WHO 'Changed The Rule' To Find Talc-Cancer Link, Jury Told

By Craig Clough

A Johns Hopkins epidemiologist told a California jury Thursday considering bellwether claims that Johnson & Johnson's talc products caused deadly ovarian cancer in three women that a World Health Organization agency's recent reclassification of talc as being probably carcinogenic only came about because it "changed the rule" over what evidence it considered.

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Meta Must Face Contract Claim In Facebook Ad Pricing Suit

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge trimmed a putative class action accusing Meta Platforms Inc. of secretly changing Facebook's ad auction system in a way that caused advertisers to pay more than promised, but said "ambiguity" in the social media giant's agreements meant a breach of contract claim survives the company's motion to dismiss.

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9th Circ. Warned Of Market Forces In Nexstar-Tegna Case

By Matthew Perlman

The National Association of Broadcasters told the Ninth Circuit that a lower court's view of the market in a case challenging the $6.2 billion merger between Nexstar and Tegna is inconsistent with its members' experience and contradicts industry data recently submitted to regulators.

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Ex-VP Accuses Wells Fargo Of Race, Disability Bias

By Hayley Fowler

A former executive hired to help oversee Wells Fargo's compliance with a federal consent order over an unauthorized account scandal has accused the bank of race and disability discrimination, saying he was retaliated against and ultimately fired after lodging internal complaints of disparate treatment of Black employees.

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Judge Clears Settlement In Equifax Reporting Suit

By Jared Foretek

A Virginia federal judge won't intervene in a deal resolving a proposed Fair Credit Reporting Act class action against Equifax, ruling that the undisclosed settlement, which was announced prior to class certification, had not been "tainted by collusion."

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Justices Urged To Probe Post-Mallory Forum-Shopping Flood

By Linda Chiem

Legal advocates said Thursday that the U.S. Supreme Court's 2023 Mallory ruling unleashed a wave of forum-shopping by plaintiffs lawyers using states' business-registration laws to sue out-of-state companies, and that the justices should take up the case again to stop litigants from unconstitutionally interfering with interstate commerce.

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FCA Seeks High Court Review Of 9th Circ. Arbitration Loss

By Caroline Simson

Fiat Chrysler will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Ninth Circuit decision refusing to send a class action over allegedly defective Jeep and Dodge headrests to arbitration, saying the justices must resolve whether a court or an arbitrator determines if a nonsignatory can enforce an arbitration clause.

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Bilt Faces Dem Grilling Over Bank Partner Transition 'Turmoil'

By Sarah Jarvis

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., said Thursday that she wants answers from Bilt Rewards on reports that customers of the rent payment reward business have experienced transaction and payment issues stemming from the company's transition between bank partners.

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Baltimore City's Suit Against Musk Heads To Federal Court

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

Baltimore City's lawsuit against Elon Musk's xAI, accusing it of deceptive trade practices over the photo editing capabilities of its Grok artificial intelligence platform, has been moved to federal court.

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GCI Wants To End Service In 6 Alaska Communities

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

GCI Communication Corp. has asked the Federal Communications Commission for permission to end certain telecommunications services in six Alaskan communities, arguing that other carriers offer those services.

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Broadcasters Want Rules Relaxed Due To 'Fierce' Competition

By Christopher Cole

Broadcast industry advocates in Washington doubled down on their view that it's time to relax media ownership limits at all levels because the regulations unfairly pit them against "fierce" competitors like audio and video streamers.

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Legislative Update: Cannabis And Psychedelics Bill Roundup

By Sam Reisman

Tennessee became the latest state to approve a policy paving the way for more research into ibogaine; Vermont lawmakers brought a bill doubling cannabis potency and possession limits closer to the finish line; and California legislators approved a bill banning the sale of "laughing gas" used for recreational purposes. Here are the major moves in cannabis and psychedelics legislation from the past week.

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CFPB's Return-To-Office Plan Could Spur More Exits

By Jon Hill

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is moving forward with a return-to-office plan that will involve shifting to new headquarters, ending most telework and requiring field employees to relocate to the Washington, D.C., area starting this summer, Law360 has learned.

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Calif. AG Sues 23andMe Over Lapses In Genetic Data Security

By Allison Grande

California moved Thursday to sue the genetic testing company formerly known as 23andMe over a 2023 data breach that exposed the personal information of nearly 7 million customers, arguing that the company failed to implement even the most basic security measures and misled consumers about the scope of its safeguards and severity of the breach.

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Mark Cuban Beats Bid To Move Crypto Investor Suit To Texas

By Emilie Ruscoe

A Miami federal judge won't send dismissed crypto promotion claims against Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks to Texas, noting the investors seeking to move the suit strenuously fought the move earlier in the litigation and now "decline to explain why their current about-face should be excused."

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GreenSky Pays $10M To Settle Fraudulent Loan Claims

By Spencer Brewer

The Texas attorney general on Thursday announced that financial technology company GreenSky Holdings LLC has settled claims brought by multiple states accusing it of issuing fraudulent loans, paying $10 million in consumer restitution, civil penalties and other fees to the states.

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3M, DuPont Lose PFAS Forum-Shopping Sanctions Bid

By Hailey Konnath

A Montana federal judge Thursday declined to sanction Connecticut municipalities for moving firefighter turnout gear PFAS claims to his jurisdiction after roughly two years of litigation on the East Coast, ruling that consolidation of the claims "regardless of district" is "beneficial to all parties."

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Ex-Perrigo Workers Say Lax Security Led To Cyberattack

By Gina Kim

Perrigo, a company that manufactures branded and private-label over-the-counter healthcare products, was hit with a proposed class action in Michigan federal court Wednesday following a cyberattack linked to a notorious hacking group that claims to have accessed personal data belonging to current and former employees.

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Ad Tech Rivals Say Google Can't Cull Antitrust Claims

By Bryan Koenig

Google's rival advertising placement technology providers urged a New York federal judge not to dramatically reduce their antitrust claims, arguing the court has already rejected the statute of limitations assertions raised against other multidistrict litigation plaintiffs "and it should do so again."

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Roundup

Injury Law Roundup: Freight Brokers, Uber Lose Key Cases

By Y. Peter Kang

The U.S. Supreme Court's green light of negligent hiring claims against freight brokers in highway crash cases and an adverse verdict against Uber in the sexual assault multidistrict litigation lead Law360's Injury Law Roundup.

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Abbott Labs Settles Ill. Genetic Privacy Suit

By Celeste Bott

Abbott Laboratories has inked a settlement with a proposed class of workers alleging the company's onboarding materials asked for employees' medical history in violation of an Illinois law aimed at protecting residents' genetic information, prompting an Illinois federal judge to dismiss the case Thursday.

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NC AG Can't Litigate Environmental Case, Biz Groups Say

By Abigail Harrison

The North Carolina Supreme Court should step in to prevent Attorney General Jeff Jackson from enacting his own policy vision — and subordinating agency regulation — through his ill-conceived environmental lawsuit, according to an amicus brief.

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Roundup

Recall Recap: Steamer Burns, Grill Brush Wires

By Emily Field

In the inaugural Recall Recap, Law360 takes a look at suits that have been filed so far this year over recently recalled products, including several suits over millions of Weber grill brushes recalled for wires that can come loose during use — and in one case, got stuck in a man's pancreas. Other recall-related actions include suits over Bissell and another brand of household steam cleaners and an air bag safety defect in Honda Odysseys.

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Visa's Agentic Payment Rules Expose Compliance Tensions

Visa's recently released framework clarifying how payments driven by artificial intelligence can occur without consumer-merchant interaction exposes compliance risks under disclosure and fee transparency laws that may require merchants and payment providers to rethink consumer protection as agentic commerce expands, say attorneys at Stinson.

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How SEC, CFTC Proposal Would Ease Private Fund Reporting

While the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s recent proposal to streamline and lighten certain confidential reporting requirements could bring welcome changes for many private fund advisers, sponsors should consider important nuances of its potential impact, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

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Musk-OpenAI Verdict Shows Value Of Early-Stage Governance

A California federal court's ruling last week in Musk v. Altman preserves the status quo at OpenAI, but signals to the technology industry at large that courts will not relitigate the governance decisions of early-stage organizations on a founder's competitive timetable, surfacing questions that will outlast the litigation, says attorney Alan N. Walter.

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New Connecticut Law On Employers' AI Use Is Inventive

A recently passed Connecticut law regulating the use of artificial intelligence in employment decisions innovates by using third-party risk assessments to vet and certify AI models, and by recognizing a division of responsibility between developers and deployers, potentially influencing pending legislation in other states, say attorneys at Littler.

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Series

Studying Foreign Languages Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Studying Italian and Japanese has shown me that learning a new language can benefit a legal career in several ways, including by demonstrating the importance of approaching problems from a fresh perspective and the value of practicing patience with colleagues and clients, says Anna King at Genworth Financial.

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Florida High Court Adopts AI Policy For Lawyers

By Madison Arnold

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday amended the state's rules to require those filing court documents to check any artificial intelligence-generated content for accuracy, and allow for sanctions if the content contains errors.

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Goldstein Says Bad Jury Instructions Warrant New Trial

By Jared Foretek

SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein said that the prosecutors who convicted him on 12 tax and mortgage fraud charges in February are now contradicting arguments they made at the end of his trial in their attempt to deny him a bench acquittal or new trial.

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King & Spalding Blocked From Exiting $300M Fraud Lawsuit

By Brian Steele

King & Spalding LLP and Lennon Murphy & Phillips LLC can't withdraw from representing clients in consolidated litigation over an alleged $300 million stock swindle, a Connecticut state court judge has ruled, saying the firms' motions ahead of a June trial lack good cause.

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Fla. Court Refers Atty To Bar Over Bogus Case Citations

By Madison Arnold

A Florida state appeals court has referred an appellant's attorney to the state's bar for disciplinary proceedings after filing a petition that appears to be generated by artificial intelligence and "raises frivolous arguments, misstates the law, and cites non-existent case law."

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Parents Demand 'Bad Faith' Sanctions In Camp Mystic Case

By Lynn LaRowe

Camp Mystic in Texas' Hill Country should be sanctioned over "bad faith" conduct in litigation over flooding deaths last summer, including purported misrepresentations to courts and regulators and an alleged remark by one of its attorneys to a plaintiffs' lawyer that he would "burn in hell," a state court has been told.

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Trump Considers Tech Entrepreneur For DOJ Grants Post

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump appears poised to nominate a real estate attorney turned tech entrepreneur for a top U.S. Department of Justice post that oversees grants and criminal justice programs.

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Dem Sens. Ask DOJ To Preserve Trump-IRS Settlement Docs

By Jack McLoone

Two Democratic Senate leaders asked the U.S. Department of Justice to preserve any records related to the settlement of President Donald Trump's suit against the IRS in a letter published Thursday, signaling that further investigations may be coming.

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Ex-Fla. Chief Justice Fred Lewis Dies At 78

By Carolina Bolado

Former Florida Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis, who spent two decades on the bench of the Florida Supreme Court, has died at 78, the court announced Thursday.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Gupta Wessler's Deepak Gupta

By Daniel Moritz-Rabson

In the decade and a half since starting his own firm, Deepak Gupta has argued seven cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, has won matters in state high courts from coast to coast, and has become a mainstay in federal appellate courts while building his plaintiff-side litigation boutique into a sought-after juggernaut.

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