Conservative Justices Probe 'Husk' Of FTC Firing Protections

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Supreme Court's conservative majority pushed back Monday against the 90-year-old precedent permitting the removal only for cause of Federal Trade Commission members, and perhaps those serving other independent agencies, calling those safeguards a "dried husk" and wondering where to draw the line for protected agencies.

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Ford Urges 9th Circ. To Decertify 'Death Wobble' Classes

By Craig Clough

An attorney told a Ninth Circuit panel Monday it should decertify all the subclasses of buyers alleging some of Ford's pickup trucks suffered a steering defect known as the "death wobble," saying the district court didn't properly consider whether the models in question are largely used for business purposes.

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Baby Food Cos., Parents Clash On Heavy Metals MDL Experts

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge heard arguments Monday over what expert witness evidence to allow in an upcoming trial over whether lead and arsenic in baby food from Gerber, Beech-Nut, Walmart and others contributed to ADHD and autism in children, as counsel from both sides kicked off a high-profile weeklong Daubert hearing.

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High Court Rejects Bids To Clarify Video Privacy Law's Reach

By Allison Grande

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider a pair of disputes over the scope of the federal Video Privacy Protection Act, a 1988 law that has sparked a flood of litigation over the viewing data disclosure practices of website operators ranging from the NBA to streaming provider Flipps Media. 

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AT&T Joins SG's High Court Review Bid Despite 5th Circ. Win

By Christopher Cole

After winning a Fifth Circuit case involving fines from the Federal Communications Commission, AT&T has nonetheless agreed with the U.S. solicitor general that the U.S. Supreme Court should review the need for jury trials when the agency seeks certain penalties.

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7-Eleven To Pay $4.5M Penalty Over Fla. Gas Station Buy

By Rae Ann Varona

7-Eleven Inc. and its Japanese parent company will pay a historic $4.5 million penalty to settle the Federal Trade Commission's allegations that the convenience store giant bought a Florida gas station without first informing the FTC, in violation of a 2018 agreement, the agency announced Monday.

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Volkswagen Defect Class Gets Final OK For $1.95M Fee Award

By Carla Baranauckas

A New Jersey federal judge has granted final approval to a class action settlement for 3.9 million Volkswagen and Audi owners, resolving claims over alleged turbocharger defects and awarding $1.95 million in fees and expenses to the plaintiffs' attorneys.

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Ex-NY Gov. Aide's Mom Says Alleged FARA Cash Wasn't Dirty

By Stewart Bishop

The mother of a former top aide to New York governors Monday told a Brooklyn federal jury large amounts of cash she held were from legitimate sources, as opposed to prosecutors' claim it was tied to her daughter's alleged scheme to secretly further the People's Republic of China's interests.

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EU Clears Mars' $36B Deal For Pringles Maker After Probe

By Matthew Perlman

European competition enforcers approved snack food and candy giant Mars Inc.'s planned $35.9 billion purchase of Cheez-It and Pringles maker Kellanova, after an in-depth review found the move would not give the combined company too much leverage over retailers.

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Analysis

What To Do When Jurors Don't 'Trust The Science'

By Chris Villani

The pandemic and initiatives from the second administration of President Donald Trump challenging decades of established scientific norms have made science more politicized, and attorneys say picking a jury and presenting scientific evidence is increasingly challenging.

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Pentagon Spectrum Veto Left Out Of Defense Bill

By Christopher Cole

Military leaders will not have the option of blocking the transfer of certain spectrum blocks to the private sector under the latest version of a massive defense authorization for fiscal year 2026.

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Cox-Verizon Retrans Spat Shows Reform Needed, Org. Says

By Nadia Dreid

Congress needs to step in and do something about big broadcasters holding television stations "for ransom" every year in order to extract insanely high retransmission consent fees from cable and satellite companies, says a group dedicated to bringing those fees down.

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Confluence Health Refunds $1.8M Following Wash. AG's Probe

By Ben Adlin

Central Washington healthcare operator Confluence Health has refunded more than $1.8 million to low-income patients who paid for hospital care despite being eligible for financial assistance under the state's Charity Care Act, Washington Attorney General Nick Brown announced Monday.

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Crypto Project Ondo Finance Says SEC Closed Inquiry

By Sarah Jarvis

Ondo Finance said Monday that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has ended an investigation into the crypto project without filing any claims, following similar announcements from multiple other crypto firms coinciding with the change of presidential administration earlier this year.

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8th Circ. Says Video Privacy Law Doesn't Bind Movie Theaters

By Allison Grande

The Eighth Circuit on Monday became the latest court to conclude that movie theaters don't qualify as businesses that are covered by the federal Video Privacy Protection Act, in affirming the rejection of a proposed class action accusing the regional movie chain Cinema Entertainment of illegally sharing website visitors' video viewing activities with Meta. 

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Insurer Can't Shake Fintech Co.'s Data Breach Coverage Suit

By Hope Patti

An insurer can't escape a financial technology company's suit seeking coverage for losses stemming from a 2024 data breach caused by its former CEO, a Florida federal court ruled, finding that the company adequately pled a claim for breach of contract.

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Epic Drops App Store Trade Libel Claims Against Google

By Carla Baranauckas

Video game and software developer Epic Games Inc. is dropping its trade libel case accusing Google LLC of making claims about its apps and store on Android devices, following a settlement between the tech giants.

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Colo. Supreme Court Sets New Anti-SLAPP Test

By Zach Dupont

Colorado's high court issued an opinion Monday creating a two-step analysis for judges to conduct when evaluating anti-SLAPP motions to dismiss in defamation cases after issuing a ruling against a Colorado Springs-based veterinary clinic suing two women who published negative reviews about it on social media.

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EPA Wants Suit Over Refiners' Hydrogen Fluoride Use Tossed

By Tom Lotshaw

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asked a California federal judge to throw out a suit aiming to force it to stop oil refineries from using hydrogen fluoride, saying the groups behind it rely on speculative hypotheticals to allege harm.

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CFPB's Vought Faces New Funding Suit, Hearing Demand

By Jon Hill

Consumer advocates are mounting a new attempt to force Trump budget chief Russell Vought to replenish the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's dwindling funds, while Senate Democrats are calling for what they say is an overdue hearing on his work at the agency.

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Borrower's Class Suit Says Tribal Lender's Rates Are Usurious

By Joyce Hanson

A tribal lending entity accused of charging customers illegal interest rates ranging from about 500% to 700% does not have any legitimate connection to a Native American tribe, a proposed class has claimed in Kentucky federal court.

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Food Biz Groups Say Texas Food Label Law Unconstitutional

By Emily Field

Food industry trade groups on Friday said the recent "Make Texas Healthy Again Act" is unconstitutional since the government is forcing them to spread inaccurate information about the safety of products, adding that the law undermines the domestic regulation of food safety.

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Barclays Accused Of 'Vague' Account Closure Notifications

By Sydney Price

A Barclays PLC subsidiary was hit Sunday with a proposed customer class action in California federal court accusing it of illegally shutting down accounts and providing only vague explanations for the closures, allegations that echo claims of so-called debanking that have been in the national spotlight.

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Amazon, UL Say Chinese Cos. Lied About E-Bike Safety Tests

By Ben Adlin

Amazon and product safety organization UL are accusing a number of Chinese firms of falsely promoting their electric scooters and e-bikes as certified by UL despite never actually having their products tested by the 131-year-old safety group.

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Brief

Capital One To Pay $580K To End Mass. Debt Calls Claims

By Emilie Ruscoe

Financial services giant Capital One will pay $580,000 to resolve Massachusetts regulators' allegations that representatives of its recently acquired Discover Bank made more debt collection calls to Massachusetts borrowers than allowed under state law.

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Brief

Payday Loan Company Hit With Data Breach Class Claims

By P.J. D'Annunzio

Dollar Financial Group, which does business as Money Mart, has been sued in Philadelphia by a putative class claiming that the company failed to protect their sensitive information, which was allegedly compromised in a data breach.

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OCC's Gould Responds To Crypto Trust Charter Concerns

By Aislinn Keely

The head of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency on Monday expressed skepticism of banking industry concerns surrounding cryptocurrency trust charter applications, asserting in a speech that "innovation, competition, and fair access should always triumph over regulatory stagnation."

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Where Things Stand At The CFPB As Funding Dries Up

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is on pace to run out of funding in the new year, threatening current and future rulemaking efforts, but a rapid series of recent actions still carries significant implications for regulated entities and warrants careful monitoring in the remaining weeks of the year, say attorneys at Brownstein Hyatt.

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Steps For Cos. To Comply With Colo. Deceptive Pricing Law

Colorado's newly passed law protecting against deceptive pricing practices will take effect on Jan. 1, broadening the consumer protection framework and standardizing total price disclosure requirements across a variety of industries, and there are several steps businesses can take to comply, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.

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How Bank-Fintech Partnerships Changed In 2025

The 2025 transition to the Trump administration, augmented by the reversal of Chevron deference in 2024, has resulted in unprecedented shifts, and bank-fintech partnerships are no exception, with key changes affecting a number of areas including charters, regulatory oversight and anti-money laundering, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

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Opinion

Horizontal Stare Decisis Should Not Be Casually Discarded

Eliminating the so-called law of the circuit doctrine — as recently proposed by a Fifth Circuit judge, echoing Justice Neil Gorsuch’s concurrence in Loper Bright — would undermine public confidence in the judiciary’s independence and create costly uncertainty for litigants, says Lawrence Bluestone at Genova Burns.

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Series

The Law Firm Merger Diaries: Getting The Message Across

Communications and brand strategy during a law firm merger represent a crucial thread that runs through every stage of a combination and should include clear messaging, leverage modern marketing tools and embrace the chance to evolve, says Ashley Horne at Womble Bond.

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Bonus Spotlight

MoFo, Kellogg Hansen Exceed Prevailing BigLaw Bonus Scale

By Anna Sanders

Morrison Foerster LLP and boutique law firm Kellogg Hansen Todd Figel & Frederick PLLC both recently unveiled above-market bonuses, according to a MoFo in-house memo and a media report. 

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Analysis

Hagens Berman's Novel DOJ Referral May Have Chilling Effect

By Emma Cueto

A Pennsylvania federal judge's unusual decision to refer prominent plaintiffs firm Hagens Berman LLP to the U.S. Department of Justice for possible criminal investigation over its pursuit of claims related to morning sickness drug thalidomide could have a chilling effect on lawyers' advocacy, law professors and attorneys said.

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Trustee Says Winston & Strawn Is Liable For $1.7B Fintech Bust

By Lynn LaRowe

The trustee of the bankrupt self-styled "anti-woke" financial technology startup GloriFi said Winston & Strawn LLP shouldn't be allowed to escape a malpractice lawsuit over the company's $1.7 billion failure, saying the firm was a knowing participant in the allegedly unlawful activities of its then-CEO.

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Consulting Co. Says Law Firms' Malpractice Cost It $10M

By Rachel Konieczny

A Colorado consulting company told a state court that an Am Law 200 firm and a now-dissolved law firm committed legal malpractice that cost the company $10 million in a lending transaction. 

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Uber May Win Sanctions On Atty Who Disclosed MDL Docs

By Bonnie Eslinger and Mike Curley

A California federal judge said Tuesday it appeared an attorney for plaintiffs claiming Uber failed to protect passengers from sexual assault "acted in a cavalier manner" with a protective order in the multidistrict litigation, but didn't rule on Uber's requests for monetary sanctions nor its bid to kick the attorney off the plaintiff steering committee.

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Brief

Democrats Push For $1.76B To Fix Defender Budget Shortfall

By Courtney Bublé

Almost 50 Democratic lawmakers are urging congressional appropriators to fix the long-standing budget shortfall for federal defenders in the upcoming full-year budget.

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DOJ Says It Could Indict Comey Again

By Jared Foretek

The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday said it may once again seek charges against ex-FBI Director James Comey, asking a D.C. federal judge to dissolve a temporary restraining order that bars prosecutors from using evidence seized from Comey's former attorney.

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Analysis

FERC's Fate Uncertain As Humphrey's Executor Teeters

By Keith Goldberg

The future of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission may hinge on whether the U.S. Supreme Court will remake its 90-year-old precedent that protects members of independent agencies from being fired at will by the president.

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Senate Confirms 3 Judges For La., Miss.

By Courtney Bublé

The U.S. Senate confirmed three judicial nominees Tuesday for federal courts in Louisiana and Mississippi.

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