Analysis

Stakes Are High In Meta Bellwether Social Media Trial

By Bonnie Eslinger

A potential trillion-dollar bellwether trial slated to begin Wednesday over states' claims that Meta's social media platforms harm the mental health of children and are intentionally designed to be addictive puts a lot on the line, with one legal expert calling the fight "existential" to the social media industry.

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9th Circ. Would Lose 3 States In Latest Reorganization Bid

By Courtney Bublé

Republicans are once again trying to break up the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, which has long been dominated by judges appointed by Democratic presidents.

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Meta Spoiled Evidence In Facebook Scam Ad Suit, Judge Says

By Craig Clough

A California federal judge has sanctioned Meta, finding the company failed to preserve key evidence in a lawsuit by Australian businessman Andrew Forrest over fraudulent Facebook advertisements that falsely used his name and likeness to promote cryptocurrency and investment scams, saying the spoliation prejudiced Forrest's case.

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Nvidia, 6 Partners Plan $500B In AI Infrastructure Financing

By Isaac Monterose

Nvidia has partnered with Goldman Sachs, KKR, Apollo Management, BlackRock, Brookfield and Blackstone to spend more than $500 billion in "third-party capital" on building artificial intelligence infrastructure, the technology company announced.

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9th Circ. Blocks Hawaii Gun Rule Following High Court Ruling

By Parker Quinlan

The Ninth Circuit has stopped Hawaii from enforcing portions of a gun law that banned firearms on private property without the property owner's consent, after the U.S. Supreme Court held a gun rights group and three state residents were likely to succeed in their lawsuit challenging that component of the law.

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Blue States Say OCC Overstepped On Escrow Interest Rules

By Jon Hill

An Oregon-led coalition of nearly a dozen states sued Tuesday to overturn the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's recent rules that exempt national banks from state laws requiring the payment of interest on homeowners' escrow account funds.

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Renewed Gold Mining In Mojave National Preserve Halted

By Crystal Owens

A federal district court judge has halted gold mining within the Mojave National Preserve, saying the National Park Service violated a law designed to protect sensitive ecosystem by authorizing an Australian company to resume operations in the preserve based on an outdated plan without requiring compliance with current environmental regulations.

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Deal Ends Patent Case After WDTX Verdict Clearing Cisco

By Ryan Davis

Cisco Systems Inc. and prominent patent licensing company Brazos Licensing and Development have notified a Western District of Texas judge that they have agreed to dismiss a patent suit, more than a year after a jury cleared Cisco of infringing router patents.

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Apparel Co. Loses Coverage Bid For Adidas Trademark Suit

By Danielle Ferguson

An insurer does not have to defend a fashion company in its latest bout in a long-running trademark infringement dispute with Adidas, a California federal judge has ruled, saying the claims fell under a prior publication exclusion because they included allegations the company published infringing advertisement before the policy period.

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George Foreman's Wife Can't Move Sex Assault Suits To Texas

By Gina Kim

A California federal judge declined to nix two women's suits asserting claims for sexual battery against George Foreman's estate, ruling he wasn't precluded from subject matter jurisdiction just because the late boxer's estate is being administered in Texas probate court where the estate assets are located. 

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Calif. Agency Reveals 1st Privacy Action Against Data Broker

By Allison Grande

The California Privacy Protection Agency continued to expand its scrutiny of the data broker industry Tuesday, announcing a settlement with an Iowa data broker that allegedly both failed to register and violated the state's data privacy law by requiring consumers to provide unnecessary information to exercise their opt-out rights.

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Brief

Calif. Subclass Added To Fox Rothschild Data Breach Suit

By Emily Sawicki

A California resident seeking to represent a subclass of Golden State data breach victims on Tuesday asked to add a new California Consumer Privacy Act claim to a proposed Pennsylvania class action first filed against Fox Rothschild LLP in June, after prominent ransomware group Silent Ransom Group targeted the firm.

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Kilpatrick Adds 3rd Reed Smith IP Litigator In San Francisco

By Adrian Cruz

Months after adding two Reed Smith LLP intellectual property attorneys in San Francisco, Kilpatrick Townsend & Stockton LLP announced Tuesday that the firm has hired another Reed Smith IP litigator to further expand its patent litigation team in the Bay Area.

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Google Boosts Scraping Suit, Cites IP Safeguard Agreements

By Rae Ann Varona

Google is seeking to revive its lawsuit that accuses search engine scraping company SerpApi of circumventing Google's anti-bot system to access its search results, saying in a newly filed amended complaint that SerpApi is scraping content that copyright holders licensed to Google and authorized it to safeguard.

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Meta Must Produce Collaborator Metadata In Addiction Suits

By Hailey Konnath

A California federal magistrate judge Monday ordered Meta Platforms Inc. to produce the "collaborator" and "viewer" metadata for dozens of trial exhibits ahead of a potential trillion dollar bellwether trial in social media addiction multidistrict litigation.

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XAI Fights OpenAI's $1 Million Trade Secrets Fee Bid

By Craig Clough

XAI on Monday urged a California federal judge to reject OpenAI's bid for more than $1 million in attorney fees, arguing its unsuccessful trade secret lawsuit was based on evidence that former employees took confidential company information and therefore was neither frivolous nor brought in bad faith.

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'Joker' Producer Pleads Not Guilty To $100M Investment Fraud

By Lauraann Wood

The producer behind the 2019 movie "Joker" and other notable projects pled not guilty Tuesday to seven federal wire fraud charges accusing him of stealing at least $100 million from investors who thought they were putting money into future projects.

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Rebel Wilson Seeks To Boost Cross Suit Against Producers

By Rae Ann Varona

A California state court judge at a Tuesday hearing said he would give more thought to whether Rebel Wilson can file a third amended cross-complaint against producers of her musical film "The Deb," who accused the actress of defamation after Wilson's attorney disputed that the proposed complaint contained "inflammatory" language.

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Calif. AG, Agency Say Religious Orgs. Can Face Wage Claims

By Max Kutner

A legal doctrine that is meant to protect religious organizations' faith-based decision-making from courts does not exempt such organizations from wage and hour laws, the California attorney general and the state labor commissioner's office argued in separate briefs to the California Supreme Court.

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Plumbing Co. To Pay $13.75M To End ESOP Suit

By Patrick Hoff

A plumbing subcontracting company will pay $13.75 million to settle workers' class action alleging its co-founders sold company shares to an employee stock ownership plan at an inflated price and later repurchased them for far less, according to a filing in California federal court.

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Ogletree Says Equinox Owes $1.4M In Unpaid Legal Bills

By Hailey Konnath

Ogletree said Monday that fitness company Equinox owes nearly $1.4 million in fees and expenses for the firm's work representing it in an employment matter in Los Angeles, according to a complaint filed in California federal court.

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Analysis

IP Notebook: 'Iceman' Logjam, Gemini Fight, Stealth Bot Bill

By Ivan Moreno

A crowded trademark race over the "Iceman" nickname and a clash over Google's efforts to expand its Gemini AI brand top this edition of Law360's look at emerging copyright and trademark issues.

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Microsoft Heads Accused Of Lying To Investors On AI Strategy

By Ben Adlin

Microsoft leadership routinely touted the success of the company's artificial intelligence products and its multibillion-dollar partnership with OpenAI even as the tech giant violated copyright laws to train its large language models and fell behind other AI developers, according to a shareholder stock-drop suit filed Monday in Washington federal court.

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AI Voice Co. Execs Sold $19M In Inflated Stock, Investor Says

By Ben Adlin

Top executives at voice recognition and synthesis firm SoundHound AI Inc. lied about the company's performance in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission disclosures, alleges an investor's derivative lawsuit filed Monday in California federal court, and that allowed the leaders to sell their stock holdings at "artificially inflated" prices.

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Crabbers Say Seafood Co. Is Part Of Dungeness Price 'Cartel'

By Lauren Berg

A proposed class of crabbers urged a California federal judge to reject an Oregon seafood company's bid to escape their lawsuit alleging a conspiracy to cap prices paid to fishermen for Dungeness crab in the Pacific Northwest.

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NCAA, Big Ten Can Move OSU Alum's NIL Pay Suit To Ohio

By Gina Kim

A California federal judge has granted a request by the NCAA and Big Ten to transfer to Ohio a college football star's suit alleging he was denied compensation for his name, image and likeness, finding his claims largely stem from NCAA rules during his college career at Ohio State University.

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Navigating The Limits Of Calif. Justices' Public Pension Ruling

Despite the California Supreme Court's recent holding that counties and cities wield discretion over classification and salary decisions for their public retirement board staff, it is important to remember that such authority is not unchecked as unreasonable rejections remain subject to judicial review, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

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3 Rulings Show High Court's Transnational Litigation Stance

The U.S. Supreme Court's most recent term closed with three consequential decisions for transnational litigation that illustrate the court's readiness to enforce a Congress-created cause of action for overseas conduct and unwillingness to create this liability itself, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

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Opinion

Birthright Citizenship Dissents Belie Originalist Interpretation

The three dissents in the U.S. Supreme Court's recent birthright citizenship decision clashed with originalist readings of the Constitution, applying the 14th Amendment more narrowly than its drafters, and by applying contemporary and living document approaches to constitutional interpretation, says Ediberto Roman at Florida International University.

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How Does In-House Pay Compare? Take The Law360 Survey

How do in-house salaries vary across industries, roles, and organizational revenue? What compensation tools are companies using to lure top talent? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's In-House Compensation Survey.

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Goldstein Unveils Cooley Appeal Team

By Jared Foretek

Thomas Goldstein has unveiled an experienced lineup of appellate lawyers he'll turn to in his bid to overturn 12 tax and mortgage fraud convictions, featuring several attorneys with extensive U.S. Supreme Court experience.

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Texas Firm Withdraws From $150M Deal To Rep Migrant Kids

By Madeline Lyskawa

A Texas law firm has withdrawn from consideration for a $150 million award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to provide legal services to unaccompanied migrant children in government custody.

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Missed Step Could Vex Ex-Duane Morris Client's Appeal

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A Pennsylvania Superior Court panel on Tuesday quizzed counsel for a businessman accusing Duane Morris LLP of legal malpractice in a trade secrets case on whether documents he claimed were privileged had been properly put before the trial judge for consideration.

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DOJ Says Executive Privilege May Apply To Private Advisers

By Emily Sawicki

The president's communications with outside advisers may be shielded by executive privilege, so long as they are confidential and relate to official decision-making, the U.S. Department of Justice said in its latest advisory opinion.

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