Takeda Liable In IBS Drug Pay-For-Delay Trial

By Carolyn Muyskens

A federal jury in Boston on Monday found Takeda Pharmaceuticals conspired with a generic-drug maker to delay the launch of a generic version of Takeda's anti-constipation drug, awarding purchasers $885 million, a figure that's expected to swell after a rule tripling plaintiffs' antitrust damages is applied.

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Judge Lauds Wells Fargo Settlement In 'Fake' Diversity Suit

By Sydney Price

A California federal judge has given final approval to a deal between Wells Fargo investors and executives in a derivative suit claiming the bank's leadership failed to address the company's discriminatory lending practices and engaged in "fake" interviews with diverse candidates, calling the assistance fund resulting from the settlement "significant."

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Morgan & Morgan Atty Barred From Harvard Suit Over AI Error

By Chris Villani

A Massachusetts judge on Monday said a Morgan & Morgan PA attorney may not appear before him in a suit against Harvard University over the theft of body parts donated to its medical school, saying the lawyer did not learn his lesson after signing off on briefs in another case with fake case law generated by artificial intelligence.

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Nikola Founder Accused Of Dodging $2.5M Settlement Share

By Lauren Berg

Nikola Corp. founder Trevor Milton "has not paid a dime" of his $2.5 million share of an eight-figure settlement resolving shareholder litigation over a fraud-shadowed special purpose acquisition company merger, the bankrupt electric vehicle company's trustee claims, asking the Delaware Chancery Court to hold the billionaire in contempt.

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Q&A

Attorney Lifts Veil On Jay Peak Visa Fraud Recovery Efforts

By Phillip Bantz

In the decade since the Jay Peak Ski Resort visa fraud scandal surfaced, Jeffrey Schneider, managing partner of Levine Kellogg Lehman Schneider & Grossman LLP, has been serving as counsel to a court-appointed receiver to help secure compensation for hundreds of victims through litigation and settlements with banks, law firms and the state of Vermont.

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DeMayo Says Marketers Owe Coverage In Camp Lejeune Suit

By Jonathan Capriel

A North Carolina plaintiffs firm facing a proposed class action over unwanted robocalls related to Camp Lejeune water contamination litigation is now suing its marketing company, telling a Charlotte federal court the company should cover any potential damages and legal fees.

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Comic Gets Serious About Mom's Cancer At J&J Talc Trial

By Craig Clough

A comedian who testified Monday at a California bellwether trial over claims that Johnson & Johnson's talc products caused three women's deadly ovarian cancer wiped away tears as he talked about his late mother, saying his emotions are "a little unusual" because he spends most of his time trying not to be serious.

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Justices Won't Review Denial Of Luxottica Arbitration Push

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday turned away eyewear giant Luxottica's bid for review of a Second Circuit decision that allowed certain claims in a proposed benefits class action to proceed in New York federal court rather than in arbitration.

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Justices Seek SG's Input In GEO Group Immunity Case

By Irene Spezzamonte

The U.S. Supreme Court asked for the U.S. solicitor general's input Monday in a case that questions whether the GEO Group is covered by intergovernmental immunity and therefore able to pay immigrant detainees $1 a day for their work.

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Brief

Celebrity-Owned NY Entertainment Venue Settles Wage Suit

By MJ Koo

Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake's New York sports bar told a federal judge on Monday that it has agreed to settle a wage and hour lawsuit brought by two bartenders who alleged the celebrity-owned venue stole their tips and shorted them on overtime pay.

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Judge Severs FedEx Wage Suits Affecting 14K Drivers

By Benjamin Morse

A Pennsylvania federal judge on Monday severed three wage suits against FedEx affecting more than 14,000 delivery drivers, saying their claims were improperly joined and represented an attempt to sidestep failed collective and class action efforts.

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American Express Hit With 401(k) Target-Date Fund Suit

By Kellie Mejdrich

Former American Express workers hit the credit card giant with a proposed class action in New York federal court, alleging that underperforming target-date and other investment funds in the company's 401(k) plan — with approximately $9 billion in assets and 40,000 participants — lost workers hundreds of millions in future savings.

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Justices Skip Review Of Accountant Strict Liability Standard

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a Ninth Circuit decision holding that legal liability does not extend to auditors who certify a client's financial statements for initial public offerings, even if those statements are later found to contain alleged misstatements.

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Chancery Sends Sinovac Biotech Suit To Antigua And Barbuda

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court on Monday dismissed a shareholder suit against Sinovac Biotech Ltd. and several investors, ruling a fight over control of the China-based vaccine maker belongs in Antigua and Barbuda, where Sinovac is incorporated, rather than in Delaware courts.

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FirstEnergy Urges 6th Circ. To Again Nix Investors' Class Cert.

By Jessica Corso

FirstEnergy Corp. is once again asking the Sixth Circuit to curb a class action alleging it defrauded investors by hiding its involvement in a $1.3 billion bribery scandal, urging the court to overturn class certification a second time.

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FTC And Deere In 'Advanced' Right-To-Repair Settlement Talks

By Bryan Koenig

The Federal Trade Commission got an Illinois federal judge to hit pause on its right-to-repair antitrust lawsuit against John Deere, citing ongoing settlement talks less than two months after the company struck a $99 million deal with farmers promising to facilitate independent equipment repairs.

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Ad Buyers Want To Depose Nexstar CEO In Price-Fixing Case

By Nadia Dreid

Nexstar's CEO can't skip out on being deposed by advertisers who claim that the broadcast behemoth and its competitors in the TV industry came together to fix the price of advertisements, those ad buyers have told the judge overseeing the multidistrict litigation.

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Fla. Hospital Patients Denied Rethink On Class Cert.

By Bryan Koenig

A Florida federal judge refused to rethink her decision denying class certification for consumers accusing Health First Inc. of locking in patients and blocking competition from rival hospital systems, dinging the plaintiffs for raising arguments they could've asserted earlier and for altering a quote from a cited case.

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Musk's XAI Opposes Anonymity In Deepfake Suit

By Mike Curley

Elon Musk's xAI is asking a California federal court to force the use of the real identities of a group of women suing over Grok-generated deepfake images of them in sexual situations, saying they haven't shown that proceeding under pseudonyms is necessary to protect their privacy.

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Online Directory Wrongfully Listed Cell Numbers, Suit Says

By MJ Koo

An online directory operator published thousands of residents' cellphone numbers without their consent, exposing them to scams, harassment and identity theft, according to a proposed class action filed in Colorado state court Monday.

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Disneyland Illegally Collects Visitors' Face Scans, Suit Says

By Gina Kim

Disneyland guests hit the entertainment behemoth with a proposed class action in New York federal court Friday alleging it gathered facial recognition data of children who enter its parks without a meaningful way for them to opt out, arguing "the onus of privacy rights should not be on the victim."

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Ex-Detainees Say NC Sheriff Withholding Data In ECourts Row

By Abigail Harrison

Counsel for a putative class of individuals who allege they were wrongfully arrested or detained due to glitches in the state's electronic court system told a North Carolina federal court during a Monday hearing that a county sheriff's office is delaying the release of its own records.

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BofA Can Arbitrate Overdraft Fee Claims, 9th Circ. Says

By Emilie Ruscoe

Bank of America can arbitrate proposed class action claims over overdraft fees it charges its business checking account customers instead of fighting the allegations before a judicial referee, the Ninth Circuit has determined.

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Amazon's Subscribe & Save Duped Consumers, Suit Says

By Rachel Riley

Two Pennsylvania consumers targeted Amazon's Subscribe & Save feature in a proposed class action filed in Seattle federal court Monday, claiming the e-commerce giant tricks shoppers into registering by pricing eligible items lower than other sellers, then jacks up those prices once customers are committed to automatic future purchases.

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CoStar's Apartments.com Sued Over 'Junk' Rent Payment Fee

By Ben Adlin

Apartments.com illegally inflated tenants' housing costs by charging them hidden "junk transaction fees" on rent payments, according to a Washington woman's proposed nationwide class action removed to a federal court in Tacoma on Friday.

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NY Court Tosses Challenge To Insurers' Anti-Adjuster Clause

By Gianna Ferrarin

A New York federal court permanently dismissed a public adjusting company's proposed class action against a group of insurers over a policy endorsement barring insureds from hiring public adjusters, finding enforcement of the clause did not constitute tortious interference.

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Aetna Denied A Freeze On Trans Facial Surgery Order

By Kellie Mejdrich

A Connecticut federal judge ordered Aetna to comply with a preliminary injunction requiring it to reconsider coverage denials affecting two transgender health plan participants who sought gender-affirming facial surgery, refusing to stay the insurer's compliance obligations during its pending appeal in the proposed class action.  

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Colo. Justices Tell Hospital To Resume Gender-Affirming Care

By Rachel Konieczny

The Colorado Supreme Court ordered Children's Hospital Colorado on Monday to resume its provision of gender-affirming care for transgender youth patients, finding the patients demonstrated actual harm from the denial of care.

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Florida Bank Shareholder Wins Injunction Over Bylaw Changes

By Jonathan Capriel

A Florida bank must hold off on selling its assets and postpone its annual shareholder meeting, a federal judge ruled, saying the bank's biggest shareholder presented credible evidence suggesting that the directors rigged corporate bylaws to keep themselves in charge following a federal crackdown on the bank's cannabis-related business.

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Pullman & Comley Pans 'Absurd' Challenge To Tax Sale

By Aaron Keller

Pullman & Comley LLC has urged a Connecticut state judge to dismiss a challenge to its representation of the town of Woodstock's tax collector, saying a resident who owes money has pressed "the absurd claim that a municipality is forbidden from retaining counsel to assist in its collection of municipal taxes."

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week handled a broad mix of celebrity estate litigation, merger disputes, investor suits, record demands, sanctions fights and questions over corporate moves away from Delaware.

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Calif. High School Athletes Say State's NIL Ban Exploits Them

By David Steele

High school athletes told a California federal judge that state regulations unfairly limit their name, image and likeness opportunities, contrary to the state governing body's claim that the rules exist to protect amateurism and keep transfers reasonable.

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AI-Proofing Class Action Notices From Pro Se Objection Surge

Class action practitioners should prepare for a likely surge in artificial intelligence-enabled pro se objections by implementing several practical strategies to navigate this shift, says Britany Wessan at Almeida Law Group.

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Series

Judges On AI: How Courts Can Survive The Tech Revolution

Colorado Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkotter and Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Lino Lipinsky de Orlov discuss how artificial intelligence has already fundamentally altered the legal system and offer tips for courts navigating deepfakes, hallucinations and a gap in access to AI tools.

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Murdaugh Sues Ex-Court Clerk Who Tried To Sway The Jury

By Jack Karp

Disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh is suing the court clerk whose attempt to influence the jury in his murder trial led the South Carolina Supreme Court to overturn his murder conviction.

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Trump Seeks Circuit Seats For 2 Judges He Appointed

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump's recent picks for the Eighth and Tenth Circuits mark the first time in his second administration that he's seeking to elevate judges he appointed in his first term.

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Health Co. Wants Kirkland Off IP Case For 'Cardinal Sin'

By Elliot Weld

A healthcare company suing medical technology company Commure Inc. over alleged trade secret theft has said Kirkland & Ellis LLP should be disqualified from representing Commure because the healthcare company had tried to retain Kirkland prior to filing the suit and shared confidential information before anyone asked who the defendant was going to be.

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Wyoming Prosecutor Confirmed Despite Misconduct Rebuke

By Courtney Bublé

Just a few days ago, federal judges tossed nine criminal indictments after President Donald Trump's pick to lead the U.S. attorney's office of Wyoming was accused of prosecutorial misconduct. On Monday evening, he was confirmed to permanently lead the office.

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Analysis

Half The Nation's Bar Apps Could Remove Rape Questions

By Cara Bayles

By next year, it's possible that about half of U.S. jurisdictions will have amended character and fitness questions to avoid dredging up aspiring lawyers' sexual trauma. But while advocates hail the reforms as progress, concerns linger about the patchwork this could create across the country.

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Ex-Willkie Atty Banned By SEC For Insider Trading

By Emily Sawicki

A former Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP mergers and acquisitions attorney who earlier this month admitted to taking part in a widespread BigLaw insider trading scheme will be barred from representing a client before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a minimum of four years, according to an order the agency issued Monday.

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NY Judge Largely Halts Manhattan Immigration Courts Arrests

By Rae Ann Varona

A New York federal judge Monday largely barred U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement from conducting arrests at three Manhattan immigration courthouses, finding there was no good reason why "unfettered discretion" by ICE officers was better than a policy with arrest limitations.

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