9th Circ. Decertifies Tesla 'Full Self-Driving' False Ad Classes

By Linda Chiem

The Ninth Circuit on Friday decertified a class action alleging Tesla deceived consumers into believing that its cars could fully drive themselves, saying there's no proof that all class members saw the same purportedly false statement on Tesla's website about its cars' hardware.

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Temu Inks $3M Settlement To End Data To China Claims

By Spencer Brewer

Online bargain retailer Temu on Friday agreed to pay $3 million to settle claims brought by the Texas Office of the Attorney General accusing the company of secretly stealing customer data and exposing it to the Chinese Communist Party.

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Florida Says Discord Misled Families On Child Safety

By Emily Field

The Florida attorney general on Thursday sued messaging platform Discord Inc. in state court, accusing it of enabling the sexual abuse of minors with a lack of age-verification measures and safeguards.

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Wash. AG Office, WSU Rigged $15M Data Contract, Suit Says

By Ben Adlin

A former prosecutor and the police-use-of-force analytics company he now helms sued Washington's attorney general's office and Washington State University over an allegedly rigged $15 million public safety data contract, claiming the defendants privately coordinated and shared nonpublic procurement information ahead of a competitive bidding process.

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Google Class Attys Get $22.7M Despite Hourly Rate Rebuke

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge has approved Google's $68 million class action settlement to resolve a long-running privacy suit, including class counsel's requested $22.67 million fee award, commending the parties' hard work while also criticizing a plaintiffs attorney's "patently unreasonable" proposed $3,000 hourly rate.

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Google Users' $85M Fee Ask Stalls Over 'Utterly Lacking' Bill

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge on Thursday rejected an $85 million attorney fee request following a $700 million settlement in a consumer-led case against Google, ruling that counsel's submitted billing records are "utterly lacking in information demonstrating what work was done and for what purpose," while granting leave to amend the request.

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Justices Told Siemens Chip Patent Win Shows Fed. Circ. Split

By Adam Lidgett

The owner of a set of patents covering computer chip design wants the U.S. Supreme Court to look at an alleged internal split within the Federal Circuit of how it looks at whether patents are eligible under the high court's Alice test.

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US Inventor Presses Justices To Hear $2.6B Centripetal Case

By Theresa Schliep

US Inventor Inc. has urged the U.S. Supreme Court to revive Centripetal Networks LLC's patent infringement case against Cisco Systems Inc., arguing that a lower court that wiped out a $2.6 billion judgment had wrongly denied Centripetal the chance to respond to new claim construction.

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Q&A

She Has A Point: Munger Tolles' Carolyn Luedtke

By Dani Kass

Munger Tolles & Olson LLP partner Carolyn Hoecker Luedtke has been great at providing sound judgment during trade secret litigation between top artificial intelligence companies, according to Jessica Kaempf of Fenwick & West LLP.

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FCC Eyes 'All Options' As 5th Circ. Orders Subsidy Fee Redo

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission said Friday it was exploring all options for managing the $9 billion Universal Service Fund after a Fifth Circuit panel ruled the FCC lacked authority to create the funds' private oversight company.

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Trump Waives Russia Sanctions, Tariff Law After Fuel Deal

By Dylan Moroses

President Donald Trump signed an executive order to suspend Russian sanctions and tariff provisions contained in a law passed earlier this year by Congress in response to Russia's ongoing war in Ukraine.

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Analysis

Expect These Post-Midterm Probes If The Hill Changes Hands

By Phillip Bantz

The top investigative priorities of a potentially Democratic-controlled Congress are coming into sharper focus with the midterms weeks away and could impact an array of companies and individuals in technology, finance and energy, experts say.

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Analysis

Could A Criminal Sentencing Case Upend Loper Bright?

By Katie Buehler

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch is concerned that a ruling instructing trial courts to defer to the U.S. Sentencing Commission's interpretation of federal sentencing guidelines could blow a "pretty big hole" in the court's recent rejection of deference doctrines. His colleagues, however, don't appear as perturbed.

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State Telecom Roundup: Clearing The Way For BEAD Funds

By Nadia Dreid

Nearly five years after the $42.45 billion Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment Program was signed into law by then-President Joe Biden, states have finally started disbursing funds to subgrantees who will carry out the projects that are supposed to end the digital divide.

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FCC Says Five Eyes Allies Share Cybersecurity Info

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission is working with foreign counterparts in the Five Eyes security alliance to share data on cyber risks, the U.S. agency said Friday.

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China Tightens Export Controls On AI, Biotech Technologies

By Dylan Moroses

China will add 40 new products spanning across the artificial intelligence, biotechnologies and photovoltaic sectors to a pre-export registration requirements list, the Chinese Ministry of Commerce announced Friday.

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Judge Gives Final OK To $360M In RealPage Class Deals

By Isaac Monterose

A Tennessee federal judge has granted final approval for about $360 million worth of class action settlements with renters who accused dozens of corporate landlords of engaging in rent price-fixing by using RealPage Inc.'s rental property revenue management software.

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DHS Could Scrap IT Contract Under Trump Order, Judge Says

By Ganesh Setty

The U.S. Court of Federal Claims found no evidence that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security canceled a $10 billion IT services procurement because of various bid protests, ruling that DHS' compliance with an executive order provided a sufficient basis for doing so.

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Extreme Networks Inks $51M Deal In Investors' Sales Dip Suit

By Sydney Price

Software company Extreme Networks said Friday it has reached a $51 million settlement with its shareholders to end their claims that the company misled them about its financial prospects during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Nasdaq Sued Over Delisting Of Social Media Co.

By Jessica Corso

A social media company that has pitched itself as an alternative to TikTok has sued Nasdaq in Delaware Chancery Court, asking the court to relist its shares while it fights what it says was an "arbitrary and capricious" decision to boot the company off the exchange.

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Del. Blocks Cloudflare Founder Control Recapitalization

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court on Friday barred Cloudflare Inc. from moving forward with a recapitalization designed to preserve co-founders Matthew Prince and Michelle Zatlyn's voting control, finding that stockholders had shown a reasonable chance of proving that a special committee acted to appease the founders rather than advance the company's interests.

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Fed. Circ. Stands By Double Denials, SpaceTime3D PTAB Loss

By Dani Kass

The Federal Circuit declined Friday to rehear two cases decided in August, one where an e-commerce patent owner was looking for the security to assert its patent in future litigation, and the other where SpaceTime3D was trying to revive patents cut down by Apple and Google.

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TI, Intel Say Ukrainians Still Show No Link To Russian Strikes

By Mike Curley

Technology companies including Texas Instruments Inc. and Intel Corp. are again urging a Texas federal court to throw out a set of consolidated suits alleging they allowed their components to get into Russian weapons used to target civilians, saying a second amended complaint still fails to link their conduct to injuries.

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Super Micro Board Sued Over Alleged China Diversions

By Tom Lotshaw

A Super Micro Computer shareholder hit company directors and officers with a derivative suit accusing them of enabling an alleged scheme that sent artificial intelligence tech to Chinese companies in violation of export controls, misleading investors and harming the company.

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6th Circ. Backs Insurers In $6.3M Crypto Fire Loss Suit

By Katryna Perera

The Sixth Circuit has affirmed the dismissal of two cryptocurrency mining companies' claims that Travelers Insurance Co. and Northfield Insurance Co. exacerbated their building's fire loss through the claim handling process, finding the mining companies failed to allege the insurance companies owed them a duty of care outside contractual obligations.

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Swedish Defense Co. Sues Verizon For Patent Infringement

By Tom Lotshaw

Swedish company Sectra Communications AB has accused Verizon Communications of infringing a patent it acquired for the advancement of a communication system that offers secure information sharing services to government agencies.

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Nikola Ex-CEO Says FBI Agent's Tweets Spooked Witness

By Emily Lever

Trevor Milton, the founder and former CEO of Nikola Corp., has sued an FBI agent and a witness who testified against him at his New York federal court trial, accusing them of working together in a coordinated campaign to intimidate a witness in Milton's defense via personal attacks on social media.

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Ex-Legal Tech Co. Exec Says Pregnancy Got Her Fired

By George Woolston

A legal technology company abruptly fired its director of partnerships after it learned she was pregnant, and has since withheld a nearly $40,000 bonus, according to a lawsuit lodged in New Jersey state court.

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Sig Sauer's Trade Secret Claims Shot Down In Contract Fight

By Adam Lidgett

A Washington federal judge has thrown out Sig Sauer's trade secret counterclaims in a lawsuit accusing the firearms company of reneging on a contract to buy products a contractor agreed to make.

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Paul Hastings, Kirkland Guide Proofpoint's $6.3B Varonis Buy

By Al Barbarino

Thoma Bravo portfolio company Proofpoint has agreed to acquire data security software provider Varonis Systems Inc. in an all-cash deal valued at about $6.3 billion, with Paul Hastings LLP advising Varonis and Kirkland & Ellis LLP representing Proofpoint.

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Quarterly IPO Volume Fell Short Of Expectations Amid Delays

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Third-quarter capital markets activity in the U.S. proved to be robust with a solid string of initial public offerings, but capital markets attorneys say it did not fully meet expectations due to delays of notable IPOs caused by market uncertainty.

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Roundup

Taxation With Representation: Freshfields, Morgan Lewis

By Zak Kostro

In this week's Taxation With Representation, Penske Automotive Group Inc. agrees to be taken private by Motown Acquisition Corp., a GTCR-led group of private investment firms acquires software firm CCC Intelligent Solutions Holdings Inc. and a Steris PLC subsidiary buys specialty surgical products business Xodus Medical Inc.

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NY, Conn. Secure $2.7M Deal Over Health Network Data Breach

By Allison Grande

A pediatric health network and its information technology manager have agreed to pay $2.7 million to resolve the New York and Connecticut attorneys general's claims that they failed to institute "common" security measures to protect the personal data of patients impacted by a 2024 data breach, the states announced Friday. 

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CFIUS Annual Report Reveals Enforcement Trends

The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' recently published annual report to Congress shows that it is increasingly focused on nonnotified transactions, mandatory filing compliance, critical technologies and postclosing mitigation enforcement across the full life cycle transactions, say attorneys at Bass Berry.

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Planning For D&O Exclusions As Risks Mount For Banks

Banks should scrutinize directors and officers exclusions for artificial intelligence, disclosure and cybersecurity risks during policy renewal negotiations to preserve coverage amid the current uptick in insurer scrutiny and related shareholder litigation, say attorneys at Jones Walker.

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Reckoning With The IP Risks Of Building Vibe-Coded Products

While artificial intelligence can now be prompted into generating potentially valuable software, developers who sell vibe-coded products must account for questions about authorship, copyrightability and their ability to control the resulting code, say attorneys at Lawgorithm Advisors.

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Challenges On The Horizon For Illinois Data Center Projects

Illinois has more data centers in operation or under construction than all but five other states — but such projects face growing litigation threats and a range of state and local legislative proposals that could hinder further development of these facilities in the Land of Lincoln, say attorneys at Paul Hastings.

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Protecting Trade Secrets When AI Agents Go Rogue

In light of a recent incident in which artificial intelligence agents compromised parts of Hugging Face's production systems, and the uncertain court guidance surrounding liability in such situations, companies looking to update their trade secret protections should carefully examine agents' permissions and technical limitations, says Matt Nealon at Marshall Gerstein.

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Womble Bond Reports Data Breach Exposing Personal Info

By Jake Maher

Womble Bond Dickinson was hit with a data breach in August that revealed personal information to an unauthorized third party, the firm said in a notice with the Massachusetts state government this week.

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Suing The Trump Admin Can Have Massive Impact, Attys Say

By Bonnie Eslinger

Lawyers representing clients against the federal government spoke Friday about the challenges and rewards of such litigation in the Trump era, with plaintiff-side powerhouse Elizabeth Cabraser pointing to the potential for massive impact, including one case in which she successfully got more than a billion dollars in grant funding reinstated.

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Dems Press Kirkland Again For Details Of $125M Trump Deal

By Courtney Bublé

A trio of congressional Democrats once again accused Kirkland & Ellis LLP of subverting their oversight requests into the $125 million deal the firm cut with the Trump administration last year.

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Brief

Cooley Reportedly Matches Milbank Pay Scale Starting In '27

By Matt Perez

Cooley LLP will reportedly increase U.S. associate base compensation in line with the pay scale set by Milbank LLP in June beginning on Jan. 1.

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Fla. High Court Says 'COVID Brain' Can't Excuse Atty Blunder

By David Minsky

The Florida Supreme Court found an attorney guilty of misconduct over his lack of candor when questioned about an interaction with his own witness in a paternity trial, saying there's no way "COVID brain" caused him to violate a sequestration rule and lie to a judge. 

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Attys Can Still Protect Voting Rights During The Midterms

By Cara Bayles

With the midterm elections approaching, a coalition of local and national nonprofits are seeking volunteers, especially lawyers, to safeguard the vote during an election with more states in play as battlegrounds and growing anxiety about federal interference in local elections.

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Survey Of Ill. Attys Reveals Mental Health Struggles, Stigma

By Celeste Bott

A survey of nearly 7,000 Illinois lawyers found roughly 20% rated their mental health as fair or poor, according to an Illinois Supreme Court commission report documenting the toll of workplace stress on the state's attorneys and judges, their alcohol and drug use, and barriers to getting them care.

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Balancing The Scales: Criminal Appeals, Sentencing Rules

By Orlando Lorenzo

The Second Circuit has been ordered to take another look at a murder-for-hire conviction in light of the high court's new miscarriage-of-justice exception for criminal appeal waivers, and the top courts in Pennsylvania and Michigan will look at the retroactivity of new sentencing rules. Here, Law360 highlights access to justice stories arising from litigation, verdicts and judgments you may have missed.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Schlichter Bogard LLC leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the full Eleventh Circuit overturned decades-old precedent that took a strict view of when federal benefits law claims could be brought in court.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

The top investigative priorities of a potentially Democratic-controlled Congress are coming into sharper focus with the midterms just weeks away and could impact companies in various sectors. In the meantime, one BigLaw firm formed a board to oversee the use of artificial intelligence and evaluate proposals from its practice groups and sectors. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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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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