Legal Practice Pulse

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has announced the repeal of the “endangerment finding,” a scientific determination made in 2009 during Barack Obama’s administration, which empowered the EPA to regulate greenhouse gases. The rule classified carbon dioxide and five other greenhouse gases as a threat to public health. The endangerment finding underpinned regulations that set emissions…

Instagram head Adam Mosseri has defended the platform’s product decisions at a Los Angeles trial alleging “social media addiction” and youth mental-health harms. A plaintiff who began using Instagram at age nine says Meta and YouTube profited by hooking children despite known risks, contributing to depression and body dysmorphia. Court emails showed internal debate about…

Estée Lauder has filed a lawsuit against Walmart in California federal court, accusing the retailer of facilitating the sale of counterfeit beauty products on its online marketplace and failing to adequately vet third-party sellers. The complaint alleges that fake versions of products from brands including La Mer, Le Labo, Clinique, Aveda, Tom Ford, and Estée…

The American units of China’s BYD, the world’s biggest electric vehicle manufacturer, have filed a lawsuit in the U.S. Court of International Trade arguing that executive orders underpinning U.S. President Donald Trump’s import tariffs are invalid, thus making the collection of the duties unlawful. BYD said it has paid and continues to pay “significant” duties…

Arguments are set to begin today in a landmark U.S. trial that could establish a legal precedent on whether social media companies deliberately designed their platforms to lead to addiction in children. Instagram’s parent company Meta and Google’s YouTube will face claims; TikTok and Snap, which were originally named in the lawsuit, settled for undisclosed…

A federal judge in Missouri dismissed a lawsuit from the Republican-led state accusing Starbucks of using diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives as a cover for discrimination based on race, gender, and sexual orientation. U.S. District Judge John Ross stated that the state failed to demonstrate any discrimination against “even a single Missouri resident” associated with…