F-150 Drivers Denied Class Cert. In Ford Transmission Suit

By Mike Curley

An Illinois federal judge has denied class certification to a group of Ford F-150 owners who allege Ford shipped vehicles with defective transmissions, finding their warranty claims are blocked by a class action waiver, and they failed to show there was a common defect among class vehicles.

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1st Circ. Presses Amex On Merchant Arbitration Rule Change

By Julie Manganis

A First Circuit panel on Tuesday pushed back on assertions by American Express that unilateral changes to the terms of its merchant agreement did not invalidate it, as a lower court found last year in denying the card issuer's motion to compel arbitration in a dispute over anti-steering rules.

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Feature

Meet The Attys In The 340B Battle At 1st Circ.

By Mark Payne

Gibson Dunn and Dunn Isaacson Rhee attorneys presented arguments Tuesday at the First Circuit over whether drug manufacturers can intervene in a challenge to a now-suspended drug rebate program for hospitals. Law360 profiles the attorneys.

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UMG Says DistroKid Is Copyright-Infringing 'AI-Slop Pipeline'

By Craig Clough

UMG Recordings sued music distributor DistroKid in Delaware federal court Tuesday, calling it an "AI-slop pipeline" that uses copyright infringement and deceptive practices to flood popular streaming platforms with mass-generated artificial intelligence content.

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Springsteen Beats Compensation Suit Over Album Cover

By Elliot Weld

A New Jersey appellate court on Tuesday affirmed an order dismissing a suit from the estate of a classic car collector against Bruce Springsteen over compensation from use of a 1967 Pontiac GTO on an album cover, saying it was "abundantly clear" that all elements of hearsay were present to sink the case's only evidence against the musician.

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Attorney Escapes $12M Unlawful Tax Strategy Suit In Colo.

By Zach Dupont

An attorney won't face claims from a precious metals partnership and its members accusing her of advocating an unlawful tax strategy after a Colorado federal judge Tuesday granted the attorney's motion to dismiss the $12 million suit.

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College Sports Overhaul Looms Closer After Senate Vote

By Alex Lawson

The U.S. Senate on Tuesday advanced a bill that would impose sweeping regulations on college sports, teeing up a lively legislative debate as the NCAA looks to ward off a wave of antitrust lawsuits.

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Lender Alleges Housing Official Ran $2.4M Ponzi Scheme

By Aaron Keller

A real estate investment firm has accused the former executive director of a Connecticut town's housing authority of operating a Ponzi scheme that caused a $2.4 million loan to "vanish," alleging he and an associate made fraudulent assurances about proposed bonds, account balances, property values and other financing.

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11th Circ. Upholds AIG's $1.8M Yacht Fire Coverage Loss

By Hope Patti

An AIG unit cannot recoup $1.8 million from a dock builder and electrical subcontractor in connection with payments it made to a Florida policyholder whose yacht caught fire while plugged into a recently constructed dock, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed.

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Auto Parts Co. Fights Bifurcation Bid In $50M Coverage Trial

By Danielle Ferguson

An auto parts manufacturer urged a North Carolina federal court to reject an insurer's request to bifurcate an upcoming trial over claims the insurer improperly denied $50 million in coverage for COVID-19 pandemic-related losses, saying the allegations overlap too significantly to split the claims.

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Call Center Seeks Coverage For $5M Adidas Data Breach Deal

By Danielle Ferguson

A Wisconsin business process outsourcing company said in federal court that a Chubb unit breached its policy when the insurer refused to cover $5 million the call center paid to Adidas to resolve claims over data breaches that compromised the sneaker giant's customers' personal information.

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Fintech Co. Says Nuvei Bungled Mastercard Transactions

By Gina Kim

Chicago-based fintech and futures prop trading firm Topstep has sued Nuvei Technologies in Arizona federal court, alleging the payment processor concealed a system error that bungled 189,000 Mastercard transactions and then tried to improperly resubmit them, leaving Topstep's customers "blindsided with unexpected charges" and resulting in reputational harm to Topstep.

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Justices Urged To Leave Global Copyright Ruling Intact

By Elliot Weld

A Louisiana songwriter has asked the U.S. Supreme Court not to touch a ruling that allowed him to recover worldwide rights to the 1960s hit song "Double Shot (Of My Baby's Love)," saying a group of music companies had rushed the issue to the justices when only a single circuit court had weighed in.

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Golf Developer Fights Dutch Co.'s Bid To Arbitrate Tech Row

By Isaac Monterose

A golf course developer asked a Louisiana federal court to reject a Dutch golfing technology company's arbitration request for the developer's suit, which accuses the company of wrongfully trying to enforce a terminated purchase and service agreement for what it alleges is the company's faulty automated hole-in-one recording system.

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KinderCare Banned Wash. Workers' Side Jobs, Lawsuit Says

By Rachel Riley

KinderCare has been hit with a proposed class action in Washington state court accusing the nationwide childcare chain of barring employees from taking additional jobs in violation of an Evergreen State law protecting workers' moonlighting rights.

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NYC Asks 2nd Circ. To Greenlight Uber, Lyft Deactivation Law

By Dorothy Atkins

New York City has urged the Second Circuit to lift an injunction blocking a municipal ordinance prohibiting Uber and Lyft from "deactivating" drivers without formal notice and investigation, arguing that the lower court wrongly found that the companies would likely win their contract claims.

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Workers Want Investment Bank Pay Suit To Go On

By Benjamin Morse

An investment-banking enterprise and two managing directors are asking a Texas federal judge to resolve factual questions about workers' exempt status too early in the case, the employees argued, pushing the judge to keep their wage suit alive.

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Walmart, Retail Groups Doubt Value Of $200B Swipe Fee Deal

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

Major retail trade associations and Walmart are objecting to a $200 billion settlement over Visa and Mastercard swipe fees in New York federal court, saying the court should decertify the class or at least allow opt-outs so merchants can preserve "valuable claims that class counsel are trading away for nothing."

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Pro Checkers Player Gets Partial Win In Fla. Antitrust Suit

By David Minsky

A Florida federal judge on Tuesday handed a partial win to a checkers player in his complaint alleging he was wrongfully disqualified from competing, finding that a U.S. professional association violated antitrust laws and defamed him after he formed an alternative organization.

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OpenAI Wants To See Details Of SpaceXAI's Deal With Apple

By Craig Clough

OpenAI filed an emergency motion Tuesday in Texas federal court seeking the details of a settlement SpaceXAI inked this week with Apple over claims that Apple's deal to integrate ChatGPT into the iPhone violated antitrust law, saying the terms of the deal may undermine the antitrust allegations SpaceXAI is still pursuing against OpenAI.

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1st Circ. Suggests Appeal In Drug Rebate Case May Be Moot

By Carolyn Muyskens

A First Circuit panel raised mootness concerns as it heard arguments Tuesday from drug companies appealing a ruling that prevented them from intervening in a now-dismissed case to defend a rebate model for a federal drug-pricing program. 

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How States' 'Perry Mason Moment' Led To $17B Meta Deal

By Dorothy Atkins

A recent landmark $17.1 billion settlement with Meta Platforms Inc. may have never happened if it weren't for a quick-thinking trial attorney and his close-knit team of lawyers representing 29 states, who worked together to swiftly shift strategies midtrial.

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Ashurst Perkins Aided $230M ICap Ponzi Scheme, Suit Claims

By Ben Adlin

Ashurst Perkins Coie pocketed millions of dollars in legal fees by providing services to clients it knew were operating a Ponzi scheme that ultimately swindled investors out of nearly $230 million, plaintiffs claimed in a Washington state lawsuit accusing the firm of aiding and abetting fraud.

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Trump Taps Ex-DOL Official To Serve As EEOC Top Cop

By Anne Cullen

The White House nominated a former Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP attorney who previously led the U.S. Department of Labor's contractor compliance arm to serve as the general counsel of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.

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Washington Sen. Murray Vows To Block Trump US Atty Pick

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump's nominee to be U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Washington is under fire from one of the home state senators who vowed to use every avenue possible to block him.

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Fla. Judge Won't Pause Trump-IRS Settlement Sanctions

By Jack McLoone

The Florida federal judge who barred President Donald Trump and others from citing a settlement resolving what she characterized as a sham $10 billion case against his own Internal Revenue Service won't pause her sanctions order while the president appeals to the Eleventh Circuit.

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4th Circ. Appears Split On Reviving Comey, James Indictments

By Jared Foretek

Partisan splits were apparent Tuesday on the Fourth Circuit panel hearing the Trump administration's challenge to a federal district judge's dismissal of the indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, with two of the three judges appearing to agree an improper appointment doomed the cases.

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Brief

Calif. Judge Charged Over Fatal Crash With Bicyclist

By Craig Clough

California Attorney General Rob Bonta announced Tuesday that his office charged Kings County Superior Court Judge Kendra Weber with a misdemeanor count of vehicular manslaughter, alleging she struck and killed a bicyclist.

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