether the judicial privacy laws enacted following the shooting are doing much to protect jurists, while political leaders' heated rhetoric makes for an even more dangerous landscape for judges.

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Analysis

Wheeling & Appealing: Midyear Highlights For Every Circuit

By Jeff Overley

In this special edition of Wheeling & Appealing, we're spotlighting key decisions and developments in every circuit court during the first half of 2025, while also previewing August's most intriguing oral arguments, including a remarkably "fierce" showdown between Edible Arrangements and 1-800-Flowers with millions of dollars in attorney fees on the line.

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1st Circ. Doubtful Of Trump's Stance On Birthright Citizenship

By Chris Villani

The First Circuit on Friday seemed inclined to say that the children of unauthorized immigrants are citizens if they were born on U.S. soil, citing both the 14th Amendment and a subsequent U.S. Supreme Court ruling and pushing back on an argument by President Donald Trump's administration.

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Brief

Ex-Copyright Chief Appeals Denial Of Reinstatement Bid

By Elliot Weld

The former head of the U.S. Copyright Office will appeal a D.C. federal judge's denial of her request to be immediately reinstated to her former position after she was fired by President Donald Trump while her suit remains pending.

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NY Law Mandating Judicial Fine Declared Unconstitutional

By Madison Arnold

A New York state appeals court has declared unconstitutional a statute that mandates a judge forfeit $1,000 to a plaintiff if the judge refuses to issue a writ of habeas corpus.

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Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

By Matthew Perlman

The U.S. Department of Justice abandoned its challenge of a corporate travel management deal, while lawmakers are calling for scrutiny of the agency's recent decision to settle a different case, and the Federal Trade Commission agreed to nix the requirements placed on a pair of oil and gas deals.

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The Top In-House Hires Of July

By Michele Gorman

Legal department hires over the past month included high-profile appointments at Warner Bros. Discovery, Deutsche Bank and Kroger. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from July.

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UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Max Austin

This past week in London has seen several telco giants hit with a trademark claim, a collapsed hotel company sue a property investor in an ongoing dispute over a decades-old hotel sale, and two litigation funders square off against each other.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Department store retailer Dillard's has asked for a special shareholder's vote on Aug. 19 on management's plan to move its incorporation from Delaware to Texas, becoming the latest company to join the so-called DExit trend.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP and Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a Ninth Circuit panel affirmed Epic Games Inc.'s 2023 antitrust jury trial win, along with an injunction requiring Google to open its Google Play Store to rivals.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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