Estée Lauder Investors Reach $210M Deal Over Share Inflation

By Lauren Berg

Estée Lauder investors on Thursday asked a New York federal judge to greenlight a $210 million settlement resolving their proposed class claims that the cosmetics company and its top brass announced unrealistic expectations for growth amid the ongoing effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on its business.

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Chip Co. Must Face Suit Over Apple Biz Loss, Judge Says

By Sydney Price

Semiconductor manufacturer Skyworks must face a proposed shareholder class action accusing it of downplaying the financial impact of its diminished business relationship with Apple, with the court finding the investors plausibly show the company concealed relevant information before revealing last year it would pull back its revenue expectations.

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Bayer Loses Bid To Undo Class In 'One A Day' Label Suit

By Emily Field

A New York federal judge on Wednesday declined to decertify a class action alleging that Bayer's "One A Day" gummy vitamins deceive consumers about serving sizes, allowing the case to continue since there's evidence that a significant number of consumers could be confused.

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J&J Feared FDA's 'Disturbing Proposal' To Test Talc, Jury Told

By Craig Clough

A former U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner testifying Thursday in a Los Angeles bellwether trial over claims Johnson & Johnson's talc products caused three women's deadly ovarian cancer described an internal document showing J&J feared the FDA's "disturbing proposal" to test the talc instead of relying on industry self-testing.

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Ex-Jackson Walker Atty Seeks Breakup With Romance Suit

By Adrian Cruz

A former Jackson Walker LLP partner said Thursday that she should be dropped from a suit accusing her, a former Texas bankruptcy judge she had a secret relationship with and multiple law firms of fomenting "mass corruption" in Houston's bankruptcy court.

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Proposed Meta Age Reforms Echo Europe Efforts, Judge Told

By Cara Salvatore

An online safety expert testified Thursday that Meta would not be unduly burdened by age-verification reforms New Mexico's attorney general is seeking in a $3.7 billion bench trial over harm to teen users of its social media platforms, given that European regulators in recent weeks announced nearly identical demands.

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Meta Seeks To Toss LA Jury's Social Media Addiction Verdict

By Bonnie Eslinger

Meta and its Instagram platform asked a Los Angeles judge to override a landmark jury verdict awarding millions of dollars in damages to a woman claiming she became addicted to the social media site as a child, saying in the alternative they deserve a new trial.

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Judiciary Panel Punts AI Rules, Mulls Judges' Survey Results

By Jeff Overley

Buckle up: Efforts to modernize evidentiary rules amid artificial intelligence fears are getting bumpy, as judiciary advisers Thursday agreed to dramatically delay action while digesting an AI survey of nearly 1,000 judges and organizing a symposium of litigators and tech pros.

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Energy, Investment Cos. Ink $2.6M Target-Date Fund Suit Deal

By Kellie Mejdrich

A public utility company and its 401(k) plan investment adviser agreed to pay $2.6 million to end a class action alleging that underperforming target-date funds dragged down energy company workers' retirement savings, according to the proposed deal filed in Missouri federal court.

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Frontier Agrees To Settle 401(k) Suit Over Verizon Stock

By Patrick Hoff

Frontier Communications Corp. has agreed to end a proposed class action claiming its employee 401(k) plan was improperly overinvested in Verizon Wireless and other telecommunications stocks, according to a filing in Connecticut federal court.

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AstraZeneca Reps Fight To Keep Opt-Ins In Pay Bias Suit

By MJ Koo

Female pharmaceutical sales representatives in an AstraZeneca equal pay suit have urged an Illinois federal court to reject the company's bid to dismiss two dozen opt-in plaintiffs for refusing discovery, saying the women feared retaliation and career consequences.

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Child Support Debtors Get Prison Work Pay Class Certified

By Matthew Santoni

Former inmates at the Lackawanna County Prison who worked at a county recycling center for just $5 per day can get their long-running lawsuit certified as a class action, albeit only for inmates who had been incarcerated solely because of missing child support payments, a Pennsylvania federal judge ruled Wednesday.

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Ex-Chartwell Atty Doubles Down On Muslim Bias Firing Claims

By Adrian Cruz

A former Chartwell Law Offices LLP attorney has asked a Florida federal judge to reject the firm's bid to have her suit alleging she was fired due to anti-Muslim bias following social media posts she made criticizing Israel's actions in Gaza.

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DOL Can Argue With Honeywell, Siemens In 401(k) Appeals

By George Woolston

The Third Circuit on Thursday granted the U.S. Department of Labor time to argue in two cases where workers are seeking to revive proposed class actions alleging their employers violated federal benefits law by misallocating forfeitures from an employee 401(k) plan.

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Catering Co. Misclassified Delivery Drivers, Suit Says

By Benjamin Morse

Delivery drivers for a catering platform were misclassified as independent contractors and denied minimum wages and overtime pay, according to a proposed class action in California state court.

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Financial Cos. Say Atty Can't Represent Self In Securities Suit

By George Woolston

A group of financial services companies fighting an attorney's proposed securities class action has urged a New Jersey federal court to disqualify the attorney from serving as class counsel, arguing that precedent and ethical obligations prevent him from serving as both class counsel and the proposed class's named representative.

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9th Circ. Backs Lead Choice In Super Micro Investor Fraud Suit

By Rachel Riley

A Ninth Circuit panel has refused to undo a California federal court order rejecting Crain Walnut Shelling's bid to lead a securities class action against Super Micro Computers Inc., concluding Thursday the lower court properly determined other investors had shown the nut processor wasn't fit to spearhead the case.

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4th Circ. Questions Class Cert. Ruling In Boeing Investor Case

By Jessica Corso

The Fourth Circuit indicated on Thursday it may send an investor lawsuit against Boeing back to a lower court for a second look at class certification, with one judge saying the district court "told us nothing" about what liability theory was being relied on to certify the class.

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Monolithic Must Face Most Nvidia-Linked Investor Claims

By Katryna Perera

A Washington federal judge has largely denied Monolithic Power Systems Inc.'s bid to dismiss an investor suit accusing it of hiding critical defects in power modules used by its largest customer, Nvidia Corp., rejecting the company's argument that the suit's claims amount to "fraud-by-hindsight."

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Firm Sanctioned For Misleading Merchants In Swipe-Fee Case

By Hailey Konnath

A New York federal judge on Thursday sanctioned personal injury firm Betz & Baril PLC and its referral partner ClickFunds for misleading would-be class members in long-running antitrust litigation against Visa and Mastercard, ordering the firm and ClickFunds to notify clients about the misinformation.

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Porsches Designed To Create Repair Monopoly, Suit Says

By Kelcey Caulder

Porsche Cars North America has been hit with a proposed class action in Georgia federal court alleging it unlawfully monopolizes the market for repair services performed on Porsche vehicles sold since 2021 by intentionally designing them so that only authorized dealers can complete the repairs.

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Bowlers Sue Lucky Strike Over 'Starbucks Of Bowling' Tactics

By Elaine Briseño

Lucky Strike has been engaging in a yearslong anticompetitive scheme to acquire rival bowling alleys across the United States so it can drive up costs and increase its own profits, while diminishing the experience of bowlers, a group of customers has alleged.

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Agri Stats Reaches Meat Price-Fixing Deal With States, DOJ

By Hailey Konnath

Agri Stats has agreed to stop putting together certain sales reports for broiler chicken processors to resolve the U.S. Department of Justice's allegations that those reports enabled price-fixing by meat processors, according to an announcement made Thursday.

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11th Circ. Won't Revive Volkswagen Driver's Oil Leak Suit

By Gina Kim

The Eleventh Circuit declined to revive a Volkswagen driver's proposed class action claiming her SUV suffered from a defect that caused it to leak oil, ruling Thursday she hasn't plausibly alleged the issue rendered the vehicle unsafe, considering she drove it more than 57,000 miles two years before the issue emerged.

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Bayer Sued Over Healthy Sperm Claim On 'One A Day' Pill

By Gina Kim

Bayer AG has been hit with a proposed class action in New York federal court alleging that claims on its Men's One A Day Pre-Conception Health Multivitamin supplements misleadingly convey that they could improve chances of conception and support sperm health.

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Liberty Left Client Info Vulnerable To Hackers, Suit Alleges

By Emilie Ruscoe

Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. faces a proposed consumer class action alleging it failed to effectively safeguard private information for current and former clients after hackers claimed they stole information and sought a ransom payment.

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Jackson Hewitt Tax Loans Flout Military Credit Law, Suit Says

By Ben Adlin

A U.S. Navy service member has accused tax preparer Jackson Hewitt Inc. of overcharging military clients for short-term loans tied to tax refunds, claiming in a proposed class action the company's effective interest rates for "refund anticipation loans" exceed what is allowed under the federal Military Lending Act.

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Conn. Diocese Settles Abuse Defense Suit Against Travelers

By Danielle Ferguson

The bankrupt Norwich Roman Catholic Diocesan Corp. has reached a settlement with its insurer in a Connecticut state court lawsuit alleging the insurer improperly bailed on defense coverage for a sexual abuse case just days before the start of a trial.

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Harvard Pilgrim Sued Over 'Ghost' Mental Health Network

By Julie Manganis

Harvard Pilgrim Health Care and its parent company have lured subscribers with a "ghost network" of mental health providers who are frequently out of network, don't accept the insurance or are not taking new patients, according to a proposed class action filed in Massachusetts state court.

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DC Judge Says ICE Guidance Violates Immigrant Arrest Order

By Ganesh Setty

A D.C. federal judge said Thursday that the Trump administration violated her order banning warrantless civil immigration arrests in Washington, D.C., without officers first determining if an individual would likely escape before a warrant is secured, blaming agency guidance.

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Series

Speed Jigsaw Puzzling Makes Me A Better Lawyer

My passion for speed puzzling — I can complete a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle in under 50 minutes — has sharpened my legal skills in more ways than one, with both disciplines requiring patience, precision and the ability to keep the bigger picture in mind while working through the details, says Tazia Statucki at Proskauer.

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Ex-Wachtell Lipton Atty Tied To Stolen BigLaw Info Trades

By Chris Villani

A former Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz attorney who later worked for investment bank LionTree LLC is an unindicted co-conspirator in a sweeping alleged insider trading scheme that involved stolen information from several prominent law firms, according to a review of publicly available information.

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Legal Industry Bounces Back, Gaining 2,400 Jobs In April

By Tracey Read

The legal sector is once again on a positive trajectory, gaining 2,400 jobs last month, according to seasonally adjusted data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Top Atty In DOJ Appeal Over Law Firm Exec Orders To Depart

By Jake Maher

The lead federal prosecutor on the Trump administration's appeal to reinstate executive orders targeting four law firms is stepping down from his government role at the end of May, he publicly announced this week.

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DLA Piper Accused Of 'Frivolous' Suit To Please Chipotle GC

By Gina Kim

DLA Piper aggressively litigated a "frivolous" computer fraud lawsuit against a nonprofit volunteer in order to appease the then-general counsel of Chipotle, a client, who referred the case to the firm, according to a malicious-prosecution complaint filed Thursday in California state court. 

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Prosecutor Faces Probe Into Withheld Immigration Case Info

By Bonnie Eslinger

The lead assistant federal prosecutor for Rhode Island's civil division is under investigation for allegedly withholding information in an immigration case, according to an order from the Ocean State's top federal judge.

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Prosecutors Oppose Move To Put Off Goldstein Sentencing

By Jared Foretek

Federal prosecutors are claiming that SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein may have violated his pretrial release conditions when he racked up over $1.7 million in gambling income last year, telling a federal judge not to delay sentencing for the famed U.S. Supreme Court lawyer.

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Tort Report: Tesla's Legal Exposure Seen As High As $14.5B

By Y. Peter Kang

A new report stating that Tesla faces billions in legal liabilities and a $140 million football brain injury verdict against the NCAA lead Law360's Tort Report, which compiles recent personal injury and medical malpractice news that may have flown under the radar.

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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 Morrisons sued by a former logistics partner, EDF and Cripps LLP face a claim brought by a family estate near Hinkley Point C and a former BBC broadcaster file a defamation claim against a Welsh news site over articles linking her to Russian state media and conspiracy theories. 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

The head of the U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits section said agency investigations will focus on benefit plan managers' loyalty conflicts, including pursuit of socially conscious goals. Meanwhile, Dell became the latest company to consider Texas as its new legal home. These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

The National Immigrant Justice Center and the American Civil Liberties Union lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a split Seventh Circuit panel rejected the Trump administration's argument that immigrants unlawfully in the United States have no due process rights.

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

By Adam LoBelia

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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