Top Takeaways From Meta's $17B Kid Safety Deal

By Emily Field and Cara Salvatore

A $17.1 billion deal with 29 states and Meta Platforms Inc. that includes reforms to Facebook and Instagram to protect children is seen as a benchmark for other settlements with social media companies as litigation and public pressure mounts over mental health harms to youth.

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Meta Judge Quickly OKs $17B Deal Over Social Media Harms

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge overseeing a bellwether trial over claims Meta hid social media's harms to youth on Wednesday approved its $17.1 billion deal with 29 states, after a hearing in which she pressed lawyers on details of the deal and raised concerns about how Meta was handling attorney-client privilege issues.

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Meta Makes $17B Deal With States Over Child Harms

By Matthew Santoni

Meta has agreed to pay up to $17.1 billion and enact reforms to Facebook and Instagram to resolve sprawling social media addiction claims, in the midst of a high-stakes bellwether trial over whether the company hid or downplayed its platforms' allegedly harmful impact on minors, state enforcers say.

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X Loses Challenge To NY Social Media Disclosure Law

By Lauren Berg

New York's law requiring social media companies to divulge details of their content-moderation policies does not run afoul of the First Amendment, a federal judge ruled Wednesday, throwing out X Corp.'s challenge seeking to block enforcement of the measure.

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Rising Star: Kirkland's Matt Bush

By Y. Peter Kang

Matt Bush of Kirkland & Ellis LLP is helping Johnson & Johnson defend against multidistrict litigation alleging that its baby powder caused cancer and defended Dow Chemical in a soil contamination case, earning him a spot among the product liability law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

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FCA Says Autoliv Still Missing The Mark In Air Bag Scrap

By Susan Smiley

FCA US LLC has urged a Detroit federal judge to dismiss Autoliv's amended countercomplaint in their contract dispute, saying that the automotive safety supplier acknowledged in its latest filing that it missed the deadline to request a price increase for an FCA-driven air bag redesign.

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Dodge Ram 1500 Defect Causes Abrupt Stops, Drivers Say

By Gina Kim

Dodge Ram 1500 drivers filed a proposed class action Tuesday in Michigan federal court against automaker Fiat Chrysler, alleging their vehicles suffer from a uniform and systemic defect that's causing persistent check engine light illumination, and unexpected stalling or stopping while in motion, posing a dangerous risk of vehicle collisions.

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Suit Says Tesla Model Y Ran Into Barrier, Failed To Deploy Airbags

By Jonathan Capriel

A Boeing aircraft technician claims defects in his 2022 Tesla Model Y caused the vehicle to crash into a concrete barrier where another defect prevented his air bag from deploying, leaving him with permanent spinal injuries, in a lawsuit in Washington state court.

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Apple Seeks Win In Biometric Privacy Case, Citing 7th Circ.

By Celeste Bott

A recent Seventh Circuit decision affirming Samsung's win in a biometric privacy suit means Apple should prevail over similar claims, the tech giant has told an Illinois federal judge, arguing for summary judgment in a class action alleging that Apple's Photos app collects users' faceprints without permission.

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9th Circ. Denies Challenges To EPA Rule On Chemical Reviews

By Tom Lotshaw

The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday denied petitions challenging a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rule related to when and how some new chemicals can be exempted from standard pre-manufacture review processes, ruling the agency acted in line with its statutory powers.

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Groups Ask Congress To Reject Idaho Toxic Waste Land Swap

By Isaac Monterose

The Center for Biological Diversity, Snake River Waterkeeper and ManaSota-88 Inc. urged Congress on Wednesday to remove a provision from the National Defense Authorization Act that the center says would "cede historic lands of the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes in Idaho to expand a radioactive waste dump at one of the country's largest Superfund sites."

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Trucking Groups Urge Full 5th Circ. To Mull Penske Liability

By Linda Chiem

Trucking industry groups contend the Fifth Circuit unjustifiably expanded liability for upstream motor carriers when it recently held that trucking services giant Penske Logistics LLC could be held vicariously liable for a fatal 2018 Texas collision caused by a motor carrier that Penske knew nothing about.

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Amazon Fatal Crash Suit Axed Over Diversity Gaps, For Now

By Bonnie Eslinger

A Texas federal judge on Wednesday tossed a suit against Amazon entities and others in litigation over a fatal vehicle crash involving an Amazon-owned trailer, saying the court was not provided with the evidence to determine if it has jurisdiction over the claims.

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Insurer Slams $2M Fee Request In Arbitrator Removal Bid

By Joyce Hanson

An insurance exchange for the trucking industry has urged a New York federal judge to dismiss a request by reinsurers that the exchange pay roughly $2 million in attorney fees and costs in a fight over whether to remove a supposedly "side-switching" arbitrator from a case.

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Norfolk Southern Says Precedent Undermines Derailment Suit

By Kelcey Caulder

Norfolk Southern urged a Georgia federal judge Wednesday to deny class treatment to investors who allege they were deceived about the company's safety operations before a fiery train derailment in Ohio in 2023, arguing U.S. Supreme Court precedent undercut the argument that the rail carrier's share price was unlawfully inflated.

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Cessna Maker Says Owner, Operator Share Blame For Crash

By Hope Patti

The manufacturer of a Cessna jet involved in a Connecticut crash that killed four people wants the jet's owner and operator added to an ongoing coverage dispute, saying even if it's found liable for the fatal flight due to a design flaw, the owner and operator will still bear some responsibility.

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Pot Distributor Again Files Counterclaims In Contract Dispute

By Mike Curley

A cannabis distributor has filed renewed counterclaims against its former consulting partner and a rival distributor, alleging that the rival deliberately interfered with an exclusivity agreement with the consulting partner.

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Oil Cos. Insist High Court Must End Colo. Climate Suit

By Rae Ann Varona

Exxon and Suncor Energy argued Wednesday in their latest brief urging the U.S. Supreme Court to end the city and county of Boulder, Colorado's climate change tort lawsuit against them that allowing the case to proceed would set a precedent that juries can make decisions on energy policy.

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4th Circ. Class Cert. Ruling Offers Tips For Damages Experts

The Fourth Circuit's recent decision reversing class certification in litigation against Boeing raises the cost of a bare-bones damages model proposal for plaintiffs, but it also clarifies what a defensible proposal should contain, say Alok Khare and Erica Rose at FTI Consulting.

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When And How To Use 4 Types Of Cross-Exam Questions

Perceptions of a great cross-examination are often shaped by aggressive courtroom exchanges, but to be truly effective, this stage of trial requires strategically selecting confirmation, confinement, contrast or confrontation questions at key moments, says Allison Rocker at Baker McKenzie.

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Del. Boeing Ruling Shows How Compliance Defeats Caremark

The Delaware Chancery Court's recent dismissal of shareholder litigation against Boeing's board in the wake of the Alaska Airlines door-plug blowout incident carries significant lessons for shareholders pursuing Caremark claims, and for corporate counsel advising boards on oversight obligations, says Brian Rostocki at Reed Smith.

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Calif. Bill Curbing PE Role In Litigation Heads To Newsom

By Lauren Berg

A California bill to ban corporate investors from influencing litigation strategy is heading to Gov. Gavin Newsom's desk after passing with bipartisan support from the state Legislature.

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Pillsbury Settles Ex-Recruiting Director's Pregnancy Bias Suit

By Grace Elletson

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP has settled a Black former director's suit claiming the law firm fired her weeks after she shared that she was pregnant and would need accommodations, according to a Tennessee federal court filing.

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DOJ Flags Breach Of Internal Policies In Apple Suit

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Department of Justice told a New Jersey federal judge Tuesday that its staffers breached internal policies when they shared personally identifiable information with an outside discovery vendor that was hired not by the department, but instead by the DOJ's state attorneys general partners, in the monopolization case against Apple.

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Prosecutors Say Goldstein Must Stay Behind Bars

By Jared Foretek

Federal prosecutors told the Fourth Circuit on Tuesday to keep convicted Supreme Court attorney Thomas Goldstein behind bars while he appeals his conviction, arguing that he remains a serious flight risk with wealthy overseas connections and "an ongoing danger" whose tax crimes continued "even after conviction."

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Arizona Atty Reprimanded For Series Of AI Errors

By Matt Perez

An Arizona federal judge has formally reprimanded a lawyer who admitted to filing four briefs that contained errors including false quotes and a faulty case summary generated with artificial intelligence amid an employment discrimination suit, noting the lawyer previously faced sanctions on two separate occasions for violating court rules.

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House Committee Wants DOL IG To Widen Info-Sharing Probe

By Benjamin Morse

Top House Education and Workforce Committee Republicans urged the U.S. Department of Labor's watchdog Wednesday to expand its review of information-sharing arrangements with outside groups, asking whether three additional agencies improperly disclosed confidential investigative material during the Biden administration.

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