Meta Buried Own Research On Youth Harm, Schools Say

By Emily Field

School districts are alleging that Meta clamped down on internal research showing that the mental health of young users suffered from compulsive use of its social media platforms, even as staff likened themselves to drug pushers.

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Apple Fights Bid To Recertify 200 Million IPhone Buyer Class

By Bonnie Eslinger

Apple has urged the Ninth Circuit to deny a petition from customers seeking to restore certification of a consumer class plaintiffs say reaches "upwards of 200 million" with a collective $20 billion in damages, in litigation claiming that the tech giant violated antitrust laws with its App Store policies.

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HHS Says It Plans To Resume Sharing Medicaid Info With ICE

By Hailey Konnath

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has completed a decision-making process and established a new policy under which the agency will share certain Medicaid information with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, according to a notice published in the Federal Register on Monday.

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Justices Asked To Curtail Qualified Immunity's Application

By Jared Foretek

A legal group dedicated to rolling back administrative power is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the National Rifle Association's suit against a New York official for investigating insurance companies that worked with the gun-rights organization, arguing the Second Circuit was wrong when it ruled that the official was entitled to qualified immunity.

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Judges Question Limits On FCC Power To Rework 4.9 GHz

By Christopher Cole

Washington, D.C., Circuit judges sounded unconvinced Monday that the Federal Communications Commission lacked authority to effectively hand control of 4.9 gigahertz airwaves to FirstNet during arguments from some band users' challenge to last year's controversial FCC revamp of the spectrum.

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Justices Won't Hear Suit Over Trump's NCUA Firings, For Now

By Jon Hill

The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday that it won't immediately take up a challenge to President Donald Trump's removal of two National Credit Union Administration board members, turning down a request to hear the case alongside its review of his power to fire Federal Trade Commission members.

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9th Circ. Clarifies FTC's Sanction Power In Backing $7M Win

By Dorothy Atkins

The Ninth Circuit affirmed Monday a $7.3 million compensatory sanction and asset-freeze injunction against executives behind the "Success By Health" pyramid scheme, rejecting their argument, among others, that the justices' AMG v. FTC ruling requires the Federal Trade Commission to hold administrative proceedings before suing over rule violations.

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Ex-US Bank Team Seeks Charter For 'Digital First' Valt Bank

By Aislinn Keely

A proposed digital bank built by a group of former U.S. Bank employees has filed for a national charter with the help of its Otteson Shapiro counsel to offer both traditional banking and advisory services aimed at "digitally oriented" businesses.

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FTC Abandons In-House GTCR Merger Case After Court Loss

By Matthew Perlman

The Federal Trade Commission formally dropped its administrative case challenging GTCR BC Holdings LLC's acquisition of a medical coatings supplier after an Illinois federal judge refused to put the deal on hold.

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Anti-Disinformation Nonprofit Latest To Buck FTC Subpoena

By Bryan Koenig

The Federal Trade Commission has revealed another challenger that is contesting its subpoenas looking for potential group boycotts of advertising on disfavored platforms.

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Vt. Farmers, Enviro Org. Seek Win On Climate Superfund Law

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

Vermont organic farmers and an environmental group on Friday urged a federal judge to uphold the state's climate change Superfund law, which is being challenged by the Trump administration, red states and fossil fuel industry organizations.

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CFPB Union Asks Court To Neutralize Fed Funding Block

By Jon Hill

The federal labor union suing over the dismantling of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has asked a Washington, D.C., federal judge to rule that the Trump administration may not shut down the agency simply by refusing to replenish its Federal Reserve funding.

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Brief

ITC To Probe Imported Van Trailers For Possible Duties

By Dylan Moroses

The U.S. International Trade Commission will investigate whether Mexican, Chinese and Canadian trailers for vans entering the U.S. are harming the domestic industry, according to a notice published Monday. 

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Brief

NCAA Votes To Keep Ban On Pro Sports Betting For Athletes

By Elaine Briseño

The NCAA Division I member schools, with a two-thirds vote, rescinded a rule change that would have allowed student-athletes and staff to bet on professional sports.

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Calif. AG Notches $1.4M Privacy Deal With Mobile App Maker

By Allison Grande

California's attorney general is continuing to build on his enforcement efforts under the state's data privacy law, announcing a new $1.4 million settlement with a mobile gaming developer that allegedly failed to offer consumers a way to opt out of the sale and sharing of their personal information and that disclosed data belonging to users under 16 without proper permission.

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DOJ Looks To Settle RealPage Rent Price-Fixing Claims

By Isaac Monterose

The federal government filed a proposed final judgment on Monday that aims to settle antitrust claims accusing property management software company RealPage Inc. and multiple landlords of conspiring to use RealPage's revenue management software to fix rent prices.

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Schwab's Antitrust Deal Gets Final OK Over Objections

By Sydney Price

The Charles Schwab Corp. and a group of investors Monday received a Texas federal judge's final approval of a settlement of a lawsuit challenging the financial services company's merger with TD Ameritrade on antitrust grounds, following dozens of objections by the Iowa attorney general and others.

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Comcast To Pay $1.5M Over Hack Of Debt Collector, FCC Says

By Gina Kim

Comcast will pay $1.5 million and change its vendor oversight practices to resolve the Federal Communications Commission's investigation related to a 2024 data breach of a now-defunct debt collection company, which leaked the information of over 230,000 current and former Comcast customers, the agency announced on Monday.

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Wash. Hits Regence BlueShield With Transparency Fine

By Grace Elletson

Washington's insurance commissioner slapped Regence BlueShield with a $550,000 fine, the state announced Monday, for purportedly violating reporting requirements under a federal law that says health insurers must provide the same level of coverage for mental health care as general medical care.

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Amazon Says Digital Film Sales Are Not Like Owning DVDs

By Ben Adlin

Amazon has urged a Seattle federal court judge to toss a proposed class action alleging the company lies to customers about whether they actually own movies purchased on its Prime Video platform, arguing the e-commerce giant clearly informs buyers that "content might potentially become unavailable" later on.

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Amazon, Gillette Claim Oral-B Toothbrush Heads Were Fakes

By Ben Adlin

Amazon and Gillette on Monday sued dozens of "bad actors" that the companies claim sold counterfeit Oral-B toothbrush heads on the e-commerce platform, misleading shoppers, lying to Amazon and infringing Gillette's trademarks.

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Calif. Personal Injury Law Firm Sued Over Ransomware Attack

By Gina Kim

A former Adamson Ahdoot LLP client lodged a proposed class action in California state court on Friday over a Nov. 3 ransomware attack, alleging the law firm failed to protect his personal information despite touting on its website that it follows industry standards to do so.

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Pot Club's Owners Wrong Parties To Block NYC Enforcement

By Mike Curley

A New York federal judge has shot down a bid to block enforcement of state and local New York cannabis laws, saying a couple who own a group of cannabis clubs are the wrong plaintiffs to seek such an order.

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Vape Co. Says FDA Sat On Application For Five Years

By Mike Curley

A California vape company is suing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in D.C. federal court, saying the agency has been violating federal law by sitting on its application to market and sell flavored e-cigarette products for five years.

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Unilever Class Must Show Standing Before OK Of $3.6M Deal

By Aaron Keller

Unilever and two groups of customers have until Dec. 5 to explain to a Connecticut federal judge whether a proposed $3.6 million settlement defines a class so broad that it could include individuals who lack standing to sue on claims that certain aerosol dry shampoo propellants contained benzene.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court last week delivered a packed mix of fraud allegations, merger fallout, corporate-governance reforms and jurisdictional fights, while a new academic report ignited debate over attorney fee awards in Delaware's influential corporate forum.

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Williams Sonoma Sues Quince Over 'Dupe' Comparisons

By Rae Ann Varona

Williams-Sonoma Inc. on Friday sued Quince in California federal court, accusing the direct-to-consumer retailer of falsely advertising to consumers that its products, though cheaper, are of the same high quality as Williams Sonoma's products.

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Key Risks For Cos. As MAHA Influences Food Regulation

As the Make America Healthy Again movement alters state and federal legislative and regulatory priorities, measures targeting ultra-processed foods, front-of-package labeling requirements and restrictions on schools are creating new compliance and litigation risks for food and beverage manufacturers, pharmaceutical companies, retailers and digital advertisers, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.

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State AGs May Extend Their Reach To Nat'l Security Concerns

Companies with foreign supply-chain risk exposure need a comprehensive risk-management strategy to address a growing trend in which state attorneys general use broadly written state laws to target conduct that may not violate federal regulations, but arguably constitutes a national security threat, say attorneys at Wiley.

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What To Watch As NY LLC Transparency Act Is Stuck In Limbo

Just about a month before it's set to take effect, the status of the New York LLC Transparency Act remains murky because of a pending amendment and the lack of recent regulatory attention in New York, but business owners should at least prepare for the possibility of having to comply, says Jonathan Wilson at Buchalter.

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Series

The Law Firm Merger Diaries: Making The Case To Combine

When making the decision to merge, law firm leaders must factor in strategic alignment, cultural compatibility and leadership commitment in order to build a compelling case for combining firms to achieve shared goals and long-term success, says Kevin McLaughlin at UB Greensfelder.

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Bonus Spotlight

5 BigLaw Firms Match Prevailing Year-End, Special Bonuses

By Anna Sanders

BigLaw continues to dole out extra cash for attorneys just in time for the holidays, with five more firms matching the year-end and special bonuses previously announced by their peers.

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Feds' Claim Against Judge Weighing Trans Troops Ban Tossed

By Lauren Berg

The D.C. Circuit's chief judge tossed the U.S. Department of Justice's misconduct complaint against the federal judge overseeing litigation challenging the Trump administration's ban on transgender troops serving in the military, saying judicial misconduct proceedings are not the appropriate avenue to address concerns about a judge's impartiality.

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Comey, James Defeat Charges Over Halligan's Appointment

By Ryan Boysen

A federal judge on Monday dismissed the headline-grabbing indictments of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James, finding the controversial prosecutor handling both cases was not properly appointed.

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Feature

Prep, Panic & Poise: Inside An Associate's First Oral Argument

By Jeff Overley

Fraser M. Holmes followed a long professional path to a Texas court's lectern. He'd been a baseball blogger, travel writer and social studies teacher before appellate law beckoned. After years of toil, a milestone moment — his first oral argument — finally arrived, but as justices took the bench, his heart sank: "Oh, my God. I think I've just forgotten my entire argument."

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Google Calls Rumble's Recusal Bid Irrelevant To Its Appeal

By Andrea Keckley

Google is urging the Ninth Circuit to disregard concerns Rumble has raised about the trial judge's relationship with the tech giant's litigation vice president, saying Friday that the information is irrelevant to the YouTube rival's appeal of the court's ruling that its antitrust lawsuit was filed too late.

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Oversight Chair Seeks USPTO Briefing On Litigation Funding

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., chair of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, is seeking a briefing by the end of the month from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office on third-party litigation funding and reforms the agency is working on.

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8th Circ. Won't Force Judge's Recusal In Pork Price-Fixing Case

By Matthew Perlman

The Eighth Circuit has denied a mandamus petition from Agri Stats Inc. and major pork producers who are seeking a Minnesota federal judge's recusal in price-fixing litigation based on a law clerk's previous work on a related case.

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