SEC's $1.5M Musk Deal OK'd Despite Court's 'Misgivings'

By Lauren Berg

Despite having "significant misgivings" about the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's $1.5 million settlement over Elon Musk's initial purchase of Twitter stock in 2022, a D.C. federal judge signed off on the parties' resolution Wednesday.

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Analysis

Biggest Rulings For Patent Attys In 2026: A Midyear Report

By Dani Kass

The U.S. Supreme Court clarified the pleading standard for induced infringement of skinny labels, and the Federal Circuit opened the door to increased damages for patent owners. Here's what you need to know about these patent cases and other major decisions from the beginning of 2026.

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9th Circ. Says Netflix Harassment Suit Belongs In Arbitration

By Patrick Hoff

A former Netflix employee must arbitrate her lawsuit alleging the streaming giant fired her for raising concerns about its sexually charged office environment, with the Ninth Circuit ruling Wednesday that her dispute began before a law banning mandatory arbitration of sexual harassment claims took effect.

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FTC Can't Get Zillow-Redfin Deal Held Illegal Before Trial

By Bryan Koenig

A Virginia federal judge refused in a bench ruling Wednesday to limit Zillow and Redfin's ability to defend a rental listings syndication deal the Federal Trade Commission says was a $100 million payoff for Redfin to exit the market, teeing up "multiple" factual disputes for trial next month.

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Meta's Zuckerberg Ordered Back For 2nd LA Social Media Trial

By Craig Clough

A Los Angeles judge Wednesday ruled that Mark Zuckerberg must testify at an upcoming bellwether trial over claims his social media company harms young users' mental health after she previously compelled the Meta CEO to testify in February at the first bellwether trial.

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Google Slips Suit Over Alleged AI Spying On Users, For Now

By Allison Grande

A California federal judge has tossed, with permission to amend, a putative class action accusing Google of secretly tracking its email, chat and videoconferencing users' private communications through its Gemini AI assistant, finding that the plaintiffs had failed to provide enough specifics about what data Google accessed or any future harms they may face.

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Authors Must Wait To Appeal Meta AI Order In 'Tidy Package'

By Elliot Weld

Authors suing Meta Platforms Inc. will have to wait to appeal a judge's order that the tech giant's use of their works to train its Llama large language model was fair use, as the judge decided Wednesday to wait until the issue can be presented along with other cases in a "tidy package."

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FCC Using AI To Modernize Operations, Says Top Legal Aide

By Christopher Cole

While the Federal Communications Commission is emerging as a key federal agency tackling artificial intelligence policy, the FCC itself is taking advantage of the technology to make its operations run more smoothly, a top official says.

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FCC Cuts Space License Backlog In Half, Bureau Chief Says

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission has cut a backlog of applications for space-based industry licenses by more than half since adopting an "assembly line" approach to clearing paperwork, the agency's top official on space policy said Wednesday.

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FCC Says OK To New Foreign Investors In IHeart Radio

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission has already given auto industry bigwig iHeartMedia Inc. permission to be partially owned by some foreign investors, but the company is looking to increase that number, and the agency has just given it the green light.

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NC Will Tax Prediction Markets, Nix Break For Data Centers

By Maria Koklanaris

North Carolina will become the latest state to tax prediction markets, in addition to increasing taxes on sports betting and rolling back a tax break for data centers, under a budget signed by its governor.

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USTelecom Backs AT&T Bid To Escape Calif. Carrier Rules

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

USTelecom is urging the Federal Communications Commission to grant AT&T's petition to preempt California's "carrier of last resort" rules that the company says are delaying its rollout of all-IP phone networks.

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Comcast Says Power Co. Still Flouts FCC Pole Upgrade Order

By Nadia Dreid

Comcast says it's time for the Federal Communications Commission to step in and force Appalachian Power Co. to follow the agency's orders when it comes to covering the cost of fixing utility poles for broadband upgrades.

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9th Circ. Revives Whirlpool Dishwasher Warranty Class Action

By Jonathan Capriel

The Ninth Circuit has revived a Washington retiree's lawsuit accusing Whirlpool Corp. and an insurer of deceptively marketing a service plan as providing repairs or replacements for her dishwasher when the fine print allowed them to instead buy the appliance at a depreciated price, leaving her without enough money to replace it.

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Florida Cases To Watch In The 2nd Half Of 2026

By Carolina Bolado

New lawsuits over ChatGPT's role in a mass shooting on a Florida campus and a U.S. Supreme Court case that could upend most criminal trials in Florida are some of the litigation that the state's attorneys will be watching in the second half of 2026. ​​​​​​​Here, Law360 takes a look.

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Top Personal Injury, Med Mal News: 2026 Midyear Report

By Y. Peter Kang

A landmark social media addiction verdict and a U.S. Supreme Court decision overruling state law claims against Monsanto over the labeling of alleged Roundup cancer risks are among Law360's top personal injury and medical malpractice cases from the first six months of 2026.

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ASP Isotopes Investors Reach $9.4M Deal Over Tech Claims

By Sydney Price

Uranium enrichment company ASP Isotopes Inc. and its shareholders have reached a $9.4 million deal to end claims that the company and its executives artificially inflated share prices with misrepresentations regarding the capabilities of the company's so-called quantum enrichment technology.

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AXT Beats Suit Over Subsidiary IPO Risk Disclosures For Now

By Katryna Perera

A California federal judge has tossed a suit alleging AXT Inc. and two of its executives misled investors about risks with a planned initial public offering of its Chinese subsidiary, finding the suit fails to plead adequately that the executives acted with knowledge of wrongdoing or that the alleged corrective disclosure caused AXT's stock price to drop.

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Telehealth Co. Wage Suit Alive But Moved To SC

By MJ Koo

A federal judge ruled that a California telehealth company cannot escape a misclassification lawsuit on venue grounds but ordered the case moved to South Carolina where the physician plaintiff lives and works.

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Meta Nears Ax Of Suits Over Pump-And-Dump Facebook Ads

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge said Wednesday he's inclined to toss two proposed class actions alleging that Meta's AI tools enabled investment schemes advertised on Facebook, saying the litigation appears to be "on all fours" with a recent ruling in the same district finding such state claims are barred under federal securities law.

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Boston Jumps Into Social Media Addiction MDL

By Julie Manganis

The city of Boston said Wednesday it has joined the sweeping multidistrict social-media-addiction litigation against Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and Snapchat.

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Archer Looks To Toss Remainder Of Joby's Trade Secret Suit

By Elliot Weld

Archer Aviation has asked a California federal judge to throw out what's left of rival electric air taxi-maker Joby Aviation's trade secret suit, saying Joby had ignored the court's instructions to proceed with narrowed claims and instead tried to expand its allegations without adding more substance.

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Vax Skeptics Push To Advance Publisher Boycott Claims

By Gianna Ferrarin

A vaccine skepticism advocacy group once tied to Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told a D.C. federal court it's considering a mandamus petition to move forward its lawsuit claiming news organizations colluded with social media platforms to censor rivals.

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Samsung Accuses Netlist Of Patent 'Double-Dip' In Latest Suit

By Hailey Konnath

Samsung has kicked off yet another lawsuit in its long-running intellectual property dispute with Netlist, this time claiming that Netlist is trying to "double dip" with a demand that Samsung take a second license to Netlist's patents covering semiconductor technology, according to a complaint filed in Delaware federal court Wednesday.

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NC Biz Court Told Insurers Owe Coverage To E-Commerce Co.

By Gianna Ferrarin

Insurers under Nationwide and Lloyd's of London are facing a suit in the North Carolina Business Court from a digital marketing company alleging the insurers owe it for costs it incurred defending itself from claims it invaded users' privacy.

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Brief

Seagate's $175M Investor Deal Over Illegal Sales Gets First OK

By Sydney Price

A California federal judge has preliminarily approved a $175 million deal between data storage company Seagate Technologies and its investors to end claims that the company misrepresented that it could sell products to a blacklisted Chinese company.

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Brief

Guild Mortgage Unit Reaches Deal To End Data Breach Suit

By Isaac Monterose

A proposed class has decided to settle its data breach claims against mortgage lender and Guild Mortgage subsidiary Academy Mortgage Corp., according to a joint settlement notice filed in Utah federal court on Wednesday.

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3 Firms Guide MasTec's $1.7B Acquisition Of Superior Group

By Nate Beck

MasTec, a Coral Gables, Florida-based engineering and construction company, said it has reached a deal to buy The Superior Group, an Ohio-based, data center infrastructure-focused electrical contractor, for $1.7 billion.

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FTC, States Settle John Deere Right-To-Repair Case

By Matthew Perlman

The Federal Trade Commission and state enforcers reached a deal Wednesday to settle an antitrust case accusing John Deere of restricting equipment repairs, after the company agreed to give farmers and independent technicians the resources it provides to authorized dealers.

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Amazon Ordered To Give FTC Docs It Claimed Were Privileged

By Bonnie Eslinger

A Washington federal judge ordered Amazon to give the Federal Trade Commission several documents sought in the agency's antitrust case and said a "re-review" of the online retailer's discovery is needed to ensure the company "does not continue to withhold documents based on an improper application of the attorney-client privilege."

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Pillsbury Hires Ex-Simpson Thacher Exec As Chief AI Officer

By Matt Perez

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP announced on Wednesday the hiring of the former chief knowledge and innovation officer at Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP as its chief artificial intelligence officer.

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K&L Gates Adds Ex-CFTC Chief Counsel From Willkie Farr

By Tracey Read

K&L Gates LLP has brought on a Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP attorney who is a former chief counsel to ex-Commodity Futures Trading Commissioner Kristin N. Johnson, the firm said Wednesday.

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Agentic AI And Securities Law: Who Is The Adviser?

Securities regulation has always been actor-based, but as agentic artificial intelligence becomes more common, it will push the law toward a partially system-based framework in which systems themselves, and the relationships between them and their deployers, are the focus of regulatory attention, says Joseph A. Hall at Davis Polk.

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Coordinating Life Sciences IP Strategies In The US And EU

As postgrant practice for life sciences patents is restructured in the U.S. and European Union simultaneously, patent owners will need to implement transatlantic coordination that treats international proceedings as components of a single intellectual property risk architecture, says Paul Calvo at Sterne Kessler.

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Structuring Space Nuclear Deals For Regulatory Risk

With the White House's recent focus on space nuclear power, a highly important question for companies that want to build orbital reactors, lunar surface systems or critical components is whether the transaction documents can handle foreign investment constraints, export controls and treaty-linked liability, says Kristie Blase at Frazer + Blase.

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Conn. To Develop Pilot Behavioral Health Court In New Haven

By Christine DeRosa

A new task force has been formed in Connecticut aimed at developing a pilot behavioral health court in New Haven, with an eye toward expanding the program throughout the state.

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Ex-Associate Says Jackson Lewis Pushed Her Out After Leave

By MJ Koo

A former associate attorney who was on the partnership track at Jackson Lewis PC has brought suit against the employment law firm in California state court, alleging that it refused to accommodate her temporary medical restrictions after she returned from leave and pressured her to accept a demotion or resign.

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Squire Patton Adds Atty From House Epstein, Trump Probes

By Tracey Read

A key player in government investigations into Jeffrey Epstein's crimes and the assassination attempts on President Donald Trump has joined Squire Patton Boggs LLP to lead the firm's congressional investigations group, the firm announced Thursday.

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Ex-Wis. Judge Appeals Conviction In ICE Obstruction Case

By Ganesh Setty

A former Wisconsin state judge convicted of obstructing immigration authorities trying to arrest a defendant after he appeared in her courtroom lodged an appeal before the Seventh Circuit on Thursday, after avoiding a prison sentence but being fined $5,000.

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