Tort Report: Uber Owes $40M In Abandoned Rider Death Case

By Y. Peter Kang

A $40 million arbitration award in a case over an Uber incident and looming litigation against the federal government over a highly publicized U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid on a Hyundai-LG plant in Georgia lead Law360's Tort Report, which compiles recent personal injury and medical malpractice news that may have flown under the radar.

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DuPont Lead Exposure Plaintiffs Get One Class Certified

By Mike Curley

An Indiana federal judge has certified a medical monitoring class in a suit led by a group of minors alleging E.I. Du Pont de Nemours and Hammond Group Inc. caused their exposure to lead, while denying certification of a personal injury class.

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Baby Food Co. Will Keep Posting Test Results, Texas AG Says

By Jonathan Capriel

Baby food company Plum Organics has committed to continuing to publish heavy metal test results for its infant food products, according to a deal it signed with the Texas attorney general's office to end a state investigation.

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Meta Fights 'Monster' Proposed $1.1B CIPA Judgment

By Rae Ann Varona

Meta has urged a California federal judge not to grant a partial final judgment of more than $1.1 billion against it for unlawfully obtaining sensitive data from users of the menstrual tracking app Flo, saying the judgment it criticized as "Frankenstein's monster" violates its due process rights.

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Senate Panel Seeks To Hold AI Giants Liable For Rogue Hacks

By Allison Grande

Several U.S. senators made a bipartisan push Wednesday to impose both civil and criminal liability on the makers and users of advanced artificial intelligence models for the misuse of these systems, arguing that such a move would give these companies more incentive to combat cyberattacks carried out by rogue AI agents and other potential harms. 

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Ohio Parents Say Netflix Hooks Kids For Ad Data

By Jonathan Capriel

Netflix falsely marketed itself as a "kid-friendly" streaming alternative to Big Tech platforms while secretly building an addictive surveillance machine around children, Ohio parents have claimed in a proposed class action, which is at least the third lawsuit accusing the company of harvesting families' personal data.

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Pharma Co. Says Mass. Plant Hid FDA Sterility Concerns

By Julie Manganis

A North Carolina pharmaceutical company says in a complaint filed Wednesday in Massachusetts state court that the company it hired to package a drug for clinical trials involving young children intentionally downplayed a U.S. Food and Drug Administration inspection that flagged multiple contamination issues.

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'Waterproof' Sunscreen Suit Tossed Over Lack Of Harm

By Emily Field

A New Jersey federal judge on Tuesday dismissed a proposed class action alleging that Missha and A'pieu sunscreens are falsely labeled as "waterproof" and "sweatproof," saying that the consumers hadn't shown that they were harmed financially since the products still functioned as sun protection.

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Water Co. Escapes Consumer Protection Claim In PFAS Case

By Brian Steele

A proposed class of Connecticut Water Co. customers who allege their drinking water was contaminated with toxic forever chemicals cannot bring a claim for unfair trade practices because they are already suing under an exclusive product liability law, a state court judge has ruled.

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Glock Wins Bid To Block Conn. Convertible Pistol Sale Ban

By Aaron Keller

A Connecticut federal judge Wednesday blocked a new state law that banned the advertising or sale of newly manufactured pistols if they can be "readily converted" into fully automatic weapons, agreeing with Glock Inc., an industry trade group and other challengers that the law is "likely unconstitutional."

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Norfolk Southern Investors Certified In Derailment Suit

By Sydney Price

Norfolk Southern investors can proceed as a class in a suit accusing the company of making misleading statements regarding its safety operations before a fiery train derailment in Ohio in 2023, though a Georgia federal judge did adopt the company's suggestion to narrow the class period.

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NTSB Must Turn Over Cockpit Recording Of Fatal Conn. Crash

By Hope Patti

A Connecticut state court ordered the National Transportation Safety Board to turn over a two-hour-long cockpit voice recording from a Cessna jet that was involved in a crash that killed four people, saying the audio is necessary for the fair assessment of issues central to wrongful death and insurance suits.

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Hemp Interests Say Texas THC Rule Defies Federal Law

By Sam Reisman

A trio of hemp interests challenging a Texas policy redesignating intoxicating hemp products as Schedule I substances have urged a federal judge to declare that the policy is both preempted by federal law and inconsistent with Texas state law.

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Opinion

Colo. Climate Suit Defies Limits Of State Power

In Suncor Energy v. Boulder County, the U.S. Supreme Court must not allow a single Colorado county to penalize pollution occurring across the country and around the globe, because the U.S. Constitution forbids states from exercising power beyond their borders, says Michael McGinley at Dechert.

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AG Watch: Va. Vape Product Regulations Enter A New Phase

Virginia's new vape enforcement framework carries important implications related to product eligibility and certification requirements for businesses operating in the marketplace, representing the culmination of several years of legislative action, regulatory development, litigation and interagency planning, says Chuck Slemp at Cozen O'Connor.

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How ChatGPT Teen Version Raises Product Liability Questions

OpenAI's recent rollout of ChatGPT for Teens offers younger users a purportedly safer version of the software — but it could also help plaintiffs who are questioning whether earlier versions were safe for minors, when the company identified risks and when safeguards became technically viable, says Michael McCready at McCready Law.

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AI Meeting Recaps Pose New Discovery And Privilege Risks

The New York City Bar Association’s recent ethics opinion, cautioning attorneys not to record nonclient conversations with artificial intelligence tools, reflects an emerging view that AI meeting recaps are now a distinct business record category, meaning counsel should set meeting-level controls and apply framework-level updates, says William Wright at Faegre Drinker.

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The Law360 Pulse Prestige Leaders: A Look At The Top Firms

Today's most prestigious firms attract top talent and marquee clients while posting record profits. Here's a look at the top 10 firms in this year's Law360 Pulse Prestige Leaders, a ranking of the firms that stand out for their prominence, power and distinction.

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DOJ Accuses Judges Of Ethics Violations With Press Remarks

By Jack Karp

Several Minnesota federal judges ran afoul of their ethical obligations when they commented on President Donald Trump's immigration policies in a recent news article, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a judicial misconduct complaint filed Wednesday.

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Federal Bar Discussion Looks At Courts' Role In Regulating AI

By Bonnie Eslinger

A Federal Bar Association discussion Wednesday in California about AI and how it will be regulated in the United States prompted the Northern District's new chief judge to ask whether Congress' "inability to pass laws" will leave it to the courts "to figure out how we're going to do this."

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DOJ Atty Picked For Judgeship Probed On Fulton County Raid

By Courtney Bublé

A top U.S. Department of Justice official tapped for a federal judgeship faced questions from Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday about the department's investigation in Fulton County, Georgia, over Trump's allegations of fraud in the 2020 election.

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Texas AG Says ABA Stifling Law School Competition

By Spencer Brewer

The Texas Attorney General announced an investigation into the American Bar Association relating to alleged anticompetitive conduct in the association's accreditation of law schools, claiming Wednesday that the ABA "weaponized its accreditation authority" to push "unconstitutional racial and gender preference requirements."

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Sen. Blackburn Sues Smith For Seizing Phone Records

By James Boyle

U.S. Sen. Marsha Blackburn alleges in a federal complaint filed Wednesday that Jack Smith illegally subpoenaed her phone records as part of an investigation into alleged efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

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3rd Circ. Calls Westlaw AI Fight 'Ordinary Copyright Case'

By Ivan Moreno

The Third Circuit said the first appellate fight over artificial intelligence training and fair use ultimately came down to an "ordinary copyright case," affirming that Ross Intelligence infringed Thomson Reuters' Westlaw headnotes when it used them to train a competing legal research platform.

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Blank Rome Seeks Time To Exit LIV Golf's Fla. Office

By Ben Zigterman

Blank Rome LLP on Wednesday filed a limited objection to LIV Golf's motion to reject its sublease at an office building in West Palm Beach, Florida, saying it didn't receive any advance notice and would like until the end of October to transition to a new office.

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Roundup

Defamation Litigation Roundup: Candace Owens, Firm DQ

By Theresa Schliep

In this month's review of defamation fights, Law360 highlights a new suit over right-wing media personality Candace Owens and her conspiracy theories about the killing of conservative activist Charlie Kirk, as well as Quinn Emanuel's disqualification from a suit against a former client.

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Roundup

Hub Hires: Mintz, Foley Hoag, Barclay Damon

By Chris Villani

Boston saw several significant moves across its legal landscape as the summer wound down, with Foley Hoag adding an experienced debt finance attorney from Goodwin Procter, a boutique white collar firm snagging a longtime federal prosecutor, and Mintz getting new leadership for the first time in nearly two decades.

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