OpenAI CEO Altman Fueled 'Toxic Culture Of Lying,' Jury Told

By Dorothy Atkins

California federal jurors weighing Elon Musk's challenge to OpenAI's for-profit conversion on Thursday watched prerecorded testimony from a former OpenAI board member who voted to oust CEO Sam Altman in 2023 over concerns his pattern of lies and deception fostered a "toxic culture of lying."  

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Ex-Beneficient CEO Convicted In $150M Shell Co. Fraud

By Bonnie Eslinger

The former CEO of Texas financial services firm Beneficient was convicted by a Manhattan federal jury on Thursday of securities fraud and other charges connected with a scheme to fraudulently loot more than $150 million from now-defunct GWG Holdings, a publicly traded company for which he served as chairman.

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Netlist Backs DOJ Stance On Essential IP In Samsung Case

By Adam Lidgett

The U.S. Department of Justice is correct that having a patent included in a standard does not necessarily give the patentholder market power, Netlist said in defending itself against Samsung's lawsuit accusing it of exploiting a standard-setting process.

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Judge Wants States To Outline Live Nation Antitrust Remedies

By Matthew Perlman

A New York federal judge asked state enforcers on Thursday to outline the remedies they intend to seek from Live Nation, along with the discovery they expect to need, before deciding a schedule for the next steps in the antitrust case against the major live entertainment company.

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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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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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Brief

New PBGC Amicus Program Offers Input On Important Cases

By Grace Elletson

Litigants involved in benefits cases that involve novel or significant pension-related issues can now ask the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. to lodge briefs shedding light on their disputes, the PBGC announced Thursday.

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Insurer Needn't Cover Real Estate Co.'s $330K Arbitration Bill

By Hope Patti

An insurer is not on the hook for more than $330,000 in defense costs that a commercial real estate company and its manager incurred in arbitration with investors, a Washington federal court ruled Thursday, saying the company failed to show that the costs arose from covered fiduciary duty claims.

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PDVSA Says Repaying $95M Debt Is Impossible

By Keith Goldberg

Venezuela's state-owned oil company has insisted it has no way to repay some $95 million in debt to bondholders due to banks being unwilling to work with it given the pariah status of the Venezuelan government.

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Insurer 'Arbitrarily' Cut NC Farmers' Coverage, Court Told

By Gianna Ferrarin

A crop insurance provider owes two farmers for the cost of arbitration proceedings and other damages they suffered after the insurer tried to halve their recovery for a tobacco crop-related loss, according to a complaint filed in North Carolina federal court.

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Truist Pushes To Arbitrate Law Firm's Fraudulent Check Case

By Emily Johnson

Truist Bank Inc. urged a Georgia state court to dismiss a suit from an Atlanta-based law firm accusing the bank of honoring a fraudulent $34,000 check, arguing the firm agreed to arbitrate such claims.

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SAG-AFTRA Wants Out Of Singer's 'Furious 7' Royalties Suit

By Katherine Smith

The Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and its intellectual property rights distribution fund are seeking to escape a singer's lawsuit filed in California federal court claiming underpayment for his vocals in a song used in the film "Furious 7," arguing the claims are barred by federal law.

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Blake Lively's Attys Say Justin Baldoni Fight Not Quite Over

By Lauren Berg

Though Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have settled her claims accusing his production company of orchestrating a smear campaign after she accused her "It Ends With Us" co-star of sexually harassing her, the actress' attorneys told a New York federal judge Thursday that there's still a dispute over damages and fees.

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Brief

Conn. Investment Firm Settles $70M Client Poach Suit

By Brian Steele

Connecticut investment firm TJT Capital Group LLC and its one-time chief compliance officer have settled a lawsuit accusing the former executive of taking 125 clients with $70 million in assets under management when he left for a new job, federal court records show.

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Zillow, Redfin Can't Escape FTC's Antitrust Suit Over Ad Pact

By Jared Foretek

A Virginia federal judge denied Zillow and Redfin's bid Wednesday to toss the Federal Trade Commission's suit accusing the companies of colluding through a $100 million payment to stop competing on multifamily rental listings, ruling that the "fact-intensive nature" of the commission's complaint justifies it surviving past the pleading stage.

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Nielsen Tells 2nd Circ. To Upend Cumulus' Data-Tying Order

By Bryan Koenig

An attorney for Nielsen urged a Second Circuit panel Thursday to undo an order, which is currently stayed, effectively blocking it from conditioning media company Cumulus' access to national radio ratings data on buying its local offerings.

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Colo. Jury Asked To Award I-70 Project Contractor $32.5M

By Rachel Konieczny

A New York engineering and design firm that contracted to reconstruct a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 70 in Denver asked a Colorado state jury to award it $32.5 million for breaches it says a subcontractor made during the project's course.

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Kaman's Boeing Supply Suit Isn't Getting Fast-Tracked

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court on Thursday refused to fast-track Kaman Aerospace Corp.'s lawsuit against Falcon Jacksonville LLC or issue a temporary restraining order requiring Falcon to keep supplying Boeing, finding that the dispute is better suited for a damages case than emergency court intervention.

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Hemp Co. Says Deliverer Stole, Sold $2.5M Shipment

By Mike Curley

Hemp company Oregon AG Service LLC is suing a logistics company and delivery service in Oregon federal court, alleging that the delivery service stole and then sold for its own profit a hemp shipment valued at $2.5 million.

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Safeguarding RWI Coverage As Materiality Focus Persists

As first-quarter broker claims reports reveal that materiality disputes remain a key driver of representations and warranties insurance claims, the scarce case law in this area indicates that including a materiality scrape provision in an RWI policy may aid policyholders with recovery, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

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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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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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Morgan Lewis Hires 2 More Hunton Litigators

By Andrea Keckley

Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP announced on Friday that it has hired two more attorneys from Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP to build up its litigation bench.

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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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Paul Weiss Says Atty Cuts Were Part Of Performance Reviews

By Daniel Moritz-Rabson

Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP told Law360 on Friday that the firm has parted ways with some attorneys following an annual review process.

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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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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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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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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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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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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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