Google Can't Ditch $425M Privacy Verdict, But Won't Owe $2B

By Hailey Konnath

A California federal judge on Friday refused to decertify a class of Google users who scored a $425 million jury verdict in their privacy suit; however, he also shot down the consumers' request that Google shell out an additional $2.36 billion in disgorgement of profits.

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Brief

Bill Regulating Attorney AI Use Passes California Senate

By Emily Sawicki

A proposed California law that would regulate attorneys and arbitrators' use of generative artificial intelligence statewide has headed to the Assembly after the state Senate unanimously approved the measure.

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'I Will Not Stop Now': Don Lemon Defiant After Arrest

By Craig Clough

A Los Angeles federal judge released journalist Don Lemon from custody Friday afternoon, rejecting a prosecutor's request that his travel be restricted after he was arrested Thursday on charges related to his coverage of a protest inside a Minnesota church. 

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9th Circ. Says DOJ Can Withhold VW Grand Jury Records

By Emily Field

The Ninth Circuit on Friday held that the U.S. Department of Justice couldn't be forced to hand over about 6 million Volkswagen documents that were part of a Jones Day investigation into the automaker's 2015 emissions-cheating scandal, as the government obtained them through a grand jury subpoena.

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Calif. Senator Floats Bill To Expand Data Deletion Rights

By Allison Grande

A California senator is pushing to update the state's landmark data privacy law to expand the type of personal information that consumers can ask businesses to delete and to require companies to provide residents with more ways to submit data deletion, access and correction requests. 

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Law360 Seeks Members For Its 2026 Editorial Boards

Law360 is looking for avid readers of our publications to serve as members of our 2026 editorial advisory boards.

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Amazon Says Shoppers' Labeling Suit Is Corrupted By AI Errors

By Adrian Cruz

In customers' latest filing in their proposed class action accusing Amazon of failing to make required disclosures on dietary supplement product pages, the e-commerce giant alleges that the plaintiffs have submitted a document riddled with errors derived from the use of generative text.

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Roundup

Real Estate Recap: Build-To-Rent, Apollo, Boston

By Real Estate Authority Staff

Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including takeaways for the build-to-rent sector following a recent executive order on Wall Street investment in the single-family market, Apollo REIT's $9 billion portfolio sale, and a view of Boston from the chair of a BigLaw real estate practice.

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9th Circ. Bars Coast Guard Suit Over Conception Boat Fire

By Tom Lotshaw

A split panel of the Ninth Circuit Friday affirmed a California federal judge's decision to dismiss wrongful death litigation that the families of 34 people killed by a fire on the dive boat MV Conception had brought against the government.

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Baltimore Sues Payday Lender Dave Over 'Usurious' Loans

By Dorothy Atkins

The city of Baltimore sued Los Angeles-based lender Dave Inc. in state circuit court Friday, alleging that the financial technology company disguises high-interest payday loans as "overdraft services," while charging "astounding, usurious" annual percentage rates exceeding 2,500%, which is far above Maryland's 33% legal limit.

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Google Says Publishers Shouldn't 'Hijack' AI Copyright Suit

By Elliot Weld

Google told a California federal judge that publishers Hachette Book Group and Cengage Learning can file their own case if they want to allege copyright infringement, but should not be allowed to "hijack" an ongoing class action over Google's alleged use of copyrighted material to train artificial intelligence.

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Singer Sues Over 'Furious 7' Song Royalties In Calif.

By Adam Lidgett

A musician who says he provided vocals on the song "See You Again" used in the film "Furious 7" as a send off to actor Paul Walker and his character Brian O'Conner has filed a lawsuit in California federal court claiming he wasn't properly compensated for his work.

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1st Circ. Upholds Atty's 7-Year Sentence In Email Fraud Case

By Carolyn Muyskens

A panel of the First Circuit has affirmed a more than seven-year prison term and $2 million restitution order for an Illinois lawyer convicted of collecting proceeds from a romance and real estate email fraud scheme.

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9th Circ. Allows Nevada Inmate's COVID Yard Restriction Case

By Elizabeth Daley

A Nevada prison inmate who says he was denied almost all access to the outdoors for over a year during the COVID-19 pandemic in violation of his constitutional rights may continue his case against the warden who he claims kept his protective segregation unit indoors unlawfully, the Ninth Circuit has affirmed.

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SEC Walks Away From Biden-Era Construction Fraud Case

By Jessica Corso

Greenberg Traurig LLP celebrated a legal victory on Friday as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission abandoned its securities fraud claims against their client, a former construction executive, with a firm leader telling Law360 that a meeting with top SEC staff last year marked a turning point in their favor. 

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Startup Founder Ran $37M 'Ponzi-Like' Scheme, SEC Says

By Emilie Ruscoe

A Silicon Valley software startup owner faces U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission claims he defrauded at least 100 would-be investors as he raised $37 million, using their money to cover his and his company's expenses in a Ponzi-like scheme.

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DOJ Requires Divestitures For Reddy Ice-Arctic Glacier Tie-Up

By Jared Foretek

The U.S. Department of Justice Antitrust Division is forcing Reddy Ice to divest assets in five geographic areas in order to win approval for a $126 million acquisition of competitor Arctic Glacier.

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OpenAI Challenges X's Deposition Bid In Antitrust Case

By José Luis Martínez

OpenAI said one of its former executives shouldn't be deposed in an antitrust case brought by X Corp. regarding ChatGPT integration on Apple devices, saying he had nothing to do with the deal.

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Kroger, Albertsons Look To Block FTC Testimony Handover

By Cara Salvatore

Grocery giants Albertsons and Kroger asked a California federal judge to protect sensitive expert testimony that helped the Federal Trade Commission torpedo their planned merger in 2024, which a new FTC target said is urgently needed to show that the regulator is creating contradictory market analyses.

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Drugmakers Ask To Appeal Overarching Conspiracy Claim

By Lauren Berg

A group of pharmaceutical companies that failed to secure a pretrial win on an overarching conspiracy claim in a sprawling generic-drug antitrust enforcement action is asking a Connecticut federal judge to let them seek Second Circuit review, saying the ruling raises a novel legal issue.

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Blackstone-Backed Liftoff Mobile Joins Growing IPO Pipeline

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

Private equity-backed technology firm Liftoff Mobile has launched plans to raise an estimated $711 million in its initial public offering, joining a crowded pipeline of IPO prospects that are slated to go public during the first week of February.

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Tribe's Cannabis Raid Claims Largely Survive Dismissal

By Mike Curley

A California federal judge has denied the bulk of two motions to dismiss a suit from the Round Valley Indian Tribes and three of its members alleging that their properties were illegally raided for growing cannabis, dismissing only the claims that law enforcement officers didn't have jurisdiction over the properties.

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CBD Cos. Say They're Wrong Defendants In Kratom Suit

By Mike Curley

Shaman Botanicals LLC and CBD American Shaman LLC are urging a California federal judge to throw out claims that they mislead consumers by failing to warn them that Soma Kratom products are dangerous and addictive, saying they're not affiliated with Soma Kratom in the first place.

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Feds Say Alleged $100K H-1B Fee Harm Only Speculative

By Britain Eakin

The Trump administration asked a California federal judge to dismiss a suit challenging President Donald Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee, arguing it rests upon multiple what-ifs that deprive the groups that challenged the fee of standing.

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Conn. Justices Free Calif. Woman From Tax Bank Seizure

By Aaron Keller

The Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Friday that a tax collector cannot recover a shuttered company's debts from a California woman's personal bank accounts, saying the case presented an issue of first impression that has "vexed legal scholars" and "spawned a split of authority" among and within federal and state courts.

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Paramount Taps DC Lobbyist To Lead US Policy Operations

By Alison Knezevich

Paramount Skydance Corp. has picked a Washington, D.C., lobbyist and former staffer to several Republican senators to lead its U.S. policy operations.

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Impossible Foods' CLO, 2 Execs To Lead As CEO Steps Down

By Gina Kim

Impossible Foods CEO Peter McGuinness has stepped down from his role and the company's operations will now be run by its three-person executive leadership team comprising chief legal and operating officer Jason Gao, its chief demand officer and its chief supply officer, the company announced on Friday.

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Privacy Ruling Shows How CIPA Conflicts With Modern Tech

A California federal court's recent holding in Doe v. Eating Recovery Center that Meta is not liable for reading, or attempting to read, the pixel-related transmission while in transit reflects a mismatch between the California Invasion of Privacy Act's 1967 origins and modern encrypted, browser‑driven communications, says David Wheeler at Neal Gerber.

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2 Rulings Showcase Fuzzy Limits Of 'Related To' Jurisdiction

The Fifth and Ninth Circuits recently handed down decisions, in Sanchez Energy and Sawtelle Partners, respectively, reminding practitioners that bankruptcy court jurisdiction over lingering disputes is not guaranteed, regardless of whether confirmation orders contain specific "retention of jurisdiction" language, says Brian Shaw at Cozen O’Connor.

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Viewing The Merger Landscape Through An HPE-Juniper Lens

If considerations beyond antitrust law were taken into account to determine whether Section 7 of the Clayton Act was violated in the Hewlett Packard Enterprise-Juniper Networks deal, then legal practitioners advocating deal clearance may now have to argue that deals should be justified by considerations not set forth in the merger guidelines, says Matthew Cantor of Shinder Cantor.

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4 Quick Emotional Resets For Lawyers With Conflict Fatigue

Though the emotional wear and tear of legal work can trap attorneys in conflict fatigue — leaving them unable to shake off tense interactions or return to a calm baseline — simple therapeutic techniques for resetting the nervous system can help break the cycle, says Chantel Cohen at CWC Coaching & Therapy.

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FTC Warns 42 Law Firms Of DEI 'Anticompetitive Collusion'

By Sarah Jarvis

The Federal Trade Commission announced Friday that it has sent warning letters to 42 major law firms for their purported participation in an outside diversity, equity and inclusion program, alleging their participation could constitute anticompetitive collusion.

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Analysis

Real Estate Attys 'Not Going In Blind' Amid Data Center Boom

By Chris Villani

The explosion of artificial intelligence has created a sharp demand for new data centers with no signs of slowing down, posing challenges that have some real estate attorneys turning to well-worn playbooks from other industries.

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Susman Faces Suit After Ex-Client's Arbitration Loss

By Adam Lidgett

Susman Godfrey LLP and a litigation funding business were hit with a lawsuit in Texas state court by an Irish patent litigation business that is challenging the outcome of an arbitration proceeding putting it on the hook for more than $37.8 million.

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Attys Rip Judge-Shopping Sanctions As Bid To 'Rewrite' Rules

By Jake Maher

Two Alabama attorneys who were sanctioned for allegedly judge shopping in a civil rights case urged the Eleventh Circuit to toss the sanctions Friday, arguing the judges accusing them were seeking to "rewrite" the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

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Colo. Firm Hit With Proposed Class Action Over Data Breach

By Rachel Konieczny

A Colorado law firm failed to properly care for the personal information of clients and their customers and did not provide adequate notice of a February 2025 data breach, according to a proposed class action in state court.

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Litigation Funder Suit Against Janus Henderson Can Proceed

By Ryan Boysen

A lawsuit that claims a Janus Henderson Group subsidiary schemed to take over a mass torts litigation funder can go forward, after a Delaware Chancery Court judge ruled the funder's case was compelling enough to survive a motion to dismiss.

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House To Vote On Reform Of Court Nondisclosure Orders

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., fumed at the House on Friday for trying to undo a provision that allows him and other senators investigated by special counsel Jack Smith to sue for damages and held up the government funding vote as a result. But a bill the House is poised to take up next week could alleviate some of his concerns.

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Analysis

The Message From Delaware Courts: Change Is Coming

By Jeff Montgomery

Delaware's Supreme Court delivered a reminder to the state's corporation law ecosystem recently with a reversal of a Court of Chancery decision invalidating a 7-year-old stockholder agreement that granted broad corporate powers to investment bank Moelis & Co.'s founder.

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Roundup

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

By Max Austin

This past week in London saw collapsed solar bonds company Rockfire Capital sue the Royal Bank of Scotland, e-ticket platform Eventbrite target the owners of Salford Red Devils rugby club over an alleged contract breach, and Scottish distiller William Grant & Sons square off against a former MP in a trademark tussle tied to its Glenfiddich whisky. 

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

When Minnesota-based companies publicly called for de-escalation after two fatal shootings by federal ICE agents, the nation saw how CEOs and their general counsel can step up amid controversy. And a new study shows that white collar offenders received more than half of all recent pardons. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Kellogg Hansen Todd Figel & Frederick PLLC leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a D.C. Circuit panel revived a lawsuit that accuses pharmaceutical companies of aiding a Hezbollah-linked militia's terrorism in Iraq.

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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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