Jeffer Mangels Hit With Pregnancy Bias Suit By Ex-Associate

By Hailey Konnath

A former Jeffer Mangels Butler & Mitchell LLP associate has accused the firm of discriminating against women, especially pregnant women, claiming that she was harassed throughout her pregnancy and eventually fired after she advocated for herself and pointed out the disparate treatment.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

OpenAI Hit With Wave Of Suits Over 'Suicide Coach' ChatGPT

By Dorothy Atkins

ChatGPT users and suicide victims' families hit OpenAI Inc. and its CEO Sam Altman with a wave of lawsuits in California state court Friday, alleging OpenAI knowingly released a dangerously designed sycophantic, psychologically manipulative, addictive version of ChatGPT that at times became a "suicide coach" to vulnerable users who killed themselves.

7 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ex-Calif. Judge Seeks To Toss Sex Assault, Coverup Charges

By Craig Clough

A former California state judge on Friday moved to toss federal criminal charges alleging that he sexually assaulted a court employee and lied to investigators, saying the employee was not under his direct supervision so he could not have been acting under the "color of law" when the alleged assault occurred.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Supreme Court Temporarily Pauses Full SNAP Payments

By Rae Ann Varona and Rachel Riley

The U.S. Supreme Court Friday evening temporarily paused a Rhode Island federal judge's orders compelling the Trump administration to fully fund November Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits and transfer roughly $4 billion by the end of the day, hours after the First Circuit denied the administration's emergency request.

7 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Shutdown, Funding Crisis Leave Federal Defenders Unpaid

By Courtney Bublé

The record-long government shutdown has hindered an already dire funding situation for the federal defense community, but now the judiciary is working on requests to Congress to alleviate that.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

DC Circ. Airs Doubts About USPS Args In 2020 Mail Delay Row

By Nadia Dreid

The D.C. Circuit has doubts that the U.S. Postal Service can kibosh a permanent injunction in a case that aimed to ward off delivery delays ahead of the 2020 election because the plaintiffs had an administrative route open to them — not at the time they filed their suit, but by the time the judge issued summary judgment.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Roundup

Real Estate Recap: Mamdani, Immigration, Q3 Debrief

By Real Estate Authority Staff

Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including real estate reactions to the election of Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City, how condo attorneys are bracing for a surge in immigration enforcement and third-quarter takeaways across asset classes.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Block Says Cash App Probe, Bigger SF Tax Bill Could Cost It

By Aislinn Keely

Jack Dorsey's fintech firm Block Inc. told investors that it may take a financial hit from a multistate probe into its mobile payments platform CashApp, and remains locked in a separate multimillion-dollar tax dispute with the County of San Francisco over its bitcoin sales.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Fed. Circ. Upholds PTAB Rulings Favoring Uber

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Friday refused to restore claims in a pair of patents used to track individuals, leaving in place Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions that Uber showed the claims were invalid.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

AI Startup CEO Gets 1-Year Sentence For $40M Fraud

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge on Friday sentenced the founder of a company that purported to sell artificial intelligence-based business automation software to one year behind bars for defrauding investors in what the federal government called a "fake-it-til-you-make-it" scheme that never made it.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Vegas Hotels Say 9th Circ. Shouldn't Rethink Price-Fixing Suit

By Isaac Monterose

Several Las Vegas hotel operators, two software companies and Blackstone all told the Ninth Circuit to reject a rehearing petition for its August decision for a proposed price-fixing class action that accused hotel operators and Blackstone of conspiring to use the software companies' GuestRev software to set prices for Las Vegas hotel rooms.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

9th Circ. Pushed To Revive Suit Over $3.8B Failed Tech Merger

By Joyce Hanson

A California federal judge erred in finding that investors in semiconductor company MaxLinear Inc. had no standing to sue it over what they say were misrepresentations about a $3.8 billion merger plan with chipmaker Silicon Motion Technology Corp., they told the Ninth Circuit in a bid to revive their suit.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Dems' Bill Would Give DHS Detainees Right To Talk To Atty

By Gina Kim

Democratic lawmakers unveiled a bill Friday that would guarantee immigrant detainees the right to contact their families and speak to legal counsel in custody, amid the Trump administration's push to ramp up major enforcement efforts that have led to arrests of people while dropping off children at school or grocery shopping.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

9th Circ. Sides With Calif. In Tribal Cigarette Tax Fight

By Bonnie Eslinger

The Ninth Circuit on Friday backed California in a dispute it brought to enforce cigarette taxes against a tobacco company owned and operated by a federally recognized Native American tribe, holding that the tribal leader defendants can't claim sovereign or qualified immunity exempts them from the federal tax law.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Calif. Cannabis Co. Fights $10M IRS Bill In Tax Court

By Anna Scott Farrell

A California company that manages cannabis operators challenged $10 million in taxes and penalties in the U.S. Tax Court, arguing the Internal Revenue Service stripped it of business deductions by incorrectly determining it trafficked in a controlled substance.

Petition attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Mayer Brown Adds Goodwin Real Estate, Hospitality Trio In SF

By James Mills

Mayer Brown LLP is boosting its West Coast team, bringing in a trio of Goodwin Procter LLP real estate and hospitality experts as partners in the firm's San Francisco office.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Dorsey & Whitney Adds Real Estate Duo From Womble Bond

By James Mills

Dorsey & Whitney LLP has expanded its Southern California team, bringing in two Womble Bond Dickinson real estate attorneys in its Orange County office in Costa Mesa.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Adapting To Calif.'s Enhanced Regulation Of PE In Healthcare

New California legislation enhances oversight on the role of private equity groups and hedge funds in healthcare transactions, featuring both a highly targeted nature and vague language that will require organizations to carefully evaluate existing practices, says Andrew Demetriou at Husch Blackwell.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

State Child Privacy Laws May Put More Cos. In FTC's Reach

Starting with Texas in January, several new state laws requiring app stores to share user age-related information with developers will likely subject significantly more companies to the Federal Trade Commission’s child privacy rules, altering their compliance obligations, say attorneys at Womble Bond.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Notable Q3 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

The third quarter of 2025 was another eventful quarter for total loss valuation class actions, with a new circuit split developing courtesy of the Sixth Circuit, while insurers continued to see negative results in cost-of-insurance class actions, says Kevin Zimmerman at BakerHostetler.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Viral 'Brewers Karen' Incident Teaches Employers To Act Fast

An attorney who was terminated after a viral video showed her threatening to call U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement on an opposing team's fan at a Milwaukee Brewers game underscores why employers must take prompt action when learning of viral incidents involving employees, says Joseph Myers at Mesidor.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Why Appellees Should Write Their Answering Brief First

Though counterintuitive, appellees should consider writing their answering briefs before they’ve ever seen their opponent’s opening brief, as this practice confers numerous benefits related to argument structure, time pressures and workflow, says Joshua Sohn at the U.S. Department of Justice.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Senate Committee To Investigate Impeachment Of Judges

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate Judiciary Committee will have a hearing next week to consider impeachment of "rogue" federal judges, according to an announcement on Monday.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ex-Mass. Judge Joins Todd & Weld After Fiery Resignation

By Emily Sawicki and Chris Villani

A Massachusetts federal judge said Tuesday he would join Boston boutique litigation firm Todd & Weld LLP after resigning from the bench and penning a public letter saying that he could no longer "bear to be restrained" from speaking out against the Trump administration.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Shutdown Deal Funds Justices' Security, Public Defender Pay

By Courtney Bublé

The government funding agreement reached in the Senate on Sunday includes funding for public defenders, some of whom haven't been paid since July, and security for U.S. Supreme Court justices.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Judge To Review Grand Jury Materials In Comey Indictment

By Jared Foretek

A Virginia federal judge said he would review grand jury materials in camera to see if any privileged information was used to secure the indictment of ex-FBI Director James Comey on charges of lying to Congress.

1 document attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ex-Judges, US Attys Urge Axing 'Political' Indictment Of NY AG

By Lauren Berg

A bipartisan group of former federal judges and U.S. attorneys on Monday threw their weight behind New York Attorney General Letitia James' bid to dismiss the indictment accusing her of mortgage fraud, rebuking the appointment of interim U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan and slamming the prosecution's apparent political motivations.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Fitch Even, Ex-Client Settle $1.2M Fee Fight

By Lauraann Wood

An Illinois federal judge suspended all briefing deadlines Monday in Fitch Even Tabin & Flannery LLP's $1.2 million fee dispute with a former client and a litigation funder's CEO, following the parties' signal that they've resolved their legal issues in principle.

1 document attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Trump Pardons Giuliani, Others Accused Of Election Crimes

By Emily Sawicki

President Donald Trump has reportedly pardoned scores of lawyers accused of attempting to interfere in the 2020 election, including Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman and Sidney Powell, according to a social media post created by the president's pardon attorney, Ed Martin.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jeff Montgomery

Delaware's top court issued a flurry of rulings last week and heard arguments on recently passed legislation that expanded liability shields for some corporate acts while the Court of Chancery passed on another round of arguments over control of Caribbean broadcaster Caribevision.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »