9th Circ. Drops Speech Holding In Seattle Gig Worker Ruling

By Benjamin Morse

The Ninth Circuit on Thursday withdrew its earlier finding that Seattle's protections for app-based delivery workers don't regulate speech, replacing it with a narrower ruling that assumes the law involves speech but still passes First Amendment scrutiny.

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States Say GM Will Pay $220M To Settle Driver Privacy Claims

By Brian Steele

Attorneys general said Thursday that General Motors will pay $220 million to three dozen states to settle claims that it illegally sold nearly 10.3 million drivers' behavior data and location information to third parties, including data brokers that passed it on to insurers.

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EMT Immunity Doesn't Cover Driving, Wash. Justices Say

By Ben Adlin

Emergency medical technicians' qualified immunity from negligence claims in Washington does not extend to driving ambulances, a divided state Supreme Court held Thursday, ruling that the transportation of patients falls outside EMTs' statutory immunity for rendering emergency services.

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9th Circ. Ruling Dooms Sports Betting Suit, Washington Says

By Tom Lotshaw

Prediction market operator Underdog's contention that its sports-based event contracts are not subject to Washington state gambling laws is doomed under a recent Ninth Circuit ruling holding otherwise, the Evergreen State told a Washington federal judge.

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Wash. Jury Asked To Pin Blame For Fatal 2022 Seaplane Crash

By Rachel Riley

The owner of a seaplane involved in a deadly 2022 crash told a Washington state jury on Thursday that a design flaw caused the aircraft to plunge into the bay below, contending an affiliate of the plane's Canadian manufacturer owes $1.14 million for equipment destroyed in the crash.

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Wash. Panel Says Man Didn't Possess Cached Abuse Image

By Parker Quinlan

A Washington appeals court has reversed a man's conviction on one of four counts related to images of child sexual abuse, ruling he was incorrectly found to be in knowing possession of an image that was automatically saved to his computer's hard drive without his knowledge.

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Judge Rejects Extra Hurdle For Medicaid Frailty Exemption

By Chris Villani

A Trump administration bid to create additional barriers to Medicaid eligibility was rejected Thursday by a Massachusetts federal judge, who ruled that Congress did not delegate to the executive branch the task of deciding who is too medically frail to meet work requirements.

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Homebuyers Defend Third Zillow Suit Over Loan Kickbacks

By Nate Beck

A group of homebuyers urged a Washington federal judge to uphold a third amended complaint alleging Zillow paid kickbacks to brokers who steered homebuyers to use the company's mortgage services, driving up the cost of home loans and purchases overall.

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Utah Hits Kalshi With Criminal Charges Over Sports Offerings

By Ganesh Setty

Utah has brought criminal charges in state court against Kalshi and its co-founders under its anti-gambling laws, amid an ongoing jurisdictional battle over whether federal law preempts state and tribal regulation of the prediction market platform's sports event contracts.

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9th Circ. Revives Tequila-Maker's TM Fight With Sutter Home

By Ben Adlin

The Ninth Circuit on Thursday reversed a ruling that blocked Roar Spirits LLC from registering two El Bandido Yankee tequila trademarks, holding that a reasonable factfinder could conclude that differences between El Bandido Yankee and Sutter Home Winery's Bandit boxed wine trademark make it unlikely consumers would confuse the brands.

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9th Circ. Probes Warehouse Workers' Arbitration Exemption

By Max Kutner

A Ninth Circuit panel on Thursday appeared somewhat skeptical of an argument that a transportation worker exemption to federal arbitration requirements doesn't apply to a proposed class of warehouse workers, after the appellate court found warehouse workers fit the carveout in a separate case.

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Are You Happy With Your In-House Role? Take Our Survey

Is your company giving you everything you need to succeed? What are some misconceptions about working in-house? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's In-House Satisfaction Survey.

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DOJ Backs Ex-Wisconsin Judge's ICE Obstruction Conviction

By Andrea Keckley

The U.S. Department of Justice told the Seventh Circuit that the high-profile conviction of a former Wisconsin state court judge for interfering with an ICE arrest was not compromised by her position on the bench or by jury instructions.

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Roundup

Hub Hires: WilmerHale, Womble Bond, Kirkland

By Chris Villani

Falling temperatures didn't bring a cooldown in the Boston legal lateral market as WilmerHale and Robinson & Cole LLP both welcomed former assistant attorneys general, Honigman LLP established its first office in the market, and Kirkland & Ellis LLP snagged a partner from Ropes & Gray LLP.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Consovoy McCarthy PLLC and Smith Porsborg Schweigert Armstrong Moldenhauer & Smith lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Eighth Circuit struck down the Federal Reserve's regulatory cap on the swipe fees that larger banks may collect on debit card transactions.

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Cyberattack Class Action Against Fox Rothschild Dropped

By Madison Arnold

Three data breach victims have dismissed their proposed class action against Fox Rothschild LLP after ransomware group Silent Ransom Group targeted the firm.

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Ramona Nee, Tapped To Lead Weil, Now In Talks With Kirkland

By Daniel Moritz-Rabson

Ramona Nee, the co-leader of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP's U.S. private equity practice who had been poised to become its leader, is engaged in talks to join Kirkland & Ellis LLP, a source with knowledge of the situation told Law360 Pulse on Friday.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

Meta reached a settlement during jury selection in the second Los Angeles bellwether trial over claims its Instagram platform harms the mental health of children, leaving Snap as the lone defendant facing trial. In the meantime, current and former in-house lawyers for Google and Meta said that the ability of AI to write patent applications is rapidly improving, and that in blind tests, experienced attorneys often deem AI-drafted patents to be superior to those from humans. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Jackson Walker Inks $500K Deal In EXCO's Ch. 11 Fee Fight

By Clara Geoghegan

Jackson Walker has agreed to pay EXCO Resources Inc. $500,000 to end litigation over fees paid to the firm while one of its partners was in an undisclosed relationship with the former bankruptcy judge who mediated in the reorganized oil and gas driller's Texas Chapter 11.

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Fed. Judge A No-Show Amid Inquiry Into Her Mental Health

By Craig Clough

U.S. District Judge Ada Brown of the Northern District of Texas failed to appear Friday before a judicial investigative committee examining allegations that she abandoned her post and concerns that a mental condition may be interfering with her ability to perform her duties.

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K&L Gates DQ'd In Trust's Mortgage Loan Agreement Dispute

By Isaac Monterose

A Washington federal judge disqualified K&L Gates LLP from a trust's dispute over a residential mortgage loan sale agreement, ruling that the law firm must leave the suit because it drafted the form agreement used in the transaction.

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Cruz Counsel Returns To FCC As Space Bureau Chief

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission has named a former employee with experience in both the public and private sectors to head the agency's Space Bureau, after a stint as chief telecommunications counsel to the Senate Commerce Committee.

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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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Kalshi Taps Clement For High Court Sports Contracts Fight

By Elaine Briseño

Kalshi has hired appellate heavyweight Paul D. Clement of Clement & Murphy PLLC to represent the company in its potential U.S. Supreme Court battle over whether the prediction markets platform's sports wagering is subject to state or federal oversight.

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