+ The bellwether trial begins this week.

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The Daily Docket

The Daily Docket

A newsletter by Reuters and Westlaw

 

By Caitlin Tremblay

Good morning. Meta, TikTok and YouTube will face allegations in court beginning this week that their platforms are fueling a youth mental health crisis. Plus, the U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue orders in pending cases; and we have a look at whether President Trump has a strong debanking case against JPMorgan. Hope you had a nice weekend! Let’s kick off a new week.

 

Meta, TikTok, YouTube to stand trial on youth addiction claims

 

REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration

Meta, TikTok and YouTube will face allegations in court beginning this week that their platforms are fueling a youth mental health crisis. Here’s what to know:

  • The bellwether trial involves a 19-year-old from California, identified as K.G.M., who said she became addicted to the companies’ platforms at a young age because of their attention-grabbing design, according to court filings. She blames her depression and suicidal thoughts on the apps she used and is seeking to hold the companies responsible.
  • Hers is the first of several cases expected to go to trial this year that center on what the plaintiffs call “social media addiction” in kids.
  • It will be the first time the tech giants face a jury in a dispute involving alleged injury caused by their products, plaintiffs attorney Matthew Bergman said. “They will be under a level of scrutiny that does not exist when you testify in front of Congress,” he said in an interview with Reuters.
  • Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg is expected to take the witness stand. Snap CEO Evan Spiegel is also expected to testify in the trial, as his company was named a defendant in the lawsuit. Snap agreed on January 20 to settle K.G.M.’s lawsuit.
  • Read more about the trial here.
 

Coming up today

  • SCOTUS: The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to issue orders in pending appeals.
  • Gaming: U.S. District Judge Aleta Trauger in Nashville will consider whether to issue a preliminary injunction that would indefinitely block Tennessee gaming regulators from barring prediction markets operator Kalshi from offering events contracts in the state that they said constituted an illegal form of sports wagering. There is already a TRO in place.
  • Health: Several major medical organizations are expected to file a motion asking U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy in Boston to block U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr's hand-picked vaccine advisory panel from holding its next meeting scheduled for next month.

Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.

 

More top news

  • Explainer: Does Trump have a strong debanking case against JPMorgan?
  • Supreme Court may leave big questions unresolved on Trump bid to fire Fed's Lisa Cook
  • Appeals court rejects Justice Department’s push to charge more people over Minnesota church demonstration
  • U.S. judge blocks Trump administration's push to end legal status of 8,400 migrants
  • Kentucky AG subpoenas gas stations in probe of abortion pill ads
  • Trump moved to cut funding for ICE body cameras, pared back oversight
 
 

Industry insight

  • Dechert hired a group of 20 lawyers from competitor McDermott, including a firm leader, gaining new offices in Chicago and Dallas in the process.
  • The already-crowded legal market in Charlotte, North Carolina, gained another major entrant, when Paul Hastings announced a new office in the financial services hub led by a group of partners from Cadwalader.
 

In the courts

  • The D.C. Circuit reinstated a lawsuit claiming some of the world’s largest drug and medical‑device companies paid millions of dollars in cash and medical supplies that helped to fund terrorism that killed or injured hundreds of American troops and civilians in Iraq. Read the opinion.
  • Immigrant rights advocates have filed a lawsuit seeking to block the Trump administration from ending temporary protections from deportation that had been granted to thousands of Ethiopians living in the United States. Read the complaint.
  • U.S. District Judge George Daniels in Manhattan rejected DoorDash and Uber’s request to block New York City laws that would require food-delivery apps to provide customers an option to tip delivery workers when paying. Read the order.
  • Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel filed an antitrust lawsuit against four major oil companies, asserting they have colluded for decades to forestall competition from renewable energy, including electric vehicles. Read the complaint.
  • California Attorney General Rob Bonta said the state was suing the Trump administration for asserting federal authority over two state pipelines and permitting Sable Offshore to restart pumping oil through them. Read the complaint.
  • Meta Platforms and EssilorLuxottica were sued for patent infringement in Massachusetts federal court by a Hong Kong-based smartglasses maker for allegedly copying its technology for their competing wearables. Read the complaint.
 

Column: ICE shooting of Minnesota woman could test limits of federal immunity

As Renee Good's family members weigh legal action over her shooting by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in Minneapolis, their attorney Antonio Romanucci acknowledges the obstacles ahead. “Most people would look at that video (of Good being shot) and say, ‘File that lawsuit, go get justice,’” he said. But suing the federal government is complex, he told Jenna Greene, involving knotty questions of legal immunity and constitutional law, even as he outlined the legal path Good’s family might take.