Meta Platforms has urged Massachusetts' highest court to take up its challenge to a pending lawsuit brought by the state attorney general's office, which accused the social media company of intentionally designing Instagram to be addictive to children and teenagers.
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SUNDAY, JANUARY 26, 2025 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

Meta Wants Mass. Justices To Intervene In AG's Suit

By Julie Manganis

Meta Platforms has urged Massachusetts' highest court to take up its challenge to a pending lawsuit brought by the state attorney general's office, which accused the social media company of intentionally designing Instagram to be addictive to children and teenagers.

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15 States Reach $7.4B Settlement With Sackler Family

By Spencer Brewer and Frank G. Runyeon

A bipartisan coalition of states on Thursday announced a $7.4 billion settlement in principle with the Sackler family and their company Purdue Pharma Inc., representing the largest settlement to date with the family accused of contributing significantly to the opioid epidemic.

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11 States Say DOJ Can't Make Them Enforce Deportations

By Madeline Lyskawa

Eleven state attorneys general fired back Thursday at a U.S. Department of Justice memorandum instructing federal prosecutors to take action against states that interfere with the Trump administration's plans to deport unlawfully present immigrants, calling the move unconstitutional. 

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Dems Cite 'Unprecedented Concerns' With Trump Memecoins

By Hailey Konnath

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Rep. Jake Auchincloss have urged federal regulators to address "unprecedented concerns" associated with the recent launch of so-called memecoins associated with President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump, citing threats of consumer ripoffs, corruption and foreign influence.

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Ex-Tribal Chair Seeks High Court Review Of Extortion Verdict

By Brian Dowling

A former tribal chair in Massachusetts told the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday that the First Circuit was wrong and stands alone in ruling that federal extortion laws apply to Native American officials as it reinstated his convictions tied to the development of a casino project.

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Analysis

Hiring Freeze, Ending Telework Would Devastate USPTO

By Dani Kass

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office would be uniquely harmed if forced to follow the Trump administration's return to office mandate, given its nearly 30-year history of telework that has led to 96% of its employees being permanently remote.

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Analysis

Corporate Transparency Law Remains Flanked By Threats

By Kevin Pinner

The Corporate Transparency Act is facing threats across the branches of government despite the U.S. Supreme Court pausing a nationwide injunction on it Thursday, with another universal injunction in place, other court battles underway and some Republican lawmakers targeting the law.

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UnitedHealthcare Settles Proton Beam Coverage Suit

By Patrick Hoff

UnitedHealthcare has agreed to resolve a proposed class action claiming it unlawfully denied coverage of a proton beam cancer treatment after wrongly labeling it as experimental, the insurance company and plan participants told a Massachusetts federal court.

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Home Health Agency Operator Gets 12 Years For $100M Fraud

By Julie Manganis

The former operator of a Massachusetts home healthcare agency convicted of fraud last summer has been sentenced to 12 years in prison and ordered to pay nearly $100 million in restitution to the state's Medicaid program.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

Series

Coaching Little League Makes Me A Better Lawyer

While coaching poorly played Little League Baseball early in the morning doesn't sound like a good time, I love it — and the experience has taught me valuable lessons about imperfection, compassion and acceptance that have helped me grow as a person and as a lawyer, says Alex Barnett at DiCello Levitt.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Analysis

Companies Risk White House Wrath By Keeping DEI Programs

By Sarah Jarvis

For companies pushing forward with their diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives amid a torrent of attacks from President Donald Trump and his allies, there are myriad potential risks ahead — and murky questions about the legal parameters of Trump's anti-DEI agenda.

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Law Students Scramble As Federal Gov't Yanks Job Offers

By Alison Knezevich

Law students across the country are scrambling to figure out their next steps after a range of federal agencies yanked job and internship offers this week because of the new hiring freeze imposed by the Trump administration.

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Mass Tort Atty Files Ch. 11 Owing $202M To Litigation Funders

By Hilary Russ

A Houston plaintiffs attorney has filed for personal Chapter 11 protection with more than $202 million of litigation funding liabilities, according to his petition in the Southern District of Texas.

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Feud Heats Up Over Estate Of Wife Killed By Ex-BigLaw Atty

By Emily Johnson

The godson of a Georgia woman killed by her husband, former Fisher Phillips partner Claud "Tex" McIver, has said her cousins shouldn't get proceeds from a settlement of an underlying wrongful death suit, calling them "strangers" to her and claiming "the redistributive windfall" they're asking for "has no place in Georgia law."

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Boston Firm Says IT Vendor Holding Computers 'Hostage'

By Julie Manganis

Boston-based law firm Melick & Porter LLP says a company it hired to manage its information technology is now holding its computer network and data "hostage" by refusing to cooperate with the transition to a new vendor unless Melick pays it $380,000.

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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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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Phillips Black Inc., Ridley McGreevy & Winocur PC and King & Spalding LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court revived claims from a woman on death row in Oklahoma that prosecutors unfairly sex-shamed her and relied on gender-based stereotypes to convince a jury that she had killed her estranged husband for insurance money.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

A new Law360 Pulse survey shows that more than 90% of in-house counsel have no regrets about their decisions to join companies. In litigation stemming from Purdue Pharma's sales of OxyContin that fueled the opioid crisis, the Sackler family would lose control of Purdue and pay $6.5 billion in the latest proposed settlement. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.​

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

By Max Austin

This past week in London has seen Axa Insurance and Admiral face a claim from a former lawyer recently exposed for personal injury fraud, the owner of Reading Football Club sue a prospective buyer and mobile network Lycamobile tackle action by Spanish network Yogio. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Promo that reads 2024 Practice Groups of the Year Promo that reads Law360 Pulse In-House Counsel Satisfaction Survey

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Adams & Reese

AkinMears

Altshuler Berzon

Arnall Golden

Bird & Bird

Brown Rudnick

Burges Salmon

Cheeley Law Group

Clement & Murphy

Clyde & Co

Cohen Milstein

Colson Hicks

Covington & Burling

Cravath Swaine

DiCello Levitt

Eimer Stahl

Eversheds Sutherland

Farella Braun

Fish & Richardson

Fisher & Phillips

Freeman Mathis

Gaslowitz Frankel

Gibson Dunn

Gillam Smith

Gordon Arata

Hilgers Graben

Hogan Lovells

Howes Percival

Jones Day

Kantor & Kantor

Kean Miller

Kemmer Law

King & Spalding

Kirkland & Ellis

Knobbe Martens

Kozyak Tropin

Latham & Watkins

Lipsitz Green

Liskow & Lewis

Lodders Solicitors

Mayer Brown

Melick & Porter

Morrison Foerster

Outten & Golden

Paul Weiss

Phillips Black Inc

Quinn Emanuel

Reynolds Porter

Ridley McGreevy

Robin Frazer Clark PC

Rosenfeld & Rafik

Sacks Weston

Schwegman Lundberg

Selendy Gay

Shapiro Arato

Sidley Austin

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

Skadden Arps

Snell & Wilmer

Stanley Reuter

Steptoe LLP

Sullivan & Cromwell

Susman Godfrey

Travers Smith

Troutman

Venable LLP

Weinberg Roger

WilmerHale

Winston & Strawn

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

AT&T Inc.

AlphaSense

AlphaSights Ltd.

Amazon.com Inc.

American Airlines Group Inc.

Apple Inc.

Armadillo Financial Partners LLC

BNP Paribas SA

British Broadcasting Corp.

Burford Capital LLC

Chevron Corp.

Compagnie Financière Tradition

Costco Wholesale Corp.

DHL International GmbH

EJF Capital LLC

Entergy Corp.

Exxon Mobil Corp.

FCA US LLC

GLS Capital LLC

George Washington University

GoFundMe Inc.

Instagram Inc.

Investments Ltd.

J.C. Penney Co. Inc.

Johnson & Johnson

LinkedIn Corp.

Macy's Inc.

Maserati North America Inc.

McDonald's Corp.

Mediterranean Shipping Co. SA

Meta Platforms Inc.

National Treasury Employees Union

National Westminster Bank PLC

Omnicom Group Inc.

Pinterest Inc.

Pioneer Natural Resources Co.

Purdue Pharma LP

Reddit Inc.

Redwood Holdings LLC

Rocade LLC

Royal Mail Group PLC

Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.

Sonos Inc.

The Interpublic Group of Cos. Inc.

The State University of New York

Thryv Inc.

TikTok Inc.

Trump Organization Inc.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Walmart Inc.

White Castle Management Co.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Companies House

Connecticut Attorney General's Office

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Delaware Court of Chancery

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Executive Office of the President

Export-Import Bank of the United States

Federal Bureau of Prisons

Federal Trade Commission

Financial Crimes Enforcement Network

Financial Ombudsman Service

Food and Drug Administration

Georgia Court of Appeals

Georgia Supreme Court

Internal Revenue Service

Japan Patent Office

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

National Labor Relations Board

New York Attorney General's Office

Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs

Peace Corps

The Crown Prosecution Service

U.S. Air Force

U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Massachusetts

U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Labor

U.S. Department of the Treasury

U.S. District & Bankruptcy Courts of Southern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration

U.S. Office of Government Ethics

U.S. Office of Personnel Management

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Supreme Court

UK High Court

United Nations