'Powerful' Risk For Women Using Talc, UC Prof Tells Jury

By Craig Clough

An epidemiology professor at the University of California, San Francisco testified Wednesday in a Los Angeles bellwether trial over claims Johnson & Johnson's talc products caused deadly ovarian cancer in three women, saying there are multiple studies concluding the product increases the risk of the disease, including one finding a "very powerful" risk.

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Bayer, Buyers Get Final OK Of $4.85M Benzene Settlement

By Mike Curley

A New Jersey federal judge on Wednesday gave final approval to a $4.85 million settlement to end claims against Bayer Healthcare LLC and others alleging that antifungal products were contaminated with benzene.

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Ill. Jury Awards $49.5M To Ethiopian Air Victim's Family

By Lauraann Wood

Illinois federal jurors awarded $49.5 million Wednesday to the family of a global health worker who died alongside 156 others when a Boeing jet carrying Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 crashed within minutes of takeoff.

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Conn. PFAS Plaintiffs Deny Forum Shopping In Montana Suit

By Mike Curley

The City of Stamford and a local fire district are pushing back against a bid by 3M and others to sanction them for moving their claims from Connecticut to Montana, saying the sanctions bid misrepresents the facts and circumstances motivating them to join the litigation.

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Roblox Exploits Kids' Labor To Build Games, Action Claims

By Jonathan Capriel

A Georgia mother accused gaming giant Roblox Corp. of turning her 13-year-old son into an unpaid game developer who worked more than 40 hours weekly, funneling him and millions of other children into a virtual currency system designed to trap their labor, according to a proposed class action filed in New York federal court.

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Fla. Law Makes Lyft Immune To Passenger's Assault Suit

By Y. Peter Kang

A Florida state appeals court ruled Wednesday that a state law shielding Lyft and other ride-hailing companies from liability bars a suit over a driver's alleged assault of a passenger, noting that the law's immunity provision is "very broad."

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Brief

Frito-Lay Poppables Have 'Synthetic Flavors,' Suit Says

By Jonathan Capriel

Frito-Lay Inc. was hit with a proposed class action accusing it of deceiving consumers by labeling Lay's Poppables as having "no artificial flavors" when they actually contain two ingredients that are not natural.

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EPA Must Reconsider Flame Retardant Regs, 9th Circ. Says

By Rachel Riley

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must revisit rulemaking on a flame retardant known as decaBDE, a Ninth Circuit panel said Wednesday, agreeing with a Native American tribe and environmental groups that the federal agency failed to adequately explain its past decisions declining to further regulate the chemical's disposal.

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Ore. Justices Urged To Reverse PacifiCorp Appeal Win

By Cara Salvatore

Property owners urged the Oregon Supreme Court Wednesday to overturn a decision wiping out their wildfire damages verdict against PacifiCorp, saying the ruling leaves the state "without a workable framework" for class trials and citing "unfortunate appearance-of-justice concerns" regarding the judge who wrote the opinion.

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Thompson Hine Hires Nelson Mullins, Ex-NHTSA Atty In DC

By Jack Rodgers

Thompson Hine LLP has hired a former Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP lawyer, who the firm said helped lead one of the largest and most complex consumer product recalls in U.S. history while working at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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Series

The Biz Court Digest: Georgia Court Has Business On Its Mind

Thanks to recent legislation, the Georgia State-wide Business Court will soon offer business litigants greater access to the court than ever before, further enhancing the court's emphasis on efficiency, predictability and accessibility for sophisticated commercial disputes, says former GSBC judge Walt Davis at Jones Day.

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Murdaugh Murder Conviction Overturned By SC High Court

By Parker Quinlan

The South Carolina Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned a double murder conviction and ordered a new trial for disgraced attorney Alex Murdaugh, finding the jury in his first trial was biased by a clerk of court who allegedly sought a guilty verdict in a ploy to juice sales of her book about the trial.

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Texas Atty Must Pay $5M For Groping Opposing Counsel

By Lynn LaRowe

A Texas state appellate court on Wednesday refused to disturb a $5 million jury verdict against a San Antonio lawyer for grabbing the buttocks of opposing counsel at the courthouse where they were arguing a family law proceeding in 2019.

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DOJ Goes After DC Bar, Courts For Discipline Of Ex-DOJ Atty

By Hailey Konnath

The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday sued the D.C. Office of Disciplinary Counsel, D.C. Board on Professional Responsibility, D.C. Court of Appeals and the District of Columbia, claiming that they were "punishing" a former Trump administration DOJ official and trying to "control the executive branch."

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DOJ Fraud Division Set To Shake Up White-Collar Enforcement

By Phillip Bantz

President Donald Trump's administration created the U.S. Department of Justice's National Fraud Enforcement Division with a narrow focus on combating government program fraud, but a move to retain federal prosecutors focused on other types of fraud could signal a wider scope with potential ripple effects across white-collar enforcement.

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Arbitrators See Global Stakes In Trump BigLaw EO Fight

By Caroline Simson

Ahead of a D.C. Circuit hearing on Thursday in the Trump administration's effort to revive executive orders imposed against four BigLaw firms, an official at the College of Commercial Arbitrators told Law360 this week there are several things arbitrators are going to be watching for.

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Apple Targets Hagens Berman 'Gamesmanship' In ICloud Suit

By Bryan Koenig

Apple has lashed out at Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP for trying to withdraw a named plaintiff from an iCloud antitrust case in California federal court without discovery into any directions she received to preserve now-deleted emails, raising concerns that the withdrawal is meant to "paper over lost evidence."

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Michigan Federal Judge Gets Probation For Drunken Driving

By Susan Smiley

Michigan federal Judge Thomas L. Ludington was sentenced by a state judge on Wednesday to six months' probation and fined $1,175 after pleading no contest to a misdemeanor drunken-driving charge last month in Emmet County.

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6th Circ. Says Kentucky Judicial Hopefuls May Tout Ideology

By Emily Sawicki

Kentucky judicial hopefuls are cleared to discuss their political leanings on the campaign trail, according to a precedential ruling by the Sixth Circuit, which permanently enjoined the state's Judicial Conduct Commission from pursuing an enforcement action against two candidates who described themselves as "conservatives" and "Republicans" amid the 2022 election season.

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Judge Says LegalForce Must Pay $93K After Losing TM Suit

By Elliot Weld

A California federal judge on Wednesday ordered LegalForce RAPC Worldwide PC to pay nearly $93,000 in fees and costs to the company that operates LawFirms.com, finding the case to be exceptional because LegalForce alleged facts it knew were false and took steps to obscure other facts that showed its case was meritless.

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CORRECTED: Senate Advances 13 US Attorneys In En Bloc Vote

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 46-45, along party lines, to advance the nomination of 13 U.S. attorneys on Monday as part of a larger nominations package. Correction: A previous version of this article incorrectly stated the status of the nominees in the Senate.

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