Monsanto Won't Get Damages Offset In $100M PCB Tort Loss

By Rachel Riley

A Washington state judge has denied Monsanto's bid to reduce the latest $100 million verdict in a chemical poisoning tort series that's yielded more than $1 billion in punitive damages, concluding that the agro-chemical giant hid the health dangers of PCBs for decades in pursuit of profit.

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TikTok Can't Duck NY Suit Over Kids' Mental Health

By Jonathan Capriel

TikTok cannot escape claims brought by the state of New York accusing the social media platform of harming children's mental health, a state court ruled Thursday.

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Investors Can't Shield $66M Life Policies During State Rehab

By Aaron Keller

Premiums due on unmatured PHL Variable Insurance Co. policies held by three investment companies do not qualify as debts under Connecticut's insurance rehabilitation statute, a state trial court judge has ruled, rejecting the companies' attempts to protect separate matured policies worth $66 million.

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Amazon Says Class Too Complex To Certify In Antitrust Suit

By Jared Foretek

Amazon has told a Washington federal judge in a newly unsealed filing that a proposed class of nearly 300 million customers would be far too unwieldy for certification and defining the market in a suit accusing the company of inflating prices of items sold on its platform.

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Judge Tells FDIC 'Whistleblower' To Stop Texting Gov't Attys

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. federal judge threatened a self-proclaimed Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. "whistleblower" with criminal referral if he reaches out to the agency's lawyers again, calling his claim that one attorney was trying to frame him with sending "harassing" messages sent to the attorney's wife "patently ridiculous."

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RJ Reynolds Lied About Carbon Offset Of Vapes, Suit Says

By Mike Curley

A group of California vape users is suing R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. and its U.S. and British affiliates in federal court, alleging that its claims that the Vuse vape is the first carbon-neutral electronic cigarette are misleading.

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China Unicom Will Stay On FCC 'Covered List'

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission has dashed China Unicom's hopes of being removed from the agency's so-called covered list, a list of companies whose telecommunications equipment the FCC says poses an unacceptable risk to national security.

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Don't Kill 'Crucial' FCC Wi-Fi Subsidy, House Lawmakers Told

By Christopher Cole

Dozens of groups urged lawmakers in the U.S. House of Representatives Thursday to preserve the Federal Communications Commission's off-campus wireless hot spot subsidy for schools and libraries after the U.S. Senate voted to gut the program created late in the Biden administration.

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House Introduces CFTC-Focused Crypto Market Structure Bill

By Aislinn Keely

A bipartisan group of House lawmakers introduced a long-awaited proposal to regulate crypto markets on Thursday that would establish a registration path at the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and codify the boundaries of jurisdiction between commodities and securities regulators.

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Javice Request To Sink Guilty Verdict Turned Aside By Judge

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal judge declined on Thursday to toss a verdict convicting Frank founder Charlie Javice of tricking JPMorgan Chase into buying the student aid startup for $175 million, saying he properly declined to sever her trial from that of her co-defendant.

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Baltimore Drops CFPB Suit Amid Denials Of Defunding Plan

By Jon Hill

The city of Baltimore on Thursday moved to drop its lawsuit seeking to bar Trump administration officials from stripping unused funds from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, calling off the case while preserving the right to refile later.

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FTC Seeks To Push Amazon Antitrust Trial To 2027

By Rae Ann Varona

The Federal Trade Commission and Amazon on Wednesday fought over the agency's proposal to push back an antitrust trial into 2027 to account for the e-commerce giant's alleged efforts to obstruct discovery, with Amazon telling a Washington federal judge that it was the FTC that insisted on a burdensome discovery.

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DOJ Officially Files To Drop Boeing 737 Max Conspiracy Case

By Linda Chiem

The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday formally moved to drop its criminal conspiracy case against Boeing over the deadly 737 Max 8 crashes and asked a Texas federal judge to vacate the June 23 trial date, saying a $1.1 billion nonprosecution agreement is a meaningful resolution that holds the company accountable.

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'Dr. Cash' Gets 3 Years For Bilking Elderly Fund Investors

By Pete Brush

A recidivist fraudster nicknamed "Dr. Cash" was sentenced in Manhattan federal court Thursday to three years in prison, after he admitted to defrauding clients who poured $4.8 million into his purported "Chairman's Fund."

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Eyemart Shakes Suit Over Sharing Of Health Data With Meta

By Allison Grande

A Texas federal judge has tossed a proposed class action accusing Eyemart Express LLC of unlawfully sharing information about website visitors with Meta Platforms Inc., finding that the plaintiffs had failed to allege that any of their private health data had been sent to the social media platform. 

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Atty Urges 2nd Circ. To Resurrect Name Feud With Ex-Firm

By Elliot Weld

A lawyer has asked the Second Circuit to revive claims against his former firm, which he alleges used his name and likeness after he was fired, saying a judge's dismissal of those claims ignored the harm he personally suffered and the requirements of the Lanham Act.

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JetBlue Fights American's NEA Suit, Pivots To United Deal

By Linda Chiem

JetBlue has told a Texas federal judge that American Airlines' lawsuit seeking to recover $1 million in alleged unpaid payments related to their now-scrapped codeshare agreement covering New York and Boston is preempted by federal law and potentially conflicts with a Massachusetts federal judge's antitrust ruling.

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Deere Says No Monopoly, Seeks End Of Right-To-Repair Suit

By Mike Curley

Deere & Co. is pushing to end a suit from the Federal Trade Commission and five states alleging it violated the Sherman Act by restricting access to its repair tools and services, saying it doesn't participate in the repair market so it can't have a monopoly.

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Big Oil Caused Woman's Heat Wave Death, Novel Suit Says

By Hailey Konnath

The daughter of a Seattle woman who died during a 2021 heat wave filed a first-of-its kind wrongful death suit in Washington state court Thursday against oil and gas giants — including BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips and Shell — alleging the companies knew for decades their fossil fuel products would one day "claim lives."

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NASCAR Wins Defamation Claims Over LGBCoin Sponsorship

By David Minsky

A Florida state court judge ruled in favor of NASCAR on defamation claims brought by the founder of the LGBCoin cryptocurrency regarding communications to journalists, saying a published statement that the meme coin was almost worthless was "undisputably true."

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LexisNexis Unit Hit With Class Actions Over 364K Data Breach

By Craig Clough

A LexisNexis unit was hit with at least two proposed class actions Wednesday in New York and Georgia federal courts by individuals who allege that their personally identifiable information was exposed during a massive data breach and that the company waited too long to inform them of the breach. 

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For-Profit School Sued Over Thompson Coburn Leak Notices

By Emily Sawicki

A for-profit college operator is facing a proposed class action in Alabama federal court, alleging it failed to properly secure its data and notify students in a timely manner that its law firm, Thompson Coburn LLP, had been hit with a cyberattack causing a data breach of sensitive records.

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GM Gets Initial OK For $150M Engine Defect Post-Trial Deal

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge on Thursday said he'd grant preliminary approval to a $150 million deal General Motors reached with car buyers over an engine defect following a trial verdict against the auto giant that class counsel said, with prejudgment interest, would have cost the company more than $270 million.

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Judge Challenges Visa's Bid To Dismiss DOJ Antitrust Suit

By Bryan Koenig

A New York federal judge on Thursday questioned whether Visa Inc. is inappropriately raising factual disputes in its motion to dismiss U.S. Justice Department claims that the company has illegally maintained a monopoly in the market for debit card networks.

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Ga. BCBS Says Providers Are Gaming Billing Dispute System

By Chart Riggall

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia has accused a healthcare consulting firm and a handful of Peach State providers of systematic abuse of a federal dispute resolution process for surprise medical bills, accusing them of "flooding" the system with bogus dispute claims.

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Brief

Wells Fargo Settles Suit Over Online Wire Fraud Protections

By Gina Kim

Wells Fargo has settled a proposed class action alleging it failed to properly investigate and reimburse mobile banking customers who reported scammers stole money from their accounts through fraudulent wire transfers, according to a notice filed Wednesday in California federal court. 

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Series

Brazilian Jiujitsu Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Competing in Brazilian jiujitsu – often against opponents who are much larger and younger than me – has allowed me to develop a handful of useful skills that foster the resilience and adaptability necessary for a successful legal career, says Tina Dorr of Barnes & Thornburg.

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Google Ad Tech Ruling Creates Antitrust Uncertainty

A Virginia federal court’s recent decision in the Justice Department’s ad tech antitrust case against Google includes two unusual aspects in that it narrowly construed U.S. Supreme Court precedent when rejecting Google's two-sided market argument, and it found the company liable for unlawful tying, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

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4 States' Enforcement Actions Illustrate Data Privacy Priorities

Attorneys at Wilson Elser examine recent enforcement actions based on new consumer data privacy laws by regulators in California, Connecticut, Oregon and Texas, centered around key themes, including crackdowns on dark patterns, misuse of sensitive data and failure to honor consumer rights.

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Fla. Bill May Curb Suits Over Late-Night Collections Emails

A recently passed Florida bill exempting email communications from the Florida Consumer Collection Practices Act's quiet hours ban may significantly reduce frivolous lawsuits aimed at creditors and debt collectors who use email communications to collect outstanding balances from consumers, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

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Analysis

3 Takeaways From The Judgments On Trump's Law Firm EOs

By Aebra Coe

Three federal judges have now weighed in on President Donald Trump’s executive orders targeting law firms, with each ruling in favor of the firms and deeming the orders unconstitutional. Here are three takeaways from the combined 227 pages of those judges’ conclusions.

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DOJ Sidelines ABA From Vetting Trump's Judicial Picks

By Kevin Penton

The Justice Department plans to direct judicial nominees away from a long-standing vetting process by the American Bar Association, labeling it an "activist organization," according to a Thursday letter by Attorney General Pamela Bondi.

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Harvard Taps Paul Weiss High Court Litigator For Board

By Hailey Konnath

Kannon Shanmugam, a Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP partner and veteran U.S. Supreme Court litigator, has been selected to join the Harvard Corp. governing board, according to an announcement made Thursday.

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Analysis

Tariff Rulings Undercut Trump's Trade Authority, Dealmaking

By Dylan Moroses

U.S. trading partners have inadvertently found new leverage in tariff negotiations with the Trump administration after federal courts found several of the president's duties were improperly imposed, raising larger questions about future tariff authorization in the midst of a global trade spat.

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Influencer Hits Akin With Malpractice Suit Over Boxing Deal

By Lynn LaRowe

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP and one of its Texas-based partners allegedly failed to understand California law in handling a financial dispute between a social media influencer and the company that hired him to participate in an amateur boxing competition, according to a complaint filed Wednesday in a Lone Star State federal court.

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Fed. Circ. Revives Trump Tariffs As It Weighs Appeal

By Natalie Olivo

The Federal Circuit temporarily reinstated President Donald Trump's global tariffs Thursday, a day after the U.S. Court of International Trade held that an emergency law did not give the president "unbounded authority" to impose the measures.

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Trump Pardons Twice-Convicted Former Conn. Governor

By Brian Steele

President Donald Trump has pardoned former Connecticut Gov. John G. Rowland, a one-time chairman of the Republican Governors Association, who resigned from office in 2004 and served two stints in prison for corruption and lying to federal election officials.

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Investors Allege Manhattan Firm Aided $43M Ponzi Scheme

By Emma Cueto

A pair of investors filed suit against New York-based Moritt Hock & Hamroff LLP and two of its former attorneys on Thursday, alleging that the midsize firm and the attorneys, who have since departed for Saul Ewing LLP, lied on behalf of a client who has since been charged with running a $43 million Ponzi scheme.

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Ex-Atty's Death In Colo. Jail Sparks Suit Over Medical Neglect

By Craig Clough

The family of a disbarred attorney imprisoned for felony theft sued three members of the medical staff at the prison where he died, alleging in Colorado federal court Wednesday their neglect resulted in Steven Bachar dying from cardiac arrest after he asked for days for proper medical attention.

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Trump Names 4 Jurists, State AG Official For Fla. Judgeships

By Lynn LaRowe

President Donald Trump this week announced his nominations of four judges and a top official in the Florida Attorney General's Office to fill district judgeships in the Sunshine State's Middle and Southern Districts.

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Calif. Justices Propose Tweaking Rules For Bar Examiners

By Emily Sawicki

The California Supreme Court has proposed changes to the administration of the state's troubled bar exam, circulating a slate of amendments designed to clarify the role of the Committee of Bar Examiners, including spelling out its duty to review and approve all questions used in the exam.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Grant & Eisenhofer's Beth Graham

By Tracey Read

Elizabeth "Beth" Graham, a San Francisco-based principal at Grant & Eisenhofer PA and a member of its executive committee, played a key part in negotiating a $600 million settlement in April 2024 for plaintiffs in litigation arising from the 2023 Norfolk Southern train derailment, earning her a spot among Law360's 2025 Titans of the Plaintiffs Bar.

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