Justices Unsure Climate Lawsuits Are A Constitutional Matter

By Keith Goldberg

U.S. Supreme Court justices on Monday appeared reluctant to endorse the argument that climate change lawsuits brought by state and local governments against fossil fuel companies are constitutionally prohibited, even as they questioned whether such lawsuits can be sustained.

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Analysis

Justices Fret Any Climate Tort Ruling Will Open Pandora's Box

By Jeff Overley

U.S. Supreme Court justices Monday pondered the risks of far-reaching fallout whether they allow or restrict burgeoning lawsuits targeting oil companies, acknowledging fears of near-limitless litigation but also struggling to distinguish climate torts from famous legal battles involving tobacco and opioids.

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Roundup Evidence Strong In Every Research Area, Jury Hears

By Cara Salvatore

A jury weighing cancer claims against Monsanto heard testimony Monday that scientific research shows a "strong" link between glyphosate and cancer in animal, molecular and human epidemiological studies, even when accounting for participants' exposure to other substances.

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Justices Seek Solicitor General's Views On Tribal River Claims

By Crystal Owens

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday sought the solicitor general's views on whether Washington tribes can pursue damages against a Canadian mining company for alleged pollution to the Columbia River.

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11th Circ. Won't Revive Carnival Cruise Jacuzzi Hatch Fall Suit

By Mike Curley

The Eleventh Circuit won't reinstate a cruise passenger's suit against Carnival Corp. alleging she fell down a jacuzzi maintenance hatch while aboard a 2024 cruise, saying she failed to show the cruise line had any constructive notice of the danger.

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AppLovin Skirts Controls To Show Kids Explicit Ads, Suit Says

By Lauren Berg

The county of San Diego lodged a lawsuit Monday alleging digital advertising platform AppLovin Corp. strips away parental controls meant to shield children from sexual and violent material in order to steer graphic ads to children and harvest their sensitive information to train its artificial intelligence.

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5th Circ. Backs Surgical Stapler Death Suit Dismissal

By Emily Field

The Fifth Circuit on Friday upheld a lower court's decision to dismiss a suit against Johnson & Johnson and its medical device subsidiary Ethicon Endo-Surgery Inc. over a surgical stapler implicated in a man's death for failing to provide notice before filing suit.

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Starbucks' Protein Drinks Aren't Sugar-Free, Suit Says

By Gina Kim

Starbucks customers filed a proposed class action in Washington federal court on Friday, accusing the coffee chain of trying to capitalize on the protein craze last year by launching a line of protein beverages labeled "sugar-free," even though they contain 13 to 21 grams of sugar per venti-size serving.

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Tribe, Enviros Say Utility Flouted Nebraska Power Line Block

By Crystal Owens

Conservation groups and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe are asking a district court to decide a Nebraska utility's motion to lift a partial block on the approval of its 226-mile, 345-kilovolt electricity transmission line before construction starts, arguing that the federal government again ignored important aspects of the problem.

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Justices Decline To Hear Post-Mallory Forum-Shopping Fight

By Linda Chiem

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider whether state business-registration laws like Pennsylvania's asserting jurisdiction over out-of-state companies for out-of-state conduct alleged by out-of-state plaintiffs are unconstitutional under the dormant commerce clause.

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Ford Didn't Need To Keep Ex-Engineer's Records, Judge Says

By Mike Curley

A Massachusetts federal magistrate judge on Monday denied a bid for curative measures from a group of drivers suing Ford Motor Co. over allegedly faulty transmissions, saying their proposed class action failed to show that the automaker had a duty to preserve records from a former chief engineer who left the company years before the suit was filed.

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Justices Skip American Airlines Teen In-Flight Death Suit

By Linda Chiem

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider a case from the family of a 14-year-old teenager who died of cardiac arrest on board an American Airlines flight, which sought clarity on what's considered an accident under the Montreal Convention.

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Oil Giants Seek 2029 Trial In Wash. Tribes' Climate Harm Suits

By Ben Adlin

Oil giants Exxon, Chevron, Shell and others are at odds with two Native American tribes over when to schedule a trial in the tribes' consolidated lawsuits in Washington state court accusing the companies of downplaying the risks of climate harm.

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Abbott FCA Deal Shows Enforcement Adequacy Quandaries

Abbott Laboratories’ recent False Claims Act resolution illustrates several tricky questions that both prosecutors and defense counsel must address when weighing whether a civil enforcement action alone adequately addresses allegedly wrongful conduct, says James Koukios at MoFo.

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Meta Smart Glasses Suit Will Test Privacy Law For Bystanders

In a consolidated suit over how Ray-Ban Meta AI smart glasses handle personal video footage, a recently proposed class of unwittingly recorded bystanders highlights questions over whether privacy laws and product disclosures adequately address the risks wearable recording devices pose to nonusers, say attorneys at Barnes & Thornburg.

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Analysis

Judge Clevenger's Intellect Defined His Time On Fed. Circ.

By Dani Kass

Newly retired Federal Circuit Judge Raymond Clevenger has an "exceptionally keen intellect" that allowed him to spot holes or new paths in cases that the parties or fellow panel members hadn't explored, his former colleagues told Law360.

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Sotomayor Warns Judges: Don't Scare Your Jurors

By Brandon Lowrey

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Monday criticized an Alabama trial court judge who frightened a pool of prospective jurors by ordering the arrest of a latecomer to jury selection, saying in a statement accompanying a denial of certiorari in the case that fear can undermine a defendant's right to an impartial jury.

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Quinn Emanuel Seeks $750K After Defeating Buzbee Suits

By Lynn LaRowe

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP is seeking nearly $750,000 in attorney fees after defeating claims in Texas state court that it conspired with rapper Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter to retaliate against prominent Houston plaintiffs attorney Tony Buzbee and two of his former clients.

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9th Circ. Pauses Rogoff's Return As Seattle US Atty

By Jack Karp

The Ninth Circuit has put on hold a Washington federal judge's decision to reinstate Roger Rogoff as Seattle's top federal prosecutor, a post Rogoff held for less than an hour before he was fired by President Donald Trump.

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Jackson Walker Deal Stalled By Standing Issue, Trustee Says

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Trustee's Office told a Texas federal judge that its settlement with Jackson Walker LLP to disgorge fees from cases touched by scandal is on ice while a bankruptcy judge examines the watchdog's standing to seek such relief.

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Eckert Seamans Says Data Breach Harm Is Only Speculative

By James Boyle

Pittsburgh-based law firm Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott LLC told a Pennsylvania federal judge on Friday a pair of proposed class actions claiming damages from a data breach at the firm have not made specific complaints of actual harm caused by the breach and should be dismissed.

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