Case Filings Alert™ reports daily on new cases filed in courts around the country, alerting you to significant new cases at the beginning of the litigation process, long before the case is settled or a decision handed down. A wide range of topics are covered, including product liability, intellectual property, antitrust, among others. A number of these cases, particularly the product liability litigation, will develop into mass torts as new cases raising similar issues are filed. Mass torts are covered in our report MDLCases.com, which deals with major multidistrict litigation (MDL) cases. Also see our litigation reports: Social Media Addiction, Copyright-Litigation.com, and Litigation Report 2026. Editor: Robert S. Want (rwant@LegalEditor.com).
April 23, 2026 – Product Liability
Water Heater Valves Leak and Damage Homes, Consumers Allege
Water heater manufacturer A.O. Smith Corp. has been hit with a proposed class action alleging that its home water heaters have defective plastic valves that can suddenly leak, flooding basements, ruining floors, and causing expensive repairs.
The complaint, filed in federal court in Milwaukee, Wisc., claims that defendant used “plastic, glass–filled nylon drain valves instead of more durable brass valves,” despite industry expectations that the brass valves offered long-term durability and leak resistance. Plaintiff contends that defendant’s valves “degrade, warp, crack, and lose their internal seal under normal operating conditions,” leading to sudden failures and water damage.
Plaintiff says that consumers nationwide have voiced complaints about defendant’s valves, reporting leaks during routine maintenance that resulted in “flooded basements, damaged drywall, ruined flooring, mold growth, [and] electrical hazards,” among other harms. The lawsuit further asserts that A.O. Smith knew of the defect through complaints and internal data but failed or refused to inform consumers, issue a recall, or redesign the valve.
April 22, 2026 – Privacy
Lawsuit Targets xAI Over Alleged Deepfake Abuse by Grok Chatbot
A proposed class action accuses Elon Musk’s xAI of enabling its Grok chatbot to create and distribute non-consensual sexualized deepfake images of women, causing widespread harm and violating privacy rights.
Grok “humiliates and sexually exploits women and girls by undressing them and posing them in sexual positions in deepfake images publicly posted on X.” according to the complaint filed in federal court in San Jose, Calif. Plaintiffs claim these images are persistent and damaging, noting they “can never be erased” and expose victims to ongoing harm.
Plaintiffs argue that Grok’s “spicy” mode was designed to generate explicit content and lacked basic safeguards used by other AI companies. Users of the chatbot allegedly flooded the system with prompts, leading Grok to produce millions of images, many depicting women in sexualized scenarios without consent. The lawsuit further contends that xAI knowingly failed to implement industry-standard protections, instead programming Grok with “no restrictions on adult sexual content.”
April 21, 2026 – Defamation
FBI Director Sues The Atlantic Over Alleged Defamatory Article
FBI Director Kash Patel has filed a $250 million defamation lawsuit against the magazine The Atlantic, alleging a published article falsely portrayed him as erratic, frequently intoxicated, and unfit to lead the nation’s top law enforcement agency.
The complaint, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., accuses the publication of a “sweeping, malicious, and defamatory hit piece” that relied on anonymous sources and ignored repeated warnings that its claims were false. In his suit, Patel contends the article was designed “to destroy [his] reputation and drive him from office.”
According to the complaint, the article characterized Patel as engaging in excessive drinking, missing meetings, and jeopardizing investigations and national security. The complaint argues that these claims are “demonstrably and obviously false” and were refuted by the FBI prior to publication, including statements labeling the allegations “completely false at a nearly 100% clip.”
April 20, 2026 – Intellectual Property
Britannica Launches Copyright Action Against OpenAI
Encyclopedia Britannica and Merriam-Webster have filed a lawsuit in Manhattan federal court accusing OpenAI of unlawfully copying their copyrighted content to train ChatGPT and generate responses that reproduce or mimic their articles and dictionary definitions.
OpenAI built its generative-AI systems by engaging in “massive copying” of the publishers’ copyrighted works without authorization or payment, according to the complaint. ChatGPT “free ride[s] on Plaintiffs’ trusted, high-quality content,” the complaint says, by generating summaries and answers that substitute for visits to Britannica and Merriam-Webster websites.
In the suit, Britannica, founded more than 250 years ago, and Merriam-Webster, a leading dictionary publisher for nearly two centuries, say they rely on subscription and advertising revenue to fund the work of writers, editors, and researchers who produce fact-checked reference content. The suit argues that OpenAI’s system diverts web traffic and revenue by delivering AI-generated answers that replicate or paraphrase that content. In some instances, plaintiffs claim, ChatGPT produced “near-verbatim reproductions” of Britannica articles or identical Merriam-Webster definitions.
April 17, 2026 – Environment
DOJ Sues California Over Auto Emissions and Electric Vehicle ‘Mandates’
The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against California regulators, arguing that the state’s vehicle emissions standards and electric-vehicle mandates unlawfully conflict with federal fuel-economy law.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of California, targets regulations adopted by the California Air Resources Board that limit tailpipe carbon-dioxide emissions and require automakers to sell increasing numbers of zero-emission vehicles. These rules, DOJ contends, violate the federal Energy Policy & Conservation Act, which assigns authority for nationwide fuel-economy standards to the U.S. Department of Transportation.
In its suit, DOJ argues that Congress intended a “uniform, nationwide vehicle fuel-economy standard,” administered by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. According to the complaint, state rules that limit tailpipe emissions effectively regulate fuel economy because “any rule that limits tailpipe CO2 emissions is effectively identical to a rule that limits fuel consumption.” DOJ says that the regulations create a patchwork of conflicting standards for automakers and undermine the federal government’s authority to set national fuel-economy policy.
April 16, 2026 – Product Liability
Stainless Steel Apple Watch Band Creates Burn Injury Risks, Lawsuit Alleges
Apple Inc. faces a lawsuit alleging that a stainless steel Apple Watch band intensified a burn injury by trapping hot liquid against plaintiff’s skin.
The company’s Milanese Loop watch band is defectively designed and lacks adequate warnings about thermal risks, plaintiff claims in a complaint filed in federal court in Fort Worth, Texas, arguing that the band’s metal construction “conduct[s] and retain[s] heat and trap[s] hot liquid against the wearer’s skin,” creating an unreasonable danger during ordinary use.
According to the complaint, plaintiff was wearing an Apple Watch Series 9 with a Gold Milanese Loop band while preparing coffee with a French press. When pressurized hot liquid escaped, the complaint says, areas of skin not covered by the band suffered minor burns, while the portion of her wrist beneath the band sustained a deeper injury, a burn “materially greater than the burns sustained on adjacent uncovered skin.”
April 15, 2026 – Securities
Chase Bank Sued Over Alleged Role in Crypto ‘Ponzi Scheme’
A California investor has filed a proposed class action accusing JPMorgan Chase Bank of enabling a massive cryptocurrency Ponzi scheme that allegedly defrauded thousands of investors out of hundreds of millions of dollars.
The lawsuit, filed in San Francisco federal court, claims Chase “enabled, aided, and abetted” a fraudulent investment operation run by Goliath Ventures Inc. and its CEO. According to the complaint, the scheme raised at least $328 million from more than 2,000 investors before the CEO was arrested by federal authorities in February 2026.
Plaintiff asserts that he invested $310,000 in cash and an additional $340,000 withdrawn from his retirement savings after being promised profits from cryptocurrency trading strategies. Instead, plaintiff says, the operation functioned as a classic Ponzi scheme in which “new investor funds were used to pay earlier investors.” The suit argues that Chase provided the “essential banking infrastructure” for the scheme by processing investor deposits and transfers through accounts controlled by Goliath. The bank ignored obvious red flags, plaintiff says, including rapid transfers, commingled funds, and payments to insiders.
April 14, 2026 – Intellectual Property
Gracenote Sues OpenAI Over Use of Metadata in AI Training
Gracenote Media Services LLC accuses OpenAI of copying and using its proprietary entertainment metadata database without permission to train and power its artificial intelligence products.
In a complaint filed in Manhattan federal court, Gracenote says OpenAI “copied and used Gracenote Data to create and improve highly lucrative AI products like ChatGPT,” despite never obtaining a license or paying for the material. The company claims the data includes “millions upon millions of narrative descriptions, original video descriptors, unique identifiers, and other program elements” compiled by its editors over decades.
OpenAI’s models, according to the complaint, can generate exact program identifiers and reproduce descriptive summaries verbatim, demonstrating that the models “have been trained on Gracenote Data.” The lawsuit argues that the alleged copying threatens Gracenote’s core business of licensing metadata to media companies and emerging AI developers, and that OpenAI’s use of the material also enables its customers to build competing metadata tools without compensation.
April 13, 2026 – Consumer Fraud
Pet Owner Files Lawsuit Over Dog Food “Nothing Artificial” Claims
A California consumer has filed a proposed class action alleging that Instinct Pet Foods falsely advertises several dog food products as free of artificial preservatives, even though they contain synthetic additives.
Plaintiff brought the action against M.I. Industries Inc., which does business as Instinct Pet Foods. The complaint, filed in federal court in San Diego, Calif., alleges that the company’s “Original Real Recipe,” “Raw Meals,” and “Raw Boost Mixers” dog foods are mislabeled because they contain synthetic preservatives, while defendant’s marketing makes the claim that the products are made without “Artificial Preservatives” or contain “Nothing Artificial.”
The lawsuit asserts that the foods actually contain citric acid, which is produced through industrial fermentation using mold and chemical processing rather than natural fruit extraction, making it synthetic. Plaintiff says she relied on the labeling when purchasing the product and would not have bought it at the same price had she known the truth.
April 10, 2026 – Constitution
Anthropic Sues Over Pentagon’s ‘Supply Chain Risk’ Label
Artificial intelligence company Anthropic accuses the Trump administration of unlawfully retaliating against the firm after it refused to allow its AI technology to be used for autonomous lethal warfare or mass surveillance of Americans.
Filed in San Francisco federal court, the complaint alleges that the government directed agencies to “IMMEDIATELY CEASE all use of Anthropic’s technology” after the company declined to remove certain restrictions on its AI model Claude. This directive, the complaint says, is an unconstitutional retaliation against protected speech and an overreach of executive authority.
In its lawsuit, Anthropic says it has long maintained rules barring its systems from being used for “lethal autonomous warfare” or “surveillance of Americans en masse,” citing safety risks and potential civil-liberties concerns. According to the suit, the Defense Department demanded that the company allow “all lawful use” of its AI models, but Anthropic refused to abandon those two safeguards. Then, Anthropic says, President Trump ordered agencies to stop using the firm’s technology, while the Defense Department labeled the company a “Supply-Chain Risk to National Security.”
April 9, 2026 – Intellectual Property
CrowdStrike Sues Rival AIStrike Over Alleged Trademark Infringement
Cybersecurity company CrowdStrike Inc. has filed a lawsuit in San Francisco federal court, accusing rival startup AIStrike Inc. of trademark infringement by adopting a confusingly similar name to trade on CrowdStrike’s reputation and market goodwill.
In its complaint, CrowdStrike says AIStrike’s branding is likely to mislead consumers into believing the companies are connected. AIStrike’s name, the complaint argues, was adopted “to sow consumer confusion by falsely associating itself with CrowdStrike and to appropriate the consumer goodwill that CrowdStrike has worked for over a decade to generate.”
CrowdStrike says in its suit that it has long used its federally registered “CrowdStrike” marks in connection with artificial-intelligence-driven cybersecurity products and services. The two names, plaintiff alleges, share the dominant term “Strike,” and defendant’s adding the letters “AI” does not sufficiently distinguish the two marks from one another, especially given CrowdStrike’s longstanding use of artificial intelligence in its offerings. Plaintiff seeks injunctive relief and damages, claiming AIStrike intentionally adopted the name with knowledge of CrowdStrike’s brand and “with the intent to cause consumer confusion and profit off” plaintiff’s trademark rights.
April 8, 2026 – Product Liability
Lawsuit Blames Food Industry for 14-Year-Old’s Type 2 Diabetes
Plaintiff has filed a lawsuit accusing some of the world’s largest food companies of deliberately engineering and aggressively marketing addictive ultra-processed foods to children, allegedly contributing to severe health conditions in her teenage son.
The complaint, filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Arkansas, claims companies including Kraft Heinz, PepsiCo, Coca-Cola, General Mills, Nestlé, and others knowingly designed ultra-processed foods to maximize consumption and addiction. These products, the complaint says, are “industrially produced edible substances that are imitations of food” created through chemical processing and additives rather than traditional ingredients.
Plaintiff says her son developed Type 2 diabetes and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease at age 16 after years of consuming the companies’ products. Defendants targeted children, plaintiff says, through marketing campaigns designed to increase consumption of foods engineered to have addictive qualities. The lawsuit seeks damages for medical costs and other harms, arguing that the companies ignored decades of scientific warnings about the health risks of ultra-processed foods while continuing to profit from their widespread consumption.
April 7, 2026 – Breach of Contract
OpenAi Faces Lawsuit Claiming ChatGPT Acted As Unlicensed Lawyer
An insurance company has accused OpenAI of enabling the unlicensed practice of law and interfering with a settlement agreement after its ChatGPT chatbot allegedly helped a former claimant attempt to reopen a closed case.
Nippon Life Insurance Company of America claims in its lawsuit filed in Chicago federal court that OpenAI’s chatbot provided legal advice and drafted filings that led a former claimant to violate a binding settlement agreement. The suit claims OpenAI’s actions constituted “tortious interference with a contract,” “abuse of process,” and the “unlicensed practice of law.”
In its suit, Nippon says that the chatbot drafted motions, conducted legal research and analysis, and provided legal advice despite not being licensed to practice law. The company contends that the AI-generated filings led to “substantial legal fees, costs, and other damages” incurred while defending against the litigation. The claimant, Nippon says, relied heavily on ChatGPT while litigating without counsel, using the tool to draft numerous motions and other filings after firing her attorneys.
April 6, 2026 – Antitrust
States Challenge Proposed 6.2 Billion Nexstar–Tegna Merger
A coalition of eight states has filed a lawsuit seeking to block Nexstar Media Group’s proposed $6.2 billion acquisition of Tegna Inc., alleging that the deal would harm competition in the local news market, leading to higher consumer prices and reduced local news quality.
In a complaint filed in federal court in the Eastern District of California, the states argue that the merger would create a “broadcast behemoth” with the power to “raise prices for television consumers” and “degrade the quality and quantity of broadcast content.” According to the complaint, the combined company would own 265 stations reaching about 80% of U.S. households and control more than 200 major network affiliates. By eliminating competition in overlapping markets, the states contend, Nexstar could demand higher retransmission fees from cable and satellite providers, which would likely be passed on to subscribers as higher monthly bills.
The complaint also highlights concerns about reduced local news competition, citing Nexstar’s history of consolidating newsrooms and increasing “news duplication.” That trend, the states warn, could limit viewpoint diversity and weaken local journalism at a time when it remains “critical to the ability of an informed citizenry.” The states seek a permanent injunction, alleging the merger would violate Section 7 of the Clayton Act by substantially lessening competition in multiple local television markets.
April 3, 2026 – Securities
Lennar Corp. Sued Over 401(k) Plan Forfeiture Handling
Lennar Corp., one of the nation’s largest home construction companies, has been hit with a proposed class action alleging that it mishandles the 401(k) money forfeited by departing workers by using these amounts to make its required plan contributions.
In a lawsuit filed in Miami federal court, Lennar is accused of improperly redirecting millions of dollars in retirement plan funds to benefit its own bottom line. Plaintiff, a current participant in the Lennar Corporation 401(k) Plan, argues that defendant breached its fiduciary duties under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act by mishandling forfeited retirement funds.
The suit alleges that Lennar violated its own plan document, which states that forfeitures “shall first be applied to reduce Plan expenses” before being used to offset employer contributions. Instead, according to the complaint, Lennar systematically used those forfeited funds to reduce its own matching contributions — saving itself millions — while plan participants absorbed administrative fees they should never have been charged.
April 2, 2026 – Intellectual Property
Caltech Sues Zoom for Patent Infringement Over Videoconferencing Technology
The California Institute of Technology has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Zoom Communications Inc., alleging Zoom’s videoconferencing platform unlawfully uses technology invented by Caltech researchers to support global scientific collaboration.
The complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, centers on a 2012 patent that covers a system in which a central “register/server” manages a network of reflectors, helping clients select the best connection based on proximity, load, and network quality. Caltech claims Zoom’s platform replicates this architecture through its Web Infrastructure, Meeting Zones, and Multimedia Routers.
The patent’s origins, according to the complaint, trace to Caltech physicists. working with CERN (the European Organization for Nuclear Research) on the Large Hadron Collider, who developed early videoconferencing systems to coordinate thousands of researchers worldwide. Caltech alleges in its lawsuit that Zoom’s system mirrors its patented approach, stating the platform “controls operations of the clients and reflectors during a collaborative session based on the received status information.”
April 1, 2026 – Antitrust
QwikCut Sues Hudl Alleging Monopoly Over School Sports Video Platforms
Video analysis platform QuikCut accuses rival Hudl of monopolizing the market for video analysis platforms used by high school and college athletic programs.
QwikCut LLC filed a complaint in federal court in Newark, N.J., alleging that Agile Sports Technologies Inc., which operates under the name Hudl, unlawfully acquired and maintained monopoly power in the market for software and services that capture, analyze, and exchange game footage for school sports teams. Hudl controls roughly “99% of U.S. high schools” using such platforms, the lawsuit claims.
According to the complaint, Hudl achieved dominance through acquisitions of key competitors and exclusive agreements with athletic associations and coaching organizations. Hudl’s strategy, the complaint says, was driven by a corporate mantra in which “the desire to dominate guides every decision.” The suit also asserts that Hudl constructed technological barriers that prevent schools from easily sharing game film with teams using rival platforms. These restrictions allegedly lock schools into Hudl’s system by making league video exchanges and cross-platform transfers difficult or impossible.
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