9th Circ. Says Judge Defied Order To Revive Opioid Case

By Elliot Weld

The Ninth Circuit on Thursday again revived a nearly 7-year-old case against a California doctor for allegedly selling opioid prescriptions and ordered that the case be reassigned, saying the presiding judge had defied the plain language of a previous order to reinstate the indictment.

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Oil Trader Sues BakerHostetler, Alleges Fake CIA Program Con

By Craig Clough

A Swiss-based oil trading company sanctioned last year by the United Kingdom for alleged ties to Russia has sued BakerHostetler in California court, alleging a con man posing as a CIA agent tried to steal control of the company as the law firm vouched for his legitimacy.

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Musk Fights Latest Subpoena Over $44B Twitter Purchase

By Bonnie Eslinger

Elon Musk's counsel urged a California federal judge on Thursday to undo a magistrate judge's decision requiring the businessman to testify again before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about his $44 billion purchase of the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, calling the subpoena overbroad and unconstitutional.

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9th Circ. Revives Northrop Retirees' Putative Class Action

By Hailey Konnath

The Ninth Circuit on Thursday once again resurrected a proposed class action accusing Northrop Grumman of misinforming retirees about their pension benefits, ruling that the retirees have plausibly alleged that they received inaccurate benefit statements.

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Calif. Atty Wins Ruling To Pursue YouTube Defamation Suit

By James Mills

A California state appeals court has revived an Orange County attorney's defamation suit over comments made in a YouTube video regarding her father's affiliation with the Vietnamese Communist party.

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AI-Created Database Isn't Copyrightable, Job Search Co. Says

By Henrik Nilsson

Job searching platform Tarta.ai has urged a California federal judge to toss a suit accusing it of stealing rival Jobiak LLC's automated database and using it for its own job postings, arguing that Jobiak's website is not subject to copyright protection because it's powered by artificial intelligence.

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Ex-Minor Leaguer Settles With SEC Over Del Taco Deal Tip Off

By Emilie Ruscoe

A former minor league baseball player has agreed to pay more than $58,000 to resolve U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission insider trading allegations involving burger chain Jack in the Box's $575 million acquisition of its fellow chain Del Taco.

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EPA Beats Youths' Constitutional Climate Suit, For Now

By Gina Kim

A California federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit from a group of children accusing the federal government of allowing unsafe levels of climate pollution in the air, noting it's unclear how a declaratory order from the court would redress their harms, but gave them one final chance to amend their allegations.

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CARB Chief Slams Truckers' Bid To Void 'Clean Fleets' Rule

By Linda Chiem

A California regulation requiring commercial truck and bus operators to transition to zero-emission vehicle fleets over the next decade doesn't flout federal law and hasn't even been enforced yet, a state official said Wednesday in a court filing seeking to nullify a legal challenge from a trucking group.

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EPA Defends Factory Farm Water Pollution Regs At 9th Circ.

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday urged the Ninth Circuit to toss green groups' lawsuit seeking to revive their petition for new, stronger Clean Water Act regulations for large animal feeding facilities.

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Mobile Carriers Pay $10M To End 50 AGs' Deceptive Ad Claims

By Celeste Bott

A coalition of nearly all the country's state attorneys general on Thursday announced $10.25 million in settlements that AT&T, Verizon and T-Mobile have agreed to pay to end a multistate probe into the wireless carriers' allegedly misleading advertising practices.

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Amazon Shakes Wash. Suit Premised On Calif. Wiretap Claims

By Allison Grande

A Washington federal judge has tossed a putative class action accusing Amazon.com Inc. of unlawfully recording chat conversations with consumers, finding that the plaintiff couldn't sustain a suit containing only California claims because the e-commerce giant's usage agreement makes clear that Washington law governs such disputes. 

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Nintendo Gets Switch Suit Stay Pending Patent Review

By Rachel Riley

A Seattle federal judge agreed Thursday that Nintendo could pause an intellectual property suit against it while it seeks to challenge the validity of the patents at issue, saying the plaintiff could not now complain about delays since it waited six years to file its complaint.

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SeaWorld Workers Nab Class Cert. In 401(k) Fees Suit

By Sydney Price

A California federal judge agreed to certify a class of 10,000 current and former workers suing SeaWorld for keeping high-cost funds in their retirement accounts and retaining expensive record-keepers.

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Nike Denied Nursing Workers Lactation Spaces, Suit Says

By Emmy Freedman

Nike failed to provide nursing employees with adequate breaks or spaces to express breast milk and told a manager that she was setting a bad example for her team when she asked to pump milk outside of her scheduled breaks, a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County superior court said.

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Biz Owner Admits Hiding $3.4M In Income To Dodge Taxes

By Anna Bongardino

A San Francisco Bay Area man has pled guilty to tax evasion in California federal court, admitting he dodged some of the income tax he owed over a four-year period by concealing more than $3.4 million he earned from his businesses.

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Chancery Tosses Qualcomm Investor's Diversity Suit

By Leslie A. Pappas

A shareholder who sued Qualcomm Inc. for allegedly misleading the public and investors about its efforts to diversify its board has failed to show that the company didn't consider diverse candidates, Delaware's Court of Chancery said Thursday, dismissing the shareholder's case.

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Hermes Seeks Exit From Antitrust Suit Over Birkin Bag Sales

By Henrik Nilsson

Hermès urged a California federal judge on Thursday to toss an antitrust class action accusing the luxury fashion retailer of tying the sale of its iconic Birkin and Kelly handbags to other items, saying the plaintiffs' assertion that the handbags constitute their own market minimizes the "fierce competition" across the luxury goods industry.

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Google Slams Maps Antitrust Suit As 'Cut-And-Paste Job'

By Bonnie Eslinger

Google's counsel urged a California federal judge Thursday to permanently toss a proposed antitrust class action over its Maps product, calling the complaint a "cut-and-paste job" from a 2020 House report and accusing plaintiffs of "trying to gin up an antitrust claim" where one doesn't exist.

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Justices Asked To Weigh In On $1.3B India Award Fight

By Caroline Simson

Shareholders of an Indian satellite communications company are pressing the U.S. Supreme Court to clarify the analysis of a highly technical jurisdictional question as they look to revive their bid to enforce a $1.3 billion arbitral award against a state-owned division of India's space agency.

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Apnea Device Maker ProSomnus Gets OK For Ch. 11 Loan

By Rick Archer

A Delaware bankruptcy judge Thursday gave sleep apnea device maker ProSomnus interim permission to tap into $13 million in Chapter 11 financing to fund the company through what it says will be the end of its case in August.

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TPG Lands Nearly $8B Across 3 Asia-Focused Funds

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Private equity giant TPG, advised by Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP and Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP, has closed three Asia-focused funds after securing a combined total of nearly $8 billion from investors.

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Masimo Makes Offer To End Activist Politan's Proxy Contest

By Elaine Briseño

Medical technology company Masimo Corp. revealed Thursday that it is willing to appoint one of the director nominees put forth by activist investment firm Politan Capital Management LP in exchange for the company dropping its proxy fight, though Politan signaled distaste with the proposed deal.

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What's Notable In JAMS' New Mass Arbitration Rules

The Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services’ recently released guidelines, coming on the heels of similar American Arbitration Association amendments, suggests that mass arbitrations will remain an efficient means for consumers to vindicate their rights against companies, say Jonathan Waisnor and Brandon Heitmann at Labaton Keller. 

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Keeping Up With Class Actions: A New Era Of Higher Stakes

Corporate defendants saw unprecedented settlement numbers across all areas of class action litigation in 2022 and 2023, and this year has kept pace so far, with three settlements that stand out for the nature of the claims and for their high dollar amounts, says Gerald Maatman at Duane Morris.

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King & Spalding Accused Of Anti-White, Pro-LGBTQ Bias

By Ryan Boysen

A straight white woman is suing King & Spalding LLP alleging discrimination after getting a rare green light from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, claiming she incurred "significant damages" when she was dissuaded from applying to a summer associate program open only to "diverse" applicants.

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Former Akin Chairman R. Bruce McLean Dies At 77

By Tracey Read

Former Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP Chairman R. Bruce McLean — who helped transform Akin into an international powerhouse — died Thursday, the firm said. He was 77.

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Fox Rothschild Hires Ex-Seed IP Trio On The West Coast

By Andrea Keckley

Fox Rothschild is bringing on more intellectual property talent on the West Coast, announcing Friday that it had added three former Seed IP attorneys to its Seattle offices.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Pomerantz's Murielle Steven Walsh

By Adrian Cruz

For Murielle Steven Walsh, the concept of standing up for the underdog came early in her life, as the longtime Pomerantz LLP partner described her constant battles with Catholic school teachers as some of the first motivating factors that led her to pursue a legal career that involves representing shareholders suing some of the world's biggest corporations.

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Cohen Urged To Stop Trashing Trump As Testimony Nears

By Rachel Scharf, Frank G. Runyeon and Stewart Bishop

The Manhattan judge overseeing Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial made clear Friday that he wants star witness Michael Cohen to stop talking publicly about the charges as the former president's erstwhile attorney prepares to take the stand as soon as Monday.

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Coverage Recap: Day 11 Of Trump's NY Hush Money Trial

By Stewart Bishop

Law360 reporters are providing live updates from the Manhattan criminal courthouse as Donald Trump goes on trial for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments ahead of the 2016 election. Here's a recap from Friday, day 11 of the trial.

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The Week In Trump: All Eyes On NY As Other Cases Lag

By Phillip Bantz

Donald Trump's Manhattan hush money trial took center stage with dramatic testimony from adult film actress Stormy Daniels, while the former president's criminal cases in Georgia and Florida ran into delays that could last through Election Day.

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Dem Lawmakers Call For 5th Circ. Judge To Exit CFPB Case

By Jack Rodgers

Six Democratic lawmakers sent a letter admonishing the Judicial Conference, saying Friday it was "undermining the integrity of the judiciary" by allowing a Fifth Circuit judge to participate in a matter in which he has a significant conflict of interest.

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Now Hiring: Michigan AG Seeks Attys For Climate Change Suits

By Madeline Lyskawa

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is looking for attorneys and law firms to serve as assistant attorneys general to pursue litigation related to climate change on behalf of the state of Michigan.

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SEC Asks For Win Following Ex-Apple Atty's Guilty Plea

By Sydney Price

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission moved for summary judgment Friday on insider trading claims against a former senior attorney at Apple Inc., arguing there is no need to relitigate claims since the lawyer already pled guilty to criminal charges related to a lucrative insider trading scheme.

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Feds Seek 20 Mos. For Ex-Baltimore State's Atty

By Elliot Weld

Prosecutors asked a Maryland federal court to sentence former state's attorney Marilyn Mosby to 20 months in prison after she was convicted of lying to obtain money from a retirement fund and conning a lender to obtain a vacation home, saying she "could not be trusted to tell the truth" despite her position of public trust.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP, Lewis Law Firm PLLC and Kleppin Firm PA lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court determined that plaintiffs in copyright ownership disputes can recover damages beyond the three-year statute of limitations for bringing a claim.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Help for lawyers in dealing with legal data challenges has come, thanks to corporate and law firm leaders who founded a new industry framework called Legal Data Intelligence. And at least one U.S. senator is questioning Amazon and Walmart's use of new tech to create "dynamic pricing" that may harm consumers.

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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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E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data

Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

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