$495M Win Upheld In Abbott Baby Formula Bellwether Trial

By Emily Field

A Missouri appellate panel on Tuesday upheld a trial win of $95 million in compensatory damages and $400 million in punitive damages over bellwether claims that Abbott Laboratories' baby formula caused a premature baby to suffer a fully disabling condition.

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Father 'Blacked Out' While Killing Baby, Civil Court Hears

By Aaron Keller

A father convicted of murdering his 7-month-old by throwing the infant into a river from a 90-foot-high bridge in 2015 "blacked out" most of the details, he testified Thursday in a mother's wrongful death lawsuit against a Connecticut child protection agency.

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'Miscarriage Of Justice' Wipes Out $2.5M Injury Verdict

By Y. Peter Kang

A New Jersey state appeals court has tossed a $2.5 million verdict in a lawsuit accusing Public Storage of causing a woman's fall injuries, saying it was a "miscarriage of justice" for the lower court to allow repeated references to irrelevant evidence by the plaintiff's counsel.

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IBM Can't Dodge All PFAS Claims In NY Contamination Suit

By Mike Curley

A New York federal judge won't let IBM Corp. entirely out of a suit from the village of Endicott alleging that the computer giant's old headquarters contaminated groundwater with forever chemicals and other pollution, only tossing claims related to one of the three wells at issue.

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NJ Justices Bar PI Damages For 'Collectible' Future Med Bills

By Gianna Ferrarin

New Jersey's highest court unanimously ruled that the state's no-fault insurance scheme for victims of automobile accidents bars claimants from asking a jury to award future medical expenses if those projected costs fall within their personal injury coverage limits.

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Firm Sanctioned For Misleading Merchants In Swipe-Fee Case

By Hailey Konnath

A New York federal judge on Thursday sanctioned personal injury firm Betz & Baril PLC and its referral partner ClickFunds for misleading would-be class members in long-running antitrust litigation against Visa and Mastercard, ordering the firm and ClickFunds to notify clients about the misinformation.

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J&J Feared FDA's 'Disturbing Proposal' To Test Talc, Jury Told

By Craig Clough

A former U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner testifying Thursday in a Los Angeles bellwether trial over claims Johnson & Johnson's talc products caused three women's deadly ovarian cancer described an internal document showing J&J feared the FDA's "disturbing proposal" to test the talc instead of relying on industry self-testing.

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Proposed Meta Age Reforms Echo Europe Efforts, Judge Told

By Cara Salvatore

An online safety expert testified Thursday that Meta would not be unduly burdened by age-verification reforms New Mexico's attorney general is seeking in a $3.7 billion bench trial over harm to teen users of its social media platforms, given that European regulators in recent weeks announced nearly identical demands.

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Meta Seeks To Toss LA Jury's Social Media Addiction Verdict

By Bonnie Eslinger

Meta and its Instagram platform asked a Los Angeles judge to override a landmark jury verdict awarding millions of dollars in damages to a woman claiming she became addicted to the social media site as a child, saying in the alternative they deserve a new trial.

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Jury Says 3M Not Liable In Texas Explosion

By José Luis Martínez

A Houston jury said Thursday that 3M Co. was not responsible for a 2020 fatal factory explosion, rejecting arguments from a group of business and property owners affected by the blast that the manufacturing giant shared responsibility.

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Trump Campaign Exits Sex Assault Suit, Manager Appeals

By Frank G. Runyeon

Days after President Donald Trump's 2016 campaign settled negligence claims in a former aide's sexual assault lawsuit, an ex-campaign manager accused of rape faced doubts from New York state appellate judges that he could escape the case with their help.

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Vanderbilt Minerals Gets OK For $64M Sale, New DIP Package

By Rick Archer

A New York bankruptcy judge Thursday told former talc miner Vanderbilt Minerals it can accept a $64 million bid for its mines and said she will give interim approval for $15 million in new Chapter 11 financing from the buyer.

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4th Circ. Questions Class Cert. Ruling In Boeing Investor Case

By Jessica Corso

The Fourth Circuit indicated on Thursday it may send an investor lawsuit against Boeing back to a lower court for a second look at class certification, with one judge saying the district court "told us nothing" about what liability theory was being relied on to certify the class.

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Church Exec Seeks Crowdfunding OK In Forced-Labor Case

By Melanie Dorsey

An executive of a religious organization accused in a sprawling forced-labor and money laundering prosecution has asked a Michigan federal judge to loosen her bond conditions so she can raise money online while awaiting trial, saying pretrial officers can adequately monitor donations and prevent church funds from being funneled to her. 

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NY Med Records Enough For Cancer Suit, Fla. Justices Told

By David Minsky

The mother of a cancer patient urged the Florida Supreme Court on Thursday to revive her malpractice lawsuit alleging two New York physicians failed to detect her daughter's metastatic cancer, arguing that jurisdiction is satisfied with medical records produced by the out-of-state doctors.

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NC Panel Rules Prior Verdict Bars Hospital Negligence Case

By Hayley Fowler

A divided North Carolina state appeals court panel pulled the plug on a couple's negligence case against a local hospital, finding their suit is bound by a verdict in a separate, near-identical lawsuit in which a jury cleared the same hospital of wrongdoing.

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Liberty Left Client Info Vulnerable To Hackers, Suit Alleges

By Emilie Ruscoe

Liberty Mutual Insurance Co. faces a proposed consumer class action alleging it failed to effectively safeguard private information for current and former clients after hackers claimed they stole information and sought a ransom payment.

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Conn. Diocese Settles Abuse Defense Suit Against Travelers

By Danielle Ferguson

The bankrupt Norwich Roman Catholic Diocesan Corp. has reached a settlement with its insurer in a Connecticut state court lawsuit alleging the insurer improperly bailed on defense coverage for a sexual abuse case just days before the start of a trial.

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Meta Says Section 230 Bars Wash. Driver's Viral Video Claims

By Rachel Riley

Meta moved Wednesday to exit a Washington state woman's lawsuit claiming she was maligned online after a secret dashcam video of her texting while driving went viral, contending Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act safeguards the social media giant from liability for posts on its Facebook and Instagram platforms.

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Live Nation Says Judge Should Decide Shooting Liability

By Ben Adlin

Live Nation asked a Washington state judge to bifurcate a lawsuit accusing the entertainment giant of failing to prevent a fatal shooting at the 2023 Beyond Wonderland music festival, arguing that it's up to the court to decide whether the company is liable and up to a jury to determine damages.

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Series

Speed Jigsaw Puzzling Makes Me A Better Lawyer

My passion for speed puzzling — I can complete a 500-piece jigsaw puzzle in under 50 minutes — has sharpened my legal skills in more ways than one, with both disciplines requiring patience, precision and the ability to keep the bigger picture in mind while working through the details, says Tazia Statucki at Proskauer.

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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 Morrisons sued by a former logistics partner, EDF and Cripps LLP face a claim brought by a family estate near Hinkley Point C and a former BBC broadcaster file a defamation claim against a Welsh news site over articles linking her to Russian state media and conspiracy theories. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Morgan Lewis Hires 2 More Hunton Litigators

By Andrea Keckley

Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP announced on Friday that it has hired two more attorneys from Hunton Andrews Kurth LLP to build up its litigation bench.

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Legal Industry Bounces Back, Gaining 2,400 Jobs In April

By Tracey Read

The legal sector is once again on a positive trajectory, gaining 2,400 jobs last month, according to seasonally adjusted data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Paul Weiss Says Atty Cuts Were Part Of Performance Reviews

By Daniel Moritz-Rabson

Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP told Law360 on Friday that the firm has parted ways with some attorneys following an annual review process.

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Top Atty In DOJ Appeal Over Law Firm Exec Orders To Depart

By Jake Maher

The lead federal prosecutor on the Trump administration's appeal to reinstate executive orders targeting four law firms is stepping down from his government role at the end of May, he publicly announced this week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

The National Immigrant Justice Center and the American Civil Liberties Union lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a split Seventh Circuit panel rejected the Trump administration's argument that immigrants unlawfully in the United States have no due process rights.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

The head of the U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits section said agency investigations will focus on benefit plan managers' loyalty conflicts, including pursuit of socially conscious goals. Meanwhile, Dell became the latest company to consider Texas as its new legal home. These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Prosecutor Faces Probe Into Withheld Immigration Case Info

By Bonnie Eslinger

The lead assistant federal prosecutor for Rhode Island's civil division is under investigation for allegedly withholding information in an immigration case, according to an order from the Ocean State's top federal judge.

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DLA Piper Accused Of 'Frivolous' Suit To Please Chipotle GC

By Gina Kim

DLA Piper aggressively litigated a "frivolous" computer fraud lawsuit against a nonprofit volunteer in order to appease the then-general counsel of Chipotle, a client, who referred the case to the firm, according to a malicious-prosecution complaint filed Thursday in California state court. 

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

By Adam LoBelia

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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