Flint Water Case Judge Not Convinced EPA Hid Witnesses

By Danielle Ferguson

A Michigan federal judge on Wednesday wasn't convinced that Flint residents seeking damages from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency over its response to the city's water crisis could yet show the agency intentionally failed to catalog identities of confidential informants the residents want to depose.

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Oak View CEO Pardoned 5 Months After Bid-Rigging Charge

By Rae Ann Varona

President Donald Trump has pardoned former Oak View Group CEO Tim Leiweke just five months after the U.S. Department of Justice charged him with allegedly rigging a bid to build and operate the Moody Center arena on the University of Texas at Austin campus.

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Dish Fights Clawback Of Millions In Broadband Subsidies

By Nadia Dreid

Dish Network says the private entity that administers many of the FCC's subsidy programs is trying to "shirk its own responsibilities to verify eligibility" for those programs and force telecoms to return millions of dollars they used to provide service to people previously deemed eligible.

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Judge Eases $4.1B Liability For Insurer In Conn. Rehab Plan

By Aaron Keller

A Connecticut judge has approved a modified moratorium that protects PHL Variable Insurance Co. and two subsidiaries during a state rehabilitation, agreeing to a plan that could reduce universal life death benefits by $4.1 billion while allowing policyholders the option to avoid paying $175 million in estimated total premiums.

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CFPB Moves To Slash $5M Biden-Era Student Loan Trust Deal

By Jon Hill

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has moved to significantly scale back its $5 million Biden-era settlement of a student loan servicing case in Pennsylvania federal court, agreeing to a plan that would drop most of its requirements for borrower relief.

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State AI Law Ban Cut From Defense Bill As Fight Continues

By Allison Grande

The renewed push to block states from enacting laws to regulate emerging artificial intelligence technologies is unlikely to make it into a defense funding bill expected to pass by the end of the year, the House's second highest-ranking Republican has confirmed, although he stressed that the proposal was still active and could resurface elsewhere. 

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Hagens Berman Must Give Apple, Amazon Ethics Pros Docs

By Bryan Koenig

Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP must give Apple and Amazon all the communications it shared with outside ethics experts as the firm fought allegations that it hid a consumer plaintiff's desire to exit an antitrust case, a Washington federal judge has ruled.

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Jury Must Weigh 'Let's Go Brandon' Meme Coin Investor Suit

By Emilie Ruscoe

An entity and individual associated with the "Let's Go Brandon" meme token can't beat a lawsuit over a collapse in prices for the coin after a judge said a jury must decide whether people purchased the token because they expected profits or because the coin was pitched as "a meme coin for advocacy of conservative values."

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FTC Clears Boeing's $4.7B Spirit Aero Deal With Fixes

By Matthew Perlman

The Federal Trade Commission said Wednesday that enforcers will allow Boeing to move ahead with its planned $4.7 billion purchase of aircraft parts-maker Spirit AeroSystems after the companies agreed to sell several assets.

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OCC Taps Ex-DC Civil Division Head As Deputy Chief Counsel

By Jon Hill

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said Wednesday that it has hired a longtime litigator with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Columbia to be a senior official in the banking agency's legal department.

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House Panel OKs Shot Clocks On Broadband Project Reviews

By Christopher Cole

House Republicans pushed a contentious bill through committee Wednesday to require state and local governments to act within certain timeframes on applications for new broadband projects, or the permits would be deemed granted regardless.

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FCC Jettisons More Than 2,000 'Dormant' Dockets

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission Wednesday closed out more than 2,000 pending dockets involving regulatory issues that FCC officials say have long since gone by the wayside.

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Chats Show Ex-NY Gov Aide Was Tight With Chinese Officials

By Stewart Bishop

Jurors weighing the fate of a former aide to two New York governors have seen a raft of chats and other documents over several days that the feds say support their case alleging she violated the Foreign Agents Registration Act, including communications that seem to suggest she had a close working relationship with several Chinese government officials.

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FCC OKs $1B UScellular Deal After AT&T Drops DEI Policies

By Nadia Dreid

AT&T got the Federal Communications Commission's approval for its $1 billion UScellular deal Wednesday, following in the wake of rivals Verizon and T-Mobile and becoming the latest of the big three mobile carriers to agree to do away with its diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

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Brief

FCC Won't Extend COVID-Era Lifeline Rule Waiver

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission has finally decided for good whether a COVID-era waiver of a Lifeline program rule ended on the last day of April in 2021 or the first day of May, concluding Wednesday it does not have to pay out an extra month of benefits.

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Greystar Reaches $24M Deal With Gov't In 'Hidden' Fees Suit

By Isaac Monterose

The major multifamily landlord Greystar, along with the Federal Trade Commission and the state of Colorado, asked a federal court to approve their $24 million settlement to end a lawsuit alleging the company wrongfully charged tenants "hidden" fees.

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AGs Say Sun, Taro Settlement Mustn't Touch State Claims

By Bryan Koenig

State attorneys general have asked a Pennsylvania federal judge to again ensure their claims remain untouched by a settlement between private plaintiffs and generic-drug makers in sprawling price-fixing litigation, this time focusing on a $200 million deal between Sun Pharmaceutical, Taro Pharmaceuticals and employee benefit plans.

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FINRA Fines Firm $1M Over Mutual Fund Supervision Issues

By Katryna Perera

The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority has ordered Securities America Inc. to pay a $1 million fine and roughly $2 million in restitution to customers for allegedly failing to reasonably supervise certain mutual fund recommendations that allegedly resulted in customers paying unnecessary fees and following recommendations that were not in their best interests.

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Calif. Privacy Agency Hits Marketer For Broker Registry Lapse

By Allison Grande

A Nevada-based marketing firm that builds custom audience lists for fitness and wellness brands has become the latest target of the California Privacy Protection Agency's efforts to police data brokers, with state officials announcing Wednesday the company had agreed to pay a $56,600 penalty for failing to register as a data broker.

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State AGs Condemn College Sports Rule Enforcement Deal

By David Steele

Seven state attorneys general on Wednesday called a proposed contract between NCAA institutions and the commission enforcing new revenue-sharing rules for athletes "cartoonishly villainous," arguing in a letter that it undermines state laws and jeopardizes the rights of athletes and schools.

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FDA Seizes $1M In Illegal 7-OH Opioid Products

By Jonathan Capriel

Federal regulators seized $1 million worth of illicit food products containing a kratom-derived compound from companies in Missouri, according to an announcement that said the action is part of the government's ongoing effort to crack down on the opioid-like supplement.

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Camp Lejeune Plaintiffs Want Base's Muster Roll Info

By Emily Field

Veterans and family members suing over injuries from toxic water at Camp Lejeune have urged a North Carolina judge to compel the federal government to produce muster rolls for the base, saying the government has refused to give up the information with no explanation.

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DOJ Revives Bid To Toss Law Firm's Worker Credits Suit

By Anna Scott Farrell

The U.S. Department of Justice revived its bid to toss most of a boutique law firm's complaint for not processing its claims for pandemic-era tax credits after settlement negotiations with the firm failed, according to Connecticut federal court documents.

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Google Wants Justices To Pause Petition Pending Epic Deal

By Matthew Perlman

Google asked the U.S. Supreme Court to put its petition seeking review of the antitrust case from Epic Games over the distribution of apps on Android devices on hold while the district court considers a potential settlement.

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Life Insurer Can't Escape Class Claim Over Benefit Denials

By Hope Patti

A life insurer can't shed a class action claim that it illegally denied policy benefits to Arkansas residents for reasons causally unrelated to a given policy owner's death, an Arkansas federal court ruled, saying the suit adequately pled subject matter jurisdiction under the Class Action Fairness Act.

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AT&T Sues Generic Drug Manufacturers, Alleging Price-Fixing

By P.J. D'Annunzio

AT&T has joined the bevy of litigants suing a swath of pharmaceutical companies over alleged generic drug price-fixing, claiming it shelled out billions of dollars for medication reimbursements to the drugmakers as part of its employee health plans when it could have spent far less if the drugs weren't subject to anticompetitive pricing.

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Minn. Financial Abuse Law Should Prompt Operational Review

A new Minnesota law targeting the financial exploitation of vulnerable adults with an order-for-protection mechanism will affect multiple functions across banking organizations, and in the time remaining in 2025, banks should take action to update any needed workflow and documentation protocols, say attorneys at Winthrop & Weinstine.

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SEC Penalties Trended Down In FY 2025, Offering 2026 Clues

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's settled corporate penalties in fiscal year 2025 show a clear dividing line, as the largest penalties all came before Inauguration Day, a trend that may continue as the types of cases that lead to the biggest penalties seem to be no longer favored by the commissioners, say attorneys at Dentons.

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How Unchecked AI Exposes Expert Opinions To Exclusion

A growing number of cases illustrate the potential for misuse of artificial intelligence tools by experts in litigation, resulting in reports with hallucinated information or unexplainable analysis, so to embrace the efficiencies AI tools introduce without falling victim to the risks, attorneys and experts should implement a few best practices, say attorneys at Willkie Farr.

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Series

Law School's Missed Lessons: Practicing Client-Led Litigation

New litigators can better help their corporate clients achieve their overall objectives when they move beyond simply fighting for legal victory to a client-led approach that resolves the legal dispute while balancing the company's competing out-of-court priorities, says Chelsea Ireland at Cohen Ziffer.

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Bonus Spotlight

High Billers At McKool Smith To Pocket Extra Bonus Money

By Tracey Read

McKool Smith is the latest BigLaw firm to announce extra cash for attorneys who went above and beyond with billable hours in 2025, according to an internal memo obtained by Law360 Pulse.

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Wilson Sonsini To Switch Leaders For 1st Time Since 2012

By Andrea Keckley

Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati PC announced plans for its first top leadership transition in more than a decade on Wednesday, tapping a Palo Alto, California-based litigator and a New York-based corporate lawyer to begin co-leading the firm at the start of next August.

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Ex-Bernstein Litowitz Atty Starts Firm After Contentious Exit

By Adrian Cruz

A former Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP partner known for handling high-profile stockholder cases has led the launch of a boutique focused on corporate disputes and securities litigation after the firm says he was fired for misconduct.

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LA Atty Accused Of Using AI 'Hallucinations' Sanctioned

By Rae Ann Varona

A California state appeals court has ordered an attorney accused of including artificial intelligence "hallucinations" in a client's opening brief to pay $7,500 to the court, saying in a published opinion that the attorney is subject to sanctions for inaccuracies, regardless of whether they were the result of AI.

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FTC Backs Nixing ABA Role As 'Gatekeeper' For Texas Bar

By Lynn LaRowe

The Federal Trade Commission has endorsed a proposal from the Texas Supreme Court to abandon a rule requiring graduation from a law school approved by the American Bar Association for admittance to the state bar, saying the organization's "accreditation monopoly" hurts competition and consumers.

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Virginia Bar Declines To Investigate Interim US Atty Halligan

By Ryan Boysen

The Virginia State Bar has declined to investigate whether Lindsey Halligan should face discipline over her scandal-plagued tenure as the interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, just days after a federal judge ruled she was not properly appointed to that post.

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Trump Would Prefer Jack Smith Testify In Public

By Courtney Bublé

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chair of the House Judiciary Committee, subpoenaed former counsel Jack Smith on Tuesday for a closed-door deposition, to which President Donald Trump said he would rather see a public testimony.

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1st Circ. Doubts Ex-BigLaw Atty's Campaign Finance Appeal

By Chris Villani

The First Circuit on Wednesday expressed misgivings about a former BigLaw attorney's argument that a jury that convicted him of a campaign finance scheme during a failed run for Congress should have been required to unanimously find that each specific transaction was illegal.

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Archegos Founder Says Davis Polk Job Offer Taints Restitution

By Lauren Berg

Archegos founder Bill Hwang, who is serving an 18-year sentence for defrauding banks out of billions of dollars in loans used to manipulate the market, asked to vacate his restitution order because the presiding judge's clerk accepted a job with Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP, which represents victim-bank Morgan Stanley.

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Troutman Atty Is 3rd NC Federal Judge Confirmed This Week

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 57-41 on Wednesday to confirm Matthew Orso, a partner at Troutman Pepper Locke LLP, to the Western District of North Carolina as a federal district judge.

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Fed. Circ. Pushes DC Circ. Not To Rethink Newman Decision

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit has urged the D.C. Circuit to ignore Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman's request to rehear a decision upholding the dismissal of her suit against the colleagues who suspended her, saying the judiciary has the right to police its own internal matters.

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