Reading view

Our Children’s Trust Suit Asks Montana Court to Block Some New Laws

The young plaintiffs, who won a major case over climate change policy in 2023, argue that legislators are illegally ignoring the effects of fossil fuels.

© Janie Osborne for The New York Times

Rikki Held, the named plaintiff in Held v. Montana, in June 2023. The same plaintiffs are asking the state’s top court to prevent legislators from undermining their victory.
  •  

RealPage Agrees to Settle Federal Rent-Collusion Case

The Justice Department had accused the real estate software company of enabling landlords to charge tenants more than free-market rates.

© Eric Lee for The New York Times

“With the rise of algorithmic and artificial intelligence tools, we will remain at the forefront of vigorous antitrust enforcement,” said Gail Slater, the head of the Justice Department’s antitrust division.
  •  

Greenpeace Faces an Unusual New Legal Attack From a Pipeline Giant

The company that won a huge verdict against Greenpeace earlier this year has asked a North Dakota court to block a countersuit in the Netherlands.

© Robyn Beck/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

Protesting the Dakota Access Pipeline project near Cannonball, N.D., in September 2016. Earlier this year a court found Greenpeace liable for its role in demonstrations there.
  •  

Judge to Approve Purdue Pharma Bankruptcy, Releasing Billions for Opioid Plaintiffs

Under the plan, the company will dissolve and its owners, members of the Sackler family, will pay as much as $7 billion of their personal fortune to states, localities, tribes and others harmed in the opioid crisis.

© George Frey/Reuters

The bankruptcy plan for Purdue Pharma, the maker of OxyContin, is the largest settlement with a single pharmaceutical company throughout years of the national opioid litigation.
  •  

Who Pays When A.I. Is Wrong?

New court cases seek to define content created by artificial intelligence as defamatory — a novel concept that has captivated some legal experts.

© Tim Gruber for The New York Times

Wolf River Electric sued Google when A.I.-generated search results fabricated a lawsuit against the company. Its executives include, from left, Luka Bozek, Vladimir Marchenko and Justin Nielsen.
  •  

With Acquisition, Kimberly-Clark Bets That Tylenol Can Weather the Storm

The consumer products giant reached a $40 billion deal to buy Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol, despite a barrage of unproven claims from President Trump and others that use of the pain reliever during pregnancy can cause autism.

© Justin Sullivan/Getty Images

Kimberly-Clark is gambling that it can outlast the Trump administration’s Tylenol-autism warnings. Kenvue has a broader portfolio of brand-name products like Band-Aid and Neutrogena.
  •  

Control of Tesla Is at Stake in Vote on Elon Musk’s Pay Plan

Mr. Musk’s supporters say he may quit if shareholders don’t approve a trillion-dollar package. Some investors say it’s excessive and would give him too much sway.

© Hiroko Masuike/The New York Times

Elon Musk and his critics agree on one thing: The compensation fight is about how much influence he has over Tesla.
  •  

Moon Duchin on the Math of Gerrymandering

Why the challenge of truly representative democracy is so complex.

© Meron Tekie Menghistab for The New York Times

Moon Duchin, who leads the University of Chicago’s Data and Democracy Research Initiative, explores how math can help solve gerrymandering and improve electoral systems.
  •  

Character.AI to Ban Children Under 18 From Using Its Chatbots

The start-up, which creates A.I. companions, faces lawsuits from families who have accused Character.AI’s chatbots of leading teenagers to kill themselves.

© Ian C. Bates for The New York Times

A founder of Character.AI, Daniel De Freitas, demonstrating the app in 2022. The company said people under 18 would be barred from using its chatbots starting next month.
  •  

After Teen Suicide, Character.AI Lawsuit Raises Questions Over Free Speech Protections

A mother in Florida filed a lawsuit against an A.I. start-up, alleging its product led to her son’s death. The company’s defense raises a thorny legal question.

© Naila Ruechel for The New York Times

Megan has become an advocate for children’s safety online and in September gave testimony at a congressional hearing on “Examining the Harm of A.I. Chatbots.”
  •  

Reddit Accuses ‘Data Scraper’ Companies of Theft

In a lawsuit, Reddit pulled back the curtain on an ecosystem of start-ups that scrape Google’s search results and resell the information to data-hungry A.I. companies.

© Natalie Keyssar for The New York Times

Reddit, which went public last year, has banned scraping of its website and charges companies for access to its data.
  •