Rising Star: Sidley's Morgan Branch

By Y. Peter Kang

Morgan Branch of Sidley Austin LLP helped defend Kraft Heinz in groundbreaking "ultraprocessed foods" litigation and Bayer in high-stakes litigation over a contraceptive device, earning her a spot among the product liability law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

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AG Says Florida Won't Take Part In Meta's 'Weak' $17B Deal

By Jonathan Capriel

Florida will take no part in Meta's $17 billion social media addiction settlement, according to state Attorney General James Uthmeier, who has slammed the sum as "weak" and said the Sunshine State will not be bought off for "pennies on the dollar."

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Mead Johnson Nutrition Head Defends Formula In MDL Trial

By Celeste Bott

Mead Johnson's head of nutrition testified Thursday in a trial over whether its preterm infant formula led to a newborn's serious and ultimately fatal gut illness, saying she had no reasons to worry about the product's safety but acknowledging it carries a higher risk for the disease than human breast milk.

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Albertsons Loses Bid For Midtrial Win In Wash. Opioid Case

By Ben Adlin

Albertsons can't escape the state of Washington's lawsuit accusing the pharmacy chain and its Safeway subsidiary of contributing to the state's opioid crisis, a state judge ruled Thursday in denying the company's bid to dismiss the case midtrial.

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PBMs Hammer Opioid Judge In Last-Ditch Gambit At 6th Circ.

By Jeff Overley

An Ohio federal judge knowingly flouted a Sixth Circuit rebuke by forcing two of the largest remaining defendants in multidistrict opioid litigation to either "settle for enormous sums or litigate for years hundreds of cases," says a Thursday petition urging the appeals court to intervene.

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Colo. Pro Racer Says Botched Mold Cleanup Shut Down Shop

By Isaac Monterose

A professional race car driver in Denver, Colorado, accused several companies Thursday of failing to address mold and asbestos contamination that eventually shut down his auto shop, canceled a commercial shoot and caused him an estimated loss of more than $2.9 million.

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5th Circ. Backs FDA, Pharma Cos. In GLP-1 Shortage Fight

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration did not unlawfully remove blockbuster GLP-1 medications made by Eli Lilly & Co. and Novo Nordisk from the national drug shortage list, the Fifth Circuit ruled Thursday, handing a loss to compounding pharmacies that produce copycat doses of the drugs.

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Biz Group Urges 11th Circ. To Toss $243M Tesla Crash Verdict

By Y. Peter Kang

A trade association of product manufacturers has told the Eleventh Circuit that a $243 million verdict against Tesla over a fatal crash involving Autopilot technology should be reversed, saying letting the verdict stand would improperly punish automakers failing to prevent reckless driver behavior.

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VW Can't Toss Claims Audi E-Tron Batteries Are 'Time Bombs'

By Craig Clough

A Georgia federal judge refused to dismiss a proposed class action Thursday accusing Volkswagen Group of America Inc. of concealing and failing to adequately repair an alleged defect in the high-voltage batteries of certain Audi electric vehicles, keeping alive claims the autos are "ticking time bombs" that can lose power, short-circuit and catch fire.

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Uber Beats Defamation Claims In Philly RICO Fight

By James Boyle

A Pennsylvania federal judge on Thursday tossed Philadelphia personal injury firm Simon & Simon PC's counterclaim accusing Uber and FedEx of sham litigation, extortion and abuse of process in response to the companies' ongoing RICO lawsuit against the firm.

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Boeing Says Bid To Depose Ex-Exec In 737 Suit Is Off Base

By Mike Curley

The Boeing Co. is urging a Washington federal judge to toss a motion by Norwegian Air subsidiaries to depose a former senior executive in a suit over their purchase of 737 Max airplanes, saying it has no control over him, and he wouldn't have unique information relevant to the case anyway.

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Kratom Group Says DEA Order Could Snare Natural Wares

By Sam Reisman

A kratom trade group has asked a D.C. federal judge to find that a recent U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration rule change targeting certain kratom-derived compounds should not apply when those compounds naturally occur in the kratom leaf.

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Meta Can't Arbitrate Deceptive Ads Suit, 7th Circ. Rules

By Lauren Berg

Meta Platforms cannot steer a media company's ad deception antitrust claims away from court and into arbitration, the Seventh Circuit ruled on Thursday, saying the case falls outside the agreement Meta is trying to enforce.

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Ukrainians Still Can't Tie Cos. To Russian Missiles, TI Says

By Spencer Brewer

Several semiconductor manufacturers, including Mouser Electronics Inc. and Texas Instruments Inc., asked a Texas federal court to throw out claims brought by Ukrainian civilians alleging the companies' parts ended up in Russian missiles, saying the civilians failed to cure defects in their pleadings.

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Lack Of Reliance Dooms Uponor Leaky Pipes Class Action

By Mike Curley

A California federal judge has thrown out a proposed class action alleging Uponor Inc.'s plastic pipes were defective and prone to leaking, saying the homeowner plaintiffs failed to establish that they relied on or could have relied on any misrepresentations allegedly made by the company.

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Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: August Lessons

In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses seven recent rulings from cases involving Class Action Fairness Act jurisdiction, appellate jurisdiction, attorney fees and employment rights.

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Series

Taekwondo Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Taekwondo has taught me to recognize when to fight for a position and when to focus on finding a solution, and that the best outcomes are often achieved by solving problems — all of which has improved my work as a bankruptcy lawyer, mediator and Subchapter V trustee, says Amy Denton Mayer at Berger Singerman.

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Exclusive

Inside The $150M Immigration Contract That Wasn't

By Daniel Connolly

The leader of a small Houston-based law firm says she was "blindsided" by an announcement from the federal government that her 24-attorney shop had won a $150 million no-bid contract to represent thousands of immigrant children in deportation proceedings.

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ABA Faces Uphill Battle To Remain As Law School Accreditor

By Emma Cueto

The American Bar Association council responsible for accrediting law schools is fighting on multiple fronts to retain its status as a nationwide accreditor, fending off challenges at both the federal and state levels.

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Dems Say DOJ Opinion Aims To Foil Oversight Of White House

By Courtney Bublé

With midterm elections right around the corner, Senate Democrats are worried the new legal opinion from the U.S. Department of Justice could let the Trump Administration obstruct congressional oversight of the White House.

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Google Users' Atty Fee To Be In 'Realm' Of $147M, Judge Says

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge indicated Thursday that he won't give the full $147 million in fees sought by lawyers who won a $425 million class action verdict against Google for unlawfully collecting user information, but he said their "really excellent lawyering" deserves an amount "within that realm."

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Womble Bond Asks To Drop Dutch Software Client Over Rift

By Hayley Fowler

Womble Bond Dickinson is looking to pull its representation of a Dutch software company after five years of a bitter trademark battle, citing a "fundamental disagreement" that has allegedly made it impossible for the firm to move forward as counsel of record.

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