Blake Lively's Sex Harassment Claim Tossed As Suit Proceeds

By Lauren Berg

Blake Lively's lawsuit against her "It Ends With Us" co-star Justin Baldoni and his production company will soon head to trial on her claims of retaliation but not on her other allegations, including sexual harassment, a Manhattan federal judge ruled Thursday.

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Goldstein Allowed To Move Out After Marriage Falls Apart

By Jared Foretek

A Maryland federal judge on Thursday allowed SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein to relocate for the duration of his home confinement, after Goldstein's attorneys said his marriage had fallen apart and it no longer "makes sense" for Goldstein and his wife to share a residence.

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Nexstar Slams DirecTV's 'Speculative' $6.2B Merger Challenge

By Dorothy Atkins

Broadcast giants Nexstar and Tegna urged a California federal judge on Thursday to allow their $6.2 billion merger to proceed as state attorneys general and DirecTV challenge the tie-up, arguing that their allegations of harm are "generalized and speculative" and that DirecTV is merely trying to maximize its leverage in future negotiations.

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Microsoft Addicted Kids To Minecraft And Xbox Live, Suit Says

By Ben Adlin

A group of gamers and their parents sued Microsoft Corp. in Washington state court over what they described as the company's "highly addictive" gaming products, alleging the tech giant built games such as Minecraft to maximize use among children and cash in on in-game purchases.

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Feds Say Rapper Rescinded Gucci Mane Contract At Gunpoint

By Lauren Berg

Dallas federal prosecutors announced Thursday that they have charged Memphis rapper Pooh Shiesty and eight others with holding three music industry executives at gunpoint — reportedly including Atlanta rapper Gucci Mane — to steal valuables and force Pooh Shiesty's release from his contract with Gucci Mane's record label.

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ITC Investigating Hisense, Roku Over TV Patent Claims

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. International Trade Commission is opening an investigation into claims that Hisense and Roku are importing televisions and streaming devices into the U.S. that infringe six patents held by a company that licenses those patents to LG.

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DraftKings, FanDuel Hit With Location Tech Patent Suits

By Tom Lotshaw

Interactive Games accused DraftKings Inc. and FanDuel Inc. of infringing various patents to confirm the identity and location of mobile devices and their users to facilitate online gambling and sports betting, in separate lawsuits brought Thursday in Massachusetts and New Jersey federal courts.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen data giant Sportrader face action from software company Altenar over alleged market abuse, Mexican billionaire Ricardo Pliego sue a man who allegedly defrauded him out of $415 million, and Warner Bros. bring a copyright claim against a YouTuber who leaked set footage of the upcoming Harry Potter series. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K. 

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Exclusive

Conn. Senator Eyes May Passage For AI, Data Broker Bills

By Allison Grande

A Connecticut state senator behind a pair of legislative proposals regulating data brokers, surveillance pricing, chatbots and the use of artificial intelligence in the employment context told Law360 that he remains confident the measures will pass before the legislative session ends next month, although he acknowledged some provisions could drop out.

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AG Urges NC Justices To Keep Jurisdiction Over TikTok Suit

By Matthew Santoni

North Carolina Attorney General Jeffrey Jackson urged the state's Supreme Court to make TikTok's parent company face claims that it's addictive to juvenile users, arguing the social media giant had enough contact with the Tarheel State to be subject to its courts' jurisdiction.

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Israeli Online Gambling Co. Wants Consumer Suit Arbitrated

By Joyce Hanson

An Israeli company running an online "social gaming platform" called Baba Casino has asked a Utah federal judge to send to arbitration a proposed class action accusing it of offering illegal gambling, pointing to a clause in its terms and conditions.

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Adult Performers, Cos. Seek Wins In Misclassification Suit

By Benjamin Morse

Adult-content performers and a streaming platform's operators filed dueling bids for quick wins in their dispute over the workers' classification, as the performers insisted to a Connecticut federal court that they are not independent contractors while the company contended that performers' control over work justifies the classification.

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McMahon Accuser Says WWE Seeks Arbitration To 'Silence' Her

By Alex Lawson

The former World Wrestling Entertainment legal staffer suing the company and founder Vince McMahon for sexual assault and trafficking is fighting to keep the case in open court, framing the WWE's push to arbitrate the dispute as an attempt to silence her.

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SEC's Musk Suit Presses Ahead As Settlement Talks Uncertain

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is moving forward with a case accusing Elon Musk of failing to timely disclose his ownership stake in Twitter, with Musk telling a Washington, D.C., federal judge that the case may head to trial, just weeks after the parties told the judge they were negotiating a possible deal to end the case. 

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Gov't Must Insist On EU Satellite Market Access, Feds Told

By Christopher Cole

As the European Union looks to tighten rules on the space and satellite industries, the U.S. government needs to ensure American companies can participate in European markets, a think tank told the Federal Communications Commission.

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Judge Keeps IRS, Booz Allen In Lawsuit Over Tax Data Leak

By Anna Scott Farrell

A class action against the federal government and contractor Booz Allen Hamilton seeking to hold them accountable for the unauthorized disclosure of a trove of wealthy people's tax returns by a worker on the job with the IRS can move forward, a Maryland federal judge said.

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Chamber Urges 1st Circ. To Affirm Toss Of Tobacco Fee Suit

By Julie Manganis

A Rhode Island federal judge got it right when she tossed a proposed class action alleging that workers who completed a smoking cessation program are entitled to refunds of surcharges to their health insurance premiums, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce told the First Circuit.

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Pension Case Offers Entertainment Work Exception Insights

A recent Ninth Circuit decision clarified that any amount of entertainment work can satisfy the entertainment industry exception under the Multiemployer Pension Plan Amendments Act, reinforcing that statutory language, rather than evolving business models, dictates withdrawal liability outcomes, say attorneys at Seyfarth.

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Unpacking FCC's Proposed Rules For Offshore Call Centers

The Federal Communications Commission recently proposed rules that would restrict the use of offshore customer service operations, citing consumer frustration, data security risks and fraud as core reasons for the sweeping regulatory move, say attorneys at Eversheds Sutherland.

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FDA's Crackdown On Drug Ads Conflicts With Precedent

Recent U.S. Food and Drug Administration warning letters to drug manufacturers targeting direct-to-consumer advertising raise significant constitutional concerns, and directly clash with prior FDA stances, say attorneys at Sidley.

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Series

Ultramarathons Make Me A Better Lawyer

Completing a 100-mile ultramarathon was tougher, more humbling and more rewarding than I ever imagined, and the experience highlighted how long-distance running has sharpened my ability to adapt to the evolving nature of antitrust law and strengthened my resolve to handle demanding, unforeseen challenges, says Dan Oakes at Axinn.

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ABA, Ex-Judges And Many More Back BigLaw In EO Appeal

By Dorothy Atkins

Numerous bar associations, 239 former judges, 21 states, lawmakers and dozens of other amici curiae have thrown their weight behind BigLaw firms in the Trump administration's consolidated D.C. Circuit appeal seeking to revive executive orders targeting the firms, broadly arguing that the orders are an affront to foundational constitutional rights.

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Legal Sector Lost 700 Jobs In March, Ending Hiring Streak

By Tracey Read

The legal sector began to slow down in March after a year and a half straight of gains, with 700 fewer people employed in lawyer, paralegal and other law-related professional roles last month than in February, according to seasonally adjusted data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Progressive Org. Rolls Out $3M Anti-Trump High Court Push

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump does not have any vacancies on the U.S. Supreme Court, but a progressive court advocacy organization is not waiting for a justice's departure to launch a multimillion-dollar campaign opposing a possible Trump pick.

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Brief

Justice Alito Treated For Dehydration After Federalist Event

By Courtney Buble

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito felt ill during a Federalist Society event last month and was seen by a doctor "out of an abundance of caution," the high court announced on Friday.

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6th Circ. Axes Atty For 'Inexcusable' AI 'Transgressions'

By Rae Ann Varona

An attorney committed "inexcusable transgressions" by relying on Westlaw's internal CoCounsel artificial intelligence platform for appellate filings and by failing to catch erroneous AI-generated content, the Sixth Circuit said Friday and removed the lawyer from further representing a man who pled guilty to drug trafficking charges.

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Analysis

'Political' Deals Pit DOJ Against State AGs, And Not Just Dems

By Bryan Koenig

Controversial U.S. Department of Justice settlements with Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Live Nation, along with the approval of Nexstar's purchase of Tegna, are increasingly inspiring state attorneys general to strike out on their own as antitrust enforcers, often in direct challenge to a federal government that Democrats have cast as "corrupt."

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Florida Gov., AG Face Criticism For Judge Impeachment Push

By Rose Krebs

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Attorney General James Uthmeier faced pushback this week from some in the state's legal community for calling for the impeachment of a judge for releasing a man who went on to allegedly kill his five-year-old stepdaughter, with critics blasting those calls as being politically motivated and "unethical."

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DOJ's New Corporate Enforcement Policy May Eclipse SDNY's

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Department of Justice has put to use for the first time its new corporate enforcement policy of declining prosecutions when companies self-report potential criminal violations, but experts say the new, department-wide initiative has rendered a more business-friendly approach by the Southern District of New York moot.

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Ex-DOJ Official Wants Epstein-Talk Suit Kept In District Court

By Emily Sawicki

A former U.S. Department of Justice acting deputy chief who was fired last year after a hidden-camera video of him discussing the Epstein files was posted online has told a D.C. federal judge his due process case must survive in district court because the Trump administration now controls federal oversight agencies.

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Trump Seeks 13% Boost In DOJ Funding

By Courtney Bublé

The White House budget request for fiscal 2027, released on Friday, seeks $40.8 billion in discretionary funds for the U.S. Department of Justice, a 13% increase from the current year level.

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Judge Stands By Block Of DOJ Subpoenas In Powell Probe

By Jon Hill

A Washington, D.C., federal judge on Friday rejected a U.S. Department of Justice attempt to revive subpoenas from its investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, saying the government hadn't "come close" to giving him a reason to rethink blocking them.

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Schneider Wallace Loses Bid For Bigger Piece Of $75M Fee

By Lauren Berg

A California federal magistrate judge on Friday rejected Schneider Wallace Cottrell Kim LLP's bid to increase its cut of a $75.4 million fee award for representing plaintiffs in a $228.5 million Sutter Health antitrust deal, saying lead counsel Constantine Cannon LLP's allocation of $1.4 million to Schneider Wallace was fair.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

PayPal was hit with a proposed investor class action that claims the payments giant hid slowing growth for its critical branded checkout business. In the meantime, a Shopify lawyer encouraged his peers during a webinar to make sure their outside counsel have "met the moment" by leveraging artificial intelligence in smart ways. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Alliance Defending Freedom, Pearman Law Firm PC and attorney Barry Arrington lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Colorado ban on therapy intended to change a minor's sexual orientation or gender identity amounts to viewpoint discrimination against a Christian therapist.

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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.

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