AG Says Florida Won't Take Part In Meta's 'Weak' $17B Deal

By Jonathan Capriel

Florida will take no part in Meta's $17 billion social media addiction settlement, according to state Attorney General James Uthmeier, who has slammed the sum as "weak" and said the Sunshine State will not be bought off for "pennies on the dollar."

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Google Beats Cert. Bid Over User Tracking In Safari Browser

By Rae Ann Varona

A Delaware federal court denied class certification Thursday in a long-running litigation over allegations that Google bypassed privacy settings on Apple's Safari browser to track users without consent, saying the plaintiffs failed to show that the encryption keys Google destroyed would have provided a reliable way of identifying class members.

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Google Users' Atty Fee To Be In 'Realm' Of $147M, Judge Says

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge indicated Thursday that he won't give the full $147 million in fees sought by lawyers who won a $425 million class action verdict against Google for unlawfully collecting user information, but he said their "really excellent lawyering" deserves an amount "within that realm."

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Albertsons Loses Bid For Midtrial Win In Wash. Opioid Case

By Ben Adlin

Albertsons can't escape the state of Washington's lawsuit accusing the pharmacy chain and its Safeway subsidiary of contributing to the state's opioid crisis, a state judge ruled Thursday in denying the company's bid to dismiss the case midtrial.

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Binance.US Beats Sherman Claims, Rest Sent To Arbitration

By Nadia Dreid

Cryptocurrency exchange Binance.US and a digital asset market data website have beaten for good antitrust claims in a proposed class action accusing them of working together to suppress a cryptocurrency's value by misstating its ranking, but Binance must face other claims in arbitration.

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6th Circ. Rules Mich. Doesn't Own Unclaimed Accounts

By Melanie Dorsey

The Sixth Circuit revived proposed class claims accusing Michigan officials of violating property owners' due process rights by keeping interest earned on unclaimed financial accounts, holding that the state takes custody of abandoned property but does not take ownership of it. 

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SpaceX Seeks Green Light On Gen3 System

By Nadia Dreid

Since the FCC is already in the middle of overhauling its satellite licensing framework to presume applications are in the public interest if they follow certain rules, SpaceX wants the agency to apply that presumption to the 100,000-satellite constellation it has proposed.

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Chamber Says FTC's Meta Appeal Trying To 'Rewrite' Law

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other amicus filers urged the D.C. Circuit not to revive the Federal Trade Commission monopolization lawsuit targeting Meta's purchases of WhatsApp and Instagram, taking issue Thursday with how the FTC characterizes social media competition, consumer behavior and the law allowing it to sue.

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Charter Schools Blast Proposal To Limit E-Rate To Rural Areas

By Christopher Cole

Public charter schools told the Federal Communications Commission that the agency cannot pare back the E-Rate subsidy program to just rural areas because Congress meant the program to serve all low-income areas, including urban neighborhoods.

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FCC Urged To Hold Off On New Subsea Cable Security Regs

By Elaine Briseño

A trade association for submarine cable owners and other groups urged the Federal Communications Commission to hold off on adopting more regulations for undersea communication cable equipment until more information is available.

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Boeing Says Bid To Depose Ex-Exec In 737 Suit Is Off Base

By Mike Curley

The Boeing Co. is urging a Washington federal judge to toss a motion by Norwegian Air subsidiaries to depose a former senior executive in a suit over their purchase of 737 Max airplanes, saying it has no control over him, and he wouldn't have unique information relevant to the case anyway.

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2nd Circ. Backs Lyft In Wheelchair Access, Disability Bias Suit

By Linda Chiem

The Second Circuit on Thursday rejected certified class claims from Westchester County, New York, residents accusing Lyft of systematically discriminating against disabled riders, saying the plaintiffs' suggestions for increasing the availability of wheelchair-accessible vehicles weren't reasonable.

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Kratom Group Says DEA Order Could Snare Natural Wares

By Sam Reisman

A kratom trade group has asked a D.C. federal judge to find that a recent U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration rule change targeting certain kratom-derived compounds should not apply when those compounds naturally occur in the kratom leaf.

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5th Circ. Backs FDA, Pharma Cos. In GLP-1 Shortage Fight

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration did not unlawfully remove blockbuster GLP-1 medications made by Eli Lilly & Co. and Novo Nordisk from the national drug shortage list, the Fifth Circuit ruled Thursday, handing a loss to compounding pharmacies that produce copycat doses of the drugs.

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FCC Ends Caption Reg On Public Channel Video Programmers

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission has scrapped a requirement that video programmers show they comply with closed captioning rules if they only provide content to local public, educational and governmental channels that are exempt from captioning mandates.

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Brief

ITC Finds Vietnam, Egypt And Bulgaria Rebar Harming US

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. International Trade Commission affirmed that U.S. businesses are being hurt by imported steel concrete reinforcing bar from Vietnam, Egypt and Bulgaria that are being sold at unfair prices, setting up duty orders from the U.S. Department of Commerce.

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Colo. AG Accuses EarnIn Of Making Illegal Payday Loans

By Katryna Perera

Colorado's attorney general has accused the financial firm EarnIn of illegally providing "predatory" payday loans to tens of thousands of Coloradans through its earned wage access product, charging annual percentage rates of 1,000% or more.

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DOJ Can't Get Rethink On Apple Peek Into Fed Phone-Buying

By Bryan Koenig

A special master has refused to reconsider his New Jersey federal court mandate giving Apple a look into how the Pentagon, CIA, State Department and other agencies purchase smartphones, criticizing the Justice Department for trying to "split hairs" in contending the agencies aren't "party" to the monopolization lawsuit.

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Meta Staves Off 3D Artist's AI Training Suit, For Now

By Elliot Weld

A California federal judge has dismissed a Los Angeles-based 3D artist's proposed class action alleging Meta Platforms Inc. removed copyright management information from art that was used to train artificial intelligence, but gave the artist a chance to cure the suit's issues.

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Mich. Hospitals Defend CVS 340B Drug Savings Suit

By Susan Smiley

University of Michigan Hospitals and Health Centers urged a Michigan federal judge Wednesday to preserve its suit claiming that CVS Health Corp. diverted millions of dollars earmarked for indigent healthcare to itself, saying the conduct clearly amounts to a racketeering scheme.

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Ukrainians Still Can't Tie Cos. To Russian Missiles, TI Says

By Spencer Brewer

Several semiconductor manufacturers, including Mouser Electronics Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc., asked a Texas federal court to throw out claims brought by Ukrainian civilians alleging the companies' parts ended up in Russian missiles, saying the civilians failed to cure defects in their pleadings.

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Lack Of Reliance Dooms Uponor Leaky Pipes Class Action

By Mike Curley

A California federal judge has thrown out a proposed class action alleging Uponor Inc.'s plastic pipes were defective and prone to leaking, saying the homeowner plaintiffs failed to establish that they relied on or could have relied on any misrepresentations allegedly made by the company.

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Food Processor Says Tribe's Request Would Hinder Its Ops

By Susan Smiley

A Michigan produce processor fired back at a tribe's request that it stop releasing water into local wetlands, telling a federal judge Wednesday that even though it may have dumped untreated wastewater in the past, it's no longer in violation and that any restrictions would hurt its business.

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VW Can't Toss Claims Audi E-Tron Batteries Are 'Time Bombs'

By Craig Clough

A Georgia federal judge refused to dismiss a proposed class action Thursday accusing Volkswagen Group of America Inc. of concealing and failing to adequately repair an alleged defect in the high-voltage batteries of certain Audi electric vehicles, keeping alive claims the autos are "ticking time bombs" that can lose power, short-circuit and catch fire.

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Data Brokers Can't Pause Judicial Privacy Law Fight

By Carla Baranauckas

A federal judge has denied a bid to pause dozens of lawsuits brought under the state's judicial privacy law, rejecting data brokers' request to stay the litigation while the Third Circuit weighs the statute's constitutionality.

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23andMe Judge Slows Estimation Of Calif. Data Breach Claim

By Alex Wittenberg

A Missouri bankruptcy judge ruled Thursday he would split a process for dealing with data breach claims brought by the state of California against 23andMe into two stages, saying he would first decide whether the bankruptcy trust for the DNA testing company should be allowed to estimate the state's claims for damages.

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LGBCoin Defendant Says $75K Fee Bid In Suit Is Inflated

By Madison Arnold

The defendant who lost a default judgment earlier this month in favor of "Let's Go Brandon" meme coin investors has told a Florida federal judge that the plaintiffs' $75,000 fees request is too high.

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Youth Basketball Tournament Escapes Hotel Antitrust Claims

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A Pennsylvania federal judge has dismissed a proposed antitrust class action accusing U.S. Junior Nationals Inc., an organizer of national-level girls basketball tournaments, of requiring its participants to stay in overpriced hotels, ruling that the plaintiff failed to show a market the organization monopolized.

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Brief

Denver Landlord Settles Suit Over Eviction Fee Scheme

By Zach Dupont

A Denver property management company reached a settlement with a former tenant who accused the company in a proposed class action in Colorado state court of using eviction proceedings to siphon illegal attorney fees and costs, according to an order acknowledging a notice of settlement. 

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NC Crypto Kiosk Law Opens Door To Stricter Fraud Regs

North Carolina's new cryptocurrency kiosk law will force operators to build fraud-screening, disclosure and compliance systems before the end of the year, while also providing an opening for more stringent city and county limits on kiosk placement and operations, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

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FTC IonQ Review Unearths A Divide In Vertical Merger Remedy

The Federal Trade Commission's recent split decision to close its investigation into the merger between IonQ and SkyWater Technology offers a candid window into how enforcers may approach vertical merger concerns after a string of difficult government cases, says Nicholas Cheolas at Wiley.

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Series

Taekwondo Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Taekwondo has taught me to recognize when to fight for a position and when to focus on finding a solution, and that the best outcomes are often achieved by solving problems — all of which has improved my work as a bankruptcy lawyer, mediator and Subchapter V trustee, says Amy Denton Mayer at Berger Singerman.

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Exclusive

Inside The $150M Immigration Contract That Wasn't

By Daniel Connolly

The leader of a small Houston-based law firm says she was "blindsided" by an announcement from the federal government that her 24-attorney shop had won a $150 million no-bid contract to represent thousands of immigrant children in deportation proceedings.

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ABA Faces Uphill Battle To Remain As Law School Accreditor

By Emma Cueto

The American Bar Association council responsible for accrediting law schools is fighting on multiple fronts to retain its status as a nationwide accreditor, fending off challenges at both the federal and state levels.

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Dems Say DOJ Opinion Aims To Foil Oversight Of White House

By Courtney Bublé

With midterm elections right around the corner, Senate Democrats are worried the new legal opinion from the U.S. Department of Justice could let the Trump Administration obstruct congressional oversight of the White House.

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Womble Bond Asks To Drop Dutch Software Client Over Rift

By Hayley Fowler

Womble Bond Dickinson is looking to pull its representation of a Dutch software company after five years of a bitter trademark battle, citing a "fundamental disagreement" that has allegedly made it impossible for the firm to move forward as counsel of record.

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