'Exercise More Restraint,' Judge Tells OpenAI Co-Founder

By Bryan Koenig

A California federal judge had little patience for an OpenAI co-founder trying to limit his forced participation in Elon Musk's lawsuit challenging the ChatGPT maker's transition to a for-profit structure, admonishing the former executive for contesting a magistrate judge's order with motions filed while federal courts work unpaid.

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Philip Morris To Pay $66M Under New Wash. Tobacco Deal

By Rachel Riley

Washington will receive $66 million from Philip Morris under a new settlement resolving long-running disputes over annual payments owed by the major tobacco company under a landmark multistate deal with tobacco producers in 1998 over public health costs, according to the Washington State Attorney General's Office.

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DOJ Probes Nexstar's $6.2B Deal For Tegna

By Matthew Perlman

The U.S. Department of Justice has requested additional information about Nexstar's planned $6.2 billion purchase of rival broadcast company Tegna, extending a waiting period that gives enforcers time to review the merger's impact on competition.

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Samba TV Dodges Nonresidents' Calif. Data Privacy Claims

By Allison Grande

A group of television owners who live outside of California can't use the state's wiretap laws to sue Samba TV for allegedly intercepting their video-viewing data and have failed to adequately allege that the analytics provider is covered by federal video privacy law, a California federal judge ruled in axing a proposed class action against the company.

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StraightPath Stock Clients Got Paid, Not Duped, NY Jury Told

By Pete Brush

Securities vendor StraightPath paid profit-hungry clients "a ton of money," counsel for one of its three founders told a Manhattan federal jury Monday, pushing back after prosecutors cited "overwhelming" evidence of fraud in an alleged $400 million "web of lies."

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Disney Blames Lack Of 'Good Faith' In YouTube Blackout

By Christopher Cole

Disney has sought to put the blame at YouTube's feet over the blackout of Disney programs on YouTube TV that stemmed from a breakdown of carriage talks, as the cable industry called for congressional reforms to stop future blackouts from happening.

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2nd Circ. Urged To Revive Norfolk Southern Fraud Suit

By Abigail Harrison

The Second Circuit was told Friday that a proposed securities fraud class action against Norfolk Southern Corp. investors should be revived, as the rail giant misled investors by falsely extolling safety commitments while the company winnowed its workforce and cut costs.

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5th Circ. Wary Of Greenlighting Texas Content Filter Law

By Spencer Brewer

A Fifth Circuit panel seemed wary of Texas' argument that it should decide the constitutional merits of a new state law that forces companies to filter content for underage users, saying Monday the district court ought to get a chance to hear more evidence.

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OpenAI Sets Policy Against Legal, Medical Advice

By Y. Peter Kang

OpenAI has updated its user policy across its artificial intelligence platforms, including ChatGPT, saying its products can't be used by individuals to provide any legal or medical advice.

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BofA Says It's Fielding 'Fair Access' Regulatory Inquiries

By Jon Hill

Bank of America Corp. has told investors it is facing government scrutiny tied to President Donald Trump's push to crack down on alleged political and religious discrimination by financial institutions.

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Mo. Health Officials Issue Warning On Kratom Extract 7-OH

By Sam Reisman

Missouri health officials have issued a statewide alert warning consumers about the dangers of 7-hydroxymitragynine, or 7-OH, a loosely regulated opioid-like alkaloid derivative of the kratom leaf that is present in numerous consumer products.

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Feds Seek 5 Years For Samourai Wallet Crypto Mixer Operators

By Aislinn Keely

Federal prosecutors are seeking 60 months imprisonment for each of the operators of crypto mixer Samourai Wallet, while the men both argued that their initial intention to build a legitimate privacy service favors more lenient treatment.

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Brief

Disney Freed Of Privacy Suit Over Kids' Video Data, For Now

By Rachel Riley

A group of families has agreed to drop a proposed class action accusing Disney of illegally collecting the personal data of minors viewing its YouTube videos by failing to tag them as "made for kids."

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Global Privacy Regulators Set Sights On Kids' Data Protection

By Allison Grande

A global network of more than 30 national data protection authorities is conducting an enforcement sweep to examine how websites and mobile apps commonly used by children are handling and protecting minors' personal information, the group announced Monday. 

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Parking Lot Sign Isn't A Contract, Drivers Tell Fla. Court

By David Minsky

A proposed class of individuals suing a Georgia company for allegedly accessing confidential DMV records urged a Florida federal court to let their amended lawsuit proceed, saying it can't win on its argument that the text of a street sign showing the consequences of nonpayment for parking constitutes a contract.

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OpenAI Seeking Rejected DOJ Search Fixes, Google Says

By Bryan Koenig

Google urged a D.C. federal judge Monday not to let OpenAI wade into the U.S. Department of Justice's case against its search monopoly, arguing the ChatGPT maker is too late and is advocating for help "grounding" its artificial intelligence model, even though the judge explicitly rejected just such a remedy.

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Harvard Prof Says Novo's Influence Didn't Boost Prescriptions

By Ben Adlin

A Harvard Medical School professor defended Novo Nordisk on Monday against allegations that it defrauded Washington state's Medicaid system by inducing doctors to overprescribe its hemophilia medication NovoSeven, testifying that his analysis showed the drugmaker's relationships with influential doctors didn't appear to increase prescriptions.

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Gym Co. Sues YouTuber Over 'Worst Product' Review Video

By Hayley Fowler

A Connecticut YouTuber who reviews home gym products is accused of violating federal trademark law and defaming a small business on his channel with false statements and gratuitous insults about a product, according to a newly filed North Carolina complaint.

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Fla. Law Firm Escapes Data Breach Class Suit

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida federal judge Monday tossed a proposed class action suit claiming Miami-headquartered national law firm Zumpano Patricios PA failed to protect sensitive information prior to a data breach, ruling that a threat of misuse of the information was not enough to confer standing for the plaintiffs.

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Compass Says Zillow Ban Update Proves Its Point

By Grace Dixon

Real estate brokerage Compass Inc. told a New York federal court Friday that an update on Zillow's website regarding its implementation of an allegedly anticompetitive policy only provides further support for its request to block the policy, days ahead of a preliminary injunction hearing.

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Pharmacies Seek Cert. In Cholesterol Drug Price-Fixing MDL

By Dorothy Atkins

A group of indirect reseller plaintiffs urged a Pennsylvania federal judge on Friday to certify a nationwide class of thousands of pharmacies that indirectly purchased the cholesterol medication pravastatin in sprawling multidistrict litigation over alleged price-fixing in the generic drug industry.

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Wireless Builders' Group Names New Top Strategist

By Christopher Cole

The Wireless Infrastructure Association on Monday named a veteran market analyst to provide technical and strategic advice to the industry group.

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Meat Giant JBS Inks $1.1M NY AG Deal Over Climate Claims

By Sarah Jarvis

New York Attorney General Letitia James announced Monday that JBS USA Food Co. and an affiliated holding company will pay $1.1 million to support climate-focused agriculture programs in the state as part of a settlement over allegations they misled the public about efforts to reduce their carbon footprint.

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Dems Demand FTC Probe Into Surveillance Co.'s Data Use

By Joyce Hanson

Two Democratic U.S. lawmakers urged the Federal Trade Commission on Monday to investigate Flock Safety over its purported failure to implement adequate cybersecurity measures, saying the surveillance technology company has exposed Americans' personal data to theft by hackers and foreign spies.

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'Pay-To-Pay' PenFed Fee Class Scores Cert. In West Virginia

By Katryna Perera

A West Virginia federal judge granted certification Monday to a class of borrowers who claim Pentagon Federal Credit Union illegally charged them a $5 fee for making loan payments by phone or online, finding that the class meets all the requirements for certification.

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What's In Store For Hain Baby Food Case At The High Court

By Emily Field

In a baby food case against Hain Celestial and Whole Foods, the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday will consider whether an appellate court must vacate a final judgment when it has determined that a district judge wrongly dismissed a non-diverse party in a suit originally brought in state court and removed to federal court.

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DOJ Taps Hall Render Atty As UnitedHealth Merger Monitor

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Department of Justice asked a Maryland federal judge Monday to appoint a Hall Render Killian Heath & Lyman PC shareholder as compliance monitor as part of the settlement allowing UnitedHealth Group's merger with Amedisys.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz and Jeff Montgomery

From billion-dollar pharma feuds to shifting equity deadlines, Delaware's courts saw another week of battles over mergers, fiduciary duty and judicial limits.

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Landlords Fight States' Objection To RealPage Settlements

By Isaac Monterose

A group of landlords urged a Tennessee federal court to reject arguments lodged by several attorneys general who criticized $141.8 million worth of proposed antitrust settlements that aim to resolve multidistrict litigation accusing the landlords of using property management software company RealPage Inc.'s technology for rent price fixing.

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Michigan Judge Slashes Chrysler, Dodge Warping Door Suit

By Carolyn Muyskens

A Michigan federal judge on Monday whittled a putative class action claiming certain Dodge Chargers and Chrysler 300s have warp-prone door panels down to a single claim and invited manufacturer Stellantis NV to try again for sanctions against the remaining named plaintiff.

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Privacy Lessons From FTC Settlement With Chinese Toymaker

In U.S. v. Apitor Technology, the Federal Trade Commission recently settled with a Chinese toy manufacturer that shared children's physical location with a third-party app provider, but the privacy lessons from the settlement extend beyond companies focusing on children's products, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

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DOJ's UnitedHealth Settlement Highlights New Remedies Tack

The use of divestitures and Hart-Scott-Rodino Act compliance in the recent U.S. Department of Justice settlement with UnitedHealth Group and Amedisys underscores the DOJ Antitrust Division's willingness to utilize merger remedies under the second Trump administration, say attorneys at Buchanan Ingersoll.

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When Atty Ethics Violations Give Rise To Causes Of Action

Though the Model Rules of Professional Conduct make clear that a violation of the rules does not automatically create a cause of action, attorneys should beware of a few scenarios in which they could face lawsuits for ethical lapses, says Brian Faughnan at Faughnan Law.

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Goodwin Requiring 4 Days In Office, But Removes Tracker

By Anna Sanders

Goodwin Procter LLP will stop using certain technology to monitor in-office attendance while joining a growing list of BigLaw firms requiring U.S. attorneys to work in person at least four days a week, according to a memo obtained by Law360 Pulse.  

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Analysis

'Frankly, They're Irrelevant:' ABA Ratings In Trump's 2nd Term

By Courtney Bublé

The American Bar Association, long considered the gold standard for rating judicial nominees, no longer gets to interview them as Trump officials claim the group's "not qualified" rating for some nominees during Trump's first term shows it is a biased and "leftist" organization. Ironically though, ABA ratings for President Donald Trump's second-term picks are mostly positive so far.

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ABA Changes DEI Scholarship Requirement Amid Lawsuit

By Emily Sawicki

A law school scholarship once meant for a "member of an underrepresented racial and/or ethnic minority" is now open to applicants who "have demonstrated a strong commitment to advancing diversity, equity, and inclusion," according to a change broadcast by an organization suing the American Bar Association over the scholarship's "categorical exclusion" of whites.

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Cannabis Cos. Allege Hinckley Allen Malpractice Cost $25M

By Adrian Cruz

A group of cannabis companies have claimed that Hinckley Allen & Snyder LLP's alleged malpractice stemming from the purported decision to prioritize the personal interests of a manager in a 2017 investor suit ended up costing them over $25 million in damages.

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Feature

The Lone Ranger Facing A BigLaw Powerhouse At High Court

By Jeff Overley

It might seem curious for a solo practitioner to decline offers of professional assistance in his first U.S. Supreme Court case. It might seem risky to go it alone against a BigLaw team led by an appellate icon. But a legal lone ranger arguing Tuesday at the high court is feeling confident, and he does have a friend proofreading briefs, just to be safe.

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Feds Defend Cases Against James Comey, Letitia James

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Department of Justice on Monday took a swing at bids by former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James to get their indictments thrown out, telling a federal judge the appointment of interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan was valid.

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Analysis

2 Doctrines Likely To Direct Justices' Review Of Trump Tariffs

By Dylan Moroses

When the U.S. Supreme Court hears oral arguments Wednesday over whether President Donald Trump can impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, it will likely test two doctrines the justices have recently considered: the major questions and nondelegation doctrines.

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Judge Reminds Gov't To Follow Media Rules In James Case

By Jared Foretek

A Virginia federal judge has reminded the parties in the government's alleged bank fraud case against New York Attorney General Letitia James not to publicly discuss grand jury proceedings after U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan texted with a reporter about the case in October.

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Brief

DC Public Defender Funding To Halt Because Of Shutdown

By Courtney Bublé

Funding for public defender services in Washington, D.C., is about to run out as the government shutdown drags on, according to a recent letter from members of the D.C. Courts Joint Committee on Judicial Administration.

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Roundup

The Top In-House Hires Of October

By Michele Gorman

Legal department hires over the past month included high-profile appointments at Starbucks, Hertz and Fannie Mae. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from October.

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