Zuckerberg, Snap CEO Likely Must Testify In School MDL Trial

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge indicated Wednesday that Meta and Snap's CEOs will likely need to testify in an upcoming school district bellwether trial in the social media addiction multidistrict litigation, and declined Meta's bid to block arbitration demands, saying, "Meta's got plenty of money, go file a motion with the arbitration panel."

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Abbott Investors Ink $40M Deal Over Infant Formula Crisis

By Emily Field

Shareholders who brought a derivative suit over Abbott Laboratories' management of the 2022 infant formula crisis asked an Illinois judge on Tuesday to approve a settlement that includes $40 million in investments in food safety and corporate reforms, and $15.85 million in attorney fees.

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Key Details As 3rd Circ. Ponders FCA's Fate, $1.6B J&J Fine

By Jeff Overley

Third Circuit judges Wednesday explored divergent views of the False Claims Act's constitutionality and a record fraud verdict against Johnson & Johnson, expressing little eagerness to gut the FCA's whistleblower mechanism, and voicing uncertainty about evidence and jury instructions underpinning the drug promotion punishment.

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5th Circ. Upholds Gun Charge, Approves Plate Reader Use

By Elizabeth Daley

A wanted man who was charged with illegal possession of a machine gun after Mississippi police tracked his vehicle with the help of a license plate reader cannot argue that locating him using the technology violated his privacy, a panel of the Fifth Circuit has ruled, denying his constitutional challenge.

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FDA Can't 'Refuse To File' Tobacco Applications, Suit Says

By Mike Curley

The maker and a seller of Zone nicotine pouches are suing the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in Texas federal court, alleging the agency stalled and eventually refused to file their marketing application, despite federal law requiring the FDA to either approve or deny such applications.

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Mazda Sued Over Alleged Defects In Brake, Lane-Keep System

By Gina Kim

Mazda Motor Corp. has been hit with a potential class action in Virginia federal court alleging it failed to disclose and remedy braking and lane-keep assist defects in some of its CX-90 crossover SUVs that are prone to excessive deterioration, distracting braking sounds and unsafe steering behavior.

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Axion Cleared Of False Advertising Before Agilent Patent Trial

By Elliot Weld

Ahead of a patent infringement trial set to begin next week, a Delaware federal judge has addressed false advertising claims against biotechnology firm Axion and ruled there was no genuine dispute that a set of Axion advertisements deceived customers.

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Kenyan Firm's Boeing Crash Fee Dispute Largely Proceeds

By Jonathan Capriel

An Illinois law firm couldn't escape claims that it owes a Kenyan law firm upward of $1.5 million as part of a fee-sharing agreement stemming from a settlement with Boeing over the 2019 Ethiopian Airlines 737 Max crash, with an Illinois federal judge refusing to call the oral agreement unenforceable.

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Pa. Utility Regulator Seeks $2.6M Fine Over Fatal Explosion

By Matthew Santoni

The Pennsylvania Public Utility Commission wants the gas company whose pipe leak allegedly caused the fatal 2023 explosion at the R.M. Palmer Co. chocolate factory in West Reading, Pennsylvania, to pay a $2.6 million civil fine, blaming the blast on the company's poor planning, inaccurate maps and failure to heed warnings that the plastic on its gas lines could degrade and fracture.

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DLA Piper Lands Shook Hardy Products Liability Pro In Miami

By Madison Arnold

A longtime Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP trial lawyer specializing in high-stakes product liability and complex litigation has joined DLA Piper in Miami, the firm announced Wednesday.

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As Justices Mull Suncor, Cos. Face New Climate Suit Realities

Following the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision to hear Suncor Energy v. Boulder County — its first case analyzing the litigation impact of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's rescission of its 2009 greenhouse gas endangerment finding — companies must consider new preemption questions surrounding climate lawsuits after the rescission, say attorneys at Hollingsworth.

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Series

Law School's Missed Lessons: The Human Element

Law school teaches you to quickly apply intellect and logic when handling a legal issue, but every fact pattern also involves a person, making the ability to balance expertise with empathy critical to the growth of relationships with clients, colleagues and adversaries, says Rachel Adcox at Adcox Strategies.

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Sitting Judges Take Stand Over Threats Growing 'Ordinary'

By Jake Maher

On the heels of an ethics opinion giving them wider latitude to speak publicly, sitting federal judges brought attention Thursday to the increasing threats against them and their family members, warning about the dangers of such threats becoming "ordinary."

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Anatomy Of A Citation Hallucination: AI Edit, Associate Review

By Rachel Riley

Counsel for consumers in a supplement labeling lawsuit against Amazon responded Wednesday to a Seattle federal judge's order to explain an AI-hallucinated citation, saying the error was introduced by a generative artificial intelligence tool used to "harmonize" drafts of a brief, then missed by a fifth-year Boies Schiller associate tasked with checking the citations.

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Jackson Walker, US Trustee Reach Deal On Fee Settlements

By Vince Sullivan

The Office of the U.S. Trustee and law firm Jackson Walker LLP on Wednesday resolved the bankruptcy watchdog's opposition to a series of settlements tied to a romantic relationship between a former Jackson Walker attorney and a now-retired bankruptcy judge.

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Judge Quashes Subpoena Of 5 Firms That Repped Twitter

By Rae Ann Varona

A Delaware federal court ruled Thursday that six former Twitter employees cannot subpoena five law firms that represented the social media company in connection with its acquisition by Elon Musk, rejecting the employees' "conclusory allegations" that the company and Musk used the firms to make false promises of severance benefits.

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Nomination For New DOJ Fraud Chief Heads To Senate Floor

By Courtney Bublé

The nomination of Colin McDonald for the new position of assistant attorney general for fraud was sent to the full Senate on Thursday, after the Judiciary Committee voted 12-10 along party lines to advance his nomination.

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Judge Digs Into Counsel Over 'Astronomically High' Fee Bid

By Nadia Dreid

Attorneys who represented classes of people who say they received harassing phone calls from real estate agents in violation of federal telemarketing laws are asking for way too much of the $20 million settlement, according to the California federal judge who tore into them Wednesday.

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DOJ Antitrust Head Tells Staff: Don't Worry About Criticism

By Bryan Koenig

The acting head of the U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division said Thursday that he pays no heed to criticism of the agency and tells staff to do the same, while asserting in Washington, D.C., remarks that there's no better time to come work for the DOJ.

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Fired 'Arctic Frost' Agents Accuse FBI Of Political Retribution

By Dorothy Atkins

Two former FBI agents who worked on the "Arctic Frost" investigation into President Donald Trump's attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss have accused the government of abruptly firing them in an unconstitutional act of "political retribution."

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