Analysis

Social Media Litigation Gains Reveal Potential Regulatory Path

By Allison Grande

Recent suits by a social media user and two state attorneys general in their bids to hold Meta and other tech giants accountable for the allegedly addictive nature of their platforms have brought to the forefront a potentially lucrative strategy for more broadly regulating online harms, as the First Amendment and other roadblocks continue to stymie legislative efforts.

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Ex-FDA Chief Says J&J Atty 'Spinning' Asbestos Definition

By Craig Clough

A former U.S. Food and Drug Administration commissioner told an attorney for Johnson & Johnson she was "spinning" the definition of asbestos in an attempt to confuse a jury in a bellwether trial over claims the company's talc products caused three women's deaths from ovarian cancer.

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Social Media Harm To Teens Can Be Pinpointed, Judge Told

By Cara Salvatore

Social media's degree of blame for New Mexico teens' mental health challenges can be statistically isolated and quantified, a health computational scientist testified Friday in the state's $3.7 billion bench trial against Meta.

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Levin Simes Atty Sidelined For 'Outrageous' Uber Remarks

By Hailey Konnath

A Levin Simes LLP attorney has agreed to take on a more limited role in multidistrict litigation over Uber driver sexual assaults after he made "outrageous" remarks during a meeting with Uber's lawyers, calling one a "pedophile," "rapist" and "scumbag," among other vulgar insults, according to a stipulation.

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Tort Report: Tesla's Legal Exposure Seen As High As $14.5B

By Y. Peter Kang

A new report stating that Tesla faces billions in legal liabilities and a $140 million football brain injury verdict against the NCAA lead Law360's Tort Report, which compiles recent personal injury and medical malpractice news that may have flown under the radar.

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Montana PFAS Defendants Seek 'Forum Shopping' Sanctions

By Brian Steele

The city of Stamford, Connecticut, and a local fire district spent two years litigating a PFAS suit against 3M Co. and others before suddenly transferring their claims more than 2,000 miles away in a clear effort at forum shopping, the corporate defendants said in seeking sanctions.

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Roundup

Transpo Tracker: Boeing 737 Max, John Deere Deal

By Linda Chiem

In our latest Law360 Transportation Tracker, Boeing is still contending with litigation associated with the 737 Max 8 jets, while a proposed $99 million class settlement could end farmers' right-to-repair claims against agricultural equipment maker John Deere and an appeals court decertified a class of 90,000 State Farm policyholders accusing the insurer of systematically undervaluing totaled vehicles.

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Boeing Can Appeal Class Cert. In 737 Max Investor Suit

By Hailey Konnath

The Seventh Circuit is permitting Boeing to immediately challenge an Illinois federal judge's certification of a class of investors accusing it of misrepresenting the 737 Max 8 jets' safety after a pair of deadly crashes, according to an order filed Thursday.

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Kratom Seller Asks 10th Circ. To Review Utah Ban

By Jonathan Capriel

A kratom drink maker is asking the Tenth Circuit to block a Utah law banning its product after a federal judge refused a preliminary injunction request, which it claimed left it facing more than $10.7 million in lost sales.

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Texas Justices Say Nicotine Pouches Taxable As Tobacco

By Mike Curley

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday found that oral nicotine pouches are taxable as tobacco products under state law, as they are made from "tobacco substitutes" through a combination of nicotine extracted from tobacco leaves and plant compounds.

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Regulators Probe Avride Crashes Over Self-Driving Concerns

By Jonathan Capriel

Federal safety regulators have opened an investigation into Avride Inc., an autonomous driving technology developer, after its self-driving vehicles in Texas allegedly crashed into other cars and other nonmoving objects, causing property damage and at least one minor injury.

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Embezzler's $250M Suit Against FanDuel Sent To Arbitration

By David Steele

A New York federal judge has ruled that an arbitrator will decide a dispute between FanDuel and a former NFL team administrator convicted of embezzlement who accuses the online sports betting platform of taking advantage of his gambling addiction.

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The Ethics And Practicalities Of Representing AI Agents

With autonomous artificial intelligence agents now able to take action without explicit instructions from — or the awareness of — their human owners, the bar must confront whether existing frameworks like informed consent and client privilege will be sufficient on the day an AI agent calls seeking counsel, say attorneys at Morrison Cohen.

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Ex-Wachtell Lipton Atty Tied To Stolen BigLaw Info Trades

By Chris Villani

A former Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz attorney who later worked for investment bank LionTree LLC is an unindicted co-conspirator in a sweeping alleged insider trading scheme that involved stolen information from several prominent law firms, according to a review of publicly available information.

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Legal Industry Bounces Back, Gaining 2,400 Jobs In April

By Tracey Read

The legal sector is once again on a positive trajectory, gaining 2,400 jobs last month, according to seasonally adjusted data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Top Atty In DOJ Appeal Over Law Firm Exec Orders To Depart

By Jake Maher

The lead federal prosecutor on the Trump administration's appeal to reinstate executive orders targeting four law firms is stepping down from his government role at the end of May, he publicly announced this week.

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DLA Piper Accused Of 'Frivolous' Suit To Please Chipotle GC

By Gina Kim

DLA Piper aggressively litigated a "frivolous" computer fraud lawsuit against a nonprofit volunteer in order to appease the then-general counsel of Chipotle, a client, who referred the case to the firm, according to a malicious-prosecution complaint filed Thursday in California state court. 

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Prosecutor Faces Probe Into Withheld Immigration Case Info

By Bonnie Eslinger

The lead assistant federal prosecutor for Rhode Island's civil division is under investigation for allegedly withholding information in an immigration case, according to an order from the Ocean State's top federal judge.

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Prosecutors Oppose Move To Put Off Goldstein Sentencing

By Jared Foretek

Federal prosecutors are claiming that SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein may have violated his pretrial release conditions when he racked up over $1.7 million in gambling income last year, telling a federal judge not to delay sentencing for the famed U.S. Supreme Court lawyer.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen Morrisons sued by a former logistics partner, EDF and Cripps LLP face a claim brought by a family estate near Hinkley Point C and a former BBC broadcaster file a defamation claim against a Welsh news site over articles linking her to Russian state media and conspiracy theories. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

The head of the U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits section said agency investigations will focus on benefit plan managers' loyalty conflicts, including pursuit of socially conscious goals. Meanwhile, Dell became the latest company to consider Texas as its new legal home. These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

The National Immigrant Justice Center and the American Civil Liberties Union lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a split Seventh Circuit panel rejected the Trump administration's argument that immigrants unlawfully in the United States have no due process rights.

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

By Adam LoBelia

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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