Meta's recent state jury losses in suits over social media's harms to mental health provide clues as to what will happen this summer when a school district's suit against social platforms goes to trial in the first federal bellwether — and down the road in appeals some believe will reach the nation's high court.
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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 15, 2026 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

Analysis

State Meta Verdicts May Offer Clues For 1st Federal Bellwether

By Cara Salvatore

Meta's recent state jury losses in suits over social media's harms to mental health provide clues as to what will happen this summer when a school district's suit against social platforms goes to trial in the first federal bellwether — and down the road in appeals some believe will reach the nation's high court.

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PacifiCorp Damages Tab Rises With Liability Uncertain

By Cara Salvatore

An Oregon jury on Monday ordered PacifiCorp to pay $14.5 million to a group of 11 survivors of 2020 fires, although the validity of the damages-only verdict is uncertain after an appeals court days ago overturned the liability verdict underlying it.

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Chancery Approves $70M Deal In Covetrus Take-Private Suit

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court on Monday approved a $70 million settlement resolving stockholder claims over the 2022 take-private sale of animal health company Covetrus Inc., finding the deal provides a meaningful recovery for investors while avoiding the risks of continued litigation.

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Tesla Wins Chancery Suit Dismissal After Move To Texas

By Sarah Jarvis

A consolidated Delaware Chancery Court suit leveling breach of fiduciary duty claims against Elon Musk and Tesla Inc. directors belongs in Texas, a vice chancellor said Monday, finding that a forum selection bylaw applies retroactively even though the conduct at issue occurred before the company reincorporated in the Lone Star State.

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Robbins Geller To Lead Investor Suit Despite Filing Glitch

By Katryna Perera

A New York federal judge has appointed Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP as lead counsel in a proposed class action against BellRing Brands, the owner of Premier Protein and other supplement brands, after finding a lead counsel bid that was filed six minutes past the deadline due to a technical glitch was excusable.

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Del. Judge Ends 80K Pre-2026 Zantac Cases

By Emily Field

A Delaware state court on Monday dismissed more than 80,000 suits filed before December alleging that Boehringer Ingelheim's discontinued heartburn medication Zantac caused cancer, following a Delaware Supreme Court ruling on admissibility of the plaintiffs' experts.

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EMPLOYMENT & BENEFITS

Symetra Inks $44.4M Deal With AME Church Employees

By Kellie Mejdrich

Symetra Life Insurance Co. will pay $44.4 million to end multidistrict litigation from a class of African Methodist Episcopal Church workers who alleged that mismanagement of their annuity retirement plan allowed a rogue employee to embezzle $90 million, according to filings in Tennessee federal court.

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Mich. Judge Mulls Settlement For Fiat Chrysler OT Suit

By Susan Smiley

An estimated 68,000 Fiat Chrysler employees would receive an average $100 payout under a settlement agreement presented at a hearing Monday in Michigan federal court that would end a 2023 suit accusing the carmaker of not paying workers correct overtime.

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Deal Struck In Former NCR Executives' Lifetime Benefits Fight

By Kelcey Caulder

The administrator of several NCR Corp. retirement plans has agreed to settle a class action from former executives who said the technology company failed to make good on a promise to send them annuity payments for life, according to a filing in Georgia federal court.

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AT&T Strikes Deal To End Suit Over Pension Mortality Data

By Grace Elletson

AT&T Inc. has agreed to settle a proposed class action that aimed to represent 300,000 workers claiming it shorted employees on their pension payments by using outdated mortality data to calculate married couples' benefits, according to a California federal court filing.

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Roundup

NC High Court Snapshot: State Retirees Fight To Retain Class

By Hayley Fowler

The North Carolina Supreme Court in April will tackle a long-simmering fight over the state's obligations to provide health insurance to retired public employees, who are battling to keep their class status.

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SECURITIES

Investors Seek Class Cert. In Aramark, Vestis Spinoff Suit

By Sydney Price

A group of institutional investors has asked a Georgia federal judge to certify a class in their proposed securities class action accusing uniform supplier Vestis Corp. and food and facilities services giant Aramark of making misleading statements about Vestis' operations and customer relationships prior to its 2023 spinoff from Aramark.

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Costco Says Its Food Prep Eliminates All Chicken Concerns

By Taylor Bowie

Costco has told a Washington federal judge that its popular rotisserie chickens pose no health risk to customers because the product is fully cooked, in a bid to dismiss a proposed class action claiming the product is processed in a plant contaminated with salmonella.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court's docket this past week featured a mix of high-stakes settlements, fast-moving deal litigation, governance disputes and a notable post-trial ruling involving fraud-tainted loans.

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United Homes Faces Investor Suit Over Discounted Sale Plan

By Emilie Ruscoe

Homebuilder United Homes Group Inc. faces a proposed investor class action alleging the company hid that its former CEO schemed to devalue the company as he gunned to sell it off, leading to a proposed sale that caused significant shareholder losses by cutting the company's valuation in half. 

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COMPETITION

Chamber, Other Biz Groups Back Insulin Cos. At High Court

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other business groups urged the U.S. Supreme Court to take up an appeal from Sanofi-Aventis, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk and AstraZeneca, arguing the Second Circuit's revival of an antitrust suit risks opening up liability just for trade group membership.

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Calif. High Schools Resume Court Fight Against Athlete NIL

By David Steele

California's high school sports governing body has told a California federal court that the athletes demanding name, image and likeness rights again failed to prove that the state's ban eliminates competition for their talents.

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PRODUCT LIABILITY

Some Claims, Plaintiffs Trimmed From AirPod Defect Suit

By Mike Curley

A California federal judge has thrown out breach of implied warranty claims and two plaintiffs' claims from a proposed class action alleging Apple Inc. misled consumers about defects in its AirPods Pro products.

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Hyundai Eyes Exit In Insurer Car-Theft Bellwether Trial

By Linda Chiem

Hyundai Motor America has asked a California federal judge to wipe out State Automobile Mutual Insurance Co.'s claims ahead of a bellwether trial next month seeking to hold the automaker liable for allegedly selling theft-prone vehicles that heightened the risk of insurance claims.

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Texas GLP-1 Compounder Caused Mom's Death, Family Says

By Mark Payne

A Houston compounding pharmacy misled consumers by marketing its weight loss and diabetes drugs as safe and pharmaceutical-grade while selling contaminated medicines, a deceased Texas woman's family claims in a wrongful death lawsuit, alleging the drugs led to the woman's death. 

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CYBERSECURITY & PRIVACY

Honey Baked Ham Ignores Data-Tracking Opt-Out, Suit Says

By Gina Kim

Honey Baked Ham fraudulently assures website visitors they have control over whether their data is tracked or shared, but secretly records and discloses that information to third parties anyway without the visitors' consent, according to a proposed class action filed Friday in Georgia federal court.

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CONSUMER PROTECTION

Uber Says Driver Deactivation Not Proof Of Sex Assault

By Abigail Harrison

On the eve of jury selection in a bellwether trial in multidistrict litigation against Uber over alleged sexual assaults, the ride-share company is asking a North Carolina federal court to exclude an offer of proof purporting to cast a driver's deactivation as an admission from Uber that an alleged sexual assault occurred.

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Wash. Antispam Law Violates Due Process Clause, Co. Claims

By Ben Adlin

Clothing retailer Destination XL Group Inc. urged a Seattle federal judge to strike down a putative class action accusing it of barraging shoppers with false and misleading spam emails, arguing that a Washington state law's $500-per-email penalty is unconstitutionally excessive.

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NordVPN Hit With Dark Patterns Class Actions In Va., Conn.

By Jared Foretek

Virtual private network provider NordVPN and its parent company are facing a pair of proposed class actions accusing the company of using deceptive "dark pattern" tactics, like automatic renewal, to keep consumers paying for unwanted and expensive internet security subscriptions.

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BANKING

BofA Shielded In Iranian Bias Suit, 9th Circ. Says

By Sydney Price

The Ninth Circuit refused Monday to revive a proposed class action accusing Bank of America of discriminating against Iranian citizens, affirming a California federal court's ruling that the lawsuit fails to show the bank acted with ill will when erroneously closing the plaintiff's account.

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IMMIGRATION

ICE Detainees Push Class Bid Over Calif. Center Conditions

By Britain Eakin

Immigrant detainees have asked a California federal judge to certify a class action challenging the inadequate medical care, poor food quality and lack of disability accommodations at a Mojave Desert detention center, arguing the allegedly unconstitutional practices harm all detainees held there.

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Wash., Detainees Urge High Court To Reject GEO Wage Appeal

By Benjamin Morse

The state of Washington and a class of immigration detainees urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reject GEO Group's bid to overturn a Ninth Circuit ruling requiring the prison operator to pay Washington's minimum wage to detainee workers, filing separate briefs arguing the decision does not merit further review.

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Immigrant Attys Say Everglades Site Violated Access Order

By Tom Lotshaw

A Florida federal judge pressed government lawyers for some answers Monday after legal service providers and a class of noncitizens said officials violated a court order to ensure access to legal counsel at the South Florida Detention Facility.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

Opinion

State Bars Need To Get Specific About AI Confidentiality

Lawyers need to put actual client information into artificial intelligence tools to get their full value, but they cannot confidently do so until state bars offer clear, formal authority on which plan tiers of the three most popular generative AI tools are safe to use when sharing specific client details, says attorney Nick Berk.

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How Securities Litigation Risks Materialized In The 1st Quarter

The securities litigation landscape in 2026's first quarter was defined by higher filing frequency and increased litigation exposure with rising average settlement values, meaning issuers should maximize data-driven legal defenses early to disqualify alleged fraud-revealing stock drops, say Nessim Mezrahi and Stephen Sigrist at SAR.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

The 2026 Law360 Pulse Lawyer Satisfaction Survey

How is your work-life balance? Are you content with your compensation and opportunities for advancement at work? Take the 2026 Law360 Lawyer Satisfaction Survey and share your thoughts.

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Grassley Says Cruz And Lee Top His List If Alito Retires

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on Tuesday that if U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito were to retire then he would recommend the president nominate either Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, or Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

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Ginsburg Hack Conviction Upheld For Man Who Blamed Cat

By Craig Clough

The Fourth Circuit affirmed Tuesday a former hospital transplant coordinator's conviction for illegally accessing U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's healthcare records, upholding a ruling that the defendant was not improperly coerced when he told FBI agents a coworker or his cat may have been responsible.

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Judiciary Panel Backs Legal Finance Project, Subpoena Rules

By Jeff Overley

Federal judiciary advisers agreed Tuesday to develop transparency obligations for litigation funders despite "vehement" views in the defense and plaintiffs bars, while also advancing controversial subpoena rules involving remote testimony and process servers.

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Analysis

IBM's FCA Deal Creates Unease Over DEI Enforcement Scope

By Madeline Lyskawa

IBM's agreement to pay the Trump administration $17 million to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act with policies aimed at increasing the diversity of its workforce continues to raise more questions than answers about what the administration views as illegal diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

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Mintz Can't Halt Texas Malpractice Suit For Fee Fight In Mass.

By Elliot Weld

A Massachusetts federal judge on Tuesday declined Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC's request to halt a former client's legal malpractice case against the firm in Texas federal court while the two fight over a $2 million "success fee" the law firm claims it is owed.

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DC Circ. Halts Boasberg's 'Unnecessary' Alien Enemies Probe

By Britain Eakin

A split D.C. Circuit panel on Tuesday halted for the second time U.S. District Judge James Boasberg's criminal contempt probe of Trump administration officials for willfully violating his order barring removals of Venezuelans under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.

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House Dem Threatens Bondi Contempt Over Epstein Files

By Courtney Bublé

The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee is looking to hold former Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt if she does not appear before the committee to discuss the U.S. Department of Justice's handling of the Epstein files.

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Grassley Hits 100 Judge Confirmations As 2 Clear Senate

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate on Tuesday confirmed the 100th district judge under Sen. Chuck Grassley's leadership of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

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Investors Want Sanctions For Fake Citations In LGBCoin Suit

By Carolina Bolado

Investors in the "Let's Go Brandon" meme token urged a Florida federal judge Monday to issue "case-terminating sanctions" against the man behind the coin, saying he and his counsel have lied in discovery, disobeyed court orders and submitted fake legal citations in at least eight filings.

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Calif. Federal Judges Weigh Audio Access For Civil Jury Trials

By Dorothy Atkins

California Northern District federal judges are seeking public comment on modifying local court rules to allow jurists to audio stream civil jury trials in the district, which regularly presides over high-stakes courtroom fights involving tech giants such as Google, Meta, OpenAI and Apple.

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IOLTA Group Owed Notice Of Settlements, Mass. Justices Say

By Julie Manganis

Massachusetts' highest court said Tuesday that a committee overseeing lawyers' trust accounts should have been given a chance to request potential leftover funds prior to a judge's approval of a class action settlement, but saw no reason to unwind the deal.

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LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Arnold & Porter

Aurelian Law PLLC

Baker Donelson

Baron & Budd

Bayard PA

Berger Kahn

Blank Rome

Blue LLP

Bondurant Mixson

Burnham & Gorokhov

Cafferty Clobes

Callahan & Blaine

Carey Danis

Carlton Fields

Casey Lundregan

Chaffin Luhana LLP

Cherry Johnson Siegmund James

Chimicles Schwartz

Clement & Murphy

Cohen Milstein

CohenMalad

Collins Price

Conaway Legal LLC

Cooley LLP

Covington & Burling

Cozen O'Connor

DLA Piper

Di Pietro Partners

Dworken & Bernstein

Eckert Seamans

Edelson PC

FeganScott

Feinberg Jackson

Foley Hoag

Freshfields

Friedman Oster

Gibson Dunn

Girard Sharp

Glancy Prongay

Grant & Eisenhofer

Greenberg Traurig

Groom Law Group

Grotefeld Hoffmann

Gupta Wessler

Hagens Berman

Harter Secrest

Herman Jones LLP

Holland & Knight

Humphrey Farrington

Immigration Law PLLC

Jacobs & Crumplar

Jenner & Block

Jones Day

Kabat Chapman

Kantor & Kantor

Kaplan Fox

Keller Postman

Keller Rohrback

Kessler Topaz

King & Spalding

Kirkland & Ellis

Korein Tillery

Koutoulas Law

Labaton Keller

Lanier Law Firm

Latham & Watkins

Lee Segui

Levi & Korsinsky

Lieff Cabraser

Lindsey & Lacy

Manatt Phelps

Mayer Brown

McCarter & English

McDermott Will & Schulte

McGuireWoods

McNaul Ebel

McNicholas & McNicholas

Melmed Law Group

Merchant & Gould

Merrick Hofstedt

Metaxas Brown

Migliaccio & Rathod

Mintz Levin

Morrison & Foerster

O'Kelly & O'Rourke

O'Melveny & Myers

Ogborn Mihm

Ogletree Deakins

Open Sky Law

Paul Hastings

Peiffer Wolf

Perkins Coie

Prickett Jones

Quinn Emanuel

Rhoades & Morrow

Richards Layton

Robbins Alloy

Robbins Geller

Robinson Bradshaw

Ross Aronstam

Salahi PC

Saxena White

Schall Law

Scheef & Stone

Schroeter Goldmark

Schwabe Williamson

Scott&Scott

Shepherd & Shepherd

Shutts & Bowen

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett

Singleton Schreiber

Sommers Schwartz

Spinelli Donald

Squitieri & Fearon

Steptoe LLP

Stranch Jennings

Strauss Borrelli

Stris & Maher

Stutman Law

Sullivan & Cromwell

Swartz Campbell

Tidrick Law Firm

Tycko & Zavareei

Wheeler Trigg

Willkie Farr

Winston & Strawn

Wise Law Firm PLC

Withersworldwide

Wittels McInturff

Wright & Schulte

Zigler Law Group

deLeeuw Law

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

AARP Inc.

AT&T Inc.

American Civil Liberties Union

American Petroleum Institute Inc.

Americans for Immigrant Justice

Amicus

Apple Inc.

Aramark

AstraZeneca PLC

BC Partners

Bank of America Corp.

Barron's

BellRing Brands Inc.

Boehringer Ingelheim Corp.

Boehringer Ingelheim Vetmedica Inc.

CVS Health Corp.

Central Virginia Health Services

Chewy Inc.

Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC

CoreCivic Inc.

Costco Wholesale Corp.

Covetrus Inc.

Destination XL Group Inc.

Electric Power Supply Association

Eli Lilly & Co.

Empower Pharmacy

Enterprise Holdings Inc.

Epic Games Inc.

FCA US LLC

FedEx Corp.

George Washington University

Global Logistic Properties Ltd.

Google LLC

Hyundai Motor Co.

Immigrant Defenders Law Center

Instagram Inc.

International Business Machines Corp.

Lawyers for Civil Justice

LexisNexis Legal & Professional

Lincoln Property Co.

LinkedIn Corp.

Macy's Inc.

Meta Platforms Inc.

Microsoft Corp.

Mosaic

NASCAR Digital Media LLC

NCR Corp.

National Association of Manufacturers

Natural Gas Supply Association

New York University

Novo Nordisk A S

OpenAI OpCo LLC

Oracle Corp.

PacifiCorp

Patheon Inc.

Perma-Fix Environmental Services Inc.

PetSmart Inc.

Pfizer Inc.

Public Counsel

RELX PLC

SAR LLC

Sanofi

Snap Inc.

State Automobile Mutual Insurance Co.

State Bar of California

Symetra Life Insurance Co.

TPG Capital LP

Tesla Inc.

The Florida Bar

The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

The Honey Baked Ham Co. LLC

The UPS Store

TikTok Inc.

Toyota Motor Corp.

Twitter Inc.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Uber Technologies Inc.

Utah State Bar Association

Vestis

YouTube Inc.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Delaware Court of Chancery

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Food and Drug Administration

Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission

Illinois Supreme Court

Internal Revenue Service

Judicial Conference of the United States

Los Angeles Superior Court

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

North Carolina General Assembly

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Middle District of Florida

U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Department of Agriculture

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut

U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware

U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Georgia

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Postal Service

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

Washington Attorney General's Office