GM Sued Over 'Catastrophic' Failures That Can Cause Fires

By Jonathan Capriel

Newer-model Buick and Chevrolet vehicles equipped with a 1.2-liter turbocharged engine can suffer "catastrophic internal failures," causing loss of power and even fires, according to a proposed class action filed in Delaware federal court accusing General Motors LLC of concealing the problem.

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'Addiction' Became A 'Dirty Word' At Instagram, Jury Hears

By Craig Clough

A former executive and consultant for Meta testified Thursday in bellwether litigation over claims that its subsidiary Instagram is harmful to children, telling a Los Angeles jury that between his two stints with the company, he saw "addiction" go from an openly researched topic to a taboo "dirty word."

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Analysis

A Look At Four States' Tort Reform Legislation Fights

By Y. Peter Kang

There are currently four states debating whether to install business-friendly tort reform legislation or medical malpractice guardrails. The issues include a potentially brutal showdown in California over auto collision litigation and efforts in Florida to expand wrongful death liability for healthcare providers.

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Meta Hid 'Alarming Reality' Of AI Glasses' Privacy, Suit Says

By Lauren Berg

Meta Platforms touts its artificial intelligence "smart" glasses as designed to protect users' privacy, but the tech company surreptitiously routes video captured by the wearable devices to contractors who view the footage to train Meta's AI models, according to a new proposed class action filed in California federal court.

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TRESemmé Hair Loss Suit Tossed By Judge

By Emily Field

A New Jersey federal judge on Wednesday tossed with prejudice a suit alleging that TRESemmé shampoo causes hair loss after the plaintiff's sole expert was barred from testifying as he admitted his opinion was wrong.

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Mom Hit By Tesla-Driving Toddler Can't Undo Trial Loss

By Y. Peter Kang

A California state appellate panel affirmed a midtrial win for Tesla in a suit brought by a mother who was struck by a Tesla driven by her toddler, saying she used the wrong legal standard to characterize her claim that certain features were defectively designed.

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Hyundai Faces $9.8M Sanction For Car Destruction

By Ganesh Setty

A Pennsylvania court has awarded two car dealerships nearly $9.8 million as a sanction against Hyundai Motor America after finding Hyundai "consciously" crushed cars they acquired before alleging, without evidence, that they intentionally damaged them to exploit Hyundai's vehicle repurchases.

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Apple AirTag Judge Compares Fight To Uber Sex Assault MDL

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge indicated Thursday that he likely won't certify a class of stalking victims suing Apple for designing AirTags that were susceptible to abuse by stalkers, comparing the case to litigation against Uber Technologies Inc. over driver sexual assaults, which proceeded as coordinated multidistrict litigation rather than a class action.

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Neb. AG Hits Roblox With Suit Over Kid Safety

By Emily Field

Nebraska on Wednesday became the latest state to hit popular gaming platform Roblox with a suit alleging that it fails to protect children against online predators, saying even new age verification policies are not enough to safeguard minors.

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Meta's Child Sex Abuse Shield Is Top Tier, Safety Expert Says

By Cara Salvatore

Meta began its defense case-in-chief Thursday in New Mexico's bellwether social media mental health trial, calling to the stand a safety specialist who said Meta's detection program for child sexual abuse material is best in class but conceded that it's impossible to know how much material slips through.

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4th Circ. Allows Insurer To Seek Arbitration In Foam Case

By Caroline Simson

The Fourth Circuit on Wednesday overturned an order barring Illinois Union Insurance Co. from seeking to arbitrate in London a dispute within multidistrict litigation over alleged contamination from firefighting foam for failing to obtain consent from co-lead counsel.

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Gold Mine Poses No Certain Threat To Belugas, Gov't Argues

By Jonathan Capriel

The federal government wants to end litigation by environmental groups seeking to stop a mining company from expanding gold extraction efforts within an Alaska national park, telling a federal court that any alleged harm to the endangered beluga whales living in a nearby bay is speculative.

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DC Circ. Urged To Pause DOT Immigrant Truck Driver Rule

By Linda Chiem

Local governments, legal advocates, Teamsters California and others have urged the D.C. Circuit to suspend the U.S. Department of Transportation's new final rule containing sweeping restrictions on nondomiciled commercial driver's licenses for immigrants, saying nearly 200,000 drivers would be culled from the workforce and trigger a supply chain and critical services crisis. 

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PFAS Risks In M&A Amid Litigation, Legislative Developments

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances have become a significant M&A concern amid new trends in settlements and state laws, and potential buyers must find ways to evaluate potential related risks, say attorneys at Debevoise.

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Series

Volunteering With Scouts Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Serving as an assistant scoutmaster for my son’s troop reaffirmed several skills and principles crucial to lawyering — from the importance of disconnecting to the value of morality, says Michael Warren at McManis Faulkner.

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Legal Jobs Up 19th Straight Month In 'Goldilocks' Economy

By Tracey Read

The legal sector continued its lengthy upward streak in February, with 2,600 more people employed in lawyer, paralegal and other law-related professional roles last month than in January, according to seasonally adjusted data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Ex-Girardi Keese Atty Pleads Guilty For Role In Client Scandal

By Dorothy Atkins

Former Girardi Keese attorney Keith Griffin pled guilty to criminal contempt in Illinois federal court on Thursday for his role in the firm's failure to pay millions ​in client settlement funds to relatives of victims killed in the crash of Lion Air Flight 610.

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Louisiana Atty Sanctioned Over AI Hallucinations In Filing

By Matt Perez

A Louisiana attorney was fined $1,000 Thursday for his use of artificial intelligence in drafting an error-riddled brief, while three co-counsel were spared penalty.

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Investors Accuse Alston & Bird Of Aiding $328M Crypto Fraud

By David Minsky

Several investors have brought a Florida federal proposed class action alleging legal malpractice against Alston & Bird LLP, accusing the law firm of drafting joint venture agreements that were used to aid a $328 million cryptocurrency scam. 

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Constantine Cannon Defends Handling Of Sutter $75M Fee

By Dorothy Atkins

Constantine Cannon LLP pushed back Thursday against Schneider Wallace Cottrell Kim LLP's allegations it unfairly reduced Schneider Wallace's share of a $75.4 million fee award in Sutter Health's $228.5 million antitrust deal, arguing in California federal court that the firm "sat on the sidelines" for most of the decadelong fight and isn't entitled to a bigger cut.

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NJ Talc Suit Will Proceed Amid Beasley Allen DQ Appeal

By Emily Sawicki

The New Jersey Supreme Court has declined to stay multicounty litigation over Johnson & Johnson's talc-based baby powder brought by hundreds of women who allege their ovarian cancer was linked to the product, while Beasley Allen appeals its removal as plaintiff's counsel over a firm partner's collaboration with the pharmaceutical giant's former outside counsel.

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Florida Bar Rescinds Claim Agency Is Investigating Halligan

By Jack Karp

The Florida Bar said Friday that it is not investigating controversial former interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan, walking back a previous assertion it had made in a letter to a nonprofit that it was probing Halligan's actions.

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Courts Aren't Ignoring Justices' TPS Orders, Ex-Judges Say

By Ganesh Setty

Over 175 former federal and state judges have slammed the Trump administration's claim that lower courts "flouted" interim orders from the U.S. Supreme Court in litigation involving the administration's revocation of foreign nationals' temporary protected status, saying they weren't binding.

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Dems Again Push For Independent Immigration Courts

By Courtney Bublé

Democrats have again introduced a bill that would shift the immigration courts from the executive branch to an independent judiciary, following concerns that the Trump administration has "weaponized" the system.

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Roundup

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

This past week in London has seen British American Tobacco sued by more than 100 investors, the government bring a claim against a COVID-19 supplier of personal protective equipment, Annington Funding sue its new corporate trustees on the Financial List, and Piers Morgan hit with a defamation claim from a pro-Israel barrister he interviewed on his YouTube channel. 

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Anthropic, the developer of Claude AI, says it will take the Pentagon to court over being designated a national security risk because it wants to impose ethical guardrails on Claude's use. And the Mideast war is making in-house legal teams across the country work long hours to protect employees trapped by the violence and to keep businesses running despite broken supply chains. These are some of 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

Winston & Strawn LLP, Sullivan Papain Block McManus Coffinas & Cannavo PC, Stanford's Supreme Court Litigation Clinic and attorney Olivia Gabriel lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that New Jersey cannot shield its public transit system from personal injury lawsuits by out-of-state plaintiffs under sovereign immunity.

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