Freight Broker, Steel Cos. Exit Colo. Fatal Truck Crash Suit

By Linda Chiem

A Colorado federal judge on Tuesday slashed a negligence and wrongful death lawsuit seeking to hold freight broker Total Quality Logistics liable for a fatal 2024 trucking collision, along with the steel suppliers whose shipment was being transported at the time.

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Kik App Is 'A Parent's Worst Nightmare,' Conn. AG Says

By Brian Steele

The mobile messaging app Kik is "a cesspool of sexual abuse, exploitation and bullying" and "a parent's worst nightmare," Connecticut Attorney General William Tong said Tuesday in announcing his office would investigate allegations that inadequate privacy and content moderation measures endanger children.

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Hemp Cos. Win Block Of New Ohio THC Regulations

By Mike Curley

An Ohio federal judge has agreed to block enforcement of a new state law classifying any product with more than 0.3% THC as cannabis, finding the hemp companies have sufficiently shown that the law violates the dormant commerce clause by unfairly discriminating against out-of-state actors.

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3rd Circ. Revives Firearm Group's Challenge To NJ Gun Law

By George Woolston

The Third Circuit on Tuesday held that the National Shooting Sports Foundation can challenge New Jersey's law allowing the state to sue firearms manufacturers for endangering public safety, also reversing a lower court's decision to put the case on hold.

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Insurer Says It Owes No Coverage For Exploding Vape Suit

By Danielle Ferguson

An insurer has urged a Washington federal court to find that it does not owe coverage to a vape seller in a product liability suit from a user whose leg was amputated after a vape exploded in his pocket, arguing tobacco and nicotine product and premises exclusions bar coverage. 

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Meta Accused Of Using Photos To Train AI Without Consent

By Adam Lidgett

Facebook and Instagram users hit Meta with a proposed class action accusing the company of harvesting biometric data from photos posted to its platforms without consent to develop its artificial intelligence and facial recognition technology.

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ConocoPhillips Exits Wash. Tribes' Suits Over Climate Harm

By Rachel Riley

A Washington state judge has granted ConocoPhillips' bid to exit two Native American tribes' revised lawsuits accusing the oil corporation of downplaying the risks of burning fossil fuels, concluding that the tribes haven't pointed to deception that was aimed at Washington state.

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How Rogue AI May Shape Corporate Liability, Responsibility

Recent artificial intelligence cyber incidents offer a window into how companies deploying autonomous systems should document risk controls even when systems exceed their intended boundaries, as jurors may treat unexpected AI conduct as foreseeable evidence of inadequate safeguards, says Jorge Monroy at Verdict Insight Partners.

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FDA Closeout Letter Suggests Relaxing Stance On Wearables

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recent decision not to pursue enforcement action against Whoop's wearable blood pressure tracker, read together with guidance released earlier this year, suggests a softer shift in the FDA's approach to regulating wearables, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

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DOJ Says Berkeley Law Is Racially Biased In Admissions

By Craig Clough

The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Department of Education said Wednesday that the University of California, Berkeley School of Law discriminated against white and Asian applicants in its 2024 and 2025 admissions cycles by preferring Black applicants because of their race, violating federal civil rights law and recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

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Murdaugh Murder Retrial Venue Shift Fueled By Bias Concern

By Emily Sawicki

A South Carolina trial court has approved a request to move Alex Murdaugh's murder retrial to a different county, finding the disgraced attorney could not expect a fair trial in Colleton County, where his wife and son were killed and where he was previously convicted for the crimes.

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Sugar Buyers Want Paul Weiss DQ'd From Price-Fixing MDL

By Dorothy Atkins

Hershey, J.M. Smucker and other food makers urged a Minnesota federal judge Tuesday to disqualify Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP from representing Domino Foods in sugar price-fixing multidistrict litigation, arguing the firm is conflicted out because it saw their confidential sugar-purchasing data when it was being considered as plaintiffs' counsel.

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Virginia Law Prof Says He'll Take USPTO General Counsel Job

By Jack Rodgers

A University of Virginia School of Law professor who has taught tort, administrative, patent and international intellectual property law there for more than 15 years recently said he plans to become the new general counsel of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.

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Hogan Lovells Partner Tapped For Mass. Judgeship

By Julie Manganis

A Hogan Lovells Cadwalader senior partner has been nominated to a seat as an associate justice on the Massachusetts Superior Court, the governor's office announced Wednesday.

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Kilpatrick Atty Tapped For Yakima County Bench In Wash.

By Ben Adlin

Washington's governor appointed Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP litigator Bree R. Black Horse to the Yakima County Superior Court bench on Wednesday, filling the first new position added to that court in nearly three decades.

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