4 Takeaways From Probe Of Feb. 2025 Calif. Bar Exam Fiasco

By Emily Sawicki

Poor implementation of the February 2025 California Bar Exam resulted in millions of dollars in extra costs and negatively affected "a significant portion" of test-takers, according to a new report by the California State Auditor.

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Apple Alleges OpenAI, Ex-Employees Took Trade Secrets

By Ivan Moreno

Apple filed a trade secret lawsuit Friday against OpenAI, its acquired hardware startup io Products and two former Apple employees, alleging in California federal court that the defendants engaged in a coordinated scheme to misappropriate Apple's confidential information to accelerate OpenAI's push into consumer hardware.

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Davis Wright Atty Hit With Sanctions After Winning Sanctions

By Jeff Overley

After defending six-figure sanctions of plaintiffs lawyers for "a reckless course of prolonging litigation," a Davis Wright Tremaine LLP attorney is facing his own six-figure sanctions, with a California magistrate judge finding he "unnecessarily burdened" opposing counsel despite warnings dating back years about "improper litigation tactics."

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AT&T Inks $184M Deal To End Pension Mortality Data Suit

By Grace Elletson

AT&T has brokered a $184 million deal to close a 300,000-member proposed class action claiming the telecommunications company used outdated mortality data to calculate pension payments, causing some employees to see less in benefits than others.

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Visa Must Face Claims Of Monetizing Child Sex Abuse Images

By Bonnie Eslinger

Visa must still face allegations that the company knew about and profited from child sexual abuse material on Pornhub under a decision by a California federal judge, who in a separate ruling tossed the suit's claims against the hedge fund lenders who backed Pornhub's parent company.

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Oura Health Swaps In Sidley For Quinn After Ex-CEO's DQ Bid

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge granted Oura Health's request to swap in Sidley Austin LLP for Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP in breach-of-contract litigation by the fitness tracker company's former CEO after the ex-executive sought to disqualify Quinn Emanuel for purportedly having access to his confidential data.

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Quince Seeks $1.8M After 'Exceptional' Ugg IP Trial

By Cara Salvatore

"Luxury lookalike" retailer Quince has asked a California federal judge to order Deckers Outdoor Corp. to pay $1.8 million in legal fees and costs in what it called an "exceptional" case after a jury found Deckers' design patent for its Ugg Classic Ultra Mini Boot was invalid.

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Roundup

Real Estate Recap: Housing Bill, Opportunity Zones, Florida

By Real Estate Authority Staff

Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including the latest on the federal housing bill, the rollout of Opportunity Zones 2.0, and a look at Florida at the midyear.

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Analysis

Top 5 Enviro Cases To Watch In The 2nd Half Of 2026

By Gautama Mehta

The second half of 2026 could see courts delivering important rulings that will determine whether municipalities can set their own building emissions laws, the extent of California's authority to regulate pollution and citizens' power to enforce the Clean Air Act. Here, Law360 takes a look at five environmental cases that could be resolved before the end of the year.

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Toyota Industries' $436M Forklift Emissions Deal Gets Signoff

By Ganesh Setty

A California federal court on Friday officially signed off on Toyota Industries Corp.'s approximately $436 million settlement to resolve a proposed class action alleging that it and other entities misled customers about the true emissions levels of Toyota forklift engines.

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L'Oreal's Baby Products Same As Standard Version, Suit Says

By Gina Kim

L'Oréal uses baby imagery and pediatric dermatologist references on certain CeraVe eczema and healing ointment products to mislead customers into believing that they're specifically formulated for infants, despite containing ingredients identical to cheaper versions of the same standard products, alleges a proposed class action filed Thursday in California federal court. 

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WhatsApp Users Must Arbitrate Claims Over Private Messages

By Caroline Simson

A California federal judge has ordered WhatsApp users suing the messaging platform in a proposed class action over alleged privacy violations to arbitration, rejecting their argument that the underlying arbitration agreements improperly short-circuit certain of state law claims.

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Brief

DOJ Appeals Order Shielding Trans Youth Medical Records

By Gianna Ferrarin

The U.S. Department of Justice asked the Ninth Circuit to review a California federal court's order blocking the government from trying to identify individuals who received gender-affirming care from a Stanford Medicine hospital as minors.

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Analysis

The Biggest TM Rulings Of 2026: A Midyear Report

By Ivan Moreno

The Seventh Circuit placed limits on trademark plaintiffs in cases against foreign online sellers accused of counterfeiting, and the Trademark Trial and Appeal Board issued precedential decisions with fresh guidance on what marks can get on — or stay on — the federal trademark register. Here is Law360's list of the biggest trademark rulings so far this year.

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Google Accused Of Plundering Car Photos To Train AI Ad Tool

By Lauren Berg

Google harvested thousands of copyrighted images of vehicles to train its artificial intelligence image generator and to integrate the tool into its ad business, where it reaps a "substantial amount of revenue," according to a lawsuit filed by automotive photography company Evox Productions in California federal court.

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Meta Secures Toss Of Swedish Soundtrack Co.'s Music IP Suit

By Rae Ann Varona

A California federal judge Friday tossed Swedish soundtrack company Epidemic Sound AB's copyright infringement lawsuit that accused Meta of offering its sounds to the social media giant's billions of users without permission, saying Epidemic failed to plausibly allege its sounds were "substantially similar" to those Meta made available.

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Fed. Circ. Affirms Sony's PTAB Win Over Digital Imaging IP

By Dani Kass

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board stayed in bounds when deciding to invalidate claims of an Intellectual Pixels Ltd. digital image generation patent on remand, the Federal Circuit said Friday.

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Kalshi's Contracts 'Sound Like A Bet,' 9th Circ. Judge Says

By Dorothy Atkins

A Ninth Circuit panel appeared open Friday to preliminarily blocking Kalshi and Robinhood from offering sports contracts on tribal land, with one judge saying Kalshi's contracts "sound like a bet" subject to Native American gambling laws and another saying it "wouldn't be so unreasonable" to exclude tribes from federal oversight in this area.

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Athletes Look To Rein In Review Of 3rd-Party NIL Deals

By Alex Lawson

College athletes looking to monetize their name, image and likeness under a historic antitrust settlement have asked a California federal judge to relax oversight of third-party brand deals, arguing that increased scrutiny is undermining the agreement.

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Ralphs To Stop Asking Job Seekers About Criminal History

By Gina Kim

Ralphs agreed to stop asking job applicants about criminal convictions and will pay $200,000 in compensation to four applicants, to resolve allegations it unjustifiably rejected people based on prior criminal histories that had nothing to do with the job they applied for, the California Civil Rights Department said Thursday.

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Feds Seek $16.2M Restitution In Counterfeit Apple Device Suit

By Phillip Bantz

Prosecutors asked a California federal judge on Friday to order a Chinese national to pay part of the $16.2 million in restitution to Apple Inc. for her role in a scheme in which fraudsters returned counterfeit iPhones, iPads and other Apple products in exchange for genuine Apple devices.

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DOJ Defends Nurse Wage-Fixing Conviction At 9th Circ.

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Department of Justice urged a Ninth Circuit panel to reject a Las Vegas home nursing executive's appeal of its first-ever criminal wage-fixing conviction, defending its trial characterization of a leniency deal with a cooperating company and the inclusion of the executive's statement likening nurses to prostitutes.

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Intuit Hid True Status Of TurboTax Business, Investor Alleges

By Rae Ann Varona

Intuit touted a "momentum" across its businesses while hiding that its TurboTax business was, in reality, poorly performing, an investor alleged in a proposed class action filed Friday in California federal court that also accuses the financial software company's CEO of fraudulently enriching himself by more than $36 million.

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Nexstar-Tegna Merger Challenge Gets July 2027 Trial Date

By Rae Ann Varona

A California federal judge has scheduled an early July 2027 trial date in DirecTV and a coalition of states' lawsuit seeking to stop Nexstar Media Group Inc.'s integration with rival broadcast company Tegna Inc.

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States' Stopgap Suit Aims To Shield K-12 Mental Health Grants

By Rachel Riley

Washington and 14 other states launched a preemptive lawsuit Friday to stop the Trump administration from ending federal grants for mental health programming in public schools, seeking to preserve the funding if the U.S. Department of Education succeeds in asserting new grounds for canceling the grants in a related case.

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Calif. Judge Blocks Grant Conditions Over DEI, Immigration

By Ganesh Setty

A California federal judge blocked the Trump administration from imposing grant funding conditions on California and Oregon municipalities concerning immigration enforcement and its opposition to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, finding the conditions likely encroach on Congress' spending powers.

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A New Regulatory Environment For PE In Calif. Healthcare

The California Office of Health Care Affordability's proposed revisions to its cost and market impact review regulations, amid broader state scrutiny of private equity-backed healthcare arrangements, represent a qualitative shift in California's regulatory posture toward institutional healthcare investment, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

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AI Governance Tips For Avoiding Securities Suits

A recent securities class action in California federal court against lending platform Upstart highlights how statements about artificial intelligence are increasingly being scrutinized not only by regulators, but also by shareholders, meaning companies should ensure oversight frameworks keep pace with the technology, say attorneys at Akerman.

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How Cos. Can Prep For Ultra-Processed Food Legal Risks

A wave of litigation and government scrutiny directed against ultra-processed foods is now gaining momentum, following patterns seen previously in other industries — and food companies that recognize those patterns early will be better positioned to manage the increasing risks, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

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CFIUS' Mandate Misses Foreign Risk In Project Subcontracts

Recent calls for the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States to review equity transactions like the Paramount Skydance-Warner Bros. deal miss a consequential oversight gap — CFIUS' inability to review the subcontracting layer of U.S. infrastructure projects, says Thibaut Giret at Alstef Group.

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Roundup

The Most Talked-About Supreme Court Decisions Of 2026

This term, 11 U.S. Supreme Court decisions quickly became hot topics among Law360's guest writers.

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Over 2,600 Attys, Professionals Urge Blocking Blanche As AG

By Emma Cueto

More than 2,600 lawyers and legal professionals on Friday urged lawmakers to oppose the nomination of Todd Blanche for attorney general, saying Blanche's dismissal of the idea that the U.S. Department of Justice should be independent from the White House and his record as interim attorney general make him unfit for the role.

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HHS' Ex-GC Committed Ethics Violations, Watchdog Says

By Craig Clough

A watchdog organization filed a complaint Thursday with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Inspector General seeking an investigation into former HHS general counsel Michael Stuart over alleged federal ethics violations, saying it appears he failed to divest from prohibited financial holdings and made prohibited investment purchases after taking office.

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Atty's 'Fabricated Quotes,' 'Reliance on AI' Panned By Judge

By Craig Clough

A New York magistrate judge struck a brief Friday filed by an attorney representing a client suing Roc Nation after finding that it included numerous fabrications that may have resulted from artificial intelligence hallucinations, noting that the attorney has been "repeatedly" sanctioned or warned by multiple courts for the same behavior. 

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11th Circ. Refers Atty For Discipline Over Suspected AI Entries

By Katherine Smith

The Eleventh Circuit on Friday referred an attorney for potential discipline over a brief he filed in a client's retaliation lawsuit against the Florida Department of Corrections, ruling that the attorney failed to explain how several defective quotes and citations ended up in the brief.

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Baker Donelson Wins $45K From Tenn. Firm Over AI Misuse

By Lynn LaRowe

Tennessee personal injury firm Reaves Law Firm PLLC must pay more than $45,000 in attorney fees to Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC over Reaves Law's misuse of artificial intelligence in a federal malpractice suit against Baker Donelson.

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NY Nonprofits Want ICE Docs On Courthouse Arrest Policies

By Stewart Bishop

Nonprofit groups suing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement over courthouse arrest policies pressed a Manhattan federal judge to force the agency to produce documents and testimony concerning arrests it conducts outside immigration courts after the agency's revised policy concerning such arrests in Manhattan was put on hold.

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Brooklyn Legal Aid Provider's Union Sets Strike Deadline

By Andrea Keckley

The union for the Brooklyn Defender Services has voted to authorize a strike if it doesn't reach an agreement with managers by the morning of July 16.

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11th Circ. Upholds Airline's Win In COVID Discrimination Case

By Irene Spezzamonte

A group of workers for a commercial airline and a related entity failed to support their claims that the companies' COVID-19 pandemic-era policies discriminated against their religious beliefs, the Eleventh Circuit ruled Friday, while sharply criticizing their attorney for his misuse of artificial intelligence.

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UChicago Law Takes On AI With Phone And Laptop Ban

By Matt Perez

The University of Chicago Law School will prohibit the use of electronic devices such as laptops, tablets and phones in all first-year law school sections and courses as part of new policies dictating the use of artificial intelligence at the school.

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Roundup

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen lawyer Ian Rosenblatt launch legal action against music mogul Simon Cowell, Boohoo face a fresh investor claim after previously facing allegations that it feigned ignorance of labor abuses in its supply chain, and an ex-Tory MP and his chief of staff sued by their former employer. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

Among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week: The SEC chair said this year's corporate proxy season saw none of the "dire predictions" some had forecast, and in a recent survey, hundreds of law firm leaders said they're increasingly losing clients, citing problems in delivering their legal services.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Greene Broillet & Wheeler LLP and Ludd & Ludd lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a San Diego jury ordered Hyatt to pay $15.5 million over the death of a guest who was left uncontacted for a day after failing to check out.

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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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