Anthropic Judge Warns Firm Against 'Extortion' In Opt-Out Bid

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge doubled down Tuesday on his concerns that Arizona law firm ClaimsHero is misleading authors to opt out of AI company Anthropic's $1.5 billion deal to end copyright infringement claims, saying the firm appears to be seeking "a nuisance settlement" and warning it against a legal strategy he called "extortion."

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Calif. Justices Asked To Review Prosecutors' Alleged AI Errors

By Dorothy Atkins

Nearly two dozen law professors have urged the California Supreme Court to help determine whether county prosecutors should be sanctioned for "apparent serial submission" of artificial intelligence-generated briefs with nonexistent legal citations in multiple criminal proceedings, arguing the alleged misconduct could have "grave consequences for the rule of law."

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9th Circ. Slams 'Unimpressive Excuses' In L'Oréal Rival's Suit

By Lauren Berg

The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday refused to revive a trade secrets case against L'Oréal USA Inc., saying the plaintiff company's "unimpressive excuses" for fabricating evidence and other misconduct do not override the district court's conclusion that the proper sanction was to dismiss the case.

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Kaiser Cleared To Pay $46M For Sharing Data With Tech Cos.

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge granted preliminary approval Tuesday to a settlement of at least $46 million from three Kaiser Permanente entities to resolve claims by 13.1 million patients across the country who say it disclosed their information to Google, Microsoft, Twitter and other third parties without consent.

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Live Nation Trims But Can't Shake Off Taylor Swift Fans' Suit

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge has tossed for good negligence and fraud claims from a lawsuit by hundreds of Taylor Swift fans who allege Live Nation Entertainment Inc. and Ticketmaster LLC's anticompetitive conduct caused the Eras tour ticket sale "disaster," but kept alive breach of contract and antitrust claims.

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AI Jury Simulator Says Fired Co-Founder Stole Trade Secrets

By Hailey Konnath

Artificial intelligence jury simulator Juries.ai sued its recently fired co-founder, claiming he has refused to hand over control of a number of the company's accounts or return its source code and other confidential information, according to a complaint filed in California federal court.

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$255K In Fees To Google For 'Frivolous' Ramey Case Upheld

By Ryan Davis

The Federal Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a California judge's decision that a client of embattled intellectual property firm Ramey LLP must pay nearly $255,000 in fees and sanctions for bringing a "frivolous" patent suit against Google, finding the award to be "entirely proper."

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HUD Housing Aid Limits Will Drive Homelessness, States Say

By Rachel Riley

Washington and 19 other states launched a lawsuit Tuesday against the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development in Rhode Island federal court, seeking to stop abrupt policy changes they claim will result in tens of thousands of formerly homeless people being ousted from publicly subsidized housing and onto the streets.

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Investors Say Alexandria Overhyped Leasing, NYC Project

By Katryna Perera

Alexandria Real Estate Equities Inc. investors filed suit in California federal court Tuesday, claiming the real estate investment trust overstated the strength of its leasing business and the projected value of a New York City property, causing the company's stock price to drop once the truth came to light.

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NRDC Tells 9th Circ. EPA Would 'Neuter' Public TSCA Rights

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

The Natural Resources Defense Council has asked the Ninth Circuit to reject the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's narrow reading of citizen enforcement rights under the Toxic Substances Control Act, saying it would unfairly restrict challenges to agency inaction.

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Lowe's To Pay $12.5M To Settle Lead Safety Allegations

By Rae Ann Varona

Lowe's will pay $12.5 million as part of a proposed settlement resolving the federal government's claims that its contractors failed to follow certain requirements to minimize lead exposure when renovating older homes, the U.S. Department of Justice and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Tuesday.

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Ford Offered 'Paltry' Refund Over Missing Feature, Suit Says

By Gina Kim

Ford admitted it misrepresented that some of its F-150 Lightning trucks have a forward sensing system that helps drivers avoid hitting objects while parking, but will only offer a "paltry $100 refund" for those misrepresentations, alleges a proposed class action filed Tuesday in California federal court.

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BMW Refuses To Cover Faulty Component, Suit Claims

By Lauraann Wood

BMW has known for several years about a transmission component defect causing more than a dozen of the luxury carmaker's vehicle models to jerk and shudder while driving but has improperly refused to cover necessary repair costs, consumers have alleged in New Jersey federal court.

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Medical AI Co. Accused Of 'Smear Campaign' Against Rivals

By Julie Manganis

Two rivals of medical artificial intelligence platform OpenEvidence have told a Massachusetts federal judge the startup has used the courts in a campaign of "deceit, harassment and defamation" against competitors.

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Samsung Wants Units Dropped From Netlist IP Suit In Texas

By Elliot Weld

Samsung has asked a Texas federal court to dismiss two U.S.-based units from a patent infringement case filed by Netlist Inc., saying neither one is incorporated or has headquarters in the state of Texas.

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DoorDash Gets Ameranth's Menu Patent Axed By Alice

By Elliot Weld

A Delaware federal judge has dismissed a case brought by Ameranth Inc. against DoorDash Inc. claiming infringement of its online-ordering patent, saying it merely describes an abstract idea that is not eligible for a patent.

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Fed. Circ. Affirms Akamai's Win In Streaming Patent Fight

By Dani Kass

A California federal judge properly found that Akamai Technologies Inc. didn't infringe streaming patents owned by MediaPointe Inc. and that certain claims were invalid as indefinite, the Federal Circuit said Tuesday.

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Chinese Chip Co. Says Entity List Status Is 'Irrelevant' In IPRs

By Dani Kass

Yangtze Memory Technologies Co. has told the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office that its presence on a list flagging national security risks has nothing to do with its challenge to Micron Technology Inc.'s patents and that Micron shouldn't be able to "weaponize" that list for its own benefit.

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9th Circ. Offers Mixed Ruling On Jack In The Box Wage Claims

By Irene Spezzamonte

A trial must address whether Jack in the Box willfully deducted too much from workers' wages, the Ninth Circuit ruled on Tuesday, flipping workers' win on claims the fast-food company over-deducted their wages while reviving their claims over deductions for nonslip shoes.

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Judge Hands SEC Win In Pharma Co.'s CBD Investor Fraud Case

By Katryna Perera

A California federal judge has granted the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission an early win in its suit against Vivera Pharmaceuticals, its CEO and affiliate Sentar Pharmaceuticals, finding they misled investors about the company's rights to key cannabinoid drug-delivery technology and about how investor money would be spent.

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UnitedHealth Gets OptumRx Antitrust Suit Sent To Arbitration

By Rachel Riley

A group of independent pharmacies must arbitrate their proposed class claims that UnitedHealth-owned OptumRx gatekeeps its network of Medicare prescription patients by imposing unfair fees, a Washington federal judge said Tuesday, concluding the pharmacies haven't shown the arbitration clauses in question are unenforceable.

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Petitioner Says Arbitrator's Misconduct Taints $55M Award

By Caroline Simson

A Chinese man on the hook for a $55 million arbitral award in a dispute over an ill-fated investment is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to resolve whether an arbitration conducted by a three-member tribunal was fundamentally fair if one arbitrator "functionally abandoned his post" during a hearing.

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Cannabis Co. Says $1.5M Default In Contract Dispute Is Void

By Mike Curley

A cannabis company is urging a Los Angeles state court to set aside a $1.5 million default judgment against it in a contract dispute, saying the judgment goes far beyond what's allowable under state law.

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1st Circ. Revives Constitutional Challenges To RI Pot Scheme

By Sam Reisman

The First Circuit on Tuesday said a federal judge erred in dismissing a pair of constitutional challenges to Rhode Island's cannabis licensure program, and ordered the lower court to promptly weigh the merits of the cases before regulators award retail marijuana licenses.

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Ogletree Deakins Welcomes Saber Law Employment Atty In SF

By James Mills

Labor and employment firm Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC is expanding its West Coast team, bringing in a Saber Law Group employment litigator as a shareholder in its San Francisco office.

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How Marsy's Law Has Been Applied In Unexpected Ways

Since Marsy’s Law was first passed in California 17 years ago, 12 states have passed similar laws to protect crime victims’ rights, but recent developments show that it’s being applied in ways that its original proponents may never have anticipated — with implications for all legal practitioners, says Tom Jones at Berk Brettler.

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NBA Gambling Probes Highlight Sports Betting's Broad Risks

Recent NBA gambling scandals illustrate the integrity risks arising from legal sports betting, but organizations, which must navigate a patchwork of state laws, can protect their reputations by drafting and enforcing internal policies to address betting-related risks and complying with league and institutional rules, say attorneys at Littler.

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Considerations When Invoking The Common-Interest Privilege

To successfully leverage the common-interest doctrine in a multiparty transaction or complex litigation, practitioners should be able to demonstrate that the parties intended for it to apply, that an underlying privilege like attorney-client has attached, and guard against disclosures that could waive privilege and defeat its purpose, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

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Bonus Spotlight

Magic Circle Firms Enchant Associates With Top-Tier Bonuses

By Tracey Read

U.S. associates at Linklaters LLP and Clifford Chance LLP have a lot to be thankful for this holiday season, as the Magic Circle firms Wednesday became the latest to match the BigLaw standard for this year's associate bonuses.

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Analysis

After Big Win For 2 Trump Foes, A Third Faces 'Tougher Job'

By Phillip Bantz

The recent dismissal of federal criminal charges against New York Attorney General Letitia James and former FBI director James Comey does little to help President Donald Trump's ex-national security adviser John Bolton, whose defense in a classified-materials case presents a thornier set of legal and factual issues, experts say.

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Roundup

Up Next At High Court: ISP Liability & State Subpoena Suits

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court will return Monday for the first week of its December oral argument session, during which the justices will consider whether internet service providers can be held liable for contributing to their customers' infringing activity online and whether the subjects of state subpoenas are required to first challenge them in state court. 

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Interview

For Covington's Adrian Perry, Music Is A Family Affair

By Theresa Schliep

Despite having a famous rock star dad, Covington & Burling LLP partner Adrian J. Perry wasn't all that interested in being a musician as a young child, but he knew as early as 6 years old that he wanted to be a lawyer.

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Analysis

Calif. Privacy Agency Gaining Steam Ahead Of 5th Anniversary

By Allison Grande

California's data privacy regulator has taken several notable steps in recent months, including handing down its first penalty upward of $1 million dollars and finalizing long-awaited rules on topics such as cybersecurity audits and technologies that use artificial intelligence, and the groundbreaking agency shows no signs of slowing down as its fifth anniversary approaches. 

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Split 6th Circ. Shields Baker Donelson, Not City Councilman

By Matt Perez

In a published opinion, the Sixth Circuit has found that Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC is shielded by qualified immunity as outside counsel for the city of Nashville in litigation over the law firm's firing of a city election commission chair and member of the firm.

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Foley & Lardner Hit With Malpractice Suit Over Chancery Loss

By Rose Krebs

Foley & Lardner LLP has been sued in Delaware Superior Court by three officers of a now-defunct food recycling company who say the firm was negligent when representing them in a Chancery Court case that led to a $1.6 million judgment against them and another officer.

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DOJ Asks Court If It Can Release Epstein Files Under New Law

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Department of Justice is seeking a New York federal court's permission to publicly release the files related to the investigation of late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, clarifying Wednesday that it wants to release search warrant results, travel and financial records, police reports, and other materials.

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Keesal Young Poaching Suit Against Stradley Ronon Trimmed

By Madison Arnold

A California state judge cleared Keesal Young & Logan to pursue most of its lawsuit alleging Stradley Ronon Stevens & Young crossed the line when it recruited 10 former Keesal Young attorneys, finding that claims such as inducing breach of contract could move forward, in part, because of conversations among the attorneys.

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DOJ Says Ex-Employees Can't Challenge Firings In Fed. Court

By Rose Krebs

The government says a D.C. federal court lacks jurisdiction to adjudicate a lawsuit filed by a former assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted defendants charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol and two other ex-Department of Justice employees, alleging they were unlawfully fired.

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Hub Hires: Todd & Weld, Freshfields, Shipman

By Julie Manganis

It was a busy November in Boston's legal community as another firm expanded into the market, and a longtime judge traded his gavel for the ability to address his growing concerns about the Trump administration.

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