4th Circ. Doubts Standing In $9B Lockheed Pension Fight

By Kellie Mejdrich

The Fourth Circuit appeared open Wednesday to shutting down retirees' challenge to a $9 billion Lockheed Martin pension risk transfer, with judges voicing doubt about a Maryland judge's holding that ex-Lockheed workers had the standing needed to keep their case in court.

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Post-Cambridge Analytica Investigation Unserious, Jury Told

By Cara Salvatore

New Mexico jurors heard testimony Wednesday from a former Facebook employee that the social media giant's investigation of third-party app developers after the Cambridge Analytica scandal was weakened by executive anger over the cost and pressure for it to wrap up, among other things.

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1st Circ. Seems Torn Over Health Plan Surcharge For Smokers

By Carolyn Muyskens

A First Circuit panel appeared divided Wednesday over whether a casino company is required to refund tobacco use fees after smokers on the company's health plan complete a tobacco cessation program.

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JB Hunt Reaches Deal To End Tobacco Fee Class Action

By Kellie Mejdrich

Trucking company J.B. Hunt has struck a deal to settle a proposed class action alleging workers who used tobacco were wrongly charged $15 per week more for healthcare, parties told an Arkansas federal court in a joint filing on Wednesday.

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Target Beats NY Warehouse Walking-Time Wage Suit

By Benjamin Morse

Target won't have to face a proposed class action accusing it of shorting warehouse workers for time spent walking to and from their time clocks, after a New York federal judge found Wednesday that state wage law incorporates federal restrictions that make the pre- and post-shift travel noncompensable.

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Brief

Oil Parts Co. Moves To Settle Suit Over Trimmed Wages

By MJ Koo

About 2,500 offshore oil and gas workers have asked a Texas federal court to approve a settlement resolving claims that their employer failed to include quarterly retention bonuses in overtime pay calculations, according to court filings seeking collective certification and settlement approval.

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Liberty Mutual Escapes Suit Over Forfeited 401(k) Funds

By Patrick Hoff

Liberty Mutual dodged a proposed class action alleging it unlawfully used forfeited 401(k) funds to benefit itself rather than covering expenses paid by plan participants, with a California federal judge finding the plan's terms required the money to be used to offset future employer contributions.

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Nike Worker Seeks Pay Records In Proposed Class Wage Suit

By MJ Koo

A Nike retail worker has asked a Washington federal court to order the company to produce pay and scheduling records for its entire workforce before a class certification fight, arguing Nike has no basis to withhold the data and that a court-filed privacy agreement adequately protects workers' personal information.

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Muscular Dystrophy Drug Co. Beats Investor Suit Over Risks

By Sydney Price

A Massachusetts federal judge denied investors another chance to rework their suit accusing Sarepta Therapeutics and its executives of misleading the market about the safety and efficacy of their muscular dystrophy treatments, saying it fails to show they knew about issues with the products and trials when they made certain statements.

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Grocery Outlet Escapes Investor Suit Over IT Update Risks

By Sydney Price

A California federal judge on Wednesday tossed an investor's proposed class action accusing Grocery Outlet Holding Corp. of botching the implementation of an enterprise resource planning system that caused disruptions and financial losses, saying the suit does not show the company's disclosures were misleading or deficient.

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Brief

$11M Fragrance Price-Fixing Deal Gets Final OK

By George Woolston

A New Jersey federal judge Wednesday signed off on an $11 million "icebreaker" deal between a group of consumers and International Flavors and Fragrances Inc. in sprawling price-fixing antitrust litigation against four major fragrance ingredient makers.

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Apple Backs Its $132K Fee Ask Over 'Bad Faith' Subpoenas

By Bonnie Eslinger

Apple has urged a California federal magistrate judge to grant its $132,700 attorney fee request as a sanction against plaintiff consumers' lead lawyer in antitrust litigation claiming Google muscles out rival search engines, but said Apple's counsel doesn't want to disclose their "highly and competitively sensitive" negotiated legal rates.

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Solar Co. Users Seek OK On $15M Deal To End Defect Claims

By Mike Curley

A proposed class of solar panel users is asking a Wisconsin federal court to give final approval to a $15 million settlement to end claims that components of the solar systems are defective and prone to overheating.

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Conn. Judge Trims Claims In 3M Firefighter PFAS Suit

By Katherine Smith

A Connecticut federal judge has dismissed some "forever chemicals" allegations lodged against 3M Co. by state firefighter unions and firefighters in a Minnesota multidistrict litigation concerning municipalities that purchased firefighting turnout gear, ruling that the unions lack associational standing over certain claims in the case.

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GM Vehicles Have 'Shuddering' Clutch Defect, Suit Says

By Mike Curley

A California man is suing General Motors LLC in Delaware federal court, alleging in a proposed class action complaint that model year 2019 to 2025 vehicles shipped with a defect in their continuously variable transmissions that leads to shuddering and stalling.

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Vanguard Trims But Can't Shake Users' Data Tracking Suit

By Craig Clough

A Pennsylvania federal judge tossed federal wiretapping and California invasion of privacy claims brought against investment management company Vanguard in a user class action over third-party tracking and sharing of data, but allowed the plaintiffs to amend the suit while keeping a state-based wiretapping claim alive. 

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OE Fed Credit Union's $2.3M 'Boilerplate' Breach Deal Denied

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge on Wednesday withheld preliminary approval for a $2.3 million settlement over a cyberattack on OE Federal Credit Union, blasting the filing for its "boilerplate language" and "generic statements" and saying it lacked information to determine whether it's a good deal for the consumer class members.

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McLaren Patients' Web Tracking Privacy Claims Advance

By Melanie Dorsey

A Michigan federal judge has allowed patients to move forward with claims that McLaren Health Care Corp. and the Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute allegedly intercepted their electronic communications and benefited from sensitive health information collected through tracking technology embedded in their websites.

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Parties Clash Over Scope Of GIPA In DNA Test-Taker's Suit

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois federal judge is weighing whether the state's genetic privacy law protects against disclosing information about people who have taken genetic tests, with a DNA testing company accused of unlawfully sharing such information with Google arguing Wednesday the statute applies only to disclosure of actual test results.

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'Disappointment' Not Enough To Sue Hershey's, Judge Says

By Rae Ann Varona

A Florida federal judge Wednesday again dismissed a proposed class action that accuses The Hershey Co. of misleading consumers into thinking its Halloween Reese's brand peanut butter pumpkins have carved-out designs, saying the plaintiffs' "subjective disappointment" was not an injury that gives them standing to sue.

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9th Circ. Backs OpenAI, Microsoft Win Over Source Code Suit

By Elliot Weld

The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday affirmed the dismissal of a case brought by a group of anonymous programmers who accused OpenAI and Microsoft of taking source code from public repositories on GitHub, ruling that the programmers had not sufficiently put the court on notice that they wished to pursue a theory related to artificial intelligence inputs.

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Footwear Co. Not Covered In Email Class Fight, Insurers Say

By Hope Patti

Three Nationwide units said they owe no coverage to a footwear company accused of violating Washington state law by sending misleading email advertisements, telling a Washington federal court that coverage is barred by an exclusion for the distribution of material in violation of law.

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BofA Settles Suit Over Maryland Pandemic Benefits Cards

By Katryna Perera

Bank of America on Wednesday agreed to settle a proposed class action alleging it mismanaged Maryland's unemployment benefits debit cards during the pandemic.

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Judge Extends Supervision Over Migrant Teen Detention

By Ganesh Setty

A D.C. federal court has said it'll continue to supervise the federal government after finding it repeatedly failed to make individualized determinations on whether certain migrant teenagers should be placed in a less restrictive alternative to adult immigration detention upon turning 18.

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What State AI Election Laws Mean For The 2026 Midterms

In the absence of federal rules governing artificial intelligence in elections and no consensus emerging across state laws, campaigns, their vendors and AI developers must address the risks associated with outdated rules written for other problems, says Matthew Shapanka at Covington.

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Harvard Morgue Deal Shows Stakes Of Good Faith Immunity

Harvard's recent $53 million payment to settle lawsuits concerning body part thefts from its medical school morgue spotlights the state’s Uniform Anatomical Gift Act, which only extends good faith immunity to anatomical donation stakeholders if certain conditions are met, says Christina Strong at Dilworth Paxson.

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Series

Law School's Missed Lessons: Cultivating Good Judgment

Law schools generally overlook the role that solid judgment skills play in real-world practice, but attorneys can bridge the gap by strengthening their abilities to assess a case’s strengths and weaknesses, develop and execute effective strategies, and provide clear recommendations to clients, says Manny Caixeiro at Venable.

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Burford Exec, Holland & Knight Adviser Open AI-Native Firm

By Andrea Keckley

Two veterans of the legal industry announced on Wednesday that they have teamed up to launch FairPlay Law, an AI-native firm based in Manhattan and focused on representing employees.

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Michael Best Combines With NY-Based Kane Kessler

By Kevin Penton

Michael Best & Friedrich LLP announced Wednesday that it is combining with New York-based firm Kane Kessler PC, adding 36 attorneys and a Big Apple presence to a firm that ranked 143rd on Law360's list of the nation's largest law firms.

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Protesters Say Feds' Fight Shows Need For Misconduct Probe

By Lauraann Wood

The U.S. government's opposition to a special investigation of prosecutorial misconduct that "poisoned" a now-dismissed criminal conspiracy case suggests Chicago prosecutors are still shielding critical details regarding the extent of official communications preceding the prosecution, underscoring the probe's necessity, protesters argued Tuesday.

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Newman Saga Prompts Bill To Limit Judicial Suspensions

By Courtney Bublé

The long-running saga over Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman's fitness to remain on the court has exposed "major flaws" in the judicial accountability system, according to a Republican member of the House who introduced a bill Wednesday to reform it.

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Brief

Senate Panel Weighs 6 Trump Judicial Picks From Red States

By Courtney Bublé

Six nominees for U.S. district judge appeared before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday for their nomination hearing.

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