Albertsons, Safeway Owe Wash. $900M Over Opioid Diversion

By Ben Adlin

Albertsons and its Safeway subsidiary must pay $900 million for helping fuel Washington state's overdose crisis by failing for years to prevent the diversion of opioid drugs, a Seattle judge ruled Thursday, finding that the pharmacy chains regularly failed to follow their own policies aimed at ensuring prescriptions were legitimate.

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J&J Should Pay $60M For Talc User's Cancer, Jury Told

By Cara Salvatore

Johnson & Johnson should pay $60 million for the death of a woman who developed mesothelioma alongside her heart problems after using talc products allegedly contaminated with asbestos, counsel for her family told a Massachusetts state jury during closing arguments Thursday.

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Fla. Court Says Meta Can't Dodge Child Safety Suit

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida state appeals court won't quash an order denying Meta's bid to dismiss the state's suit accusing it of harming children, finding that the social media giant had failed to show it would suffer irreparable harm.

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Meta, TikTok, Google Say Calif. Teen Feed Ban Is Censorship

By Emily Field

Meta, TikTok and Google have sued California to block a new law that bans social media platforms from allowing children under 16 certain features like personalized feeds, saying in separate complaints that the law violates the First Amendment and is barred by Section 230.

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Analysis

Blue Wave May Usher In New Era Of State Climate Action

By Gautama Mehta

After the midterm blue wave, environmental advocates are looking to newly flipped statehouses to pass strong climate laws in the face of the federal government's retreat from greenhouse gas regulation.

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Garmin Wants Out Of Lawsuit Over Wash. Plane Crash Deaths

By Rachel Riley

Garmin is seeking to exit a lawsuit blaming faulty aircraft systems for a deadly 2022 Cessna test flight, telling a Washington state judge Wednesday that the victims' families have not shown the court has jurisdiction over their claims against the Kansas-based GPS giant.

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Buyers Sue Bodum Over French Press Breaking Risk, Recall

By Mike Curley

A consumer is suing Bodum USA Inc. in New York federal court, alleging in a proposed class action that it sold French press coffee makers with defective glass carafes that are prone to breaking and that the recently announced recall is inadequate to remedy the problem.

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Full 5th Circ. Won't Hear Challenge To Machine Gun Ban

By Mike Curley

The Fifth Circuit has denied a petition for an en banc hearing of a challenge by a Texas shooting club to the federal ban on machine guns, with nine of the judges voting against the hearing and eight voting for.

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Toyota Hit With Class Action Over Hybrid Inverter Recall

By Jonathan Capriel

Toyota knowingly sold newer-model Camry and Corolla Cross Hybrids with a defective inverter bolt, causing loss of power or fire, according to a proposed class action that accused the automaker of teetering when it came to a recall.

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Pot Grower Accused Of Retaliation, Worker Misclassification

By Jonathan Capriel

Two cannabis workers claim they were fired after repeatedly warning their employer about mold, electrical and fire hazards at a Los Angeles cultivation site, according to a lawsuit filed in a California state court.  

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Disbarred Texas Atty Gets New Shot At $3.8M Fee-Sharing Suit

By Mike Curley

A Texas appeals court on Thursday reinstated a disbarred attorney's suit alleging two law firms owe him more than $3.8 million in fees and costs, finding the trial court didn't have competent evidence that he worked on the suits only after he was disbarred.

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Enviro Marketing Lessons From NY Greenwashing Ruling

A New York state appeals court recently affirmed the dismissal of a New York City suit accusing BP, Exxon and Shell of corporate and product greenwashing, providing practical lessons for framing comparative environmental claims carefully by ensuring that environmental claims are accurate, properly qualified and presented in context, say attorneys at V&E.

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Series

Open-Water Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Swimming long distances in open waters is not necessarily an escape from my intellectual property practice, but a complementary discipline that similarly rewards sustained attention, intellectual curiosity, resilience and the ability to pursue a distant objective without losing command of the immediate task, says Christina MacDougall at Morgan Lewis.

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Are You Happy With Your In-House Role? Take Our Survey

Is your company giving you everything you need to succeed? What are some misconceptions about working in-house? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's In-House Satisfaction Survey.

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Alston & Bird Hires 2 Ex-Goodwin Procter Real Estate Pros

By Kevin Penton

Alston & Bird LLP has added two real estate attorneys previously with Goodwin Procter LLP as partners in Los Angeles, the firm announced Friday.

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US Charges 3 Over $129M AI Scam Using Fake UK Lawyers

By Laura Stewart Liberty

U.S. prosecutors said Thursday they have charged three men, including one facing extradition from London, for allegedly defrauding companies of $129 million through a scheme that used AI to impersonate executives and U.K. lawyers.

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Defeated Texas Justice Being Considered For Federal Bench

By Courtney Bublé

With the clock ticking on Republicans' control of the Senate, President Donald Trump is considering putting a Texas Supreme Court justice who just lost reelection on the federal bench.

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Ice Miller Sued Over $729K Award After Losing Federal Forum

By Andrea Keckley

A couple who hired Ice Miller LLP to defend their organization against a breach of contract suit have accused the firm in Indiana federal court of exposing them to additional litigation with a settlement that failed to preserve federal jurisdiction over future disputes.

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Japan's Anderson Mori Plans 2-Office Spring Launch In Texas

By Lynn LaRowe

Japan's Anderson Mori & Tomotsune is planning to enter the U.S. market next year with offices in Dallas and Houston, citing the Lone Star State's status as a business hub and client demand from global and Japanese businesses as factors driving the expansion.

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WilmerHale Rehires Treasury Official, Former Counsel In DC

By Jack Rodgers

A former Treasury Department official who worked as the agency's undersecretary for domestic finance has rejoined WilmerHale's financial institutions group as a partner, the firm announced Friday.

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Brief

Goldberg Segalla Adds Retail And Hospitality Partner In NJ

By Matt Perez

Goldberg Segalla LLP announced it has hired a former Reilly McDevitt & Henrich PC attorney to be a partner in its retail and hospitality practice group.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Susman Godfrey LLP, Langer Grogan & Diver PC, Hausfeld LLP and MoloLamken LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Ninth Circuit ruled that a former federal judge erred by scrapping a $4.7 billion jury verdict against the National Football League in a class action over the price of its Sunday Ticket broadcast package.

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Law Firm Sues Sierra Leone Over $361K Legal Bill

By Jared Foretek

Law firm Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman PC claims in a complaint filed in D.C. federal court that Sierra Leone's government stiffed it on more than $300,000 in legal fees and costs after the firm defended it against earlier claims of unpaid fees by Jenner & Block.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

The U.S. Department of Justice's new cash rewards program for tips on criminal fraud could backfire in some cases, experts say. Elsewhere, attorneys are weighing new strategies in the wake of Texas' historic blue shift during the midterm elections. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Brief

US Legal Sector Jobs Reached Record High In October

By Tracey Read

The legal industry's hot streak continued last month, adding 2,400 more jobs in October to reach a record high, according to seasonally adjusted data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Mich. Supreme Court Chief Next To Lead Chief Justice Group

By Melanie Dorsey

The Michigan Supreme Court's chief justice has been named president-elect of the Conference of Chief Justices, a national organization representing the highest-ranking state judicial officers, and she plans to focus on expanding access to legal services, reforming attorney licensing and strengthening courthouse security.

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3rd Circ. Preview: UPenn Staff Rifts, FTC $3M Fee Fight

By George Woolston

The Third Circuit began its November session by examining Tree of Life synagogue shooter Robert Bowers' appeal of his death sentence and is set to hear a number of other matters ranging from a state's bid to restore millions of dollars in food aid, to the federal government fighting a $3 million counsel fee award, to reviewing the third-party harassment test.

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Blank Rome Partner, Hotel Founder Disputes $15.6M Tax Bill

By Zak Kostro

A Blank Rome LLP partner who founded a luxury boutique hotel in Italy told the U.S. Tax Court the IRS improperly determined he owes roughly $15.6 million in taxes and penalties, disputing the agency's assertion that his hotel operations didn't qualify as a business for purposes of claiming expenses.

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Squire Patton, Baker McKenzie Hit With Data Breach Suits

By Rae Ann Varona

Squire Patton Boggs LLP and Baker McKenzie failed to protect private personal information stored in the law firms' systems from separate cyberattacks and delayed notifying affected individuals for roughly two months, two proposed class actions filed in Ohio and Illinois federal courts have alleged.

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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.

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Judge Kewalramani Warns Against Taking Sanctions Lightly

By Dani Kass

Retired U.S. Magistrate Judge Shashi Kewalramani on Friday cautioned patent attorneys to be extremely discerning when filing sanctions motions, comparing it to crying "fire" in a crowded room.

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