Authors' Attys Call Anthropic's $1.5B IP Deal Their 'Creation'

By Rae Ann Varona

Asked to justify a massive $187.5 million attorney fee request in litigation accusing Anthropic of copyright infringement, counsel for the plaintiff class of authors told a California federal judge Thursday that the resulting $1.5 billion settlement was "the creation of class counsel."

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Texas Jury Clears Exxon Of 10-Year Securities Class Action

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas federal jury Thursday cleared Exxon Mobil Corp. of a decade-old securities class action claiming the energy giant misled investors, finding that Exxon did not breach securities laws with its representations of how much money some of its operations were making.

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Oppenheimer Customers Ink $70M Cash Sweep Rate Deal

By Lauren Berg

A class of Oppenheimer & Co. customers are asking a New York federal judge to greenlight a $70 million settlement resolving their claims that the investment bank pocketed hefty fees from its cash sweep account program while paying customers "unreasonable, below-market interest rates."

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Human Reproduction Proves Talc Can Reach Ovaries, Jury Told

By Craig Clough

A medical oncologist on Thursday told a Los Angeles bellwether jury considering claims that Johnson & Johnson's talc products caused three women's deadly ovarian cancer that the female reproductive system is an "open" system where talc can migrate to the ovaries, and that "we wouldn't exist" if that was not the case.

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Morgan Stanley Beats Chip Co. Investor's Stock Scheme Suit

By Gina Kim

A New York federal judge Thursday dismissed a stock manipulation suit against Morgan Stanley Smith Barney, finding its temporary policy requiring customers to buy shares in Israeli chipmaker Eltek Ltd. over the phone, which allegedly enabled improper trading, to be "neither manipulative nor deceptive."

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Meta Starts NM Defense As Midtrial Win Bid Fails

By Cara Salvatore

A judge denied Meta a midtrial win Thursday morning over harm to underage social media users, prompting the social media giant to call an executive to begin building a defense case that platform changes requested by New Mexico's attorney general are unnecessary or even counterproductive.

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NCR To Pay $48M To End Former Execs' Lifetime Benefits Suit

By Patrick Hoff

NCR Corp. will pay nearly $48 million to resolve a class action from former executives who alleged the software company broke its promise to send them annuity payments for life, the workers told a Georgia federal court.

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Brief

United Airlines' $27.5M ERISA Suit Deal Gets Initial OK

By Patrick Hoff

United Airlines on Thursday secured initial approval from an Illinois federal court for a $27.5 million settlement agreement that would resolve claims that it locked retired employees out of a generous COVID-19-era benefits package.

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Google Workers' Attys Get $12.5M In Race Bias Deal Final OK

By Lauren Berg

A California federal judge gave her final approval Thursday to a $50 million settlement that Google reached to resolve claims that it paid thousands of Black workers less than their white colleagues, and awarded the workers' attorneys their fee request of $12.5 million.

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Investment Co. Settles Carpenters' $250M Pension Loss Suit

By Grace Elletson

Callan LLC has reached a deal in a class action from a group of union carpenters who claimed the investment consulting firm and their pension funds' trustees lost them $250 million in assets by investing in Allianz index funds, according to a Washington federal court filing.

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Judge Recommends Cert. In United Airlines Unit OT Suit

By Benjamin Morse

Current and former employees of a United Airlines subsidiary providing cleaning services on planes can proceed as a class in their lawsuit alleging overtime pay violations tied to shift trades, a Colorado federal magistrate judge has recommended, finding the claims stem from a uniform pay policy.

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NC Healthcare Workers Get Final Nod On $1.5M Wage Deal

By Hayley Fowler

A federal judge has given final approval to a $1.56 million settlement with the owners of several North Carolina hospitals and healthcare facilities accused of manipulating workers' time sheets to skirt overtime requirements.

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Seton Hall Hit With Wage Suit Over Dorm Monitor Pay

By Carla Baranauckas

Seton Hall University illegally failed to pay resident assistants minimum wage and overtime compensation despite requiring them to perform extensive supervisory, security and administrative duties in campus dormitories, a former resident assistant claimed in a proposed class and collective action in New Jersey state court.

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Cushman & Wakefield Wants Discovery Stay For 401(k) Suit

By Isaac Monterose

Commercial real estate services company Cushman & Wakefield told a Washington federal court Thursday that a proposed 401(k) class action's discovery deadlines need to be paused because of the company's pending dismissal and venue transfer motions.

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HF Foods Investor Sues Over Written Consent Bylaw

By Jarek Rutz

A stockholder has sued HF Foods Group Inc. in the Delaware Chancery Court, claiming the food distributor's bylaws illegally restrict investors' right to act by written consent without advance notice.

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Time For Trial, Judge Says, Nixing DQ Appeal In Generics MDL

By Bryan Koenig

A Pennsylvania federal judge has refused to let generic-drug makers seek Third Circuit intervention in their bid to disqualify the lead counsel for insurers Humana and Molina, concluding the fight would only further delay the long-running case ahead of its first trial in the price-fixing multidistrict litigation.

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Homebuyers, Brokers Clash Over Opt-In Antitrust Settlements

By Isaac Monterose

A proposed class of homebuyers is opposing efforts by HomeServices of America Inc. and Douglas Elliman Inc. in Florida federal court to settle separate but similar antitrust class actions accusing brokerages of conspiring to inflate broker commission fees.

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Honda Buyers Say 440K Odysseys Have Faulty Side Airbags

By Gina Kim

Honda hid safety defects for years in its 2018-2022 Odyssey minivans where side airbag systems would suddenly deploy when traveling on flat roads, slowing down to a stop or going over a speed bump, according to a proposed class action filed in California federal court.

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Volkswagen Hit With Class Claims Over EV Battery Fire Risk

By Carla Baranauckas

Volkswagen has been hit with a proposed class action in New Jersey federal court alleging that tens of thousands of its ID.4 electric vehicles contain defective high-voltage batteries that can spontaneously catch fire because of misaligned electrodes.

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Brief

Cheerleading Co. Gets Final OK For Data Breach Settlement

By Ganesh Setty

A Texas federal court on Thursday gave final approval for a $1.1 million class action settlement to resolve claims that cheerleading apparel company Varsity Brands Inc. failed to prevent and address a data breach impacting nearly 66,000 people.

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Smucker's Misleads About Splenda In Fudge, Consumer Says

By Mike Curley

A New York man sued The J.M. Smucker Co. in federal court on Thursday, alleging it misleads consumers by claiming its fudge topping is sweetened with Splenda, when in reality its primary sweeteners are less-healthy sugar alcohols and sugar substitutes.

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Algorithms In Senate Spotlight After Social Media Suit Losses

By Emily Field

Lawyers and parents on Wednesday urged lawmakers to strengthen protections for children online, focusing on the addictiveness of social media algorithms after two recent trial losses for Big Tech.

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Tennis Group Says Grand Slams Are Retaliating For Lawsuit

By Matthew Perlman

Tennis players told a New York federal court their professional association is being denied access to the French Open and Wimbledon in retaliation for suing several tournament operators and the sports' governing bodies for allegedly acting like a cartel to control their wages and working conditions.

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How Del. Courts Will Likely Evaluate AI Oversight Claims

While no Delaware court has thus far adjudicated a claim based on alleged board failures to oversee artificial intelligence risk, recent Court of Chancery decisions suggest that familiar Caremark principles will be applied in predictable but consequential ways, particularly when AI touches mission‑critical operations, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

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Series

Playing Basketball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

My grandfather used to say "I wear your jersey" as shorthand for wholly committing to support someone with loyalty and integrity — ideals that have shaped my life on the basketball court and in legal practice, says Tracy Schimelfenig at Schimelfenig Legal.

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Analysis

Insider Trading Case Shows BigLaw Associate Vetting Gaps

By Chris Villani

A BigLaw attorney who was able to move through three major firms while allegedly orchestrating a massive insider trading scheme may have been aided by relatively loose hiring practices for associates that firms may consider strengthening moving forward, recruiting experts told Law360.

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DOJ Asserts Broad Power In BigLaw Executive Order Appeal

By Jared Foretek

A Trump administration attorney told the D.C. Circuit on Thursday that the courts have no authority to review the president's decision to revoke someone's security clearance for any reason, including race, religion, or even refusal to pay a $1 million bribe.

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Trump's 8th Circ. Pick Clears Senate Panel Vote

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump's nominee for the Eighth Circuit, who represented the president in the cases brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, advanced to the full Senate on Thursday.

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Thomas Urges Defense Of Constitution At Judicial Conference

By Carolina Bolado

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas urged attendees at the Eleventh Circuit Judicial Conference on Thursday to "stand up" for the U.S. Constitution and to see the positives in the country, despite its flaws, on its 250th birthday.

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Fenwick Hit With FTX Suit In DC Over $525M Losses

By Emily Lever

A group of former FTX customers has sued Fenwick & West LLP in federal court in Washington over its work representing FTX from 2018 to 2022, seeking to recover more than $525 million for losses stemming from the cryptocurrency exchange's collapse.

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NYC Bar Endorses Random Audits For Law Firm Accounts

By Emily Sawicki

The New York City Bar Association's Professional Discipline Committee on Thursday threw its support behind a statewide bill to institute a random audit program for law firm financial accounts.

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Ogletree Fights Atty's Discovery Bid For DQ Push In Bias Suit

By Lynn LaRowe

A Georgia federal court should deny a bid for discovery aimed at disqualifying Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC from defending a security company against discrimination claims because the request stems from the plaintiff's lawyer's "personal grievances," the company said Thursday.

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Lover's Ex-Wife Fights Sinema's Request For Therapy Notes

By Abigail Harrison

A bid by former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona to unearth notes and communications from a therapist working with her lover's ex-wife should be summarily denied, as the ex-wife, Heather Ammel, told a North Carolina federal court Thursday that the request is a clear overreach.

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8th Circ. Backs Dismissal Of Horse Breeder's Malpractice Suit

By Tom Lotshaw

The Eighth Circuit said a federal judge was right to dismiss a malpractice suit a Minnesota horse breeder brought against Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP and one of its former attorneys for mishandling malpractice cases against three other firms.

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