Meta Looks To Toss Facial Data AI Training Claims

By Celeste Bott

Meta Platforms Inc. has urged an Illinois federal judge to throw out a proposed class action accusing it of illegally harvesting Facebook and Instagram users' facial data to train artificial intelligence models, arguing that the plaintiffs cannot show their specific photos were used and that the company is exempt from Illinois' biometric privacy law because of its financial services subsidiary.

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Calif. Panel Won't Reinstate Schools' Social Media Suits

By Mike Curley

A California state appeals court has declined to revive claims from four school districts in California, Florida, Washington and Rhode Island against Meta, Google, Youtube, Snapchat and TikTok over children's mental health, agreeing with a lower court that they cannot pursue negligence and nuisance claims.

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Vanguard Failed To Protect 14M Customer Records, Suit Says

By Bonnie Eslinger

The Vanguard Group Inc. has been hit with a putative class action in Pennsylvania federal court alleging the investment management company did not take adequate steps to prevent the theft of 14 million customer records, including Social Security numbers, in a cyberattack that customers say has been advertised on a dark web forum.

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FINRA Fines Citigroup For Alleged AML Reporting Failures

By Jessica Corso

A Citigroup subsidiary has agreed to pay $250,000 to the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority after the company allegedly self-reported a problem in the way that employees were escalating possible instances of fraud, including those involving suspected cyberattacks.

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British Columbia Says OpenAI Shooting Suit Must Stay In US

By Jonathan Capriel

OpenAI shouldn't be allowed to escape a California federal court lawsuit accusing it of encouraging an 18-year-old to commit a mass shooting at a British Columbia school, the Canadian province argued, saying the most important evidence, the shooter's chat logs and company internal review records, are in the United States.

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Nvidia Investor Sues Over CEO's Fling With Suspected Spy

By Hailey Konnath

An Nvidia shareholder Monday filed a proposed class action against the company and Chief Executive Officer Jen-Hsun "Jensen" Huang over Huang's alleged affair with a suspected Chinese spy, claiming that the chipmaker misled investors as to national security concerns and risks to the company's reputation.

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Coca-Cola Secretly Let Tech Giants Track Data, Suit Says

By Bonnie Eslinger

The Coca-Cola Co. has been hit with a proposed class action in California federal court alleging it violated the privacy of visitors to its websites by allowing tech giants like Meta, Google, TikTok, and Microsoft to track and collect the users' data even if they'd opted out of nonessential cookies.

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Belichick's Ex Says Airbnb Hosts Leaked Ring Footage

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts couple who rented a home on Airbnb to Jordon Hudson while her relationship with ex-New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick was still not public shared Ring camera footage of the NFL legend that subsequently went viral and exposed their romance, according to a lawsuit accusing the property owners of invasion of privacy and breach of contract.

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Brief

Book Publishers Win $19.5M Default Judgment Against WeLib

By Ivan Moreno

A Manhattan federal judge on Monday ordered online "shadow library" WeLib to pay 13 major publishers $19.5 million for copyright infringement and directed hosting and internet service providers to disable its domains, handing the publishers a default judgment designed to shut the site down.

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What FTC Publicis Deal Means For Data Infrastructure M&A

The Federal Trade Commission's recent proposed resolution to its concerns over Publicis' $2.2 billion acquisition of LiveRamp shows how the FTC may treat deals involving important data infrastructure layers, even when the parties operate at different levels of the technology stack, say attorneys at Wilson Sonsini.

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Meta, TikTok Cases Show How AGs May Redefine Governance

The Meta Platforms settlement and TikTok lawsuit addressing social media harms to minors highlight that state attorneys general are not merely extracting payments, but are also using litigation and settlements to impose durable product, institutional and policy change, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.

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Key Themes In State Bank Supervisors' AI Exam Framework

The Conference of State Bank Supervisors' artificial intelligence supervisory framework introduces a set of optional questions and procedures for examiners, and it may bring meaningful consistency in how financial institutions' AI use and integration will be examined, say attorneys at Cooley.

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High Court Disbars Judicial Watch Founder Larry Klayman

By David Minsky

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday disbarred Judicial Watch founder and Florida conservative activist attorney Larry Klayman following his 18-month suspension issued last year by the D.C. Court of Appeals. 

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Firms Must Face RICO Claims In Asbestos Fraud Suit

By Emily Field

An Illinois federal judge on Friday held that Simmons Hanly Conroy LLP and Sokolove Law must face racketeering claims brought by a Los Angeles industrial pipe manufacturer alleging that the firms brought baseless asbestos claims, finding that an antitrust doctrine shielding those who petition the courts does not apply.

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DOJ's Civil Division Head Joins Agency Exits After Midterms

By Jack Karp

The leader of the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Division, Brett A. Shumate, on Monday became at least the fifth top DOJ official to step down following Republicans' defeat in last week's midterm elections.

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Trump Eyes OLC Chief For Texas Judgeship After Midterms

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump is considering the head of the U.S. Department of Justice's Office of Legal Counsel for a federal judgeship in Texas, a process that started right after the Democrats won big in last week's midterm elections.

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Goldstein Says Gov't Conceded Key Trial Errors

By Jared Foretek

SCOTUSblog co-founder Thomas Goldstein told the Fourth Circuit that the federal prosecutors who netted 12 tax and mortgage fraud convictions effectively conceded they hid evidence by steering a key witness to new testimony mid-trial and had reversed their stance on jury instructions, two key issues in Goldstein's appeal.

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AAA Says Consumers' Monopoly Claims Lack Factual Support

By Caroline Simson

The American Arbitration Association is lashing out against consumers who accuse the institution of monopolizing the consumer arbitration services market, telling a federal judge on Monday that they should be sanctioned for including "false, misleading, and unsupported allegations" in an amended complaint.

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Wash. Panel Nixes $10K Sanctions On Monsanto PCB Attys

By Rachel Riley

A Washington Court of Appeals panel has overturned a combined $10,000 in sanctions against four attorneys who defended Monsanto from chemical poisoning claims, concluding Monday that the trial court overstepped its authority by personally punishing the lawyers for late disclosure of expert witnesses.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court last week cleared the way for Cloudflare Inc. to seek immediate review of an injunction blocking a stock restructuring designed to preserve its founders' control, while setting a January hearing in a similar dispute over Meta Platforms Inc.'s plan to create nonvoting shares.

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