A California federal judge's recent use of advisory juries for high-profile tech disputes — including Elon Musk's OpenAI for-profit conversion challenge and states' social-media addiction fight with Meta — is an uncommon practice that's intended as a "reality check" for judges deciding "socially explosive" disputes, according to legal experts.
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Analysis

Why Big Tech Gets Advisory Juries In 'Socially Explosive' Suits

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge's recent use of advisory juries for high-profile tech disputes — including Elon Musk's OpenAI for-profit conversion challenge and states' social-media addiction fight with Meta — is an uncommon practice that's intended as a "reality check" for judges deciding "socially explosive" disputes, according to legal experts.

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J&J 's 'Pure' Baby Powder Ads Were Pure Lies, Jury Told

By Craig Clough

A University of Toronto marketing professor on Friday told a Los Angeles jury considering bellwether claims that Johnson & Johnson's talc products caused deadly ovarian cancer in three women that the company advertised its talc as "pure" and safe even though its leaders fretted for decades that it could pose health risks.

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9th Circ. Judges Skeptical Of Roblox Arbitration Timing

By Emily Field

An email that Roblox Corp. sent to opposing counsel asking for an account username and saying that it was seeking to compel arbitration after it lost a bid to dismiss a parent's suit could be "damning" for the popular gaming company, a Ninth Circuit judge suggested on Friday.

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$7.25B Roundup Deal Had 'Lack Of Adversity,' Objectors Say

By Rae Ann Varona

Thirteen individuals who say they developed non-Hodgkin lymphoma after using Roundup for years objected to a $7.25 billion settlement over the herbicide, telling a Missouri federal court Friday that the underlying class action was launched not to litigate active claims but to "launder a liability-management scheme through the courts."

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Opioid Plaintiffs Want Sanctions Over McKinsey Deletions

By Mike Curley

A group of plaintiffs in multidistrict litigation against McKinsey & Co. is urging a California federal court to sanction the company for deleting communications with Purdue Pharma and other opioid-makers, saying the court should enter a default judgment against the consulting firm.

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PFAS Judge Wary Of Bid To Sanction Town For 'About-Face'

By Aaron Keller

A Montana federal judge on Friday seemed slightly reluctant to sanction Connecticut municipalities for moving firefighter turnout gear PFAS claims to his jurisdiction after roughly two years of litigation on the East Coast, suggesting the process of shipping purchaser claims across the nation is typical when complex cases arise.

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Law360 Reveals Titans Of The Plaintiffs Bar

By Rachel Rippetoe

This past year, 10 lawyers across the country at plaintiffs' firms big and small helped secure millions of dollars in settlements and verdicts for their clients, going up against powerful defendants like Google, Monsanto and the Trump administration, earning the attorneys recognition as Law360's Titans of the Plaintiffs Bar for 2026.

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CONSUMER GOODS

Kratom Buyers' RICO Claims Tossed In Addiction Suit

By Sam Reisman

A California federal judge has dismissed racketeering claims brought against a kratom supplements company accused of hiding the addictive nature of its products from consumers.

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Sig Sauer Recall Ends Buyer's Defect Claims, Pa. Judge Says

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A Pennsylvania federal judge has dismissed a proposed class action against gunmaker Sig Sauer claiming one of its optic sights lacked safeguards to keep kids from accessing the battery, ruling that while the buyer got less than what he paid for, the issue was remedied by a product recall.

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Gucci Settles Suit Over Counterfeit Perfume Sales

By Susan Smiley

Gucci America Inc. agreed to a confidential settlement contract with two companies it accused of trademark infringement, and on Friday, a Michigan federal judge issued a stipulated order granting a permanent injunction prohibiting the defendants from future infractions.

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AUTOMOTIVE

Boeing Says Board Didn't Neglect Safety Before Door Blowout

By Jarek Rutz

Counsel for The Boeing Co. urged the Delaware Chancery Court on Friday to dismiss a stockholder derivative suit accusing its leadership of ignoring years of safety and manufacturing red flags, arguing the company's board had overhauled its oversight systems after the fatal 737 Max crashes and monitored risks leading up to an Alaska Airlines door-plug blowout.

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FOOD & BEVERAGE

Brief

Queso Fresco Maker Admits To Selling Contaminated Cheese

By George Woolston

A New Jersey cheese manufacturer admitted to selling listeria-tainted queso fresco linked to a 2021 outbreak that resulted in at least 13 hospitalizations and one death across four states, U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer of the District of New Jersey announced.

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TRANSPORTATION

What's In The House Surface Transportation Funding Bill?

By Linda Chiem

The House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee advanced a $580 billion five-year surface transportation reauthorization bill on Friday to fund roads, bridges, transit and rail improvement projects, and highway and motor carrier safety programs, and establish the first-ever federal regulatory framework for autonomous commercial vehicles.

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ENERGY

States Tell Justices Colo. Climate Suit Threatens Sovereignty

By Elaine Briseño

Florida, Texas, Pennsylvania and 23 other states urged the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a Colorado Supreme Court ruling that allowed local communities to pursue climate change damages under state law, arguing it jeopardizes states' constitutional right to govern themselves.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Wiley Hit With Proposed Class Action Over Data Breach

By Christine DeRosa

Wiley Rein LLP has been hit with a proposed class action accusing the Washington, D.C., firm of negligence after the firm said a group that may be affiliated with the Chinese government accessed emails of firm personnel.

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Quinn Emanuel Sues To Collect $1.5M From Binance's Zhao

By Caroline Simson

Quinn Emanuel has filed suit in Washington, D.C., against former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, who was pardoned by President Donald Trump last fall, asking the court to enforce an arbitral award of nearly $1.5 million in unpaid attorney fees and other costs.

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Trump Admin Wants Federal Workers To Sign NDAs, Citing Leaks

By Bonnie Eslinger

President Donald Trump's administration ​on Tuesday announced that it wishes to require federal employees with access to sensitive government information to sign a nondisclosure agreement, citing recent leaks related to immigration enforcement operations and the release of personal information belonging to approximately 4,500 Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees.

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3rd Circ. Disapproves Of Judge's Quips In Fatal Crash Case

By Y. Peter Kang

The Third Circuit on Tuesday scolded a Pennsylvania federal judge for his "inappropriate attempted witticisms" while presiding over a lawsuit in which a parent blamed transportation companies for the deaths of his two children in a highway collision, saying the judge's "ill-conceived attempts at levity" in a fatal injury case could be misinterpreted by the public.

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Justices Order Redo In Immigration Judges' Free Speech Suit

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed a Fourth Circuit order that had revived the immigration judges union's challenge to restrictions on their ability to speak publicly, finding the lower court abused its discretion by relying on arguments not raised by either party, and ordered further proceedings.

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Brief

Justices To Consider Taking Judge Newman Case On June 11

By Emily Sawicki

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide whether to take up U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman's petition seeking to overturn her suspension from the Federal Circuit on June 11, according to a notice posted Tuesday.

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Comey Case Delayed Due To 'Gravity' Of Charges, Discovery

By Phillip Bantz

A North Carolina federal judge on Tuesday granted former FBI Director James Comey's unopposed request to postpone his arraignment and trial on charges he threatened President Donald Trump with a social media post of seashells, finding that ongoing discovery and the "gravity of the charges" favor an extension and "outweigh" any interests in having a speedy trial.

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Copyright Suits Against Jan. 6 Attys Won't Be Tossed

By Jared Foretek

Attorneys who represented Jan. 6 defendants will have to face a consultant's claims that they copied her jury-attitude report without permission after a D.C. federal judge rejected their arguments that their conduct fell under fair use and the public's right to access court records.

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Pirro, Blanche Fight DQ Bid In Attempted Assassination Case

By Christine DeRosa

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche are fighting a bid from the California man accused of an attempted assassination of President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner to disqualify them from handling the case.

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Beasley Allen Fails To Overturn J&J Talc Disqualification

By Adrian Cruz

A New Jersey federal judge affirmed the Beasley Allen Law Firm's disqualification from multidistrict litigation over Johnson & Johnson's talcum powder on Tuesday, determining that the firm has failed to provide a valid reason to back its attempt at a stay and temporary reinstatement into the matter.

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DHS Pauses ICE Home Entries Under Administrative Warrants

By Courtney Bublé

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told a Democratic senator earlier this month he's paused immigration agents' use of administrative warrants to enter private property, but has not officially revoked the controversial policy issued last year.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week handled a broad mix of cross-border corporate control disputes, merger settlements, startup equity fights, advancement claims and board oversight litigation, while also weighing fallout from high-profile deals involving Microsoft Corp., The Boeing Co. and Nikola Corp.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Cohen Milstein's Brent Johnson

By Matthew Perlman

Brent W. Johnson is helping to pioneer the use of antitrust law to tackle collusion in low-wage labor markets with work that includes representing workers from poultry- and meat-processing plants in a pair of cases that led to more than $600 million in settlements last year.

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LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Anapol Weiss

Arias Sanguinetti

Arias Sanguinetti Wang & Team, LLP

Ashcraft & Gerel

Barnes & Thornburg

Baron & Budd

Beasley Allen

Bernstein Litowitz

Bighorn Law

Blakely Law Group

Bleichmar Fonti

Bliven Law Firm

Boies Schiller

Brand Woodward

Browning Kaleczyc

Cohen Milstein

Cohen Placitella

Creadore Law Firm

Crowley Fleck

Dardarian Ho

Davis Hatley

Davis Polk

Dechert LLP

Dowd Bennett

Duncan Firm

Eccleston & Wolf

Faegre Drinker

Farrell & Fuller

First Law Strategy Group

Frazer PLC

Garlington Lohn

Gibson Dunn

Goodwin Procter

Grant & Eisenhofer

Greenberg Traurig

Gupta Wessler

Hagens Berman

Hall & Evans

Handley Farah

Heenan & Cook

Hogan Lovells

Holland & Hart

Howard & Howard

Hughes Hubbard

Kaiser PLLC

Keller Rohrback

Kellogg Hansen

Ketchmark & McCreight

Kirkland & Ellis

Labaton Keller

Laird Cowley

Lewis Brisbois

Lieff Cabraser

Lynch Carpenter

Martzell Bickford

Mayer Brown

McKool Smith

Morgan & Morgan PA

Moses & Singer

Motley Rice

O'Melveny & Myers

Orrick Herrington

Panagos Kennedy

Paul Weiss

Pomerantz LLP

Poulin Willey

Quinn Emanuel

Richards Layton

Robbins Geller

Robinson Bradshaw

Robinson Calcagnie

Scott&Scott

Seeger Weiss

Shook Hardy

Sills Cummis

Silver Golub

Snell & Wilmer

Sullivan & Cromwell

Susman Godfrey

Thompson Barney

Torridon Law

Traverse Legal

Wachtell Lipton

Waters Kraus

Weil Gotshal

Weitz & Luxenberg

Wheeler Trigg

Wiley Rein

Williams Hart

Wilson Elser

Wisner Baum

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

3M Co.

Activision Blizzard Inc.

Agri Stats Inc.

Amazon.com Inc.

American Bar Association

American Civil Liberties Union

American Federation of Government Employees

American Petroleum Institute Inc.

Apple Inc.

Association of American Railroads

Bayer AG

Binance Holdings Ltd.

Cargill Inc.

Corteva Inc.

DuPont de Nemours Inc.

Epic Games Inc.

Exxon Mobil Corp.

Fresh Express Inc.

Gilead Sciences Inc.

Google LLC

Gucci Group NV

Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc.

Johnson & Johnson

Labcorp Holdings Inc.

Latitude 36 Foods LLC

Los Angeles Times

Lucasfilm Ltd.

Lux Research Inc.

McKinsey & Co. Inc.

MetLife Inc.

Meta Platforms Inc.

Microsoft Corp.

Monsanto Co.

New Civil Liberties Alliance

Nikola Corp.

Norfolk Southern Corp.

Ohio Public Employees Retirement System

OpenAI OpCo LLC

PG&E Corp.

Pilgrim's Pride Corp.

Pixar Inc.

Purdue Pharma LP

Roblox Corp.

SVB Financial Group

Sinovac Biotech Ltd.

Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc.

State Teachers Retirement System of Ohio

Suncor Energy Inc.

Taylor Fresh Foods Inc.

The Boeing Co.

The Chemours Co.

The New York Times Co.

The Walt Disney Co.

Thomas H. Lee Partners LP

Transport Workers Union of America

Uber Technologies Inc.

University of Southern California

Vivo Capital

W. L. Gore & Associates Inc.

Wells Fargo & Co.

Zoox Inc.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Blackfeet Nation

Colorado Supreme Court

Delaware Court of Chancery

Executive Office for Immigration Review

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Federal Railroad Administration

Federal Trade Commission

Food and Drug Administration

National Transportation Safety Board

Navajo Nation

Northern Arapaho Tribe

U.S. Attorney's Office

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina

U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission

U.S. Copyright Office

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut

U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Merit Systems Protection Board

U.S. Office of Personnel Management

U.S. Secret Service

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Supreme Court

United States District Court for the District of Montana