Meta Judge Quickly OKs $17B Deal Over Social Media Harms

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge overseeing a bellwether trial over claims Meta hid social media's harms to youth on Wednesday approved its $17.1 billion deal with 29 states, after a hearing in which she pressed lawyers on details of the deal and raised concerns about how Meta was handling attorney-client privilege issues.

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9th Circ. Backs Google Privacy Deal With No Class Payouts

By Allison Grande

A split Ninth Circuit panel Wednesday affirmed approval of a location data privacy deal that requires Google to pay $62 million to plaintiffs' counsel and third-party organizations but gives no money to individual class members, agreeing the structure was appropriate because direct distribution to all class members would be "infeasible."

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'A Bad Argument': Southwest's Filing In FMLA Suit Irks Judge

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge on Wednesday criticized counsel representing Southwest Airlines in a certified employment class action for filing an untimely and overbroad motion, saying Southwest's attorney was making "a bad argument" and telling counsel, "You guys should not have done that."

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Del. Police Captains' OT Exemption Fight Heads To Trial

By MJ Koo

A Delaware federal court has declined to rule before trial on whether Wilmington police captains are exempt from overtime pay, finding genuine factual disputes about whether their primary duty is frontline law enforcement or management that only a jury can resolve.

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Feds Aim To Give Employers Clarity On Wellness Programs

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Department of Labor and other federal agencies on Wednesday issued guidance on employer wellness programs that permit fees on workers' health premiums for things like tobacco use, which the agencies said was in response to legal questions raised by numerous recently filed class action federal benefits lawsuits.

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Translation Co. Wants Quick Appeal Of PAGA Timing Ruling

By Benjamin Morse

A translation services company asked a California federal judge to let it immediately appeal a ruling that kept alive a former worker's Private Attorneys General Act claim based on an alleged wage-statement violation, saying the dispute presents a novel question over when such claims accrue.

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O'Reilly Worker Says Auto Retailer Shorted Breaks, Sick Pay

By Maddie Khaw

A retail worker for an O'Reilly Auto Parts subsidiary has accused the company of failing to pay Washington state employees for missed meal breaks and post-shift work, part of an alleged systematic practice of undercompensation in which workers are also restricted from discussing their wages with others.

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Credit Suisse Says 401(k) Participants Misunderstand ERISA

By Carla Baranauckas

Credit Suisse Securities USA LLC and its benefits committee have urged a North Carolina federal judge to dismiss class claims that they mismanaged the bank's 401(k) plan, arguing the workers' complaint relies on flawed comparisons and misunderstandings of ERISA's fiduciary standards.

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NAPCO To Pay $20M To End Investor Accounting Fraud Suit

By Katryna Perera

NAPCO Security Technologies and its top two executives have reached a $20 million settlement with shareholders to resolve claims over alleged COVID-19-era financial reporting errors, and lead counsel from Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP and Johnson Fistel PLLP intend to seek more than $6 million in attorney fees.

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Norfolk Southern Says Precedent Undermines Derailment Suit

By Kelcey Caulder

Norfolk Southern urged a Georgia federal judge Wednesday to deny class treatment to investors who allege they were deceived about the company's safety operations before a fiery train derailment in Ohio in 2023, arguing U.S. Supreme Court precedent undercut the argument that the rail carrier's share price was unlawfully inflated.

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Humana Keeps Conspiracy Claims Against Mylan, Lannett

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

A federal judge refused to grant Mylan and Lannett summary judgment on claims in Humana's suit alleging a conspiracy to fix the prices of generic drugs ahead of its bellwether trial, calling it premature and noting that the other parties did not join the motion.

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Iowa, Montana Ask Justices To Stop Paramount Merger Case

By Matthew Perlman

Iowa and Montana are asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stop California and other state enforcers from challenging Paramount Skydance Corp.'s planned purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, calling the effort "a partisan enforcement action" that targets a procompetitive deal.

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Brief

Ill. Aid-Fixing Trial Delayed As 7th Circ. Review Proceeds

By Lauraann Wood

Students and several elite private universities will have to postpone their trial over an alleged financial aid fixing scheme while the Seventh Circuit reviews expert-related findings that have allowed the case to proceed as a class action, an Illinois federal judge said Wednesday.

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Brief

Ill. Judge OKs Direct Buyers' Last Turkey Deals, Striking Trial

By Lauraann Wood

An Illinois federal judge struck an October turkey price-fixing trial on Wednesday as he gave his early blessing to the last two settlements resolving direct purchasers' claims in the consolidated litigation.

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Libertarian Org. Tells 9th Circ. Not To Let Canadian Sue Google

By Bryan Koenig

The Washington Legal Foundation sought Wednesday to back Google against a British Columbia man's efforts to revive "a thematic copycat" of Epic Games' antitrust lawsuit, telling the Ninth Circuit that a California federal judge rightly deemed Google's Play Store policies too disconnected from prices paid by Canadian Android users.

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Dodge Ram 1500 Defect Causes Abrupt Stops, Drivers Say

By Gina Kim

Dodge Ram 1500 drivers filed a proposed class action Tuesday in Michigan federal court against automaker Fiat Chrysler, alleging their vehicles suffer from a uniform and systemic defect that's causing persistent check engine light illumination, and unexpected stalling or stopping while in motion, posing a dangerous risk of vehicle collisions.

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Lowe's Must Face Calif. Privacy Suit Over Web Trackers

By Gina Kim

Lowe's must face a twice-amended proposed class action alleging the home improvement retailer secretly collected and shared information about its website users with TikTok and Microsoft, contrary to its own privacy policy, a California federal judge said Wednesday, rejecting Lowe's argument that the data collection wasn't highly offensive.

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Academy Mortgage Reaches $2M Data Breach Settlement

By Katryna Perera

Customers of Academy Mortgage Corp. have urged a Utah federal judge to grant the first OK to a nearly $2 million settlement they reached with the lender to resolve claims tied to a 2023 data breach.

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Flock Surveillance Cameras Enable Stalking, Class Suit Says

By Kelcey Caulder

Flock's nationwide vehicle surveillance system has repeatedly been used for "personal surveillance and stalking" rather than for proper law enforcement purposes, a driver said in a proposed class action in Georgia federal court.

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Apple Seeks Win In Biometric Privacy Case, Citing 7th Circ.

By Celeste Bott

A recent Seventh Circuit decision affirming Samsung's win in a biometric privacy suit means Apple should prevail over similar claims, the tech giant has told an Illinois federal judge, arguing for summary judgment in a class action alleging that Apple's Photos app collects users' faceprints without permission.

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Apollo Shareholders Say Their Data Was Exposed To Hackers

By Sydney Price

Shareholders of Apollo Global Management Inc. have launched a pair of proposed class action complaints in New York federal court accusing the asset manager of failing to secure and protect the personal information of customers from a recent data breach.

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Mont. Reaches Deal To Ensure Schools Teach Native History

By Crystal Owens

A group of individuals, tribal nations and the Montana Office of Public Instruction have agreed to settle a class action challenging the state's failure to implement a mandate that requires public schools to teach Indigenous history and culture in consultation with local tribes.

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4th Circ. Class Cert. Ruling Offers Tips For Damages Experts

The Fourth Circuit's recent decision reversing class certification in litigation against Boeing raises the cost of a bare-bones damages model proposal for plaintiffs, but it also clarifies what a defensible proposal should contain, say Alok Khare and Erica Rose at FTI Consulting.

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Target's ERISA Win Doesn't Ax Tobacco Surcharge Questions

Though a Minnesota federal court's recent dismissal of a putative class action challenging Target's tobacco surcharge wellness program offers employers a defense road map, courts' differing conclusions about the Employee Retirement Income Security Act versus U.S. Department of Labor requirements leave the legal landscape unsettled, say attorneys at McGuireWoods.

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Del. Boeing Ruling Shows How Compliance Defeats Caremark

The Delaware Chancery Court's recent dismissal of shareholder litigation against Boeing's board in the wake of the Alaska Airlines door-plug blowout incident carries significant lessons for shareholders pursuing Caremark claims, and for corporate counsel advising boards on oversight obligations, says Brian Rostocki at Reed Smith.

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Student Loan Suit Draws Line On Testimony In Trust Litigation

A recent interlocutory opinion from the Southern District of New York shows securitization experts can explain servicing practices but cannot substitute for authenticated loan-level ownership proof or intent evidence, signaling that parties in student loan trust cases should sharpen recordkeeping and tracing strategies, says attorney Stanley Tate.

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Calif. Bill Curbing PE Role In Litigation Heads To Newsom

By Lauren Berg

A California bill to ban corporate investors from influencing litigation strategy is heading to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk after passing with bipartisan support from the state Legislature.

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Pillsbury Settles Ex-Recruiting Director's Pregnancy Bias Suit

By Grace Elletson

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP has settled a Black former director's suit claiming the law firm fired her weeks after she shared that she was pregnant and would need accommodations, according to a Tennessee federal court filing.

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DOJ Flags Breach Of Internal Policies In Apple Suit

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Department of Justice told a New Jersey federal judge Tuesday that its staffers breached internal policies when they shared personally identifiable information with an outside discovery vendor that was hired not by the department, but instead by the DOJ's state attorneys general partners, in the monopolization case against Apple.

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Prosecutors Say Goldstein Must Stay Behind Bars

By Jared Foretek

Federal prosecutors told the Fourth Circuit on Tuesday to keep convicted Supreme Court attorney Thomas Goldstein behind bars while he appeals his conviction, arguing that he remains a serious flight risk with wealthy overseas connections and "an ongoing danger" whose tax crimes continued "even after conviction."

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Arizona Atty Reprimanded For Series Of AI Errors

By Matt Perez

An Arizona federal judge has formally reprimanded a lawyer who admitted to filing four briefs that contained errors including false quotes and a faulty case summary generated with artificial intelligence amid an employment discrimination suit, noting the lawyer previously faced sanctions on two separate occasions for violating court rules.

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House Committee Wants DOL IG To Widen Info-Sharing Probe

By Benjamin Morse

Top House Education and Workforce Committee Republicans urged the U.S. Department of Labor's watchdog Wednesday to expand its review of information-sharing arrangements with outside groups, asking whether three additional agencies improperly disclosed confidential investigative material during the Biden administration.

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