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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MONDAY, JANUARY 27, 2025 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

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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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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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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Calif. Kids' Privacy Law Ignores 1st Amendment, Judge Says

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge appeared open Thursday to preliminarily blocking for the second time a landmark California law requiring tech giants to bolster privacy protections for children, telling the state's counsel that nothing shows the Legislature "cared one whit about the Constitution," and "now you're trying to reverse engineer it."

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McKinsey Not Covered For Over 260 Opioid Suits, Chubb Says

By Hope Patti

A group of Chubb insurers said they have no duty to defend or indemnify McKinsey & Co. in more than 260 suits accusing the management consulting firm of contributing to the opioid epidemic, telling a Delaware state court that the underlying suits do not seek damage "because of" bodily injury.

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LITIGATION

Meta Wants Mass. Justices To Intervene In AG's Suit

By Julie Manganis

Meta Platforms has urged Massachusetts' highest court to take up its challenge to a pending lawsuit brought by the state attorney general's office, which accused the social media company of intentionally designing Instagram to be addictive to children and teenagers.

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Conn. High Court Snapshot: Atty's Bonus, Burn Verdict

By Brian Steele

In its next term starting Monday, the Connecticut Supreme Court will hear an appeal from an acupuncturist who doesn't want to share liability for a judgment paid to a burn victim, and consider whether to reverse a seven-figure verdict for a private equity management firm's founder, who claims other members improperly cut him out.

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Marlboro Smoker Was Target Of Deception, Jury Hears

By Cara Salvatore

Philip Morris targeted a Massachusetts preteen as a "replacement" customer for others who were dying of lung disease, a Springfield jury heard Thursday, though the company's lawyer said the woman had free will and knew enough to stop smoking.

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Atty Hit With TCPA Class Action Over Camp Lejeune Calls

By Jonathan Capriel

A North Carolina plaintiffs firm was hit with a proposed class action accusing it of making unsolicited calls to a number on the National Do Not Call Registry in an effort to secure a client in the Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune toxic drinking water case — at least the fourth firm to face similar claims.

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Detainees' COVID Claims Blunted By ICE Action, Judge Hints

By Danielle Ferguson

A Michigan federal judge said Thursday she was skeptical healthy people in immigration detention can sue the federal government for not providing updated COVID-19 vaccinations, noting the jail in question being used by ICE has held vaccination clinics and that released detainees have had years to get the vaccine on their own.

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Fla. Insurer Tries To Toss Suit Blaming It For Black Mold Death

By Carolina Bolado

A Sunshine State insurer accused of wrongfully causing the death of a woman who died from black mold contamination after it didn't send a promised team to her home to fix hurricane damage has urged a Florida judge to dismiss the suit, calling it a bad-faith case in disguise trying to get around an already pending contract dispute.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

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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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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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Analysis

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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Promo that reads 2024 Practice Groups of the Year Promo that reads Law360 Pulse In-House Counsel Satisfaction Survey

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

AVA Law Group

Adams & Reese

AkinMears

Altshuler Berzon

Bird & Bird

Brown Rudnick

Burges Salmon

Buzbee Law Firm

Carlton Fields

Cheeley Law Group

Clement & Murphy

Clyde & Co

Cohen Milstein

Covington & Burling

Cravath Swaine

Curis Law

Davis Wright Tremaine

DeMayo Law Offices

DiCello Levitt

Eimer Stahl

Eversheds Sutherland

Fish & Richardson

Fisher & Phillips

Freeman Mathis

Gaslowitz Frankel

Gibson Dunn

Gillam Smith

Gordon Arata

Hilgers Graben

Hogan Lovells

Holwell Shuster

Howes Percival

Jones Day

Kanner & Whiteley

Kasowitz Benson

Kean Miller

Kemmer Law

King & Spalding

Kirkland & Ellis

Knobbe Martens

Latham & Watkins

Lipsitz Green

Liskow & Lewis

Lodders Solicitors

Manning Gross

Mayer Brown

Melick & Porter

Morrison Foerster

Outten & Golden

Paul Weiss

Phillips Black Inc

Quattrochi Torres

Quinn Emanuel

Reynolds Porter

Ridley McGreevy

Robin Frazer Clark PC

Ross Aronstam

Sacks Weston

Selendy Gay

Shapiro Arato

Sher Tremonte

Shipman & Goodwin

Shook Hardy

Sidley Austin

Skadden Arps

Stanley Reuter

Steptoe LLP

Sullivan & Cromwell

Susman Godfrey

Travers Smith

Troutman

Weinberg Roger

WilmerHale

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

AT&T Inc.

AlphaSense

AlphaSights Ltd.

Amazon.com Inc.

American Airlines Group Inc.

American Civil Liberties Union

American Civil Liberties Union of Michigan

American International Group Inc.

American Water Works Association

Apple Inc.

Armadillo Financial Partners LLC

BNP Paribas SA

Bowhead Specialty Underwriters Inc.

British Broadcasting Corp.

Burford Capital LLC

Chevron Corp.

Compagnie Financière Tradition

Costco Wholesale Corp.

Curis Inc.

DHL International GmbH

EJF Capital LLC

Entergy Corp.

Exxon Mobil Corp.

FCA US LLC

GLS Capital LLC

George Washington University

Google LLC

Instagram Inc.

Investments Ltd.

J.C. Penney Co. Inc.

Johnson & Johnson

Legal Conversion Center

Liberty Mutual Insurance Group

LinkedIn Corp.

MTV Networks Co.

Macy's Inc.

McDonald's Corp.

McKinsey & Co. Inc.

Mediterranean Shipping Co. SA

Meta Platforms Inc.

Microsoft Corp.

NBCUniversal Media LLC

National Association of Manufacturers

National Westminster Bank PLC

Nexstar Media Group Inc.

Omnicom Group Inc.

Paypal Holdings Inc.

People's Trust Insurance Co. Inc.

Pinterest Inc.

Pioneer Natural Resources Co.

Purdue Pharma LP

Redwood Holdings LLC

Rite Aid Corp.

Rocade LLC

Royal Mail Group PLC

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

Snap Inc.

Sonos Inc.

StubHub Inc.

The Interpublic Group of Cos. Inc.

The Procter & Gamble Co.

The State University of New York

Thryv Inc.

TikTok Inc.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Uber Technologies Inc.

Walmart Inc.

White Castle Management Co.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

California Attorney General's Office

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Companies House

Connecticut Attorney General's Office

Delaware Court of Chancery

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Executive Office of the President

Federal Bureau of Prisons

Federal Trade Commission

Financial Ombudsman Service

Georgia Court of Appeals

Georgia Supreme Court

Internal Revenue Service

Japan Patent Office

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

National Labor Relations Board

New York Attorney General's Office

Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs

Peace Corps

The Crown Prosecution Service

U.S. Air Force

U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Labor

U.S. District & Bankruptcy Courts of Southern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the District of South Carolina

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Office of Personnel Management

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Supreme Court

UK High Court

United States District Court for the Southern District of Alabama