TikTok Nears Deal Ahead Of 2nd Social Media Addiction Trial

By Craig Clough

A plaintiff who alleges he became harmfully addicted to major social media platforms as a child and whose case is set to be the second bellwether trial later this month out of thousands of similar cases pending in Los Angeles court has reached a settlement in principle with TikTok, his counsel told Law360 on Wednesday.

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6th Circ. Backs Smucker In Salmonella Coverage Dispute

By Hope Patti

An alleged salmonella outbreak that potentially tainted peanut butter produced by J.M. Smucker Co. is a single occurrence under its commercial general liability policies, the Sixth Circuit affirmed Wednesday, saying Smucker's peanut butter production did not constitute 225 separate occurrences that are each subject to a $250,000 retainer.

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Mazie Slater Beats Benicar Fees Sanctions Row Discovery Bid

By George Woolston

A New Jersey federal judge has blocked the latest bid by former Mazie Slater Katz & Freeman clients to conduct more discovery in order to fight the firm's sanctions bid in their suit over allegedly excessive attorney fees, finding they failed to show exceptional circumstances existed.

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6th Circ. Affirms Mich. Airport PFAS Suit Belongs In State Court

By Jonathan Capriel

The international airport in Grand Rapids, Michigan, has failed at its second attempt to push into federal court Michigan's lawsuit over forever plastic pollution, allegedly caused by firefighting foam the airport used, after the Sixth Circuit ruled that the airport already tried identical arguments in the previous appeal.

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EPA Approves Controversial Pesticides For Agricultural Use

By Gautama Mehta

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency finalized approvals for several pesticides for use on crops, drawing criticism from environmental groups who say some of them contain forever chemicals.

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Microsoft Data Center Upends Neighborhood Peace, Suit Says

By Hailey Konnath

A data center operated by Microsoft Corp. in southeastern Wisconsin emits "unreasonable and excessive noise," disrupting the lives of nearby residents, according to a proposed class action filed in federal court Wednesday.

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Gilead Owed $68M In Counterfeit Case, Magistrate Judge Says

By Elliot Weld

A New York federal magistrate judge has recommended awarding $68 million to biopharmaceutical company Gilead Sciences Inc. from a group of companies it accused of producing counterfeit HIV drugs that never answered the allegations.

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Brief

ITC Probing Monsanto's Claims Against Chinese Glyphosate

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. International Trade Commission has opened an investigation into Chinese glyphosate, the primary ingredient used in the herbicide Roundup, to determine whether the imports that Monsanto Co. alleges are being sold at unfair prices are harming U.S. industry.

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5th Circ. Says Vape Co. Deserves Jury Trial For $19K HHS Fine

By Mike Curley

A split Fifth Circuit panel has thrown out a $19,192 civil penalty against a Texas vape seller issued by the Department of Health and Human Services, saying the company is entitled to a jury trial under the Seventh Amendment and recent U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

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Calif. Man Says ChatGPT Fueled Bipolar Delusion, Self-Harm

By Lauren Berg

When a California man with bipolar disorder shared his intense delusions with ChatGPT, a lack of safeguards caused OpenAI's artificial intelligence chatbot to drive him deeper into those delusions and encourage him to attempt to take his own life, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in San Francisco.

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Wash. AI Task Force Forgoes Data Center, Labor Safeguards

By Rachel Riley

A Washington state task force made a series of recommendations to lawmakers Wednesday for promoting responsible use of artificial intelligence while declining to endorse proposed guardrails on data center development and the use of generative AI by state agencies, according to a final report.

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Farm Says $99M Deere Right-To-Repair Deal Is Unfair

By Mike Curley

One of the farms suing Deere & Co. in federal right to repair litigation is objecting to a $99 million settlement that received preliminary approval in May, saying the deal provides minimal relief compared to what the class could have gotten at trial, especially since more than half of it may go to class counsel.

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Brief

Calif. Man Gets 21 Months For Sports Memorabilia Fraud

By Ganesh Setty

A California resident has been sentenced to 21 months in prison after pleading guilty in December to one count of wire fraud for knowingly selling counterfeit baseball memorabilia he claimed was from MLB Hall of Famer Willie Mays.

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Leveraging AI In MDL Discovery And Case Management

Generative and agentic artificial intelligence tools can help teams organize and digest the vast volume of documents inherent to multidistrict litigation, but workflows must be designed to maximize the tools' strengths and maintain human control of key operational and ethical factors, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

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3 Litigation Strategies To Stay Ahead Of Bad Facts

A case with damaging facts can still be won if, instead of avoiding the facts, attorneys proactively address them by carefully selecting a strategy of confronting, containing or reframing, says Allison Rocker at Baker McKenzie.

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Attorney Mental Health Is An Ethical Obligation In The AI Era

As attorneys cope with the increasing unpredictability that artificial intelligence and constant policy changes have created, particularly in practice areas where they carry the emotional weight of clients’ most consequential life events, otherwise soft discussions about self-care are a matter of professional competence, says attorney Jack Jrada.

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Goldstein Calls Gov't's Attack On Text Messages 'Hypocrisy'

By Jared Foretek

Lawyers for convicted SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein have rejected prosecutors' claims that the famed U.S. Supreme Court lawyer may have deleted messages between himself and his poker backers, calling the government "hypocritical" after it had previously argued that Goldstein could authenticate the messages if he took the stand at trial.

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Judiciary Dems Seek DOJ Replies Before Blanche Hearing

By Courtney Bublé

Ahead of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's confirmation hearing for the permanent position, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are demanding he provide answers to their outstanding oversight inquiries.

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Brief

Texas Federal Judge Requires Confirmation Of AI Checks

By Emily Sawicki

Attorneys and self-represented parties appearing before U.S. District Judge Ernest Gonzalez of the Western District of Texas are now required to certify that they have independently verified the contents of any filings created or edited using artificial intelligence.

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'Do Your Part,' Mass. Judge Chides Read Case Attys Post-Leak

By Cara Salvatore

A Massachusetts judge on Wednesday lectured counsel in the high-profile civil case against Karen Read, the Massachusetts woman acquitted of murdering her Boston police officer boyfriend, to honor their ethical obligations after sensitive information leaked on social media.

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U Of Ky. Appoints Controversial Dean Pick For Law School

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove of the Eastern District of Kentucky will retire from the bench later this month to become dean of the University of Kentucky's J. David Rosenberg College of Law, a move that sparked controversy in the state.

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Wash. Atty Loses Bid For Jury In Dispute Over Bar Sanctions

By Emily Sawicki

A Washington lawyer sanctioned and disciplined for bringing a "frivolous" election suit in 2021 against then-Gov. Jay Inslee has lost her bid to have her ethics charges heard by a jury, with a state appeals panel finding no error in a trial court's ruling that it lacked jurisdiction to take on the disciplinary matter.

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Analysis

High Court's Guardrails Won't Ease Fight Over Trans Athletes

By Alex Lawson

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision permitting states to ban transgender athletes from girls' sports was written in simple terms, but attorneys tracking the issue see the ruling as a flashpoint for further litigation.

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Analysis

Plea Deals Get Scrutiny In 'Hunter,' But Justices Stay Cautious

By Brandon Lowrey

The shock for Mary Fan came almost immediately after she began her career as a federal prosecutor in Southern California in the mid-2000s.

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5 NYC Legal Service Provider Union Contracts Have Expired

By Andrea Keckley

The collective bargaining agreements for five New York City-based indigent defense and civil legal aid providers expired at the end of the day Tuesday as multiple unions reported outstanding points of contention in their negotiations.

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Watchdog Says DOL Needs Better Info Sharing Controls

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Department of Labor's lack of controls over information sharing between subagencies and nongovernmental entities, including law firms and legal advocacy organizations, may have unfairly advantaged those parties with privileged investigative information, an agency watchdog reported, though use of the practice has dropped off. 

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Roundup

The Top In-House Hires Of June

By Michele Gorman

Legal department hires during the past month included high-profile appointments at Bayer, Harley-Davidson and PBS. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from June.

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