American Airlines retracted a controversial legal defense blaming a 9-year-old girl for being secretly recorded by a flight attendant in an airplane bathroom, stating it was an error by their outside legal counsel. The airline emphasized that it does not hold the child at fault and is taking the allegations seriously. The flight attendant involved, Estes Carter Thompson III, has been arrested and pleaded not guilty to charges related to child sexual exploitation.
American Airlines retracted a legal defense that blamed a 9-year-old child for being filmed by a hidden camera in an airplane lavatory, attributing the error to outside legal counsel. The airline emphasized that the child is not at fault and is taking the allegations against the former flight attendant, who is in custody, very seriously. The incident has sparked significant media and public backlash.
The founders of Truth Social, a social media platform associated with Donald Trump, have sued the company in Delaware's Court of Chancery, alleging that Trump and his associates at Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. tried to cheat them out of the value of their shares in the company. The lawsuit claims that Trump and his associates attempted to dilute the value of the co-founders' shares by issuing a large number of new shares, potentially impacting their equity share from 8.6 percent to less than 1 percent. The lawsuit seeks an expedited court hearing to address these allegations.
Bayer has been ordered to pay a Pennsylvania man $2.25 billion in damages after a jury concluded that its Roundup weed killer is a defective cancer-causing product. The plaintiff, who developed non-Hodgkins lymphoma after using Roundup, was awarded the sum, which includes $2 billion in damages. Bayer, which acquired Monsanto in 2018, plans to appeal the "unconstitutionally excessive" award, but has already used up around $10 billion of the $16 billion set aside to resolve Roundup lawsuits. The company is facing pressure to change its legal strategy after several large verdicts against it.
eBay has agreed to pay a $59m settlement over allegations of selling equipment that can be used to manufacture illegal drugs, including pill presses and encapsulating machines, in violation of the Controlled Substances Act. The US justice department claimed that the equipment was sold to individuals later convicted of drug-related crimes, contributing to the opioid crisis. eBay denied the allegations but settled to avoid litigation costs, pledging to take additional actions to comply with the law.
A federal jury in Illinois has ordered major egg producers to pay $17.7 million in damages, which will be tripled to over $53 million under federal law, for conspiring to limit the egg supply in the U.S. between 2004 and 2008. The jury found that the egg suppliers engaged in various tactics to increase egg prices, including exporting eggs abroad and reducing the number of chickens. Food manufacturers including Kraft Foods, Kellogg Company, General Mills, and Nestle USA joined as plaintiffs in the lawsuit. The egg suppliers named in the lawsuit, including Cal-Maine Foods and Rose Acre Farms, have denied the claims and plan to appeal the verdict.
An industry watchdog group, The Revolving Door Project, is calling for the recusal of U.S. District Judge Jacqueline Scott Corley, who is overseeing the case regarding Microsoft's $68.7 billion bid to acquire Activision Blizzard, due to a conflict of interest. The group argues that Corley's son's employment at Microsoft, even outside the gaming division, violates rules on avoiding impropriety and the appearance of impropriety. They claim that this proximity to the company could influence the judge's objectivity and undermine public trust in the court. The judge's decision on whether to temporarily halt the merger is expected to have significant implications for the deal's outcome.
