Musk, DOGE Fail To Nix States' Suit Against 'Limitless' Power

By Rae Ann Varona

Fourteen states can proceed in their lawsuit challenging Elon Musk and the Department of Government Efficiency's influence in the federal government after a D.C. federal judge Tuesday refused to toss their suit, rejecting the government's contention that Musk wasn't subject to the U.S. Constitution's appointments clause.

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Judge Follows The Users And The Money In Meta's FTC Case

By Bryan Koenig

A D.C. federal judge on Tuesday looked for the right metrics to measure the effect that Meta Platforms Inc. has had on Instagram and WhatsApp in terms of users, growth and money spent buying the apps in deals the Federal Trade Commission says were designed to buy or bury the competition.

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Retailer To Face Privacy Suit Instead Of Arbitration Claims

By Allison Grande

More than 2,400 Janie & Jack website visitors pursuing arbitration claims over the children clothing retailer's allegedly unlawful online tracking practices have agreed to drop these individual grievances and instead lodge a single proposed class action to press their allegations, according to a notice filed in California federal court. 

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High Court Passes On Axed $563M BMO Harris Ponzi Verdict

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to review the Eighth Circuit's decision to strike down a $563 million jury verdict against BMO Harris NA over claims that a bank it acquired had aided and abetted Thomas J. Petters' multibillion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

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Unilever Buyers Clash Over Service Awards In $3.6M Deal

By Mike Curley

Class representatives in a suit alleging Unilever United States Inc. of selling dry shampoo with elevated levels of benzene are pushing back against an objection by other plaintiffs over service awards, saying the other plaintiffs didn't do anything to materially advance the litigation and thus are not entitled to the awards.

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Ex-Solar CEO Can't Arbitrate Fraud Suit Now, Judge Says

By Tom Lotshaw

The former CEO of a defunct solar company and its financial backers waived their rights to force Michigan residents into arbitration by extensively litigating a proposed class action that accused them of deceptive sales practices and racketeering, a federal judge ruled.

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DOJ Pushes Back Against Agri Stats Recusal Bid

By Matthew Perlman

The U.S. Department of Justice told a Minnesota federal judge Friday there is no reason to recuse himself from a case accusing Agri Stats of helping meat processors exchange sensitive information because the clerk who allegedly created a conflict is not working on the case.

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Debate Over Moratorium On State AI Oversight Goes To Senate

By Courtney Bublé

Before going on recess, the U.S. House of Representatives passed their budget reconciliation bill that includes a hotly debated moratorium on states' enforcement of artificial intelligence-related legislation, and the debate continues as the bill heads to the U.S. Senate, where at least a few Republicans have voiced opposition.

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Texas Legislature Sends THC Ban To Governor's Desk

By Sam Reisman

Texas lawmakers on Tuesday gave final approval to a bill banning products with hemp-derived THC and sent the legislation to Gov. Greg Abbott's desk, advancing one of the goals of his administration.

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Crypto Industry Urges CFTC Action On Perpetual Contracts

By Aislinn Keely

Derivatives marketplaces and cryptocurrency firms told the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission that setting rules for so-called perpetual derivatives would bring significant crypto trading activity onshore, but the regulator will have to contend with round-the-clock trading, novel risks and characteristics that don't fit neatly into existing classifications.

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Brief

Wireless Mics Need Fewer Reg Restrictions, FCC Told

By Nadia Dreid

A group that advocates for making more spectrum available for wireless microphones has its own ideas about what regulations the Federal Communications Commission should be cutting, starting with two areas it says are hindering the wireless mic industry.

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Feds Tell 11th Circ. 'No Error' In Ga. Bid-Rigging Conviction

By Chart Riggall

Federal prosecutors urged the Eleventh Circuit Friday to uphold the bid-rigging and price-fixing convictions of one of two brothers accused of manipulating the coastal Georgia concrete market, arguing his push for a new trial is a "virtual carbon copy" of one a district court already rejected.

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CFPB Nixes Snap Finance Suit In Latest Enforcement Cutback

By Sarah Jarvis

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday permanently dropped its Utah federal lawsuit against Snap Finance, a lease-to-own fintech, adding to the list of Biden-era enforcement actions that the agency has walked away from under Trump-appointed leadership.

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DOJ Wants Google Docs Analyzing Potential Ad Tech Breakup

By Matthew Perlman

Enforcers are asking a Virginia federal court for access to Google documents analyzing a potential break up of the company's ad tech business, as the court considers what remedies to impose after finding Google monopolized key ad tech markets.

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Rental Co. Signs Deal With Pa. AG Over AI-Related Delays

By Matthew Santoni

The Pennsylvania arm of a Las Vegas-based rental management company will pay the state $45,000 — including $30,000 in refunds for tenants — to settle allegations that its artificial intelligence platform contributed to delays in repairs and rentals of unsafe housing, the Pennsylvania attorney general's office announced Tuesday.

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Nikola Creditors Ask To Examine Founder Over $100M Award

By Yun Park

The creditors committee in Nikola Corp.'s Chapter 11 case has asked a Delaware bankruptcy court for permission to conduct discovery on the company's founder to investigate whether he is dissipating personal assets that should be used to satisfy a $100 million arbitration award owed to the debtor.

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Proterra Investors Push For Final OK Of $29M Settlement

By Hailey Konnath

Proterra Inc. investors have asked a California federal court to sign off on a $29 million deal resolving allegations that the bankrupt electric-vehicle maker's executives misled them about liquidity issues, according to a motion for final approval of the settlement filed Tuesday.

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Ghee Butter Buyer Denied Class Cert. In 'Good Fat' Label Suit

By Mike Curley

A California federal judge has denied a bid for class certification in a suit alleging the sellers of ghee, a clarified butter, falsely claimed that it contained "good fat," saying the lead plaintiff failed to show that anyone besides her was misled by the labeling.

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Dollar Bank Yanks Funeral Home Loan Over Pet Accusations

By Matthew Santoni

A Pittsburgh-area funeral director's alleged failure to disclose that he was facing criminal charges and civil suits over accusations that he mishandled the remains of customers' pets led Dollar Bank to declare that he and his companies now owe nearly $332,000 on a 2023 loan, according to a lawsuit filed in state court.

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Brief

Bankrupt 23andMe To Delist Stock After Regeneron Deal

By Tom Zanki

Bankrupt genetic testing provider 23andMe Inc. said Tuesday it will delist its stock from the Nasdaq exchange, following Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s agreement last week to buy the defunct company.

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Brief

Judge Taps Attys To Lead Ex-UMich Coach Hacking Suits

By Jonathan Capriel

Eight lawsuits accusing the University of Michigan of failing to safeguard the private images and data of thousands of student-athletes from a former assistant football coach have been consolidated by a federal judge, who also appointed interim lead counsel.

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AG Watch: Texas Expands Use Of Consumer Protection Laws

In recent years under Attorney General Ken Paxton, Texas has demonstrated the breadth of its public interest authority by bringing actions in areas not traditionally associated with consumer protection law, including recent actions involving sports and public safety, say attorneys at Kelley Drye.

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Trump's WilmerHale Order Struck Down In Forceful Decision

By Dorothy Atkins

A D.C. federal judge struck down President Donald Trump's executive order targeting WilmerHale in an impassioned opinion Tuesday, writing that Trump's entire order is unconstitutional, and "to rule otherwise would be unfaithful to the judgment and vision of the Founding Fathers!"

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Feds Ask Justices To Lift Due Process Order For Migrants

By Julie Manganis and Chris Villani

The Trump administration on Tuesday asked the U.S. Supreme Court to halt a Massachusetts federal judge's order requiring the government to provide due process to deportees sent to countries where they have no ties, arguing that the ruling is "wreaking havoc" on the removal process.

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Atty Avoids Sanctions After Adding AI Hallucinations To Brief

By Lauraann Wood

A California attorney who represented a software company in a trade secret dispute will not be sanctioned for filing a brief that included two ChatGPT-hallucinated case citations under circumstances so unusual they "couldn't have been made up," an Illinois federal judge said Tuesday.

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ArentFox Schiff Says Workers' 'Antics' Should Get Suit Tossed

By Lauraann Wood

An Illinois federal judge handling age discrimination claims from two longtime former ArentFox Schiff LLP information technology contractors should permanently dismiss their lawsuit as a consequence for routinely destroying case evidence and discarding their mobile phones while the litigation has been pending, the firm says.

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CFTC Member Speaks On Agency Exits: 'Not A Great Situation'

By Jessica Corso

Departing U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission member Christy Goldsmith Romero said Tuesday that a possible leadership void at the agency could do a "great disservice to regulation" at a time when Congress is thinking of handing the agency the keys to the cryptocurrency industry.

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'I Need To Be Careful': Judge Wades Into Musk-Firm Conflict

By Jessica Corso

A New York federal judge questioned his authority to weigh in on Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossmann LLP's hiring decisions after it sought permission to employ a former U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission attorney who Elon Musk claims could disadvantage him in a shareholder lawsuit, asking the firm and Musk to brief him on what may be an issue of first impression.

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Trump, Ex-Copyright Head Duel Over Her Firing

By Adam Lidgett

Former U.S. Copyright Office director Shira Perlmutter on Tuesday said a Washington, D.C., federal judge should ignore the Trump administration's argument that her recent firing was legal, the latest salvo in her lawsuit against the federal government as she seeks to block her removal.

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Trump To Pardon 'Chrisley' Stars Convicted Of Tax Evasion

By Anna Scott Farrell

President Donald Trump is planning to pardon reality TV stars Todd and Julie Chrisley, the Georgia duo sentenced to prison after being convicted of running a yearslong bank fraud scheme and dodging federal taxes, according to a post Tuesday on X by Trump's communications adviser.

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Tort Report: 'High-Low' Deal Nets Plaintiff Extra $10M

By Y. Peter Kang

A last-minute "high-low" agreement that turned out to be a stroke of genius by lawyers for an injured motorcyclist and a $26 million verdict for a crash caused by a postal worker lead Law360's Tort Report, which compiles recent personal injury and medical malpractice news that may have flown under the radar.

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Calif. Bar Seeks More Remedies After Problematic Feb. Exam

By Emily Sawicki

The state bar of California has formally asked the state Supreme Court to approve measures including a limited provisional licensure program and a more direct pathway to admission for out-of-state attorneys, in the state bar's latest attempt to seek equitable remedies amid the fallout from the bungled February 2025 California bar exam.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Slater Slater's Adam Slater

By Jonathan Capriel

Securing multibillion-dollar settlements against major institutions like the Boy Scouts and Catholic dioceses on behalf of thousands of victims who were sexually assaulted as children has become Adam Slater's life work, but at least some of the skills he's used to secure this monetary justice come from his years as a poker player.

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