Analysis

The Plaintiffs Atty Now 5-0 At High Court With No Dissents

By Jeff Overley

It's true that Jennifer Bennett is undefeated at the U.S. Supreme Court, but it's also an understatement. Bennett's five wins, including two recent ones, were all unanimous decisions. They showed that the plaintiffs bar can still persuade a conservative supermajority. And they turned the tide after a spree of decisions keeping workers and consumers out of court.

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Seagate Inks $175M Deal With Investors Over Illegal Sales

By Sydney Price

Data storage company Seagate Technologies has agreed to pay shareholders $175 million to end a class action alleging the firm misrepresented that it could sell products to a blacklisted Chinese company, leading to a $300 million fine from the federal government for breaching export laws.

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Judge Questions Terms Of Student Loan Forgiveness Change

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge considering whether to block a new Trump administration rule that could kick millions of public sector and nonprofit employees out of a student loan forgiveness program repeatedly pressed a government lawyer Wednesday on the precise criteria the U.S. Department of Education would use to decide who is no longer eligible.

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WWE Post-Merger Evidence In Play For Chancery Trial

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court on Wednesday declined to exclude two disputed categories of evidence ahead of next week's trial over World Wrestling Entertainment's $21.4 billion merger with UFC parent Endeavor Group Holdings Inc., allowing both sides to present arguments that could play an important role in the closely watched case.

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Medical Equipment Co. Inks $14.3M Deal In Overbilling Suit

By Matthew Santoni

Pennsylvania-based AdaptHealth Corp. will pay $14.3 million to settle claims that it violated the North Carolina Debt Collection Act by overcharging and trying to collect debts from patients who had returned medical equipment to the company, according to details of a deal released this week.

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MetLife To Boost Pensions In $23M Mortality Data Suit Deal

By Patrick Hoff

MetLife has agreed to increase retirees' monthly pension benefits and settle a class action claiming its use of outdated mortality data unlawfully reduced retirement payouts in a deal worth $23 million, the workers leading the suit told a New York federal court.

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Supplier Can't Force Arbitration Of Worker's Wage Suit

By MJ Koo

A proposed wage class action against a medical and industrial gas supplier can proceed in court, a Washington federal judge ruled, finding that a former worker's arbitration agreement with a staffing agency did not apply.

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NC Corrections Dept. Loses Bid For Immediate Pay Appeal

By MJ Koo

North Carolina's corrections department cannot skip ahead to an appellate court to challenge a ruling that found correctional officers must be paid for all time spent inside prison facilities, a federal judge found, saying the yearslong case is nearly ready for a final resolution.

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Lithia Motors Can't Ship 401(k) Forfeiture Suit To Ore.

By Kellie Mejdrich

A California federal judge turned down an auto dealership company's bid for an Oregon transfer of an ex-worker's proposed class action alleging the company misallocated forfeitures from an employee 401(k) plan, and also rejected the company's bid to stay pleading deadlines in the case.

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Treatment Providers Can't DQ Participants' Atty In Wage Suit

By MJ Koo

Several Texas-based addiction recovery program operators cannot remove a worker's attorney from a proposed wage class action over his prior involvement with the programs, a federal judge found, saying the operators failed to show the attorney had a conflict of interest or was a necessary witness.

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Google Can't Ditch Most Chrome Privacy Claims

By Lauren Berg

A California federal judge Tuesday largely denied Google's bid to dismiss several claims in long-running litigation that accuses the tech giant of surreptitiously collecting Chrome users' personal data, after the plaintiffs elected to move forward with individual claims following their failed class certification bid.

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Vista Equity Hit With Stockholder Suit Over $1.7B IAS Sale

By Rae Ann Varona

A former Integral Ad Science stockholder has launched a proposed class action in Delaware Chancery Court, asserting that a controlling stockholder sought the media measurement platform's $1.7 billion sale to affiliates of Novacap Management Inc. to eliminate exposure to his derivative claims alleging insider trading.

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Helen Of Troy Oversold Restructuring Benefits, Investors Say

By Emilie Ruscoe

Consumer goods company Helen of Troy Ltd. faces a proposed investor class action alleging it concealed its struggles to restructure after a spate of acquisitions, hurting investors as its trading prices sank when financial fallout from the problems became public.

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TransUnion To Face Class Claims Over Sham Debt Collector

By Joyce Hanson

Consumers in a Fair Credit Reporting Act lawsuit against TransUnion have won a North Carolina federal judge's certification allowing their case, which alleges the lead plaintiff was the victim of a debt collection scheme, to proceed as a class action.

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Bankrupt Hospital Can't Exit $3B BCBS Antitrust Deal

By Danielle Ferguson

A bankrupt Alabama hospital with "settler's remorse" can't bail on a multibillion-dollar antitrust settlement with Blue Cross Blue Shield, a federal judge ruled Tuesday.

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Texas Capital Bank Hit With Suit After Data Breach

By Spencer Brewer

A victim of a data breach hit Texas Capital Bank with potential class claims in federal court Wednesday, accusing the financial institution of failing to safeguard sensitive customer information and allowing bad actors to steal data.

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HP Customers Say Latest Third-Party Ink Suit Should Proceed

By Lauraann Wood

HP customers argued Wednesday that an Illinois federal judge should let them pursue amended antitrust accusations that the printer-maker illegally blocked consumers from using third-party ink, noting their expanded allegations about the printer boxes' "bait-and-switch" cartridge disclaimer should be enough to advance.

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Bojangles Workers Didn't Plead Data Hack Harm, Court Told

By Abigail Harrison

Counsel for national fried chicken fast food chain Bojangles told a North Carolina Business Court Wednesday that a putative data breach class action against it can't survive, as a group of employees didn't allege how the cyber-theft caused them harm.

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Bank Tries Again To Decertify Inmate Class In Debit Fee Suit

By Elaine Briseño

Central Bank of Kansas City has renewed its attempt to decertify a class of inmates who alleged they received prepaid debit cards with excessive fees upon their release, arguing the court must first determine whether the prisoners received the cards without permission.

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Tribes Renew $23.3B Boarding School Claims Against Feds

By Crystal Owens

A group of Indigenous nations has amended allegations against the federal government that seek an accounting of how much of Native American tribes' money was used in connection with federal Indian boarding school programs, telling the court that $23.3 billion barely scratches the surface of their losses.

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IVF Patients Say Natera Profited Off Ineffective Embryo Tests

By Mike Curley

A proposed class of in vitro fertilization patients are suing Natera Inc. in California federal court, alleging that it falsely advertised the efficacy and importance of its preimplantation genetic testing to rake in hundreds of millions of dollars from patients looking to conceive.

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'This Is Their Document': Jury Told J&J Docs Prove Talc Lies

By Craig Clough

Counsel for the families of three women who died of ovarian cancer delivered closing arguments Wednesday in their six-week-long bellwether lawsuit against Johnson & Johnson, telling jurors that decades-old internal documents prove the company hid that its talc was contaminated with asbestos.

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Revisiting TransUnion's Underused Standing Rule, 5 Years On

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals' recent use of the U.S. Supreme Court’s now five-year-old TransUnion v. Ramirez rule specifying that the "mere risk of future harm" isn't concrete enough to support a damages claim presents an opportunity to revisit this underutilized standing rule, say attorneys at Horvitz & Levy.

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5 Things Associates Must Ask About Their Firm's Merger Plan

The associates who navigate law firm mergers best ask the right questions early, such as inquiring about partners' plans, to assess how the merger could affect their workflow and career path, says Jackie Bokser-LeFebvre at Major Lindsey.

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BigLaw Insider Trading Defendants Have Big-Name Legal Help

By Chris Villani

An insider trading case involving nonpublic information prosecutors say was stolen from some of the largest law firms in the U.S. has ensnared more than two dozen defendants, many of whom have turned to lawyers with notable clients including Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein and Luigi Mangione.

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Hueston Hennigan Follows Milbank's Lead In Associate Pay

By Tracey Read

The race to match Milbank LLP's attorney pay hikes is officially on, with trial firm Hueston Hennigan the latest to announce it will increase associate pay by $10,000 to $20,000 annually.

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Goldstein Cites Addiction To Avoid Time, DOJ Seeks 8 Years

By Jared Foretek

Federal prosecutors recommended a 97-month prison sentence for convicted SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein, telling a Maryland federal court he has bilked the government out of more than $9.5 million in unpaid taxes. Goldstein, meanwhile, asked for a suspended sentence and supervised release, citing a "severe and longstanding gambling addiction."

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Rocade Capital Buys LFG To Create Combined $2B Lit Funder

By Ryan Boysen

Rocade Capital LLC has acquired fellow litigation funder Law Finance Group LLC, creating a combined platform that has deployed more than $2.3 billion and specializes in $10 million to $50 million deals, including post-judgment financing, portfolio deals and lending to plaintiff's firms.

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Court Reporter Shortage A 'Crisis,' Calif. Supreme Court Told

By Bonnie Eslinger

Two legal nonprofits urged the California Supreme Court to issue an order entitling low-income civil litigants to electronic recording if a live court reporter is not available, saying at a hearing Wednesday that a court reporter shortage in the Golden State has created a "crisis."

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9th Circ. Suspends 2 Attys For 6 Months Over AI Hallucinations

By Rae Ann Varona

The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday temporarily suspended two California immigration attorneys from practicing before the appellate court for filing briefs in a deportation relief case containing artificial intelligence-generated hallucinations, finding no excuse for their "extraordinary confession" of not vetting citations used by unlicensed brief writers.

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Tenn. Firm Gets AI Sanctions In Suit Against Baker Donelson

By Emily Sawicki

A Tennessee federal judge has sanctioned a Memphis, Tennessee, law firm over its misuse of artificial intelligence amid a malpractice suit against Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC, ordering the regional firm to reimburse costs associated with the matter and report the misconduct to the state's disciplinary counsel.

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Feature

'Read The Cases': Conn. Judge Offers AI Advice To Attys

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut federal judge told a gathering of attorneys Tuesday that his law clerks are not allowed to use generative artificial intelligence for any purpose involving legal research, his interns are barred from using it at all, and lawyers must be careful when relying on the material that the tools produce.

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Atty Can't Shake $120M Verdict In RICO, Defamation Dispute

By Carolina Bolado

An Alabama federal judge refused to disturb a $120 million verdict against a former Conrad & Scherer LLP managing partner, ruling there was enough evidence at trial for a jury to find the attorney liable on Drummond Co.'s racketeering and defamation claims.

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Graham Pushes Federal Tort Path After DOJ Drops $1.8B Fund

By Courtney Bublé

The U.S. Department of Justice seemed, at least briefly, to support a Republican senator's alternative solution to the "anti-weaponization" $1.8 billion fund that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday the department is abandoning.

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DOJ Sets New Healthcare Fraud Convictions Record

By Phillip Bantz

The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday announced that its Health Care Fraud Unit secured six jury trial convictions across the country in less than three weeks, with the cases involving more than $1.1 billion in fraud losses.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Dardarian Ho's Linda Dardarian

By Lynn LaRowe

Despite being on the other side of a disability rights case that will cost his municipality at least $150 million, Kevin McLaughlin, city attorney for Oakland, California, believes that if more lawyers were like Linda Dardarian, there would be far less lamenting about civility in the legal profession.

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