Acxiom Beats Consumers' Suit Over Data Sales, For Good

By Gina Kim

A Virginia federal judge tossed a complaint alleging data analytics company Acxiom gathers and sells individuals' personal information like their addresses, birth dates and other identifiers to its clients, ruling Wednesday the laws alleged to have been violated only protect a person's name, portrait, or picture, "not any of this other data."

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Ketamine, WilmerHale Probe Off Limits In Musk-OpenAI Trial

By Dorothy Atkins

A California federal judge has placed evidentiary guardrails on an April jury trial over Elon Musk's claims OpenAI duped him, excluding evidence on Musk's ketamine use and WilmerHale's investigation into Sam Altman's dismissal, but allowing evidence on Musk's rival startup, his romance with an ex-OpenAI boardmember and his Burning Man trip.

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FTC Warns Mastercard, PayPal, Stripe, Visa About Debanking

By Jon Hill

The Federal Trade Commission on Thursday warned major payment companies that denying services to consumers based on their politics or religion could lead to an enforcement action, the latest move in the Trump administration's broader crackdown on so-called debanking.

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Live Nation Kicks Off Defense Case In Antitrust Trial

By Stewart Bishop

A coalition of state attorneys general on Thursday mostly concluded their antitrust case against Live Nation and its Ticketmaster subsidiary, following weeks of a trial that was nearly derailed after the U.S. Department of Justice dropped out, and Live Nation kicked off its defense case with a company executive who pushed back against claims of anticompetitive conduct.

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States Will Fill DOJ, FTC's Antitrust Void, Ill. AG Atty Says

By Bryan Koenig

The top antitrust attorney at the Illinois attorney general's office predicted Thursday that state enforcers will continue to pick up the pace as the Federal Trade Commission and especially the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division "become less transparent and less active."

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Xfinity Lands $4.9M Win In Imposter Fraud Case

By Elliot Weld

Xfinity has won a $4.9 million judgment against a man and his company accused of impersonating Xfinity to customers and offering them nonexistent services for money.

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Artist Says Tech Cos. Cut Attribution From Work Used For AI

By Zak Kostro

A Los Angeles 3D artist and visual effects creator accused four tech giants of failing to protect rights on millions of works by artists and designers that were used to train large-scale generative artificial intelligence systems, according to proposed class actions filed in California and Washington federal courts Thursday.

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FCC Floats Caps For Offshore Telecom Call Center Work

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission Thursday floated new rules to encourage the onshoring of customer call centers in the telecom industry.

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FTC Antitrust Head Cites Acquihire 'Tension' With Deal Rule

By Bryan Koenig

The Federal Trade Commission's top antitrust official said Thursday that so-called reverse acquihires appear designed solely to avoid merger reporting requirements, while noting that competition enforcers continue to scrutinize the deals that are newly popular in Silicon Valley, especially in the artificial intelligence space.

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House Panels Advance Aviation Safety Bill After DCA Collision

By Linda Chiem

Two House committees advanced legislation Thursday that would mandate aircraft-tracking and collision-avoidance technology in some aircraft, and reinforce Federal Aviation Administration and military training and operational procedures, in response to last year's deadly midair collision between an Army helicopter and an American Airlines regional jet near Washington, D.C.

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Dems Talk Nexstar-Tegna Merger At Telecom Act Hearing

By Nadia Dreid

Lawmakers touched on a lot of topics during the nearly three hours Thursday they spent dissecting the Telecommunications Act, which turns 30 this year, but the one that Democrats kept dragging the hearing back to was the FCC's recent approval of the $6.2 billion broadcast merger between Nexstar and Tegna.

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FCC Advances IP Networks, But Consumer Worries Persist

By Christopher Cole

Federal regulators pushed ahead Thursday on the national transition to all internet-based phone networks although concerns remain among public advocates that parts of the U.S. population that still rely on copper wires could eventually be left stranded.

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Crypto Developer Loses Bid To Block Potential DOJ Action

By Sarah Jarvis

A Texas federal court tossed a crypto software developer's suit against U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi seeking protection over his forthcoming software from an enforcement action under federal money transmitting laws, finding the developer failed to show a substantial threat of prosecution.

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Antitrust Leaders Say Lobbyists Don't Impact Outcomes

By Matthew Perlman

The leaders of the Federal Trade Commission and U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division said Thursday that companies can lobby the agencies all they want, but enforcers will still make merger and conduct decisions based on the facts and the law.

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DOJ Takes Issue With Tyson Args In Turkey Price-Fixing Fight

By Rae Ann Varona

The U.S. Department of Justice has urged an Illinois federal court not to take up Tyson Foods' application of a Fourth Circuit decision in the turkey processor's bid to defeat consolidated antitrust litigation against poultry producers, saying the out-of-circuit decision conflicts with U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

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J&J Spinoff Can't Avoid All Of 'Oil-Free' False Ad Suit In Ill.

By Mike Curley

An Illinois federal judge won't let a Johnson & Johnson spinoff fully escape claims that it misled consumers by marketing skincare products as "oil-free," finding the plaintiff can't pursue claims for products she didn't buy and dismissing her warranty claim but allowing the rest to proceed.

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Baltimore Says 1998 Tobacco Deal Doesn't Block Litter Suit

By Mike Curley

The city of Baltimore is urging a state court to not throw out its suit against R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co., Philip Morris USA Inc. and Liggett Group LLC over the environmental damage caused by nonbiodegradable cigarette filters, saying that a 1998 settlement doesn't preempt its claims.

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Fans Push For $14M Deal For Soccer Match Fiasco

By Tom Lotshaw

Soccer fans impacted when people without tickets stormed a Copa America championship match at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami Gardens two years ago asked a Florida federal judge to sign off on a settlement agreement worth up to $14 million.

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3rd Circ. Sends Harriet Carter Wiretapping Case To Pa. Court

By P.J. D'Annunzio

The Third Circuit on Thursday said the federal courts lacked jurisdiction to hear a case alleging that Harriet Carter Gifts and a third-party company violated consumers' privacy rights under Pennsylvania wiretapping law by collecting their website browsing data, ordering the lower court to remand the case to state court.

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Pregnancy 'Crisis' Center Loses Bid To End Deception Claims

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge on Thursday rejected a request by an anti-abortion nonprofit and a Missouri marketing firm to dismiss claims that they tried to trick women into visiting a pregnancy "crisis" center.

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Imaging Practice Data Breach Class Actions Hit NC Biz Court

By Abigail Harrison

A series of putative class actions resulting from a data breach at imaging practice Triad Radiology Associates PLLC hit North Carolina Business Court this week, with a couple of the cases naming hospitals that partnered with the practice.

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NC Suit Says Real Estate Co. Cyberattack Notice Took Months

By Nate Beck

A real estate company faces a purported class action in North Carolina's Business Court accusing the firm of waiting months to notify its customers of a data breach in September and failing to disclose what kind of information was stolen.

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PNC Beats Customer's $200K Forged Check Dispute

By Emilie Ruscoe

PNC no longer faces allegations it failed to prevent a customer's losses after his employees drained nearly $205,000 from his accounts, a Philadelphia federal judge found, noting the plaintiff's estate administrator didn't properly dispute relevant facts asserted by the bank.

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NC Justices Asked To Review 'Sealed Container' Defense

By Mike Curley

A man suing a retailer and distributor over injuries he sustained when a counterfeit lithium-ion battery exploded is asking the North Carolina Supreme Court to take up the case, saying the appeals court wrongly held that the sealed container defense blocked his claims.

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Atty Wants To Undo Gun Client Ad Ban In Sig Sauer Battle

By Aaron Keller

An attorney embroiled in long-running disputes with gunmaker Sig Sauer has asked a Connecticut federal judge to rethink a ruling that permanently barred him from using a contested pistol animation to advertise his law practice, claiming the judge erred when inheriting the case following a fellow jurist's death.

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Ill. Judge Tosses 'Baseless' THC Potency Suit

By Jonathan Capriel

Illinois cannabis regulators are not so "incompetent on an elementary level" as to be duped into allowing Acreage Holdings Inc. and other companies to mislabel vape products in a way that lets them skirt state-imposed THC-potency limits, a federal court ruled, tossing as "baseless" a consumer-led proposed class action.

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Hyundai Loses 9th Circ. Bid To Arbitrate Palisade Liability Suit

By Jonathan Capriel

Hyundai Motor America Inc. can't push into arbitration a proposed class action over allegedly faulty tow wiring that can catch fire, the Ninth Circuit ruled in a split decision, rejecting as "absurd" the automaker's argument that the terms of the vehicles' subscription-based wireless service waived a driver's right to sue over defects in the rest of the SUV.

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9th Circ. Won't Rehear Flagstar Escrow Interest Decision

By Jon Hill

The Ninth Circuit declined Thursday to revisit a panel decision that held federally chartered banks aren't exempt from a California law requiring interest to be paid on mortgage escrow accounts, leaving Flagstar Bank on the hook for a $9 million borrower class action judgment.

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AG Watch: New York's Heightened Enforcement In Real Estate

Over the past several months, New York Attorney General Letitia James has brought a rapid succession of enforcement actions targeting rent stabilization abuse, unsafe housing conditions and fraudulent securities practices, signaling that the office views these problems as systemic issues warranting aggressive intervention, say attorneys at Quinn Emanuel.

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Nippon Case Illustrates Challenges Of Proving Antitrust Injury

A recent California federal court decision dismissing challenges to Nippon Steel's purchase of U.S. Steel underscores the longtime antitrust precedent that while the limitations of injury are critical for defendants sued under U.S. antitrust laws, showing that the harm is real is the key, says Cameron Regnery at Freeman Mathis.

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Reel Justice: 'Mercy' And Private Surveillance As Evidence

The near-future depicted in the film “Mercy” reminds attorneys that private surveillance networks are becoming central to the evidentiary ecosystem, shaping what prosecutors can obtain, what defendants must explain and what jurors may interpret as objective truth, says Veronica Finkelstein at Wilmington University.

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Firms Targeted By Trump Urge DC Circ. To Uphold EO Rulings

By Alison Knezevich

Four law firms targeted last year by President Donald Trump urged the D.C. Circuit on Friday to affirm lower court rulings that struck down executive orders restricting their ability to practice law, saying the directives blatantly violate the Constitution.

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Ex-Williams & Connolly Clerk Accused Of Posting Client Info

By Hailey Konnath

A former Williams & Connolly LLP clerk has been posting confidential firm information — including client information and work email exchanges — and he's threatening to "keep leaking" the materials, which he called "a fun read," according to a suit filed in District of Columbia Superior Court.

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BigLaw Races To Capture Expanding Fund Finance Market

By Kevin Penton

Debt financing work at the fund level has long been dominated on the lender side by attorneys from Cadwalader Wickersham & Taft LLP, Haynes Boone and Mayer Brown LLP, but other firms are increasingly crafting formal practices and poaching fund finance stars from the more established players.

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NJ Federal Judge DQs Beasley Allen In J&J Talc MDL

By Emily Sawicki

A New Jersey federal judge has disqualified the Beasley Allen Law Firm from representing hundreds of plaintiffs in sprawling multidistrict litigation over Johnson & Johnson's talc-based baby powder, holding that the firm violated ethics rules by collaborating with former outside counsel for J&J, a ruling the law firm has vowed to appeal.

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Apollo, BlackRock Deny Asking Kirkland To Abandon Optimum

By Tracey Read

Apollo, Ares, BlackRock and other major financial companies have denied Optimum Communications' claims accusing them of "bullying" Kirkland & Ellis LLP into withdrawing as the telecommunications company's transaction counsel to get revenge for a collusion lawsuit filed in New York federal court.

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Atty Sanctioned For AI Hallucinations In Workers' Comp Row

By Gianna Ferrarin

A New Jersey appellate court on Friday ordered an attorney to pay $1,000 in sanctions for failing to rectify AI-hallucinated case citations pointed out to him in an appeal concerning reimbursement sought by a workers' compensation carrier.

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Brief

Amazon Swaps MoFo In, Perkins Coie Out In Cooker Suit

By Ben Adlin

Amazon.com LLP switched counsel Friday in a customer's product defect suit accusing the retail giant of selling a faulty pressure cooker that allegedly malfunctioned and caused her severe burns, substituting two Morrison Foerster LLP attorneys in place of an outgoing Perkins Coie LLP lawyer.

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Judiciary Nixes Amicus Disclosure Reform Over Potential Chill

By Emily Sawicki

The federal judiciary has been asked not to move forward with a plan to add to amicus brief disclosure requirements designed to curb "dark money" groups from bankrolling amicus briefs, after rules committee chairs pulled the recommendation over concerns of a possible chilling effect.

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen Apple hit back at a tech company's wireless charging patent claim, a flurry of businesses bring COVID-19 pandemic insurance claims as a key deadline draws closer and Ipulse Partners LLP file a claim against a luxury yacht company it represented in a trademark dispute. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

A federal judge has stopped the Pentagon from dropping AI giant Anthropic from the government's supply chain, and Latham & Watkins ranked first in a survey of in-house legal leaders on which law firms are most helpful in developing business, followed by King & Spalding, Jones Day and Ropes & Gray.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

The Lanier Law Firm, Kiesel Law LLP, Panish Shea Ravipudi LLP, Wagstaff & Cartmell LLP and Beasley Allen Law Firm lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a California state jury in a bellwether trial found Meta and Google liable for harming the mental health of a woman who says she became addicted to their social media platforms as a child.

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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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Mich. Judge Signals No Stay If Attys Exit Retaliation Suit

By Melanie Dorsey

A Michigan federal judge said Friday she is not inclined to pause a long-running sexual harassment suit again if counsel for an attorney who is suing her ex-mentor and former firm are allowed to withdraw, telling the parties, "We've been here. We've done this," as she heard arguments over a motion to exit the case.

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Mayer Brown's $21M Fee Bid In RI Truck Tolls Suit Rebuffed

By Linda Chiem

A Rhode Island federal judge on Friday rebuffed Mayer Brown LLP's bid for $21 million in attorney fees for representing the commercial trucking industry's lead trade group in long-running litigation over the state's truck tolling program, saying the American Trucking Associations ultimately was not the "prevailing party."

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