Monday, September 28, 2026

Weekly Docket: Wexner Removes Epstein Suit as YGR Hears Social Media

We tracked 913 filings, up 96% week over week from 465. Terrorist Attacks on September 11, 2001 Litigation (1570) led with 515 filings, all from Anderson Kill PC. Social Media Adolescent Addiction Personal Injury Products Liability Litigation (3047) added 75 filings, with Brockstedt Mandalas Federico LLC, Motley Rice, and Levin Papantonio filing nine each. Aqueous Film-Forming Foams Products Liability Litigation (2873) drew 70 filings, led by Krentsel & Guzman LLP (31) and Stag Liuzza LLC (19). See the full filing feed and firm-level breakdowns here.

TikTok’s Alabama Deal Sets a Costly Youth-Safety Benchmark

TikTok settled Alabama’s youth-safety suit on September 25 for at least $100 million, averting what would have been the first state teen-harm case against the platform to reach trial. The agreement also requires new teen-use restrictions, parental controls and age-verification measures, converting the state’s allegations about addictive design into enforceable operating commitments. For Social Media Adolescent Addiction Personal Injury Products Liability (3047), the resolution gives plaintiffs a concrete example of a major platform accepting costly safety obligations outside the coordinated proceeding. Defendants will emphasize that TikTok settled without admitting wrongdoing, but the deal raises the practical stakes of discovery over product design, youth protections and internal risk assessments.

Georgia Hotel Operator Hit With $164 Million Trafficking Verdict

A federal jury awarded a child sex-trafficking survivor $164 million on September 26 against the operator of a College Park, Georgia, Super 8 motel. The award comprises $44 million in compensatory damages and $120 million in punitive damages under the Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act. The verdict puts hotel operators’ alleged knowledge of trafficking indicators and their benefit from room rentals at the center of the civil-liability exposure analysis. Its scale gives survivors’ counsel a powerful damages benchmark and intensifies pressure on hospitality defendants to contest notice, operational-control and causation evidence before trial.