Brief

2nd Circ. Denies Rehearing In Tylenol Autism Suits

By Rae Ann Varona

The Second Circuit on Friday denied a bid by Tylenol maker Kenvue and several retailers to reconsider its ruling that a district court improperly excluded expert testimony for plaintiffs who claim prenatal exposure to the over-the-counter pain reliever causes autism and ADHD.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Florida Says Discord Misled Families On Child Safety

By Emily Field

The Florida attorney general on Thursday sued messaging platform Discord Inc. in state court, accusing it of enabling the sexual abuse of minors with a lack of age-verification measures and safeguards.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

9th Circ. Decertifies Tesla 'Full Self-Driving' False Ad Classes

By Linda Chiem

The Ninth Circuit on Friday decertified a class action alleging Tesla deceived consumers into believing that its cars could fully drive themselves, saying there's no proof that all class members saw the same purportedly false statement on Tesla's website about its cars' hardware.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Analysis

Could A Criminal Sentencing Case Upend Loper Bright?

By Katie Buehler

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch is concerned that a ruling instructing trial courts to defer to the U.S. Sentencing Commission's interpretation of federal sentencing guidelines could blow a "pretty big hole" in the court's recent rejection of deference doctrines. His colleagues, however, don't appear as perturbed.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

5th Circ. Revives Snapper Switch Suit Against Upscale Resto

By Rae Ann Varona

The Fifth Circuit Friday revived a proposed class action that accused a historic fine-dining Mississippi restaurant of scheming to sell inexpensive foreign fish while pricing them as more expensive premium local fish, saying in a published opinion that a diner plausibly alleged the fish mislabeling was "widespread and routine."

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

San Benito Foods Deal Gets Early OK, With Notice Concerns

By Jonathan Capriel

A California federal judge has given her initial blessing to a nearly $1 million deal that would end a Monterey Bay-area township's lawsuit against a tomato cannery that claimed the cannery's noxious odors diminished residents' property values.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Conn. Judge Again Bars Wrongful Death Claims In Cookie Suit

By Emily Field

A Connecticut state court judge has stopped wrongful death claims from proceeding against grocery store chain Stew Leonard's, its CEO and several employees over a professional ballet dancer's allergy death from eating an allegedly mislabeled cookie, reiterating a previous ruling.

Decision attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Costco Beats Customers' 100% Agave Tequila Labeling Suit

By Rachel Riley

A Seattle federal judge on Friday shot down consumers' proposed class action accusing Costco of selling Kirkland Signature tequila falsely labeled as "100% de Agave," deferring to Mexico's purview over tequila regulation and citing a Mexican government body's rejection of similar adulteration claims.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Fla. Court Won't Halt Fatal Crash Suit During Tesla Venue Bid

By David Minsky

A Florida state judge on Friday denied Tesla Inc.'s request to pause proceedings in a fatal crash lawsuit as the company appeals an order blocking transfer to a neighboring county, citing a trial that's tentatively scheduled to commence in a matter of weeks. 

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

TI, Intel Say Ukrainians Still Show No Link To Russian Strikes

By Mike Curley

Technology companies including Texas Instruments Inc. and Intel Corp. are again urging a Texas federal court to throw out a set of consolidated suits alleging they allowed their components to get into Russian weapons used to target civilians, saying a second amended complaint still fails to link their conduct to injuries.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Temu Inks $3M Settlement To End Data To China Claims

By Spencer Brewer

Online bargain retailer Temu on Friday agreed to pay $3 million to settle claims brought by the Texas Office of the Attorney General accusing the company of secretly stealing customer data and exposing it to the Chinese Communist Party.

Statement attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

US Says 1907 Border Strip Lets Wall Work Continue

By Crystal Owens

The federal government is asking the D.C. Circuit to deny an Arizona tribe's emergency bid to block border wall construction, saying the Indigenous nation's claim that a 1907 law that established the Roosevelt Reservation as part of its traditional homelands ignores history and precedent.

Response attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Contradictory Contract Dooms Pot Co.'s Injunction Bid

By Mike Curley

A California state judge has rejected a cannabis genetics company's bid for an injunction against a former business partner in a contract dispute, saying the contract's self-contradictory provisions make it unclear that the company is entitled to retrieve its cannabis strains.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

NORML Urges 6th Circ. To Reconsider Pot Illegality Ruling

By Jonathan Capriel

The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, a leading cannabis consumer advocate, is urging the Sixth Circuit to rehear its decision throwing out a $31.8 million jury verdict for a Michigan marijuana grower, arguing federal illegality should not categorically bar contract damages against a cannabis purchaser that breached a supply deal.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

NCR, Hydropower Cos. Settle Michigan River Cleanup Fight

By Melanie Dorsey

NCR Voyix Corp. and two hydropower companies have reached a settlement resolving litigation over whether sediment released during a reservoir drawdown complicated the cleanup of a Michigan Superfund site contaminated by decades of paper mill waste, according to a joint notice filed in Michigan federal court.

Notice attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Womble Bond Reports Data Breach Exposing Personal Info

By Jake Maher

Womble Bond Dickinson was hit with a data breach in August that revealed personal information to an unauthorized third party, the firm said in a notice with the Massachusetts state government this week.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Suing The Trump Admin Can Have Massive Impact, Attys Say

By Bonnie Eslinger

Lawyers representing clients against the federal government spoke Friday about the challenges and rewards of such litigation in the Trump era, with plaintiff-side powerhouse Elizabeth Cabraser pointing to the potential for massive impact, including one case in which she successfully got more than a billion dollars in grant funding reinstated.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Dems Press Kirkland Again For Details Of $125M Trump Deal

By Courtney Bublé

A trio of congressional Democrats once again accused Kirkland & Ellis LLP of subverting their oversight requests into the $125 million deal the firm cut with the Trump administration last year.

Letter attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Brief

Cooley Reportedly Matches Milbank Pay Scale Starting In '27

By Matt Perez

Cooley LLP will reportedly increase U.S. associate base compensation in line with the pay scale set by Milbank LLP in June beginning on Jan. 1.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Google Class Attys Get $22.7M Despite Hourly Rate Rebuke

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge has approved Google's $68 million class action settlement to resolve a long-running privacy suit, including class counsel's requested $22.67 million fee award, commending the parties' hard work while also criticizing a plaintiffs attorney's "patently unreasonable" proposed $3,000 hourly rate.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Google Users' $85M Fee Ask Stalls Over 'Utterly Lacking' Bill

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge on Thursday rejected an $85 million attorney fee request following a $700 million settlement in a consumer-led case against Google, ruling that counsel's submitted billing records are "utterly lacking in information demonstrating what work was done and for what purpose," while granting leave to amend the request.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Analysis

Expect These Post-Midterm Probes If The Hill Changes Hands

By Phillip Bantz

The top investigative priorities of a potentially Democratic-controlled Congress are coming into sharper focus with the midterms weeks away and could impact an array of companies and individuals in technology, finance and energy, experts say.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Fla. High Court Says 'COVID Brain' Can't Excuse Atty Blunder

By David Minsky

The Florida Supreme Court found an attorney guilty of misconduct over his lack of candor when questioned about an interaction with his own witness in a paternity trial, saying there's no way "COVID brain" caused him to violate a sequestration rule and lie to a judge. 

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Attys Can Still Protect Voting Rights During The Midterms

By Cara Bayles

With the midterm elections approaching, a coalition of local and national nonprofits are seeking volunteers, especially lawyers, to safeguard the vote during an election with more states in play as battlegrounds and growing anxiety about federal interference in local elections.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Survey Of Ill. Attys Reveals Mental Health Struggles, Stigma

By Celeste Bott

A survey of nearly 7,000 Illinois lawyers found roughly 20% rated their mental health as fair or poor, according to an Illinois Supreme Court commission report documenting the toll of workplace stress on the state's attorneys and judges, their alcohol and drug use, and barriers to getting them care.

Report attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Balancing The Scales: Criminal Appeals, Sentencing Rules

By Orlando Lorenzo

The Second Circuit has been ordered to take another look at a murder-for-hire conviction in light of the high court's new miscarriage-of-justice exception for criminal appeal waivers, and the top courts in Pennsylvania and Michigan will look at the retroactivity of new sentencing rules. Here, Law360 highlights access to justice stories arising from litigation, verdicts and judgments you may have missed.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Schlichter Bogard LLC leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the full Eleventh Circuit overturned decades-old precedent that took a strict view of when federal benefits law claims could be brought in court.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

The top investigative priorities of a potentially Democratic-controlled Congress are coming into sharper focus with the midterms just weeks away and could impact companies in various sectors. In the meantime, one BigLaw firm formed a board to oversee the use of artificial intelligence and evaluate proposals from its practice groups and sectors. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »