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CYBERSECURITY & PRIVACY |
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TOP NEWS Analysis TCPA 'Merely A Pawn' In High Court Deference Fight The ability of companies and consumers to challenge agency rulings will take center stage at the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday, as the justices weigh whether federal courts or regulators such as the Federal Communications Commission should have the final say on what the law means, in this case the Telephone Consumer Protection Act. Facebook Beats Most Cambridge Analytica Derivative Claims Facebook Inc.'s board of directors largely escaped a shareholder derivative suit over the Cambridge Analytica data privacy scandal Friday when a California federal judge ruled that the investors failed to show that board members were unable to make independent decisions, a key requirement of derivative suits. 9th Circ. Revives Student Loan Robocall Class Action The Ninth Circuit on Friday breathed new life into a suit by a group of borrowers accusing a student loan administrator of violating the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, finding that the administrator could be held vicariously liable for a contractor’s alleged bombardment of debt collection attempts. FEMA Leaked Sensitive Data Of Over 2M Disaster Survivors The Federal Emergency Management Agency shared the sensitive personal information of 2.3 million disaster survivors with a contractor in what FEMA on Friday called a "major privacy incident." Analysis Medtronic Warning Highlights Debate On FDA Cyber Policy The medical device industry's pushback against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's revamped cybersecurity guidance could face a new obstacle now that Medtronic has disclosed that as many as 750,000 of its defibrillators are vulnerable to being hacked. Senators Want To Know How DOJ Interprets Carpenter A bipartisan group of senators is seeking answers from the U.S. Department of Justice on how it goes about collecting cellphone location data in light of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Carpenter v. U.S., which found law enforcement must obtain a warrant before accessing such information. Attys Can Demand Protection For Data Destruction: NY Bar Despite former clients' strong ownership claim over their files, lawyers can in some circumstances demand they sign a "hold harmless" release before complying with a call for file destruction, the New York state bar said Thursday. Raytheon Asks To Be Cut From Contractors' Tax Info Suit Raytheon should be dismissed from a suit by Northrop Grumman employees alleging their tax information was exposed and they were given faulty tax advice because they have not implicated the company in wrongdoing, Raytheon told a Texas federal court Friday. Attys' Fees Trimmed To $1.3M In Vertex Junk Fax Settlement Two firms serving as class counsel in a junk fax settlement with Vertex Pharmaceuticals should receive less than they requested in fees because they overstated the $4.75 million deal's benefit to the class, a Massachusetts federal judge has ruled. Readers Say RI Privacy Law Covers Magazines In Time Suit A proposed class of magazine readers has told a Rhode Island federal court to deny Time Inc.’s bid to dismiss a suit claiming the company distributed reader information to junk mailers, arguing Rhode Island’s privacy law applies to publications as well as movies and music. Calif. Insulation Biz Hit With Suit Over FCRA Disclosure Form Employees at California-based Petrochem Insulation Inc. claim they were required to fill out a form that let the company obtain their consumer reports without proper authorization in a proposed class action filed Thursday in California federal court. Mayer Brown Ousts Partner For Inappropriate Conduct Mayer Brown LLP has fired Chicago banking and finance partner Zac Barnett for "inappropriate personal conduct with a subordinate," the firm's chairman told attorneys in an email late Thursday. Gibson Dunn, Perkins Coie, Lowenstein Were Duped, DA Says Law firms Gibson Dunn, Perkins Coie and Lowenstein Sandler are out some $255,000 for legal advice they gave accused fraudster Anna Sorokin before word of her alleged scheme got out and she was busted by prosecutors, the Manhattan district attorney said in court papers filed shortly ahead of her trial. Analysis Why General Counsel Won't Dump The Billable Hour While many general counsel say they are open to experimenting with alternative fee arrangements, they simultaneously admit the standard practice of hourly billing won't go away anytime soon, largely because it's often the most feasible and there isn't a different universal option. Analysis Meet The Outspoken Judge Handling Epic Monsanto Case The California federal judge dishing out tough talk in Monsanto's high-stakes Roundup litigation is a "brutally honest" jurist who "doesn't play games" and "very much takes attorneys to task" when he sees fit. And that's what his admirers say. DC Bar Counsel Apologizes To Atty Over Bogus Fee Claims The District of Columbia's head disciplinary counsel has apologized to a veteran lawyer and onetime Georgetown Law professor accused of taking money he didn't earn from a jailed client's family after the counsel discovered both witnesses in the conduct case had lied to squeeze a refund from the lawyer. Litigation Funder Therium Capital To Launch $430M Fund Litigation funder Therium Capital’s total worldwide investments now top $1 billion with the launch of a new $430 million fund, the London-based firm announced Monday. Fox Hires Ex-GM Atty As Chief Litigation Counsel Fox Corp. has appointed a former General Motors Co. deputy general counsel who once served as a U.S. attorney to be its chief litigation counsel, the media company said Friday. Fannie Mae Hires Ex-Morgan Stanley, CoreLogic Atty As GC Fannie Mae has appointed an in-house veteran with real estate industry experience as its new general counsel, almost six months after its previous top attorney stepped down. Up Next At High Court: Too Much Deference To Fed Agencies? The U.S. Supreme Court will hear two significant cases of administrative law this week as it wraps up its March argument session, both asking whether courts are giving federal agencies too much leeway to interpret rules and laws. GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week The Supreme Court decided firms that conduct nonjudicial foreclosures aren't generally considered debt collectors, and the FTC chairman said the agency will pursue with renewed force advertisers who make misleading claims about their products. These are some of the stories in legal news you may have missed in the past week. In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360 For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week. Podcast Law360's Pro Say: Caseload Crisis Judicial vacancies are a problem, but a sheer lack of new judgeships is a deeper issue that’s stretching the federal judiciary to the breaking point. Reporter Cara Bayles joins us this week to explain the problem and how we got here.
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