LA County Inks Historic $4B Juvenile Sex Abuse Settlement

By Rachel Scharf

Los Angeles County announced Friday that it's reached a $4 billion tentative settlement to resolve nearly 7,000 claims of sexual abuse at juvenile detention facilities and foster homes, a historic deal described by some as the largest-ever payout of its kind.

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Insurers Accuse SoCalEdison Of Sparking Eaton Fire

By Elizabeth Daley

Ten carriers blamed Southern California Edison for costing the insurance industry billions after negligently starting the January Eaton Fire, telling a California state court that the blaze was caused by a poorly maintained transmission tower whose wires arced, igniting vegetation.

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Retired Calif. Judge Admonished For Use Of Racial Slur

By Rose Krebs

A now-retired California state court judge has been censured by an ethics panel for "undignified, discourteous, and offensive" comments it said "could reasonably be perceived as bias."

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Musk Atty Objects To 'Outrageous' Deposition Request

By Jessica Corso

Elon Musk's attorney has said it's "outrageous" that a class of former Twitter investors is trying to depose the attorney in a case accusing Musk of intentionally tanking the social media platform's stock price, telling a California federal judge the move threatens to undermine his attorney-client relationship.

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OpenAI And Musk Get 2026 Trial Date, Likely Sans Microsoft

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge on Friday nailed down an expedited March 2026 trial schedule for Elon Musk and OpenAI's contract fight over OpenAI's transition into a for-profit enterprise, while staying antitrust claims indefinitely and calling Microsoft's request to participate in the trial if she dismisses Musk's claims against it "not logical."

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AGs Sue To Halt Disruptions To NIH Grant Funding

By Julie Manganis

A coalition of 16 states on Friday sued the National Institutes of Health over delays and cancellations of grant programs linked to vaccines, transgender issues and other areas they say are currently "disfavored" by the Trump administration.

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Analysis

Defamation Litigation Roundup: Jay-Z, Blake Lively, Drake

By Theresa Schliep

In this month's review of ongoing defamation fights, Law360 looks back on an escalation in Jay-Z's case against personal injury lawyer Tony Buzbee, who he accuses of pursuing a "false" and "malicious" rape suit, as well as on the war of words between actors Justin Baldoni and Blake Lively.

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21 States Say Trump Order Will Disenfranchise Millions

By Greg Lamm

Attorneys general from California, Washington. New York and 18 other states have filed federal lawsuits to block President Donald Trump's executive order on voting, saying it is an unconstitutional power grab that would make it harder for millions of eligible people to vote.

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Trump Gets Supreme Court Win In Teacher Grants Case

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday axed a Massachusetts federal judge's order requiring the Trump administration to reinstate $250 million in teacher training grants for eight states, giving President Donald Trump his first high court win amid what he claims is a flood of unlawful court orders restraining the executive branch's power.

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Roundup

Real Estate Recap: 'Gold Card,' ESG, Tokenization

By Real Estate Authority Staff

Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including insights into the latest EB-5 investment rush, the tightrope real estate companies are walking with environmental, social and governance factors, and how tokenization can apply to the real estate sector.

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GOP Sens. Attack Calif. Waivers Despite Parliamentarian Ruling

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

The U.S. Senate parliamentarian on Friday said Republicans may not use a rule-killing legislative maneuver to void Biden-era Clean Air Act waivers that allow California to set its own vehicle emissions standards — but the GOP is plunging ahead anyway.

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Pipe Cos. Settle $3M Cargo Damage Dispute With Insurer

By Elizabeth Daley

A steel pipe importer and a distributor reached a settlement with an insurer in a $3 million dispute over cargo lost and damaged in transit from South Korea, according to a notice filed in a California federal court.

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Meta Wins Bid To Transfer Del. MDL Coverage Fight To Calif.

By Dorothy Atkins

The Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation sent a Delaware insurance-coverage dispute between Hartford, Chubb Group entities and Meta to California where underlying personal-injury litigation is centralized, finding that although the parties accuse each other of forum shopping, "we are not inclined to finely parse which is the guiltier party."

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Bigelow Drinkers Overpaid 11% Due To 'USA' Label, Jury Told

By Craig Clough

An expert testifying for a California class of R.C. Bigelow tea purchasers on Friday told a federal jury considering damages caused by false advertising claims that the class overpaid by 11.3%, or $3.26 million, due to a "Manufactured in the USA 100%" label the judge already found is deceiving.

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Westlaw Rival Gets Early Appeal Of 1st Fair Use AI Ruling

By Ivan Moreno

The Third Circuit will be the first appeals court to weigh in on a dispute over using copyrighted material to train artificial intelligence systems after a Delaware federal court on Friday granted permission to send up questions from ROSS Intelligence Inc. over the copyrightability of Thomson Reuters' Westlaw headnotes and fair use.

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Perplexity AI Tries To Cancel TM In Software Co. IP Fight

By Adam Lidgett

Perplexity AI Inc. has launched its counteroffensive against a California federal court suit accusing it of trademark infringement by asking the court to cancel the trademark at the heart of the case brought earlier this year by a software company.

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Unions Call Trump's Federal Worker Bargaining EO Illegal

By Beverly Banks

Six unions representing thousands of federal employees fought against President Donald Trump's executive order looking to cease collective bargaining at several agencies with "national security" focuses, telling a California federal court that the order violates the First and Fifth amendments to the U.S. Constitution.

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Trucking Co. Ends Calif. Agency's Conviction Bias Probe

By Patrick Hoff

An Iowa-based transportation and logistics company agreed to pay $100,000 to end a California Civil Rights Department investigation into allegations that it unlawfully pulled a job offer because of an applicant's criminal history, according to the state agency.

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Split DC Circ. Denies Calif. Subsidies For Border Hospitals

By Gianna Ferrarin

A split D.C. Circuit panel on Friday found it was not unconstitutional for California to exclude hospitals bordering the state from a program distributing supplemental payments to providers that serve Medi-Cal beneficiaries.

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Mortgage Lender Sues US For $5M In Worker Credit Refunds

By Anna Scott Farrell

The Internal Revenue Service owes a mortgage lender $5 million in refunds for worker tax credits after it had to suspend operations during the pandemic, the lender told a California federal court, saying the agency denied one of its claims for credits without conducting an audit.

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Kuwait, Feds Reach Deal In Minister Embezzlement Case

By Grace Dixon

The U.S. government, the Kuwaiti government and the California business partner of a former Kuwaiti deputy prime minister accused of embezzling millions of dollars from the Middle Eastern nation told a California federal court that they've reached a deal in a related federal civil forfeiture case.

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NIH Wants Prompt 1st Circ. Review Of Agency's Grant Caps

By Brian Dowling

The National Institutes of Health is seeking a quicker path to appeal a ruling that blocked its cap on research grant costs, asking a Boston federal judge on Friday to make permanent the preliminary injunction that put the agency's cost-cutting plans on hold. 

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Hilco To Fight $177M GSA Deal Cancellation

By Isaac Monterose

Hilco Development Services said it will fight the General Services Administration's decision to cancel its $177 million sale of a decommissioned federal government building in California to the construction company.

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Trevor Milton Wants Nikola Corp. Ch. 11 Subpoena Quashed

By Ben Zigterman

Recently pardoned Nikola Corp. founder Trevor Milton asked a Delaware bankruptcy judge to reject a subpoena seeking documents from an arbitration between the former CEO and embattled electric-vehicle maker.

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Justices Told To Keep 'Century-Old Status Quo' On Birthright

By Katie Buehler

States, immigrant advocacy groups and expectant mothers urged the U.S. Supreme Court Friday to reject President Donald Trump's bid to restrict nationwide court orders prohibiting implementation of his executive order aimed at limiting birthright citizenship, arguing that maintaining the long-held understanding of the right won't cause any harm.

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Pot Investor Can't Force Sales Of Products In Contract Row

By Mike Curley

A Michigan state judge on Friday denied a cannabis investor's motion for an order forcing the sale of stored product while a dispute with his business partners plays out, finding the investor hasn't shown he's likely to succeed — particularly as much or all of the suit may end up in arbitration.

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Taxation With Representation: Ropes & Gray, Paul Hastings

By Zak Kostro

In this week's Taxation With Representation, Siemens AG acquires Dotmatics from Insight Partners, LPL Financial acquires Commonwealth Financial Network, Brookfield Asset Management takes a majority stake in Angel Oak Cos., and TowneBank acquires Old Point Financial Corp.

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Series

Birding Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Observing and documenting birds in their natural habitats fosters patience, sharpens observational skills and provides moments of pure wonder — qualities that foster personal growth and enrich my legal career, says Allison Raley at Arnall Golden.

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The Path Forward For Construction Cos. After Calif. Wildfires

The increasing frequency of disastrous wildfires, like those that recently occurred in California, presents a set of complex challenges for the construction industry, including regulatory hurdles and supply chain disruptions that can complicate rebuilding efforts, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

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Litigation Firms Back Perkins Coie In Suit Over Trump Order

By Jake Maher

A slew of midsize and small litigation firms took up Perkins Coie LLP's cause in its legal battle against an executive order from President Donald Trump targeting the BigLaw firm, arguing Monday in an amicus brief that the order is "anathema" to the justice system.

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Congressional Dems Probe Trump's Actions Against BigLaw

By Courtney Bublé

A pair of top congressional Democrats wrote to the White House and six major law firms over the weekend seeking more information about deals that multiple BigLaw firms have reached with the Trump administration and the possible fallout.

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Brown Rudnick Inks $8M Deal With Guo Ch. 11 Trustee

By Alex Wittenberg

Brown Rudnick LLP has agreed to pay nearly $8 million in a deal with the trustee overseeing Chinese exile Miles Guo's Chapter 11 case in Connecticut to settle potential claims tied to the law firm's onetime work for the convicted fraudster.

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Holland & Knight Lands 8-Atty Seward & Kissel Maritime Team

By Rose Krebs

Holland & Knight LLP announced Monday that it has added an eight-person team from Seward & Kissel LLP to bolster its asset finance group and enhance its efforts to steer clients through key shipping financing and maritime issues.

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Justices Remove Bar On Venezuelan Removals

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday ruled the Trump administration can move forward with its removal of alleged Venezuelan gang members from the United States under the Alien Enemies Act, vacating a D.C. federal judge's order that had temporarily blocked President Donald Trump's invocation of the 1798 wartime law.

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Full DC Circ. Lifts Pause On NLRB, MSPB Reinstatements

By Tim Ryan

The full D.C. Circuit on Monday lifted a March panel decision pausing the reinstatement of National Labor Relations Board and Merit Systems Protection Board members that President Donald Trump fired, saying U.S. Supreme Court precedent blessing limitations on the president's ability to fire agency officials still stands.

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Justice Roberts Pauses Return Order In Deportation Case

By Katie Buehler

Chief Justice John Roberts hit pause Monday on a federal judge's order requiring the Trump administration to quickly bring back a Maryland man who was mistakingly deported to El Salvador and imprisoned there, freeing the administration from a late night compliance deadline.

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Judge Who Shot Wife Warned Against Retrial 'Press Tour'

By Gina Kim

The California judge presiding over the murder trial of an Orange County jurist who fatally shot his wife admonished him Monday for embarking on a recent "press tour," warning that he could be violating the state judicial ethics code by commenting on a pending case. 

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Littler Wants Out Of Fired Tech Exec's Bias Suit

By Grace Elletson

Littler Mendelson has asked to be cut loose from a former tech company executive's suit claiming the firm and the business worked together to retaliate against her for complaining that her boss made bigoted comments, arguing to a New York federal court that it can't be held liable for the legal advice it provided.

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