A California federal judge's recent use of advisory juries for high-profile tech disputes — including Elon Musk's OpenAI for-profit conversion challenge and states' social-media addiction fight with Meta — is an uncommon practice that's intended as a "reality check" for judges deciding "socially explosive" disputes, according to legal experts.
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Analysis

Why Big Tech Gets Advisory Juries In 'Socially Explosive' Suits

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge's recent use of advisory juries for high-profile tech disputes — including Elon Musk's OpenAI for-profit conversion challenge and states' social-media addiction fight with Meta — is an uncommon practice that's intended as a "reality check" for judges deciding "socially explosive" disputes, according to legal experts.

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Jury Clears Boeing In LOT Polish Airlines' 737 Fraud Suit

By Rachel Riley

A Seattle federal jury on Friday cleared Boeing of fraud allegations in LOT Polish Airlines' $153 million lawsuit claiming the aerospace giant misrepresented the safety of the 737 Max in order to sell leases on the jets, which were later grounded globally after two deadly crashes.

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Fed. Circ. Restores $82M Award Against Ford In IP Fight

By Ivan Moreno

The Federal Circuit on Friday reinstated a jury's $82.3 million contract award to Versata Software Inc. against Ford Motor Co. and ordered a new trial on trade secret damages, finding in a precedential decision that the lower court improperly limited available damages theories.

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States Seek Ticketmaster Sale As Live Nation Wants New Trial

By Matthew Santoni

State enforcers say they want a federal court to split up Live Nation and Ticketmaster following a New York federal jury verdict that Live Nation had harmed competition by monopolizing ticket sales for large concert venues, even as the concert promotion giant sought to undo the verdict against it or to be granted a new trial.

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SEC Says Foot Locker Contracts Hampered Whistleblowers

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Friday fined Foot Locker Inc. for allegedly requiring some top-level staff to sign agreements discouraging them from blowing the whistle against the retailer.

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Law360 Reveals Titans Of The Plaintiffs Bar

By Rachel Rippetoe

This past year, 10 lawyers across the country at plaintiffs' firms big and small helped secure millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts for their clients, going up against powerful defendants like Google, Monsanto and the Trump administration, earning the attorneys recognition as Law360's Titans of the Plaintiffs Bar for 2026.

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REAL ESTATE & DEVELOPMENT

Port Authority's Immunity Bid Fails In Pier Project Row Appeal

By Brian Steele

The Connecticut Port Authority cannot assert sovereign immunity to dodge a subcontractor's lawsuit over unpaid work on a pier project because it is not an "arm of the state," an appellate panel found Friday.

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Conn. Mall The SoNo Collection Hit With Foreclosure Suit

By Clara Geoghegan

Norwalk, Connecticut-based shopping mall The SoNo Collection, which is part of national retail real estate giant GGP, is facing state foreclosure and receiver proceedings after defaulting on a $245 million loan.

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Construction Co. Says Denver Zoo Owes $250K For Exhibit

By Zach Dupont

A Texas-based company which manufactures complex filtration systems told a Colorado state court that the Denver Zoological Foundation Inc., a contractor and an insurer owe just over $250,000, according to the complaint.

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Menzies Says $35M NYC Property Is Fair Game For $7.6M Award

By Isaac Monterose

A U.K. aviation services company's subsidiary that's seeking compensation for the more than $7.6 million arbitral award that it won by default against the Republic of Niger told a New York federal court that the African country's $35 million New York City property isn't exempt from being used to satisfy the award.

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Mich. Man Says Township Razed Church Amid Rehab Project

By Susan Smiley

A West Michigan man has asked a Michigan federal judge to deny the Charter Township of Trowbridge's motion to dismiss his suit alleging the township demolished a historic church he owned and was in the midst of rehabbing.

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ENERGY & ENVIRONMENTAL

Chevron Loses Bid To Pause $24M Venezuela Oil Suit

By Caroline Simson

A Texas federal judge has denied Chevron's bid to pause a Venezuelan oil services provider's $24 million lawsuit over alleged unpaid invoices for arbitration and has instead allowed several claims to proceed in court, saying Chevron has already spent too much time litigating the matter.

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INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY

OpenAI Must Produce Musk Case Depos In NY Copyright MDL

By Elliot Weld

OpenAI was ordered to turn over deposition testimony from three executives that was taken in the course of Elon Musk's California case challenging the company's conversion into a for-profit entity to a group of authors and news organizations suing over the alleged use of copyrighted content to train artificial intelligence models.

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Meat Co. Says It Lost $1.2M Through Trade Secrets Theft

By Rachel Konieczny

A Denver-based natural meat processor claimed in Colorado federal court that its former sales contractor and a California beef exporter conspired to steal its trade secrets and diverted more than $1.2 million in customer revenue to the exporter.

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MEDIA & ENTERTAINMENT

Sills Cummis, Ex-Rock Musician Manager Ink Pretrial Deal

By George Woolston

Sills Cummis & Gross PC and the former manager of a Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee suing the firm over malpractice claims have reached a deal just days before the case was set to go to trial, according to a letter filed in New Jersey state court.

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EMPLOYMENT

USI Says Ex-Producer Took Clients To Rival Brokerage

By Brian Steele

A former producer at the insurance brokerage giant USI has breached his employment agreement by siphoning clients for his own competing company, according to a federal contract suit filed in Connecticut.

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COMPETITION

Latest HVAC Suit Says Price Hikes Were Coordinated

By Susan Smiley

Seven HVAC companies, including Rheem, Trane, Carrier and Lennox, engaged in price-fixing and inventory manipulation using the COVID-19 pandemic as a cover, Arkansas-based HVAC contractor Reliance Heating and Cooling alleged in a civil antitrust suit filed in Michigan federal court Friday.

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GOVERNMENT CONTRACTS

NC Accuses Electric-Car Maker Of Deserting Plan For EV Plant

By Hayley Fowler

North Carolina is suing an electric car company that accepted public grant money to build a manufacturing plant in the state after it allegedly bailed on the deal, saying the company hasn't even started construction despite initially promising to have the facility running this year.

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FINANCING

Settlement Co. Says $2.7M Fla. Lien Notices Were Defamatory

By Aaron Keller

Structured settlement broker Integrated Financial Settlements Inc. and three affiliates have sued Riverside Capital NY in Connecticut state court, accusing the company of defamation and interference with business expectations for telling third parties about a purportedly improper $2.7 million Florida lien connected to an ex-CEO's allegedly unauthorized loans.

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HEALTHCARE & LIFE SCIENCES

Corewell Health Faces Suit Over Alleged 'Fake' Medical Debt

By Melanie Dorsey

Corewell Health and debt collector DCM Services LLC tried to collect millions of dollars in medical bills that plaintiffs said were already paid through insurance and government programs, according to a proposed class action filed in Michigan federal court Friday. 

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Brief

Hospital Pulls $1M Medicare Suit Against UnitedHealthcare

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut hospital has dropped a lawsuit alleging UnitedHealthcare owed it more than $1 million after refusing to correct errors in Medicare Advantage cost calculations, state court records show.

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UK LITIGATION

Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen Napster sued by a music royalties company, White & Case LLP and Laytons LLP targeted in a claim by a property developer, a short-term lender pursue legal action against law firm Rainer Hughes and its former founding partner following his strike-off for money laundering offenses, and the administrators of London Bridging sue the founder of collapsed Market Financial Solutions. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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PEOPLE

Fox Rothschild Hires Real Estate Litigator In New York Office

By Nate Beck

Fox Rothschild said it has added a former Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP partner with a background in real estate litigation to its New York office.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Wiley Rein Hit With Proposed Class Action Over Data Breach

By Christine DeRosa

Wiley Rein LLP has been hit with a proposed class action accusing the Washington, D.C., firm of negligence after the firm said a group that may be affiliated with the Chinese government accessed emails of firm personnel.

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Quinn Emanuel Sues To Collect $1.5M From Binance's Zhao

By Caroline Simson

Quinn Emanuel has filed suit in Washington, D.C., against former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, who was pardoned by President Donald Trump last fall, asking the court to enforce an arbitral award of nearly $1.5 million in unpaid attorney fees and other costs.

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Trump Admin Wants Fed. Workers To Sign NDAs, Citing Leaks

By Bonnie Eslinger

President Donald Trump's administration ​on Tuesday announced that it wishes to require federal employees with access to sensitive government information to sign a nondisclosure agreement, citing recent leaks related to immigration enforcement operations and the release of personal information belonging to approximately 4,500 Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees.

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3rd Circ. Disapproves Of Judge's Quips In Fatal Crash Case

By Y. Peter Kang

The Third Circuit on Tuesday scolded a Pennsylvania federal judge for his "inappropriate attempted witticisms" while presiding over a lawsuit in which a parent blamed transportation companies for the deaths of his two children in a highway collision, saying the judge's "ill-conceived attempts at levity" in a fatal injury case could be misinterpreted by the public.

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Justices Order Redo In Immigration Judges' Free Speech Suit

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed a Fourth Circuit order that had revived the immigration judges union's challenge to restrictions on their ability to speak publicly, finding the lower court abused its discretion by relying on arguments not raised by either party, and ordered further proceedings.

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Brief

Justices To Consider Taking Judge Newman Case On June 11

By Emily Sawicki

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide whether to take up U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman's petition seeking to overturn her suspension from the Federal Circuit on June 11, according to a notice posted Tuesday.

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Comey Case Delayed Due To 'Gravity' Of Charges, Discovery

By Phillip Bantz

A North Carolina federal judge on Tuesday granted former FBI Director James Comey's unopposed request to postpone his arraignment and trial on charges he threatened President Donald Trump with a social media post of seashells, finding that ongoing discovery and the "gravity of the charges" favor an extension and "outweigh" any interests in having a speedy trial.

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Copyright Suits Against Jan. 6 Attys Won't Be Tossed

By Jared Foretek

Attorneys who represented Jan. 6 defendants will have to face a consultant's claims that they copied her jury-attitude report without permission after a D.C. federal judge rejected their arguments that their conduct fell under fair use and the public's right to access court records.

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Pirro, Blanche Fight DQ Bid In Attempted Assassination Case

By Christine DeRosa

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche are fighting a bid from the California man accused of an attempted assassination of President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner to disqualify them from handling the case.

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Beasley Allen Fails To Overturn J&J Talc Disqualification

By Adrian Cruz

A New Jersey federal judge affirmed the Beasley Allen Law Firm's disqualification from multidistrict litigation over Johnson & Johnson's talcum powder on Tuesday, determining that the firm has failed to provide a valid reason to back its attempt at a stay and temporary reinstatement into the matter.

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DHS Pauses ICE Home Entries Under Admin Warrants

By Courtney Bublé

Markwayne Mullin, secretary of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, told a Democratic senator earlier this month he's paused immigration agents' use of administrative warrants to enter private property, but has not officially revoked the controversial policy issued last year.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week handled a broad mix of cross-border corporate control disputes, merger settlements, startup equity fights, advancement claims and board oversight litigation, while also weighing fallout from high-profile deals involving Microsoft Corp., The Boeing Co. and Nikola Corp.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Cohen Milstein's Brent Johnson

By Matthew Perlman

Brent W. Johnson is helping to pioneer the use of antitrust law to tackle collusion in low-wage labor markets with work that includes representing workers from poultry- and meat-processing plants in a pair of cases that led to more than $600 million in settlements last year.

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LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Addleshaw Goddard

Akin Gump

Arias Sanguinetti

Arias Sanguinetti Wang & Team, LLP

Arnold & Arnold LLP

Ashcraft & Gerel

Barings Law

Barnes & Thornburg

Baron & Budd

Beasley Allen

Beck Redden

Berg Hill

Bernstein Litowitz

Bevan Brittan

Birketts LLP

Bluestone PC

Boies Schiller

Brand Woodward

Brooks Kushman

Buchanan Firm

Butler Tibbetts

CMS Cameron McKenna Nabarro Olswang

Carmody Torrance Sandak & Hennessey LLP

Charles Russell Speechlys

Clendenen & Associates

Cohen Milstein

Cohen Placitella

Condon & Forsyth

Cowan DeBaets

Cravath Swaine

Dardarian Ho

Davis Polk

Day Pitney

Dentons

Duncan Firm

Eccleston & Wolf

Edmonds Marshall McMahon

Ellis Jones Solicitors

Eversheds Sutherland

Faegre Drinker

Farrell & Fuller

Fieldfisher

First Law Strategy Group

Fox Rothschild

Gupta Wessler

Hagens Berman

Handley Farah

Harrison LLP

Hay & Kilner

Hinckley Allen

Hinshaw & Culbertson

Hogan Lovells

Howard & Howard

Hughes Hubbard

Jones Day

Jones Spross

Kaiser PLLC

Keker Van

Keller Rohrback

Kellogg Hansen

Keoghs LLP

Kirkland & Ellis

Labaton Keller

Latham & Watkins

Laytons LLP

Lieff Cabraser

Mayer Brown

McCarter & English

McGuireWoods

McKool Smith

Mishcon de Reya

Mitby Pacholder

MoloLamken

Morgan & Morgan PA

Morrison & Foerster

Moses & Singer

Motley Rice

Nabarro LLP

Nagel Rice

O'Melveny & Myers

Orrick Herrington

Perkins Coie

Pillsbury Winthrop

Pinsent Masons

Pomerantz LLP

Powell Gilbert

Practus LLP

Quinn Emanuel

Robbins Geller

Robinson & Cole

Rosati Schultz

Rothwell Figg

Sequor Law

Shipman & Goodwin

Sills Cummis

Spencer West LLP

Stephenson Harwood

Stewarts Law LLP

Straub Seaman

Sullivan & Cromwell

Susman Godfrey

Underwood Solicitors LLP

Varnum LLP

Weitz & Luxenberg

White & Case

Wiggin & Dana

Wiggin LLP

Wiley Rein

Wilson Elser

Winston & Strawn

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

AXA SA

Activision Blizzard Inc.

Agri Stats Inc.

Air Conditioning Heating & Refrigeration Institute

Aldi GmbH & Co. KG

Amazon.com Inc.

American Bar Association

American Civil Liberties Union

American Federation of Government Employees

Apple Inc.

Balfour Beatty PLC

Binance Holdings Ltd.

Bloomingdale's Inc.

Blue Cross Blue Shield Association

Brookfield Property Partners LP

Cargill Inc.

Chevron Corp.

Coinbase Global Inc.

D.E. Shaw & Co. LP

DCM Services LLC

Danbury Hospital

Diana Shipping Inc.

Dick's Sporting Goods Inc.

Epic Games Inc.

Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise

Ford Motor Co.

Fordham University

Fresh Express Inc.

General Growth Properties Inc.

Gilead Sciences Inc.

Google LLC

Hachette Book Group Inc.

Hammerson PLC

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.

Intas Pharmaceuticals Ltd.

Integrated Financial Settlements Inc.

Internet Archive

John Lewis Partnership PLC

Johnson & Johnson

Jones Lang LaSalle Inc.

Labcorp Holdings Inc.

Latitude 36 Foods LLC

Levi Strauss & Co.

LinkedIn Corp.

Live Nation Entertainment Inc.

London Stock Exchange Group PLC

Los Angeles Times

Lucasfilm Ltd.

Lux Research Inc.

Marriott International Inc.

Mediterranean Shipping Co. SA

MetLife Inc.

Meta Platforms Inc.

Microsoft Corp.

Monsanto Co.

National Westminster Bank PLC

New Civil Liberties Alliance

New York Law School

Nikola Corp.

Nordstrom Inc.

OpenAI OpCo LLC

PG&E Corp.

POSCO

Pilgrim's Pride Corp.

Pixar Inc.

Rhapsody International Inc.

SVB Financial Group

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

Singapore Airlines Ltd.

Sinovac Biotech Ltd.

Solicitors Regulation Authority Ltd.

Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd.

Taylor Fresh Foods Inc.

The Boeing Co.

The New York Times Co.

The Travelers Cos. Inc.

The Walt Disney Co.

Thomas H. Lee Partners LP

Trane Technologies PLC

USI Insurance Services LLC

Uber Technologies Inc.

University of Southern California

Vivo Capital

Watsco Inc.

Wells Fargo & Co.

YIT Corp.

Zoox Inc.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

California Attorney General's Office

Companies House

Delaware Court of Chancery

Executive Office for Immigration Review

Federal Aviation Administration

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Federal Trade Commission

Financial Conduct Authority

North Carolina Attorney General's Office

North Carolina Department of Justice

The Crown Prosecution Service

U.S. Attorney's Office

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina

U.S. Copyright Office

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. District & Bankruptcy Courts of Southern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut

U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Michigan

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board

U.S. Office of Personnel Management

U.S. Secret Service

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Supreme Court

UK High Court

United Nations

United States District Court for the District of Colorado