TikTok To Pay $92 Million To Settle Class-Action Suit Over ‘Theft’ Of Personal Data

“TikTok has agreed to pay $92 million to settle dozens of lawsuits alleging that the popular video-sharing app harvested personal data from users, including information using facial recognition technology, without consent and shared the data with third-parties, some of which were based in China,” reports BOBBY ALLYN in NPR News

“The proposed settlement, which lawyers in the case have called among the largest privacy-related payouts in history, applies to 89 million TikTok users in the U.S. whose personal data was allegedly tracked and sold to advertisers in violation of state and federal law.”

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Music publishers sue Roblox in $200 million copyright infringement lawsuit

“The National Music Publishers’ Association has sued the popular gaming platform Roblox for copyright infringement on behalf of several music publishers in a lawsuit seeking $200 million in damages,” reports TORI B. POWELL in CBS News

“The Association alleges that Roblox “actively encourages” its players to utilize music from artists like Imagine Dragons, Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande and others without paying appropriate licensing fees.”

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Jury finds Baylor not responsible for alleged sexual assault by ex-football players

“A jury in Houston took just a few hours on Wednesday to find Baylor University and three former football players not responsible for the alleged sexual assault of a former female student athlete in 2017,” reports Paula Lavigne in ESPN Staff Writer

“The trial, which started May 20, was in some ways a test of whether Baylor had changed its ways since a pattern of mishandled sexual assaults, notably those involving football players, led to the firing of head football coach Art Briles and the eventual departures of president Ken Starr and athletic director Ian McCaw in 2016.”

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Eleventh Circuit Affirms $380.5M Class Action Settlement in Equifax Data Breach Litigation

“Last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the $380.5M settlement in the Equifax data breach class actions – a settlement which the district court called “the largest and most comprehensive recovery in a data breach case in U.S. history by several orders of magnitude.” The appeal was brought by 6 objectors out of the 147 million class members whose data was involved in the breach,” reports Balch & Bingham LLP in JDSupra

“The Eleventh Circuit’s 64-page ruling covers the waterfront of class action law and provides important insight into how the Eleventh Circuit views two key issues: (1) standing to sue for a data breach; (2) attorneys’ fees and incentive awards in class action settlements; and (3) the breadth of a district court’s discretion in managing the class action process.”

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Volkswagen to get $351M in diesel fraud settlements from former execs

“Volkswagen (OTCPK:VWAGY) says former CEO Martin Winterkorn and other executives will pay it $351M to settle lawsuits for their alleged roles in the auto emissions fraud that rigged nearly 11M vehicles to cheat emissions tests and then cover it up,” reports Carl Surran in Seeking Alpha News

“Separately, German prosecutors filed charges against Winterkorn today, alleging that he made false statements in sworn testimony to an investigative committee of the German parliament in 2017.”

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Las Vegas Sands faces $12 billion lawsuit in Macau

“American casino giant Las Vegas Sands is facing a $12 billion lawsuit in a Macau court. Former partner Asian American Entertainment Corporation alleges that Sands breached their contract in order to obtain a casino license in Macau,” reports Reuters in Yahoo News.

“They’re seeking damages worth some 70% of Sands’ Macau profits from 2004 to 2022. The case dates back to 2001, when Sands and Asian American jointly submitted a bid for a casino in the former Portuguese colony, the only legal gambling destination in China.”

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Ninth Circuit Upholds Roundup Verdict in Access to Justice Triumph

“Throughout its nearly 40-year history, Public Justice has specialized in taking on corporate behemoths on behalf of consumers, workers, and others who are determined to fight back against dangerous products, dangerous workplaces and dangerous attempts to block the courthouse doors. On May 14, we scored a major victory against one of the biggest behemoths of all: Monsanto, manufacturer of the weed killer Roundup,” reports Leslie A. Brueckner in LA Progressive.

“We are proud to have played a leading role in securing a Ninth Circuit victory on behalf of Edwin Hardeman, a California resident who developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma after decades of exposure to Roundup. The court upheld Hardeman’s headline-generating jury verdict awarding him $80 million.”

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Supreme Court won’t review $2 billion verdict against Johnson & Johnson in talc powder case

The Supreme Court said on Tuesday that it won’t review a lower court opinion that awarded a $2 billion verdict in a case brought by a group of women who sued Johnson & Johnson after developing ovarian cancer which they say stemmed from exposure to asbestos in the company’s talc powder.,” reports Ariane de Vogue in CNN.

“There have been tens of thousands of lawsuits brought against J&J and other talcum powder companies. J&J had sold the talc-based powder, Johnson’s Baby Powder, for more than 100 years and created several other products using talc. Talc is among one of the softest minerals that can reduce friction and has a great ability to absorb oils and odor.”

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Why Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak can’t sue YouTube over Bitcoin scam

“Apple Inc. co-founder Steve Wozniak lost his lawsuit against YouTube over videos that used his image to promote a bogus bitcoin giveaway. YouTube and its parent, Google LLC, are protected by the federal law that shields internet platforms from responsibility for content posted by users, a California state judge said in a tentative ruling Wednesday,” reports Robert Burnson in Bloomberg.

“According to a Contingent Value Rights (CVR) agreement tied to BMS’s $74 billion purchase of Celgene in November 2019, the New York pharmaceutical giant would have owed former Celgene shareholders $6.4 billion if it had won FDA approval for three new drugs at the center of that deal, each with a particular deadline.”

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Ex-Celgene shareholders sue Bristol Myers Squibb for $6.4B in lost CVR cash, claiming ‘blatant misconduct’

“It wasn’t so much a question of whether Bristol Myers Squibb would be taken to court by former Celgene shareholders. It was more a question of when. The answer came Thursday in U.S. District Court-Southern New York with the filing of Case 1:21-cv-04897. In it, Bristol is of “blatant misconduct”—allegedly delaying development of a cancer drug to avoid making a $6.4 billion milestone payment tied to its approval,” Report Kevin Dunleavy in Fierce Pharma.

“According to a Contingent Value Rights (CVR) agreement tied to BMS’s $74 billion purchase of Celgene in November 2019, the New York pharmaceutical giant would have owed former Celgene shareholders $6.4 billion if it had won FDA approval for three new drugs at the center of that deal, each with a particular deadline.”

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SEC Files Suit Against Five Alleged Promoters of Crypto Lending Program

“The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) brought an action in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against five alleged promoters of a digital asset called BitConnect, claiming they promoted the sale of unregistered securities that raised over $2 billion from retail investors last Friday,” Report Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP in JD SUPRA.

“According to the SEC’s complaint, between January 2017 and January 2018, four of the defendants promoted BitConnect by advertising its “lending program” to retail investors, while receiving a percentage of the funds they obtained, without being registered as broker-dealers with the SEC.  Specifically, the SEC alleged these four defendants promoted and touted BitConnect’s “lending program” to prospective investors, including by posting testimonial-style videos to YouTube with a referral link to the “lending program.”

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MLB Sued in $1B Lawsuit for Pulling All-Star Game out of Atlanta

“Major League Baseball has been hit with a lawsuit for moving the All-Star game out of Atlanta following controversy over Georgia’s recent restrictive voting law,” reports Marlene Lenthang in ABC News.

“Job Creators Network, a conservative-leaning business group, filed the lawsuit on Monday of the Southern District in New York, where MLB is headquartered, demanding the July 13 game return to Atlanta.”

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Nintendo Wins Multi-Million Dollar Lawsuit Against ROM Hosting Website

“… the site’s owner will have to pay $2.1 million in damages to Nintendo after the court ruled in the video game company’s favour. You can read a court order from the suit here. The lawsuit was filed back in September of 2019, with Nintendo seeking damages for copyright infringement and federal trademark infringement,” reports Jordan Oloman in IGN’s Nintendo Switch.

“This is because the RomUniverse website hosted pirated versions of Nintendo games that users could download. It also offered premium subscriptions that allowed RomUniverse subscribers to surpass a download limit.”

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Johnson & Johnson Asks High Court to Void $2B Talc Verdict

“Johnson & Johnson is asking for Supreme Court review of a $2 billion verdict in favor of women who claim they developed ovarian cancer from using the company’s talc products,” reports Mark Sherman in The Seattle Times Business and Health.

“The case features an array of high-profile attorneys, some in unusual alliances, including former independent counsel Kenneth Starr, who is representing the women who sued Johnson & Johnson. The nation’s largest business groups are backing the company, and a justice’s father also makes an appearance because of his long association with the trade group for cosmetics and personal care products.”

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PG&E to Pay Millions for Two More California Wildfires

“PG&E Corp. agreed Wednesday to pay $43.4 million to settle claims filed by local governments over a 2019 wildfire that ravaged California’s wine country and a deadly fire last year in Shasta County,” reports Dale Kasler in The Sacramento Bee.

“The settlement resolves claims by cities and counties from the damages wrought by the Kincade Fire, which forced the evacuation of nearly 190,000 residents of Sonoma County, and the Zogg Fire west of Redding, which killed four people.”

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Steve Wozniak Faces Copyright Lawsuit Over Tech School

“Steve Wozniak will soon face the courts for a copyright lawsuit due to a technology school venture initially called ‘Woz Institute of Technology’ but was scrapped and did not push through,” reports Isaiah Richard in Tech Times.

“Instead of being board members or chairpersons of what is supposed to be a technology school that would focus on engineering and pushing forth the development of modern gadgets, both parties are square one in court. According to Business Insider, Wozniak is facing the claims of allegedly “stealing” the idea to a tech school despite having the name ‘Woz’ to it.”

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Takeda’s Baxalta Settles with Bayer Over $173M Hemophilia Patent Infringement Verdict

“Takeda subsidiary Baxalta has spent more than two years pushing back against the $173 million in damages it was ordered to pay as a result of Bayer’s hemophilia patent infringement lawsuit. But after an appeals win for Bayer in March, the companies are putting the case to rest,” reports Noah Higgins-Dunn in Fierce Pharma’s Pharma.

“The two drugmakers, along with Nektar Therapeutics, have entered into a settlement agreement over the patent infringement case, a court filing shows. Bayer will not seek claims for the many millions in damages it was owed under a 2019 verdict and a subsequent appeals ruling.”

“Under the latest settlement, each drugmaker will cover their own legal expenses and Baxalta will give up its right to appeal the 2019 verdict any further. The filings didn’t provide other details on the terms of the settlement.”

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AT&T Overcharged Washington, DC, for 5 Years, Must Pay $1.5M

“AT&T overcharged the District of Columbia government for more than five years and has ‘agreed to pay $1.5 million for its failure to comply with its long-term contract with the District for cell phone and Internet services,’ … The settlement doesn’t recoup the full amount of overcharges alleged by Washington, DC, which says AT&T ‘overcharg[ed] District taxpayers by millions of dollars,'” reports Jon Brodkin in ARS Technica.

“AT&T did not admit to any wrongdoing in the settlement.”

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‘Staggering’ Legal Fees in Boy Scouts Bankruptcy Case

“One lawyer negotiating a resolution to the multi-billion-dollar bankruptcy filed by the Boy Scouts of America billed $267,435 in a single month. Another charged $1,725 for each hour of work. New lawyers fresh out of law school have been billing at an hourly rate of more than $600,” reports Mike Baker in The New York Times U.S. Section.

“The high-stakes bankruptcy case has drawn in lawyers by the dozens, negotiating how to compensate tens of thousands of people who have filed claims of sexual abuse. Lawyers and other professionals — both those representing the Boy Scouts and some who are representing victims — have submitted fee applications with the court that have now surpassed $100 million. By August, they could reach $150 million.”

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Federal Judge Approves $577M Settlement for Maryland’s Historically Black Universities

“A federal judge approved a deal Wednesday for Maryland to settle a long-running lawsuit over the state’s treatment of its four historically Black universities with $555 million in extra funding over 10 years, clearing the last major hurdle to end a legal battle launched in 2006,” reports Bryn Stole in the Baltimore Sun’s Politics.

“The lawsuit, filed by alumni and supporters of the schools, argued the state systematically undermined the institutions even after the end of legal segregation and made it difficult for Bowie State University, Coppin State University and Morgan State University in Baltimore, and the University of Maryland, Eastern Shore, to compete with the state’s other public universities for students and resources.”

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