$107M Union Carbide Asbestos Verdict Won't Be Revived

By Emily Field

A California appeals court on Wednesday affirmed a lower court's order for a new trial in an asbestos wrongful-death suit that produced a $107 million verdict, holding that substantial evidence supported the jury's findings against Union Carbide Corp. and a subcontractor.

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Analysis

Sue To Stop AI Armageddon? Not So Fast, Attys Say

By Y. Peter Kang

As executives at leading artificial intelligence companies increasingly assert that their own technology could one day pose an existential threat to humanity, a natural question follows: If the risk is real, can anyone sue to stop it before disaster strikes?

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Judge Finds NM PFAS Label Likely Violates First Amendment

By Elaine Briseño

A New Mexico federal judge temporarily blocked the state from requiring manufacturers to place a PFAS label on any product intentionally made with forever chemicals, finding the groups opposed to the mandate likely have First Amendment grounds to challenge it.

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Meta's Slow Content Reviews Not Biggest Concern, Jury Told

By Cara Salvatore

Meta's longtime content policy czar testified Thursday in New Mexico's data privacy trial that leaving up some violating posts for days while they underwent extra review was "less of a concern" than the mistake of pulling down an acceptable post by a high-profile account.

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Opioid MDL Judge Fears 'Chaos' If PBMs Derail 100s Of Suits

By Jeff Overley

The federal judge steering multidistrict opioid litigation is lacing into major pharmacy benefit managers for asking the Sixth Circuit to abruptly reverse a key ruling, denouncing their "spurious insinuations" about his motives and warning of disarray if they successfully break up the MDL's consolidated suits.

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Family Tells 11th Circ. Tesla Can't Undo $243M Crash Verdict

By Mike Curley

The estate of a woman killed in a crash and her boyfriend are urging the Eleventh Circuit not to throw out a $243 million verdict against Tesla Inc., saying the jury heard enough evidence to conclude that the Tesla driver who hit them was misled about the safety of the vehicle's "Autopilot" feature and that defects in the vehicle led to the crash.

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Hyundai Cameras That Watch Drivers A Hazard, Suit Claims

By Jonathan Capriel

Hyundai safety features meant to encourage focused driving by monitoring faces and head position often make inaccurate readings, causing distractions such as issuing "loud" alerts, deactivating cruise control and bringing the vehicle to a full stop, drivers have claimed in a new California federal lawsuit.

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Texas Judge Suggests Moving Toilet Parts False Ad Suit To Trial

By Mike Curley

A Texas federal magistrate judge has recommended denying a motion by toilet parts maker Danco Inc. to throw out a rival's false advertising suit, saying there are questions of fact about whether Danco misled consumers on the water-saving qualities of its products.

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Samsung Range Caused Wash. House Fire, Insurer Says

By Hope Patti

An insurer said it is entitled to recoup costs paid in connection with a Washington policyholder's house fire because the blaze was caused by a defective electric range manufactured by Samsung, according to a suit removed to federal court.

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Trader Joe's Faces Lawsuits Over Sugar Labeling

By Celeste Bott

Two proposed class actions filed in Illinois federal court Wednesday accuse Trader Joe's of misleading consumers by labeling its Sweet & Sour Gummy Worms and dark chocolate chips as containing zero sugar and no added sugar, respectively, when both products contain an ingredient classified as a sugar under federal labeling rules.

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Insurer Off The Hook For $5M E-Cig Wholesaler Fire Coverage

By Gianna Ferrarin

An Illinois federal judge handed a complete win to an insurer on its counterclaim that an electronic cigarette product wholesaler isn't owed nearly $5 million in coverage for a warehouse fire because it misrepresented important facts about its business when seeking coverage.

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IBM, J&J Get Incurable Data Breach Suit Tossed For Good

By Bonnie Eslinger

A New York federal judge dismissed a proposed class action alleging IBM and Johnson & Johnson's healthcare arm failed to safeguard sensitive health information of thousands of patients before a 2023 data breach, saying he provided plaintiffs a chance to fix their complaint, and they didn't cure its "deficiencies."

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Ill. Woman Says Apple AirTags Enabled Stalking Abuse

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois woman sued Apple in Illinois federal court Wednesday, alleging the tech giant negligently released AirTags without adequate safeguards despite knowing stalkers could misuse them and saying she has been secretly tracked with an AirTag, physically attacked and forced to relocate multiple times.

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Tech Co. Settles Suit Over Flawed NC Digital Court System

By Andrea Keckley

A putative class of individuals who alleged they were wrongfully arrested or detained due to glitches in North Carolina's electronic court system has settled its federal lawsuit against Tyler Technologies, the software developer behind the new digital court system, according to a notice filed Wednesday.

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Oil Giants, Estate Agree To End Heat Wave Death Claims

By Ben Adlin

The daughter of a Washington woman who died in a 2021 heat wave has agreed to drop claims against oil giants Chevron, Shell, BP and Phillips 66, according to motions filed Tuesday and Wednesday in King County Superior Court.

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Meta Deal Highlights Advisory Jury Issues, Litigation Risk

The $17 billion settlement of youth safety claims brought against Meta offers lessons for all consumer-facing companies because the court made the rare move of empaneling an advisory jury and the case was built on what the company learned from its own studies, says Mark Morgan at McCarter & English.

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Senate Confirms Kirkland Partner To Texas Federal Bench

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 49-45 on Thursday to confirm Kasdin Miller Mitchell, a partner at Kirkland & Ellis LLP, to serve as a U.S. district judge for the Northern District of Texas.

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Clancy Atty Denies Malpractice Claim By Man Serving Life

By Julie Manganis

A prominent Massachusetts criminal defense attorney best known for representing Lindsay Clancy has been accused in a separate case of "abandoning" a client who is serving life sentences for second-degree murder and home invasion, allegations the lawyer denies.

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AI Flubs, More Secure PACER Get Judiciary Forum Spotlight

By Jeff Overley

Misuse of artificial intelligence tools and a "state-of-the-art" revamp of electronic dockets in federal cases were among the hottest topics Thursday at a major meeting of judiciary leaders, who also heard a lawmaker warn of eroding trust in the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Analysis

For Single-Party FTC, Easier Suits May Come With A Cost

By Bryan Koenig

The Federal Trade Commission has ditched its historical multimember, multiparty ethos for a one-party regime in which fewer dissents might make it easier for Chairman Andrew Ferguson to pursue his agenda, but it also forecloses the potential "moderating influence" that comes with winning broad buy-in from commissioners of two parties.

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Immigration Attorney Wants SEC Sanctioned In EB-5 Case

By Tom Lotshaw

An immigration attorney and her firm asked a New York federal judge to sanction the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for failing to reasonably investigate an allegedly bogus unregistered securities claim it brought against them in an EB-5 immigrant investor case.

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Weaponization Fund Plaintiffs Say Discovery Ruling Was Right

By Jared Foretek

Plaintiffs suing over the Trump administration's once-proposed "anti-weaponization fund" are telling a Virginia federal judge to reject the U.S. Department of Justice's objections to a magistrate judge's discovery order, accusing the administration of stonewalling their requests and urging prompt discovery production.

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