Meta, Others Settle Bellwether School Case Set For June Trial

By Dorothy Atkins

Meta Platforms Inc., Snap Inc., TikTok Inc. and YouTube have each agreed to settle a bellwether school district's claims in social media addiction multidistrict litigation that were set for a six-week California federal jury trial beginning June 12, according to the Kentucky school district's counsel.

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9th Circ. Says Judge Overstepped In Fluoride Risk Case

By Tom Lotshaw

A Ninth Circuit panel scrapped a ruling that directed the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to take action to address potentially unsafe levels of drinking water fluoridation, concluding a California federal judge improperly commandeered the case.

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Meta Expert Says $27M Is Better Number For Abatement

By Cara Salvatore

An economics expert for Meta testified Thursday against New Mexico's desired $3.7 billion plan to abate social media's harm to mental health, calling it more "a spending plan" than one for abatement and claiming $27 million will do the job.

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Aveeno Allergen Suit Tossed Over Thin Financial Injury Claims

By Jonathan Capriel

The company behind the Aveeno brand has, for now, defeated a proposed class action claiming it misled parents when labeling its child skin care products as hypoallergenic, with a New Jersey federal judge saying the buyers failed to show they suffered any concrete financial injury.

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J&J Used Ellipsis To Nix Asbestos In Report To FDA, Jury Told

By Craig Clough

Johnson & Johnson used an ellipsis to eliminate a professor's finding of asbestos in its talc in a report submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, according to a video deposition shown Thursday to a California jury considering bellwether claims over three women's deadly ovarian cancer.

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Zantac Cases To Proceed During Appeal Of Recusal Denial

By P.J. D'Annunzio

The Philadelphia judge overseeing the city's Zantac cancer mass tort will not halt proceedings while Keller Postman LLC appeals his refusal to recuse himself from the litigation on the basis that his wife works at Blank Rome LLP, which represents a pharmaceutical company in one of the 550 cases.

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Texas AG Accuses Meta Of Lying About WhatsApp Encryption

By Bonnie Eslinger

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Meta and the social media giant's messaging platform WhatsApp in Texas state court on Thursday, claiming the companies lied in promising that WhatsApp messages are private and "not even WhatsApp can see them."

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Gatorade Buyers Say 'Better Than Water' Claim Is Misleading

By Mike Curley

A proposed class of Gatorade buyers sued parent company PepsiCo Inc. on Thursday, claiming the sports drink's newest labels are misleading in the claims they "Hydrate better than water," and that the reduced sugar variants have no artificial flavors.

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Sig Sauer Pistols Fire Accidentally, Gun Owners Say

By Emily Field

Two gun owners on Wednesday launched a proposed class action in Florida federal court against Sig Sauer over an alleged design defect in its popular P320 pistols, saying that a lack of external safety features has caused multiple accidental discharges and made law enforcement agencies replace them as duty weapons.

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NC Justices Told AG Powerless To Bring DuPont Pollution Suit

By Hayley Fowler

The North Carolina attorney general does not have the authority to sue two DuPont spinoffs over contamination from forever chemicals because the same claims were already resolved by an order with state environmental regulators, the spinoffs told the Tar Heel state's high court.

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Texas Comptroller Tells 5th Circ. To Toss E-Cig Ban Suit

By Mike Curley

The acting comptroller for Texas is asking the Fifth Circuit to overturn an order allowing vape companies and a trade association to pursue a suit challenging a state law banning e-cigarette products that use liquids from China and other "adversaries," saying the comptroller is entitled to sovereign immunity.

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Vape Sellers Say Pa. E-Cig Law Usurps FDA Authority

By Jonathan Capriel

Vape companies are looking to stop a Pennsylvania law that would effectively ban most e-cigarettes, claiming in a federal lawsuit that the statute is unconstitutional, would destroy roughly $2 million of their inventory and targets products that federal regulators say helps smokers quit.

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Barnes & Thornburg Adds Boston Litigator From Nutter

By Jack Rodgers

Barnes & Thornburg LLP has hired a longtime Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP partner in Boston who will focus on commercial litigation and product liability matters for healthcare, medical devices and manufacturing clients, the firm announced Thursday.

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5 Risks For US Cos. From New EU Product Liability Directive

When the European Union's revised Product Liability Directive takes effect this year, it will fundamentally reshape product liability litigation across all EU member states — so U.S.-based companies operating in Europe should prepare now for broader discovery rules, narrower attorney-client privilege and heightened forum-shopping risks, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

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Series

NY Times Word Puzzles Make Me A Better Lawyer

Every morning I let The New York Times humble me with word games, which offer a chance to recalibrate my brain before the day's chaos arrives and remind me that a solution — whether to a puzzle or employment law issue — almost always exists once I find the right angle, says Amy Epstein Gluck at Pierson Ferdinand.

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Analysis

BigLaw Deals Scandal Puts Boston Back On White Collar Map

By Chris Villani

A sweeping insider trading case involving information stolen from BigLaw firms shows a return to bread-and-butter white collar enforcement for Boston federal prosecutors and provides a morale lift in an office that has seen shifting priorities and staff turnover since the signature "Varsity Blues" takedown in 2019, veteran prosecutors told Law360.

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Goldstein Taps Ex-SG Prelogar Before Sentence, Likely Appeal

By Jeff Overley

One of the nation's most accomplished oral advocates, Tom Goldstein, revealed Thursday he has retained another of the nation's most accomplished oral advocates, Elizabeth Prelogar, ahead of his sentencing and likely appeal in a criminal tax case that has captivated the appellate bar.

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Immigration Judges' 'Anxiety' Dialed Up Amid Mass Exodus

By Emma Cueto

Current and former immigration judges spoke on a web panel Thursday about threats to the independence of immigration judges and the strains on the immigration system, such as a massive backlog of cases at a time when many judges have been pushed out or fired.

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Analysis

How Exxon Attys Beat A 10-Year-Old Securities Class Action

By Spencer Brewer

This month, Exxon Mobil's defense team helped deliver a clean sweep victory for the energy giant when a federal jury in Texas found the company did not lie to investors about the profitability of some operations.

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PBM Swaps Cravath For WilmerHale In Price-Fixing Suit

By Bonnie Eslinger

Pharmacy benefit manager Prime Therapeutics LLC has replaced counsel Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP with WilmerHale and another firm in an antitrust case in Michigan federal court brought by the state's attorney general.

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Bush-Appointed Missouri Judge To Take Senior Status

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. District Judge David Gregory Kays of the Western District of Missouri will take semi-retired status in May 2027, according to an update from the federal judiciary on Thursday.

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Feature

5 Podcasts To Keep IP Attys Entertained And Informed

By Theresa Schliep

Whether intellectual property attorneys are hitting the road for a family trip or kicking their feet up at home, podcasts about legal news can offer an easy way for them to stay in the know while (hopefully) not working this Memorial Day weekend.

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