Amazon Alexa Users Win Cert. Of 1.2M-Member BIPA Class

By Rae Ann Varona

An Illinois federal judge has certified a class of roughly 1.2 million users of Amazon's Alexa in litigation accusing the e-commerce giant of unlawfully collecting their biometric voice data, allowing two people to serve as representatives for those in the state for whom Amazon allegedly created voiceprints.

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Sinclair Sanctioned For Failing To Preserve Texts In Ads MDL

By Lauraann Wood

An Illinois federal judge sanctioned Sinclair Broadcast Group Inc. on Tuesday over the company's failure to preserve text message data from more than 50 company-issued cellphones for discovery in multidistrict litigation targeting an allegedly illegal advertising price-fixing scheme.

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Use-Of-Force Limits 'Overbroad,' 7th Circ. Says, Halting Order

By Lauraann Wood

The Seventh Circuit pressed pause Wednesday on an "overbroad" injunction a Chicago federal judge entered to curb allegedly excessive force federal immigration officials have used against press and peaceful protesters, but cautioned the parties not to read too deeply into its holding.

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Cresco Gets THC Potency Suit Tossed In Federal Court

By Jonathan Capriel

Cannabis giant Cresco Labs has, for now, beaten a proposed class action accusing it and its subsidiaries of mislabeling their cannabis oil to get around Illinois THC potency limits, after a federal judge ruled on Wednesday that the consumer's suit, at best, points to a mistake in law, and not an instance of fraud.

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7th Circ. Says Union Can't Sue Over Officer Election Spending

By Emily Brill

Only the U.S. secretary of labor can sue to enforce a federal ban on employers spending money to promote candidates for union office, a Seventh Circuit panel ruled Wednesday, upholding an Illinois federal judge's dismissal of litigation filed by a Chicago teachers union that attempted to enforce the ban.

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GTCR Wants FTC's In-House Merge Case Withdrawn Too

By Bryan Koenig

GTCR BC Holdings LLC wants the Federal Trade Commission to rethink its in-house challenge to a medical coatings supplier merger after an Illinois federal judge refused a temporary block and the FTC opted not to appeal that rejection.

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Greystar Cuts $7M Deal With 9 AGs In Rent Price-Fixing Suit

By Dorothy Atkins

Greystar Management Services LLC has agreed to pay North Carolina, California and seven other states $7 million to resolve allegations against it in a sprawling antitrust lawsuit alleging major landlords used software company RealPage to fix rent prices, according to documents filed in North Carolina federal court Tuesday.

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Campbell's Wants $17M Soup Rack Patent Verdict Tossed

By Elliot Weld

Soup giant Campbell's has asked an Illinois federal judge to throw out a $17.3 million jury verdict that found it had infringed patents related to gravity-operated racks in grocery aisles, saying the racks "indisputably" contain unpatentable elements.

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Bird Flu An Excuse For Egg Producers To Fix Prices, Suit Says

By Celeste Bott

The nation's five largest egg producers have been using avian flu as a cover for their yearslong conspiracy to artificially inflate their prices without fear of being undercut in the market, a proposed class of consumers claimed Tuesday in Illinois federal court.

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Consumers Say No Arbitration In Online Gambling Feud

By Joyce Hanson

Consumers embroiled in a dispute with several online casino game operators have pressed an Illinois federal judge to reconsider his order compelling arbitration, saying he looked to the wrong law when determining whether an arbitration agreement was void.

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Bonus Spotlight

Law Firms Begin Upping The Ante For Associate Bonuses

By Tracey Read

Trial boutique Wilkinson Stekloff LLP is exceeding the year-end associate bonus scale set by Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP, announcing bonuses late Wednesday that are 150% of market.

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CFPB Will Shift Remaining Lawsuits Over To DOJ

By Jon Hill

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will be handing off its enforcement lawsuits and other litigation to the U.S. Department of Justice as the Trump administration prepares for the consumer agency to run out of money, Law360 has learned.

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Analysis

Trump's Epstein Directive Puts SDNY Prosecutor In A 'Pickle'

By Phillip Bantz

Manhattan chief federal prosecutor Jay Clayton appears to have been backed into a "horrible" corner with a "no-win" outcome as a result of a directive from President Donald Trump and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Jeffrey Epstein's ties to prominent Democrats, experts say.

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Comey Says DOJ's Conduct 'Shocks The Conscience'

By Hailey Konnath

James Comey on Thursday reiterated his request that the U.S. Department of Justice be forced to disclose all grand jury materials related to his indictment, noting the government has conceded that the grand jury never saw the operative indictment and saying the purported misconduct "shocks the conscience."

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NJ Panel Expands Scope Of Ex-Reed Smith Atty's Bias Claims

By Rose Krebs

A New Jersey appellate panel on Thursday ruled that a former Reed Smith LLP attorney is entitled to pursue more damages and obtain expanded wage data in her gender discrimination suit against the firm, saying a trial court incorrectly applied certain statutes when it limited the damages and data she could seek.

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X Corp. Ends $90M Fee Suit Against Wachtell

By James Mills

X Corp. has ended its California state lawsuit against Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz over $90 million in legal fees tied to the fight over Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter, according to a court filing.

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Analysis

Meta Loss Shows Time Not On Enforcers' Side In Tech Cases

By Bryan Koenig

Meta's triumph over a Federal Trade Commission antitrust case Tuesday hinged on a D.C. federal judge's finding that the company lacks a monopoly in the present day, highlighting some of the challenges of using slow-moving litigation to challenge fast-moving markets.

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Senate Panel OKs Miss. Judge, US Atty Nominees After Delay

By Courtney Bublé

After weeks of holdup, nominees for Mississippi federal courts and U.S. attorneys were voted out of committee on Thursday, following an impasse between Republican senators.

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Brief

Senate Passes Bill To Protect State Judges From Threats

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate on Thursday unanimously passed a bipartisan bill to beef up security for state and local judges.

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DOJ Antitrust Chief Says Agriculture A 'Top Priority'

By Matthew Perlman

The U.S. Department of Justice's top antitrust official said enforcers have already opened several investigations in the agriculture sector, including into meatpackers at the direction of President Donald Trump, and called the industry a "top priority" for the agency.

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