'Addiction' Became A 'Dirty Word' At Instagram, Jury Hears

By Craig Clough

A former executive and consultant for Meta testified Thursday in bellwether litigation over claims that its subsidiary Instagram is harmful to children, telling a Los Angeles jury that between his two stints with the company, he saw "addiction" go from an openly researched topic to a taboo "dirty word."

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Apple AirTag Judge Compares Fight To Uber Sex Assault MDL

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge indicated Thursday that he likely won't certify a class of stalking victims suing Apple for designing AirTags that were susceptible to abuse by stalkers, comparing the case to litigation against Uber Technologies Inc. over driver sexual assaults, which proceeded as coordinated multidistrict litigation rather than a class action.

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CBS, Paramount Hit With $8M Suit By 'Amazing Race' Duo

By Gina Kim

CBS and Paramount are being sued for $8 million by Jonathan and Ana Towns, a husband-and-wife team who appeared on the 37th season of the reality competition show "The Amazing Race" and now allege that the production staff deliberately edited Jonathan Towns to misleadingly portray him as an intentionally cruel and emotionally abusive spouse.

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Analysis

A Look At Four States' Tort Reform Legislation Fights

By Y. Peter Kang

There are currently four states debating whether to install business-friendly tort reform legislation or medical malpractice guardrails. The issues include a potentially brutal showdown in California over auto collision litigation and efforts in Florida to expand wrongful death liability for healthcare providers.

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Family Sues Over 'Smash And Grab' ICE Arrests

By Julie Manganis

Members of a Massachusetts family on Thursday filed the first of what their lawyers said could be a number of Federal Tort Claims Act lawsuits over U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement's "unwarranted and unnecessarily cruel" practice of smashing windows and forcibly dragging people out of vehicles.

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Meta's Child Sex Abuse Shield Is Top Tier, Safety Expert Says

By Cara Salvatore

Meta began its defense case-in-chief Thursday in New Mexico's bellwether social media mental health trial, calling to the stand a safety specialist who said Meta's detection program for child sexual abuse material is best in class but conceded that it's impossible to know how much material slips through.

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Mom Hit By Tesla-Driving Toddler Can't Undo Trial Loss

By Y. Peter Kang

A California state appellate panel affirmed a midtrial win for Tesla in a suit brought by a mother who was struck by a Tesla driven by her toddler, saying she used the wrong legal standard to characterize her claim that certain features were defectively designed.

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TRESemmé Hair Loss Suit Tossed By Judge

By Emily Field

A New Jersey federal judge on Wednesday tossed with prejudice a suit alleging that TRESemmé shampoo causes hair loss after the plaintiff's sole expert was barred from testifying as he admitted his opinion was wrong.

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Panel Says Domino's Franchisee Must Face Crash Suit

By Chart Riggall

A Georgia appellate court on Wednesday reversed a trial court's move to let a Domino's franchisee out of a suit filed by a motorcycle rider hit by one of its delivery drivers, saying he hadn't waited too long to add the pizza maker to his suit.

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Ind. Justices Reverse Providers' Loss In COVID Immunity Row

By Gianna Ferrarin

Indiana's highest court ruled that over 80 healthcare providers are immune from a medical malpractice suit by the estate of a man who died after developing a bedsore while he was hospitalized for COVID-19, vacating a decision by a lower court of appeals.

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NC Appeals Court Backs School's Win In Negligence Suit

By Tom Lotshaw

A split North Carolina state appeals court panel affirmed a lower court's ruling for Gardner-Webb University in a negligence suit brought by a former football player who was involved in a campus apartment altercation with his teammates.

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DC Circ. Urged To Pause DOT Immigrant Truck Driver Rule

By Linda Chiem

Local governments, legal advocates, Teamsters California and others have urged the D.C. Circuit to suspend the U.S. Department of Transportation's new final rule containing sweeping restrictions on nondomiciled commercial driver's licenses for immigrants, saying nearly 200,000 drivers would be culled from the workforce and trigger a supply chain and critical services crisis. 

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Doctor Can't Fight Records Order Tied To WWE Accuser's Suit

By Brian Steele

Connecticut's intermediate-level appeals court has turned away a celebrity doctor's challenge to an order that he and his Greenwich practice hand over payment records to a former patient who is suing World Wrestling Entertainment and co-founder Vince McMahon for alleged sex trafficking and abuse.

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Series

Volunteering With Scouts Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Serving as an assistant scoutmaster for my son’s troop reaffirmed several skills and principles crucial to lawyering — from the importance of disconnecting to the value of morality, says Michael Warren at McManis Faulkner.

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OpenAI Practices Law Without A License, Insurer Alleges

By Lauren Berg

OpenAI is practicing law without a license, according to an insurer's lawsuit filed in Illinois federal court that alleges artificial intelligence platform ChatGPT provided faulty legal advice to a woman seeking disability benefits that led to a breached settlement and a flurry of frivolous court filings.

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Analysis

UK Law Sector's Private Equity Boom Offers Lessons For US

By Ryan Boysen

Private equity money is pouring into the U.K. legal sector, fueling a wave of consolidation in consumer-facing practices and offering a glimpse of what it could look like if outside investment in the U.S. legal industry takes off.

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Criminal Contempt Of DOJ Attys Unlikely For Violating Orders

By Jack Karp

Federal judges have been floating the possibility of holding government attorneys in criminal contempt of court for violating immigration-related court orders, a potentially shocking move that scholars say is unlikely and probably less effective than civil contempt orders.

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Lindsey Halligan Faces Fla. Bar Investigation, Watchdog Says

By Lauren Berg

The Florida Bar is investigating Lindsey Halligan, the former interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia who pursued controversial indictments against President Donald Trump's political opponents, according to a letter the Campaign for Accountability made public Thursday.

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Troutman And Former Atty Push To Limit Scope Of Bias Trial

By Jake Maher

Troutman Pepper Hamilton Sanders LLP and a former associate suing the firm for racial discrimination and retaliation this week fought over the role that charged language and calculations of financial damages should play in an upcoming trial.

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Atty's Scheduling Error Dooms Appeal In AT&T Forfeiture Suit

By Patrick Hoff

An AT&T worker can't ask the Ninth Circuit to review the dismissal of his proposed class action claiming the telecommunications company misused forfeited 401(k) funds, with a California federal judge saying his attorney's busy schedule was "one of the least compelling excuses" for filing a late appeal.

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Ex-Judge In Wis. Says ICE Prosecution Theory Has No Limits

By Britain Eakin

A former Wisconsin judge has said the government's case against her for obstructing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement has no limiting principle and wrongly turned her authority to manage her courtroom into a federal felony for impeding ICE.

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Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana Judicial Nominees Advance

By Courtney Bublé

Four judicial nominees advanced out of committee Thursday along party lines, which included two for Texas.

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