Judge Halts Discovery In Patel's Case Against Atlantic

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. federal judge paused all discovery in FBI Director Kash Patel's defamation suit against The Atlantic magazine on Tuesday until he rules on its motion to dismiss, only allowing the sides' "Touhy" requests for formal government information to proceed in the meantime.

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49 AGs Give FCC Tips On Strengthening Robocall Database

By Nadia Dreid

The nation's attorneys general have some suggestions for the Federal Communications Commission on what it could do to curb the onslaught of illegal robocalls, billions of which hound Americans each month.

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Wachtell To Probe Nvidia CEO's Affair With Alleged China Spy

By Anna Scott Farrell and Sue Reisinger

Nvidia has hired Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz to lead an investigation into allegations that its founder and CEO had an affair with a business executive who U.S. intelligence believes is a Chinese spy, the artificial intelligence chipmaker said Tuesday.

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Parking Lot Operators Stuck With Fla. Suit Over DMV Records

By David Minsky

A Florida federal judge ruled that parking lot operators must face a proposed class action brought by motorists who claimed the companies used license plate readers to obtain personal information and charge them fees, saying that violations of the Driver's Privacy Protection Act were sufficiently alleged.

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'America First' Think Tank Backs Pentagon In Anthropic Fight

By Jared Foretek

A Trump-aligned think tank is backing the U.S. Department of Defense in its D.C. Circuit fight against Anthropic, urging the full circuit not to grant Anthropic's en banc rehearing request and pointing to the company's statements about the threats frontier AI models pose to the world.

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Amazon Photos Users Get Class Cert In Illinois BIPA Suit

By Craig Clough

An Illinois federal judge on Tuesday certified a class of Amazon Photos users alleging the company collected their facial biometric data without the notice and consent required by Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act, but rejected a proposed class of non-users pictured in others' photos.

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Wash. AG Proposes Notice Rule On AI Personal Data Access

By Rachel Riley

The Washington State Attorney General's Office has recommended that state lawmakers require businesses and organizations using artificial intelligence to inform residents if an AI agent gains access to their personal information without authorization, according to an annual data breach report issued Monday.

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Banks Tells FCC Robocall Loopholes Must Be Closed

By Nadia Dreid

Bankers have come together to tell the Federal Communications Commission it's time to close some loopholes in the agency's anti-robocall regulations, including one that allows companies that have been booted from the compliance database to refile under a new name.

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Dems Vow More FCC Oversight, Want Their Seats Filled

By Christopher Cole

Democrats promised Tuesday to bring top Federal Communications Commission officials to Capitol Hill for aggressive oversight next year, as they took issue with President Donald Trump's nomination of a third Republican to the regulatory body while he left a Democratic seat open.

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Trump Taps Consumer Protection Chief For FTC Spot

By Matthew Perlman

President Donald Trump nominated Christopher Mufarrige, director of the Federal Trade Commission's Consumer Protection Bureau, Monday to fill a vacant seat on the commission, but it's not clear if he will be confirmed ahead of the lame-duck session in Congress.

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FedEx Hit With $3M Calif. Privacy Fine Over Ad Tracking

By Allison Grande

FedEx has agreed to pay nearly $3 million and overhaul certain data privacy controls to resolve the California Privacy Protection Agency's claims that the company shared website visitors' personal information with advertisers without telling the customers or giving them an opportunity to opt out of the disclosures, the agency announced Tuesday.

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LA Cannabis Retailer Sued Over Email 'Spy Pixels'

By Jonathan Capriel

A Los Angeles dispensary placed "malicious" code in marketing emails that spied on a consumer and recorded when she opened the messages and her location, forwarding the information to data-broker vendors, according to a California state lawsuit which seeks $1,000 per email and $5,000 per privacy violation.

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Microsoft Says Students' Data-Mining Allegations Fall Short

By Ben Adlin

Microsoft has urged a Washington state court to dismiss a proposed class action from four students who accused the company of collecting personal data through school-provided products such as Microsoft 365 and Minecraft Education, asserting that certain claims are federally preempted and that the students had no reasonable expectation of privacy.

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Investment Firm Says Analyst Used AI To Steal Source Code

By Brian Steele

A research analyst for the quantitative trading arm of investment firm Point72 LP used company-provided artificial intelligence programs to extract proprietary source code so he could bring it to a competitor, according to a Connecticut state court lawsuit.

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Conn. Financial Cos. Must Make AI Plans Exam-Ready

Connecticut's new artificial intelligence guidance for covered financial institutions is notable for its specificity and its broad inclusion of any AI system that materially influences business operations or risk management, detailing the need for written plans covering risk tiering, human oversight and vendor controls, says James Williams at Venable.

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Planning Personal Phone Collections Before Discovery Begins

For counsel planning a personal phone collection as part of the litigation discovery process, it's important to take early steps to ensure that necessary information will be obtained without exposing unrelated information or running into access issues, says Jeremy Horowitz at MARA Forensics.

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How A Child Of Immigrants Defends Abrego Garcia

By Corey Rothauser

Hecker Fink attorney Jeffrey Then grew up translating English-language letters for customers at his Dominican immigrant family’s Bronx business. Decades later, he drew on that experience while defending Kilmar Abrego Garcia from federal human smuggling charges, becoming a lifeline for Abrego Garcia during his detention.

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Q&A

John Morgan On Why Luck Matters More Than Most Admit

By Y. Peter Kang

John Morgan, founder of personal injury giant Morgan & Morgan PA, built the largest personal injury firm in the U.S., with 1,110 attorneys in 140 locations. In his new memoir, "Life Is Luck," the attorney who Forbes estimates has a net worth of $1.5 billion argues that success is about more than talent, intelligence or determination. It is also about recognizing opportunities, taking risks and capitalizing on fortunate breaks when they appear.

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Grassley Defends Rush To Confirm Trump Judicial Picks

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, on Tuesday defended how quickly the committee is moving to confirm President Donald Trump's judicial picks before Democrats control the Senate.

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Trump Swaps Out Blocked 8th Circ. Nominee With Ark. Justice

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump on Tuesday withdrew his pick for the Eighth Circuit and replaced him with a different nominee amid apparent opposition from Arkansas' senators. 

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Girardi Estate's $54M Claim Put Behind Other Creditors

By Craig Clough

The trustees overseeing Tom Girardi's and his former law firm's bankruptcies struck a deal to put their claims against each other behind other approved general unsecured claims, according to a California bankruptcy court filing, with the firm's trustee saying neither estate is expected to collect on those claims.

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