Combs Lodges $50M Suit Over Supposed Sex Assault Tapes

By Rachel Scharf

Sean "Diddy" Combs filed a $50 million defamation suit in New York federal court on Wednesday accusing a grand jury witness, a lawyer and Nexstar Media Inc. of spreading falsities about nonexistent videos that purportedly depict the indicted hip-hop mogul sexually assaulting intoxicated celebrities and minors.

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15 States Reach $7.4B Settlement With Sackler Family

By Spencer Brewer and Frank G. Runyeon

A bipartisan coalition of states on Thursday announced a $7.4 billion settlement in principle with the Sackler family and their company Purdue Pharma Inc., representing the largest settlement to date with the family accused of contributing significantly to the opioid epidemic.

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11 States Say DOJ Can't Make Them Enforce Deportations

By Madeline Lyskawa

Eleven state attorneys general fired back Thursday at a U.S. Department of Justice memorandum instructing federal prosecutors to take action against states that interfere with the Trump administration's plans to deport unlawfully present immigrants, calling the move unconstitutional. 

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Analysis

Hiring Freeze, Ending Telework Would Devastate USPTO

By Dani Kass

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office would be uniquely harmed if forced to follow the Trump administration's return to office mandate, given its nearly 30-year history of telework that has led to 96% of its employees being permanently remote.

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Conflict Limits 1 Lawyer On Javice Team As Trial Date Slips

By Pete Brush

A lawyer defending Charlie Javice on charges she swindled JPMorgan Chase into paying $175 million for a financial aid startup she founded will be limited in representing her, a Manhattan federal judge said Thursday, before pushing trial back a week.

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PayPal To Pay $2M To NY Regulator In Cybersecurity Deal

By Katryna Perera

PayPal agreed on Thursday to pay a $2 million fine to the New York State Department of Financial Services to resolve allegations that it failed to use qualified personnel to manage key cybersecurity functions and failed to provide proper training to address cybersecurity risks, resulting in sensitive customer information being vulnerable to hackers.

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NJ Town Loses Bid To Join NYC Congestion Pricing Suit

By Carla Baranauckas

A federal judge on Thursday rebuffed a bid from the mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey, to be heard in the ongoing litigation surrounding this month's implementation of the congestion pricing toll program in Manhattan.

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Brief

Section 702 Searches Require A Warrant, Judge Says

By Nadia Dreid

Courts generally need a warrant to use the backdoor known as Section 702 to search through an American's communications, a New York federal judge has ruled in an opinion that the American Civil Liberties Union is calling the "first of its kind."

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DraftKings Sued Again Over Alleged 'Deceptive' Promotions

By David Steele

DraftKings lures new bettors with unethical and fraudulent practices, such as "risk-free" bets, newcomer bonuses and deposit matches, that make it "the present face of competition in the obscenely profitable, and formerly illegal, industry," according to a proposed class action in New York federal court.

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Nike Says Defamation Allegations Must Go In $60M TM Fight

By Adam Lidgett

Nike moved this week to stop a Los Angeles-based company that says it once collaborated with the sportswear giant on custom sneakers for celebrities and athletes from moving forward with a defamation counterclaim against Nike's $60 million trademark lawsuit.

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Fox Raises Specter Of Corruption In LA's Smartmatic Contract

By Rachel Scharf

Fox News has filed a public records lawsuit suggesting that Los Angeles County officials may have taken bribes to award a 2020 election contract to Smartmatic, the voting technology company currently pursuing a $2.7 billion defamation suit over Fox's coverage of that election.

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Buzbee Says Jay-Z Is Who Should Be Sanctioned In Diddy Suit

By Hailey Konnath

Texas attorney Tony Buzbee tore into rapper Jay-Z's request that Buzbee be sanctioned for filing a suit accusing Jay-Z and Sean "Diddy" Combs of raping a 13-year-old, arguing that Jay-Z is merely trying to intimidate the accuser and that if anyone should be sanctioned, it's Jay-Z.

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Feds Want 14 Years For Fraudster Who Scammed NBA Pros

By Elliot Weld

Prosecutors asked a Manhattan federal judge to sentence a recidivist fraudster who was convicted of swindling two former NBA players out of $8 million to up to 14 years in prison, saying his previous sentences had not deterred him and he'd committed repeated bail violations.

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Chinese Ride Co. Ordered To Produce Regulator Testimonies

By Sydney Price

A New York federal judge ordered Chinese ride-hailing giant Didi Global Inc. to provide testimony about its interactions with Chinese regulators before its 2021 initial public offering, rejecting the company's claim that Chinese law prevents disclosure.

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NY Regulator Steps Up Overdraft Fee Fight In CFPB's Wake

By Jon Hill

New York's Department of Financial Services has proposed new limits on overdraft and insufficient funds fees for banks that it regulates, positioning the state to pick up where the Biden administration left off with efforts to curb so-called junk fees.

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Brief

NY Federal Judge Urged To OK $149M Grain Exporter Award

By Elliot Weld

Corporate trustee services provider Madison Pacific Trust Ltd. asked a Manhattan federal judge to confirm a $149 million arbitration award that it won from the founders of a Ukrainian grain exporting conglomerate that allegedly failed to pay its debt.

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Kirkland-Led Francisco Partners Wraps Credit Fund At $3.3B

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Kirkland & Ellis LLP-advised Francisco Partners revealed Thursday that it clinched its third opportunistic credit fund above target after securing $3.3 billion from investors.

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BakerHostetler Adds Co-Leader For New Security Task Force

By Emily Sawicki

A career prosecutor who spent the past decade as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Eastern District of New York has joined BakerHostetler to colead the firm's new national security investigations and litigation task force, according to a Thursday announcement.

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Key Trends In PFAS Regulation And Litigation For 2025

The critical policy milestones for per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances expected in 2025 will not only shape the trajectory of PFAS regulation, but also set key precedents for environmental accountability, potentially reshaping the corporate approach to these "forever chemicals" for decades to come, say attorneys at MG+M.

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What Insurers Should Know About AI Use In Litigation

As the use of artificial intelligence in litigation evolves, insurers should note standing court orders, instances of judges utilizing AI to determine policy definitions and the application of evidentiary standards to expert evidence that incorporates AI, says Sarah Abrams at Baleen Specialty.

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UK Lawyers Can Access Broad US Discovery To Win Cases

Given its breadth, U.S. discovery can be a powerful tool in litigation in the U.K. and other jurisdictions outside the U.S., and a survey of recent cases indicates that discovery requests made in the U.S. are likely to be granted — with many applications even proceeding without contest, say lawyers at Miller & Chevalier.

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Series

Coaching Little League Makes Me A Better Lawyer

While coaching poorly played Little League Baseball early in the morning doesn't sound like a good time, I love it — and the experience has taught me valuable lessons about imperfection, compassion and acceptance that have helped me grow as a person and as a lawyer, says Alex Barnett at DiCello Levitt.

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Companies Risk White House Wrath By Keeping DEI Programs

By Sarah Jarvis

For companies pushing forward with their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives amid a torrent of attacks from President Donald Trump and his allies, there are myriad potential risks ahead — and murky questions about the legal parameters of Trump's anti-DEI agenda.

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Law Students Scramble As Federal Gov't Yanks Job Offers

By Alison Knezevich

Law students across the country are scrambling to figure out their next steps after a range of federal agencies yanked job and internship offers this week because of the new hiring freeze imposed by the Trump administration.

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Mass Tort Atty Files Ch. 11 Owing $202M To Litigation Funders

By Hilary Russ

A Houston plaintiffs attorney has filed for personal Chapter 11 protection with more than $202 million of litigation funding liabilities, according to his petition in the Southern District of Texas.

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Feud Heats Up Over Estate Of Wife Killed By Ex-BigLaw Atty

By Emily Johnson

The godson of a Georgia woman killed by her husband, former Fisher Phillips partner Claud "Tex" McIver, has said her cousins shouldn't get proceeds from a settlement of an underlying wrongful death suit, calling them "strangers" to her and claiming "the redistributive windfall" they're asking for "has no place in Georgia law."

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Boston Firm Says IT Vendor Holding Computers 'Hostage'

By Julie Manganis

Boston-based law firm Melick & Porter LLP says a company it hired to manage its information technology is now holding its computer network and data "hostage" by refusing to cooperate with the transition to a new vendor unless Melick pays it $380,000.

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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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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Phillips Black Inc., Ridley McGreevy & Winocur PC and King & Spalding LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court revived claims from a woman on death row in Oklahoma that prosecutors unfairly sex-shamed her and relied on gender-based stereotypes to convince a jury that she had killed her estranged husband for insurance money.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

A new Law360 Pulse survey shows that more than 90% of in-house counsel have no regrets about their decisions to join companies. In litigation stemming from Purdue Pharma's sales of OxyContin that fueled the opioid crisis, the Sackler family would lose control of Purdue and pay $6.5 billion in the latest proposed settlement. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.​

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UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Max Austin

This past week in London has seen Axa Insurance and Admiral face a claim from a former lawyer recently exposed for personal injury fraud, the owner of Reading Football Club sue a prospective buyer and mobile network Lycamobile tackle action by Spanish network Yogio. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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