Amazon seeks monetary sanctions against Julie Guo, counsel for former Amazon third-party seller Shenzhen Zongheng Domain Network, for submitting legal arguments in Zongheng’s May 8 motion to remand a vacatur petition to New York Supreme Court that she knew to be “legally frivolous.” Amazon filed its memorandum of law Thursday (docket 1:23-cv-03334) in U.S. District Court for Southern New York in Manhattan, seeking the sanctions under Rule 11 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

Another shareholder derivative lawsuit seeks to hold AT&T’s current and former CEOs and chief financial officers, plus 12 current and former board members, accountable for allegedly covering up between March 2020 and July 27, 2023, what they knew about the existence and prevalence of toxic lead cables in AT&T’s possession, in violation of the Securities Exchange Act. The latest suit over legacy lead cables joins others filed in recent months against AT&T and Verizon (see 2308020046).

AT&T and TS Mobility’s “deceptive trade practices” and "failure to supervise" their employees have deceived customers in violation of New Jersey law, said a Dec. 1 negligence class action in Bergen County Superior Court, removed Wednesday to U.S. District Court for New Jersey in Newark (docket 2:24-cv-00174).

Internet searches can reveal a user’s “medical diagnoses, religious beliefs, financial stability, sexual desires, relationship status, family secrets, political leanings, and more,” so it’s “reasonable for the public to expect that their privacy and confidentiality are constitutionally protected,” said the American Civil Liberties Union in a news release Wednesday publicizing its Pennsylvania Supreme Court amicus brief (docket 98 MAP 2023). Other amici on the brief, filed Wednesday, are the ACLU of Pennsylvania, Library Freedom Project, Association of Research Libraries, Freedom to Read Foundation and Internet Archive.

The Republican National Committee plausibly alleges that Google’s conduct of relegating the RNC’s emails to supporters’ Gmail spam folders violates California’s Unfair Competition Law (UCL), said the RNC’s opposition brief Wednesday (docket 2:22-cv-01904) in U.S. District Court for Eastern California in Sacramento to Google’s Nov. 16 motion to dismiss the group’s first amended complaint.

Unhappy with the FTC’s “scrutiny of its privacy practices,” Meta alleges various theories why the entire agency is unconstitutional, but its latest arguments show that its claims “have no support,” said the FTC’s reply brief Wednesday (docket 1:23-cv-03562) in U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia in support of its Dec. 13 motion to dismiss Meta’s claims.

The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals returned a U.S. Chamber of Commerce challenge of Maryland’s digital ad tax to a state district court. In an opinion Wednesday (case 22-2275), the appeals court agreed with the U.S. District Court in Baltimore (case 21-cv-00410) that the Tax Injunction Act (TIA) prevents federal courts from reviewing the tax. However, it disagreed that a decision on the constitutionality of a related pass-through ban was moot.

The plaintiffs in six data breach class actions against ESO Solutions are seeking an order consolidating their related cases and one setting scheduling deadlines, said their coordinated joint motion Tuesday (docket 1:23-cv-01557) in U.S. District Court for Western Texas in Austin. ESO is a supplier of data management software to hospitals and first responders.

Consumers' Research asked the U.S. Supreme Court to grant its cert petition challenging the FCC's method for determining the USF quarterly contribution factor, saying the case presents "an excellent vehicle for addressing the contours of nondelegation whose abuses highlight the dangers of delegated and politically unaccountable power." Docketed Friday (docket 23-743), the petition asked the court to review a Dec. 14 decision by the 11th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upholding the Q4 2022 contribution factor (see 2312140058). Responses to the new petition are due Feb. 8.

Google’s conversational AI tool, Bard, introduced in March, is “inherently flawed” because data that's used for creating the algorithm isn't "precise," making the answers given to user prompts "inaccurate,” alleged pro se plaintiff Jeffrey Ito in a complaint Monday (docket 24PS-cv-00061) in Los Angeles County Superior Court.