Keep your finger on the legal world's pulse

The U.S. Justice Department has issued subpoenas to major banks, including JPMorgan Chase ​and Bank of America, seeking information on whether ‌they improperly closed customer accounts for political reasons, according to a source familiar with the matter. The Wall Street Journal reports that the subpoenas, some dating back ​to last year, were from the U.S. Attorney's ​Office in Washington, D.C., headed by Jeanine Pirro, and escalate a campaign by President Trump to obtain evidence that lenders allegedly discriminated against conservatives, including his own family.

 

Wall Street Journal

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President Trump’s Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) is proposing new tariffs of up to 12.5% on 59 countries and the European Union based on an investigation into forced labor under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974. The USTR claims there has been widespread failure to restrict the importation of goods produced by forced labor, a practice that affects an estimated 27.6 million men, women, and children victims of the practice daily, and which generates $236bn in illegal profits annually. Legal experts say the unilateral imposition of tariffs against 60 economies at once is unprecedented, and CNBC reports that trade and labor authorities say the USTR's investigation was executed in short order, and is likely to meet significant legal challenges - including that the U.S. has itself struggled like most countries to crack down on the pervasive issue.

 

CNBC

Mississippi residents have sued Elon Musk’s xAI and SpaceX. They say a power plant fueling nearby data centers is responsible for “omnipresent ​and inescapable” noise that is detrimental to their health and the values of their homes. The lawsuit filed in federal court in Oxford, Mississippi, claims Musk’s companies negligently failed to curb the disturbance and created a public nuisance through excessive ​and offensive noise. The case has been filed by the residents on behalf of ​a class estimated at more than 10,000 members. Robert Wiygul, a lawyer for the plaintiffs, said: “Our homes are supposed to be a sanctuary for us against the world," but “when they are invaded by noise 24 hours a day, it takes that fundamental peace of a good and decent life away ​from us.”

 

Reuters

Kroger has agreed to pay $1.25m to settle a California lawsuit alleging it misrepresented the calorie content of several store-branded Carbmaster bread products, which were marketed to consumers seeking low-calorie and speciality diet options. The lawsuit, brought by district attorneys from Santa Barbara, Ventura and Riverside counties, claimed Kroger violated California’s False Advertising and Unfair Competition laws by publishing inaccurate calorie information on product packaging and online listings. Prosecutors alleged the issue dated back to the products’ launch in 2021 and that incorrect calorie claims continued to be displayed for months after consumer complaints were raised.

 

Cincinnati Enquirer

Uber has sued New York City to ‌prevent enforcement of new legislation that it said would unconstitutionally force it to retain drivers it does not want on its platform. The ride-hailing firm said the law against "wrongful deactivations" would improperly protect drivers who ​engage in dangerous, threatening or other inappropriate behavior, thus threatening public safety and causing "immediate and irreparable harm" by ​undermining Uber's reputation and goodwill.

 

Reuters

FedEx pilots have ratified a new deal that ‌would raise their wages by about 40% this year, the Air Line ​Pilots Association (ALPA) has said. The agreement follows almost five years ​of negotiations. Eighty-three percent of the parcel delivery ⁠company's pilots ​voted in favor of the new collective bargaining agreement ​that will also provide annual increases of 3% from 2028 through 2030. The contract takes effect from June 29.

 

Reuters

The Financial Stability Board (FSB) has said it “strongly” encourages boards to consider implementing safeguards to mitigate risks from AI, including from “agentic” AI - systems that are capable of planning, reasoning and executing tasks with limited human oversight. The ​FSB said autonomous AI introduces risks that can “materialise at great ‌speed”, ⁠ and “AI agents pose a distinct challenge for human oversight.” In a report, the global standard setter detailed proposed “sound practices”, and called on ​financial firms to define clear boundaries on AI ​use and ⁠embed safeguards. Firms can consider adapting HR controls and processes to AI agents in a ​way that treats them as "synthetic employees," the FSB said.

 

Reuters

A federal judge has struck down a Trump administration policy that made it more difficult for wind and solar projects to qualify for federal tax credits, ruling that the Internal Revenue Service failed to adequately justify the change. The decision restores a long-standing provision that allowed renewable energy developers to preserve eligibility for tax incentives by incurring at least 5% of a project’s total costs before a credit deadline. The IRS had removed that pathway for most projects in rules issued last August, a move critics argued would increase electricity costs and discourage clean energy investment. The lawsuit was brought by environmental groups, consumer advocates, the City of San Francisco, and a clean energy consulting firm, which contended that the policy would hinder renewable energy development. The ruling sends the IRS guidance back for further review and represents another legal setback for the administration’s efforts to slow the expansion of clean energy technologies.

 

Bloomberg Tax

U.S. News

Goldman Sachs general counsel Kathy Ruemmler has been involved in the search process for her own successor and has taken part in interviews for the role, according to sources.

 

Financial Times

Shayne Henry has joined Latham & Watkins as a partner in its complex commercial litigation practice in Austin. He brings extensive experience representing startups, public and private companies, and private equity clients across various sectors, including oil and gas. His expertise encompasses business disputes, mass torts, product liability, employment issues, and RICO matters, along with trade secrets, class actions, multidistrict litigation, and restructuring-related litigation in US bankruptcies. Henry previously worked at Kirkland & Ellis.

 

Bloomberg Law

The European Commission has ordered Meta to restore access to WhatsApp for competing artificial intelligence (AI) assistant providers, using emergency powers to prevent potential harm to competition while a broader antitrust investigation continues. The move represents one of Brussels’ first major interventions in the rapidly evolving market for AI-powered autonomous agents. EU Competition Commissioner Teresa Ribera said the action was necessary because competition in fast-moving AI markets can be irreversibly damaged before traditional antitrust cases are concluded, and that consumers should be free to choose which AI assistants they use within WhatsApp. The decision comes shortly after Meta launched a new AI business agent for WhatsApp enterprise customers, a product viewed as a significant future revenue opportunity. Meta has said it will appeal the decision.

 

France24

Financial Times

Politico

A Milan court judge has upheld a decision to place the Italian unit of U.S. builder Caddell Construction under ‌judicial control, as it faces a probe into alleged worker abuse at the Italian city's new U.S. consulate site. The judge said that, based on available evidence, the Italian arm of ⁠the U.S. firm had recruited workers in India through an intermediary and put them to work "on ​exhausting shifts, underpaid, without safety protections and under the constant threat of dismissal." Reuters observes that the judge's ruling is the latest indication of a broader crackdown ​on labor exploitation over the past three years.

 

Reuters

Brett Matsumoto, Donald Trump’s nominee to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), has disputed the president’s claims that the statistics agency had manipulated data. Matsumoto, who has worked at the BLS since 2015 but is on leave from the economic data agency to work at the White House's Council of Economic Advisers, told a Congressional hearing that he has faith in the work performed by the career staff who collect and process the data.

 

Financial Times

Reuters