Tag: lawsuits

Eight US states accuse OpenAI of harming children

Eight US states have sued OpenAI, accusing its ChatGPT chatbot of encouraging self-harm and violence, including among children, and misleading the public about its safety.

The states allege that ChatGPT is designed to be excessively agreeable and engaging, gaining users’ trust while reinforcing delusions, encouraging dangerous behavior, and even helping plan mass shootings.

“OpenAI claims ChatGPT is safe while it’s giving dangerous medical advice, encouraging people to hurt others, and coaching people to commit suicide – all while pretending to be their fake friend,” Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird said.

Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, West Virginia, Arkansas, Arizona, Idaho, and Montana filed separate lawsuits in state courts on Wednesday. The complaints accuse the company of violating consumer protection laws and creating a public nuisance.

The states seek financial penalties, damages, and changes to ChatGPT. They also want OpenAI barred from developing self-improving AI models unless it can demonstrate that those systems are aligned with human values.

OpenAI spokesman Drew Pusateri defended the company’s age-specific protections, parental controls, and break reminders, saying that “while no system can be perfect, we’ll continue to work with experts to inform our work and build additional safeguards.”

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Texas AG Paxton sues Gerber, Nestlé over arsenic and lead found in baby foods

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued Gerber Products Company (“Gerber”) and Nestlé USA, Inc. (“Nestle”) for allegedly deceiving parents and other consumers regarding “toxic heavy metals” in their baby foods.

Paxton, who is running as President Donald Trump’s top pick for the U.S. Senate in Texas, announced the lawsuit on Wednesday, contending that Gerber advertised its food as safe, well-tested and recommended by pediatricians, despite its own test results finding “dangerous levels of arsenic and lead.”

In a press release, the attorney general stated that the company “used 67 batches of rice flour with more than nine times the arsenic that the federal government allows in bottled water” between 2017 and 2019. Additionally, its carrots had up to 17 times the limit for cadmium and its sweet potatoes had nearly 10 times the limit for lead. It also seldom tested positive for mercury.

These metals — known as neurotoxins — are listed by federal health agencies as the top substances posing “significant potential threat to human health.” Arsenic is first, lead is second, mercury is third and cadmium is seventh, according to the lawsuit.

Despite Gerber’s findings, it issued no recall or warning about the offending products, according to Paxton’s office. According to the 68-page filing against Gerber, its “marketing has not changed,” and it even tells parents that each jar of food passes “over 100 quality checks.”

“Gerber promised parents its food was safe and rigorously tested. Its own tests showed toxic metals in the food. When a company makes promises about what parents feed their babies, I will hold it accountable to ensure those promises are kept,” Paxton asserted.

Texas’s Consumer Protection Division of the Attorney General’s office notified the defendants of the unlawful conduct, which it said violated the Deceptive Trade Practices Act (DTPA), at least seven days before filing suit, in compliance with Texas law.

The filing noted that beginning in 1867, the baby food industry was built on consumer trust that companies could replace breast milk, which infants relied on until nine to 12 months of age throughout history.

“From its origin, manufactured infant food has been sold on the proposition that a company can be trusted to feed a baby. Nestlé, which began the industry in 1967, acquired Gerber, which has led the American market since 1928,” the lawsuit read. “Gerber and Nestlé USA … violated that trust with Texas consumers.”

Paxton pointed out that though Gerber includes a pathway for parents to find nutrition information about their food, it’s concealed by a QR code and does not provide full transparency.

“Gerber now posts test results behind a QR code on its labels. But the heavy metals in the food did not change, and neither did the safety claims on the front of the package. A code on the back of the jar does not cure a false promise on the front,” Paxton’s office asserted.

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House GOP crafts nuclear option for sanctuary cities, letting victims sue local officials

ouse Republicans are pushing ahead with sweeping legislation to obliterate sanctuary cities, setting up a post-election vote that would empower victims of illegal immigrants’ crimes to sue the local officials who released them from custody.

The Shut Down Sanctuary Policies Act passed through the House Judiciary Committee with little fanfare last month, creating a path for GOP lawmakers to impose the toughest crackdown yet on states and cities that refuse to turn over illegal immigrants under federal detainers or outright release migrants in their custody.

The bill’s most poignant weapon creates a right of private action for victims and families of victims to sue the municipalities and officials who released violent offenders, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, told Just the News.

“We got a good deal that we worked long and hard on”: Jordan

The provision would strip some of the civil immunity that state and local officials enjoy. Currently, in some jurisdictions, those officials enjoy “absolute immunity,” which is the broadest form of the doctrine. 

“It allows people who’ve been harmed, where local political leaders tell the local law enforcement they can’t work with federal law enforcement, detainers aren’t honored … to go take that city, take that state to court, and say, ‘look, this was ridiculous. What happened and was so wrong, so tragic,'” Jordan explained.

“So we got a good deal that we worked long and hard on. We just got to try to get it passed in the lame duck [period],” he added.

In addition to the lawsuit provision, the bill also:

  • Reasserts federal supremacy over state and local laws that restrict cooperation with immigration enforcement with the Department of Homeland Security.
  • Requires state and local authorities to honor DHS detainers for illegal immigrants arrested for criminal or motor vehicle offenses who are subject to deportation.
  • Withholds some federal funding from sanctuary states and municipalities who don’t comply and reallocate the monies to compliant  jurisdictions.
Illegal immigrant involvement in felonies said to be still growing

The push by Jordan and his allies comes as it’s claimed that the number of cases of released aliens causing harm or death continues to grow. The data is conflicting, but individual cases putting a human face on the issue raises public interest.

Just last month, Homeland Security decried a case where an illegal immigrant from India who was released during the Biden years stalked and killed a woman in California.

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) confirmed last month that Rohit Rohit, the man accused of stalking 38-year-old Shalini Thakur for months before executing her in a Panera Bread parking lot in Sacramento, was in the country illegally. 

“Sanctuary politicians must put an end to reckless policies that play Russian roulette with American lives,” the DHS said.

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DNC Sues Trump Administration Alleging Illegal Propaganda Campaign

The Democratic National Committee sued the Trump administration on Wednesday, accusing it of using taxpayer funding to craft political advertisements ahead of November’s midterm elections.

The DNC filed the lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, alleging that millions of dollars were spent on what amounts to government propaganda, according to the Associated Press.

The DNC complaint also claimed that Trump personally directed the ads and wants the court to declare them illegal.

This comes despite Trump saying on Monday that he would pay for future ads using his super PAC, adding that they are a “positive promotion for our Great U.S.A.”

The ads began airing in September and are estimated to have cost $12 million so far.

DNC Chair Ken Martin said this is Trump’s “last-ditch attempt to save Republicans in November.”

“Americans deserve better than to have their hard-earned tax dollars used for Trump’s illegal schemes,” he declared.

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Florida AG Sues Pfizer, Bourla Over Deceptive Marketing of COVID Vaccines

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier on Thursday sued Pfizer and its CEO, Albert Bourla, alleging that the drugmaker misled the public by marketing its COVID-19 vaccine as safe and effective while not disclosing the vaccine’s potential risks to pregnant women, children and teenagers.

The 49-page lawsuit alleges Pfizer violated Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act by deceptively marketing its vaccine to the public in turn for making billions of dollars in profit.

According to the complaint, Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine marketing campaign focused on two principal themes: that the shot “posed no material safety risks” and that “mass vaccination was necessary to stop the transmission of COVID-19” — even though Pfizer never tested the vaccine’s ability to stop the virus from spreading.

Pfizer possessed extensive evidence that its vaccine caused serious adverse events — including 1,223 reported deaths following vaccination as of February 2021 and 52 miscarriages among vaccinated pregnant women. However, the company assured the public the vaccine was safe.

“Today we sued Pfizer for deceptively marketing the products as safe — making billions — while pregnant women were miscarrying their babies and teenagers were having heart attacks,” Uthmeier said in a statement.

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Disgraced ex-British prince sues over Epstein raids

Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor, formerly known as Prince Andrew, has taken Thames Valley Police to court over raids on his residences as part of an investigation into his dealings with Jeffrey Epstein.

The former British royal has challenged the legality of search warrants executed in February that saw him briefly placed in custody on suspicion of sharing confidential government information with the convicted American pedophile financier.

The former Duke of York has for years faced separate allegations of sexual misconduct. In 2022, he settled a civil lawsuit with American activist Virginia Giuffre out of court. According to media reports, the former prince had to pay £12 million ($16.3 million) in hush money to the woman, who accused him of raping her in 2001 when she was 17.

Giuffre took her own life in 2025. Her posthumously released memoirs prompted King Charles III to strip his brother of his remaining titles and to evict him from his royal residence last October.

Epstein was found dead in his prison cell while awaiting trial in 2019, in what was ruled a suicide.

On Monday, the press office for Britain’s judiciary announced that Mountbatten-Windsor’s legal claim will be heard in private on Thursday at the High Court.

“The case concerns an application by Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor for a judicial review to quash search warrants issued by a judge at the Central Criminal Court on 18 February 2026,” the judicial spokesperson said, as cited by the media.

The proceedings will be closed to the public at the request of Thames Valley Police, which also confirmed that they are “engaged in legal proceedings in relation to warrants previously obtained from the Central Criminal Court.”

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HYPOCRISY: Crazed Democrat Gov. Maura Healey, Who Sued Exxon and Bragged She “Stopped Two Gas Pipelines,” Now Begs Trump’s Energy Secretary to Fast-Track a Natural Gas Expansion Days Before Re-election

Massachusetts Democrat Governor Maura Healey is suddenly singing a very different tune on natural gas.

Far-left Massachusetts Governor Maura Healey, the same Democrat who sued ExxonMobil over climate change and once boasted that she stopped gas pipelines from entering the state, is now pleading with the Trump administration to rush federal permits for a natural gas pipeline expansion.

Healey sent a letter Thursday to Energy Secretary Chris Wright urging the administration to speed reviews and permits for Enbridge’s Algonquin Reliable Affordable Resilient Enhancement project, known as RARE, according to her office and CommonWealth Beacon.

She asked Wright to “work across the Administration to ensure that the federal reviews and permits needed for RARE move without delay,” and that “sufficient staff and resources are dedicated to completing the required reviews in time to preserve the project’s planned 2028 in-service date.”

The governor’s own press office confirmed the ask. In an October 1 release, Healey called on the Trump administration to expedite federal review of the Algonquin expansion she says she has previously supported.

Her office said the project would supply gas to about 600,000 customers and cut gas bills by roughly $40 million a year. The savings would come largely from reducing reliance on higher-cost imported liquefied natural gas through the Everett LNG terminal.

In January, the Massachusetts Department of Public Utilities approved two 10-year agreements between Eversource gas utilities and Algonquin to take the new supply. Enbridge, not ratepayers, would pay for the development, Healey said.

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New Jersey Student Sues After Professor Called Him a ‘Racist’ Over a Trump Flag on His Bedroom Wall

A New Jersey man is suing his former community college, a business professor, and a dean, claiming he was branded a “racist” in front of his classmates and pushed out of an online course because of a “Trump 2020” flag that was hanging on his bedroom wall during a Zoom class.

Justin Caiazzo, 29, of Lake Hiawatha, filed the complaint late last month in New Jersey Superior Court.

Caiazzo is suing Passaic County Community College, Professor Gladys Harris, and dean Peter Hynes.

The lawsuit says his First Amendment rights were violated during a business statistics class in July 2021.

Caiazzo was attending the class from home when Harris stopped the session after noticing the flag in his background, according to the complaint obtained by the New York Post.

The document says she demanded that he take it off the wall immediately and told him the class would not continue until he did. Caiazzo says he did not discuss or mention politics in class.

When he asked what was wrong with the flag, Harris called it “offensive,” the lawsuit alleges.

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Florida Attorney General files lawsuit against Pfizer for deceptive practices relating to its covid “vaccine”

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier announced a lawsuit against Pfizer and CEO Albert Bourla, accusing the company of deceptive practices involving the marketing and safety claims surrounding its mRNA covid-19 vaccine.

Uthmeier said Pfizer presented mass vaccination as necessary to stop the spread of covid-19 while assuring the public that there were no significant safety concerns.  “Pfizer told Florida families that mass vaccination with their mRNA covid vaccine was necessary to stop the spread, and that there were no material safety risks,” Uthmeier said.

He specifically pointed to comments from Bourla that, according to Uthmeier, pressured people to take the vaccine by suggesting they would otherwise endanger those closest to them.  “CEO Albert Bourla said, ‘If you didn’t take it, you were putting the people you love the most at risk. He called people who asked questions criminals,” Uthmeier said.

The attorney general also criticised Pfizer’s public statements about potential safety concerns following the widespread distribution of the vaccine. “In January 2023, after billions of doses, he said Pfizer had not seen a single safety signal,” Uthmeier said.

Uthmeier argued that Pfizer had enormous financial incentives surrounding the vaccine and spent heavily on advertising while generating tens of billions of dollars from sales.  “They spent 10 billion dollars on advertising. They brought in more than 80 billion from the vaccine alone,” Uthmeier said.

At the centre of Florida’s allegations is Uthmeier’s claim that the company failed to adequately disclose information about potential risks.  “What they didn’t say was that they knew about myocarditis in teenagers and young adults,” Uthmeier said.

He further claimed that Pfizer had received thousands of reports involving adverse events.  “They had reports of 1,000s of adverse events, including stroke and death, and they had reason to know the shot posed risks to pregnant women and unborn babies in the first trimester,” Uthmeier said.

Uthmeier also referenced information he said was recently revealed by Senators Rand Paul and Ron Johnson involving Dr. Anthony Fauci and concerns about pregnancy.  “Recently, Senators Paul and Johnson revealed that Dr. Anthony Fauci texted that the second dose theoretically could be associated with miscarriage in the first trimester,” Uthmeier said.

According to Uthmeier, other federal health officials were aware of the discussion while pregnant women continued to be told that vaccination was safe.  “The CDC director and the Surgeon General agreed, but pregnant women, nevertheless, were told it was safe,” Uthmeier said.

The Florida attorney general also alleged that Pfizer had not established whether the vaccine prevented transmission before making claims about the broader public-health benefits of vaccination.  “Pfizer hadn’t even tested whether the vaccine stopped transmission,” Uthmeier said.

He said those allegations form the basis of the state’s lawsuit against Pfizer and Borla.  “That’s why we filed a lawsuit today against Pfizer and Albert Borla for their deceptive practices; what they did was wrong,” Uthmeier said.

Uthmeier framed the legal action as an effort to challenge what he described as a failure to provide Florida families with complete information about the vaccine.  “They assumed Florida families could not be trusted with the truth. Well, we disagree,” Uthmeier said.

He concluded by promising that his office would pursue accountability through the lawsuit.  “My office will hold them accountable. Thank you.”

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Girl Wins $164 Million Lawsuit from Hotel in Sex-Trafficking Case

A federal court in Georgia has ordered a hotel to pay a female victim $164 million because it allowed a sex trafficking ring to operate on its premises.

The victim, who was 15 at the time of her trafficking, was reportedly held at the Super 8 hotel in College Park, Georgia, in 2020 and 2021, where she was sexually assaulted by her captors and their clients.

“They set up an environment for children to be sold,” said Patrick McDonough, the anonymous victim’s attorney, according to WAGA-TV. “This hotel operator would actually warn the traffickers if the police were coming.”

“Hey, look, if you’re going to turn a blind eye and profit off of children being sold, you’re going to be held accountable,” the attorney added, noting that the girl was held in the hotel for about 120 days.

The federal jury in the case determined that the owner of the hotel chain, Lincoln Bancorp LLC, would have to pay $44 million in compensatory damages and $120 million in punitive damages.

This is not the first hotel that has been held liable for sex trafficking in Georgia. Last year a $40 million verdict was returned against United Inn and Suites in DeKalb County. A woman who was 16 when she was trafficked sued the hotel and won, making it the first hotel in the Peach State to be found civilly liable for sex trafficking.

There are currently three other hotels being sued in civil court for sex trafficking in Georgia.

Georgia is not the only state where hotels are being accused of participating in sex trafficking.

According to the Lawsuit Information Center, there are currently two hotels in New Jersey being sued for cases of sex trafficking. Other cases include hotels in Los Angeles, Ohio, Philadelphia, and more.

Breitbart News has reported several cases of hotel and motel operators being accused of either facilitating or turning a blind eye to sex-trafficking going on in their establishments.

One such incident occurred in Virginia, where an Indian family with the last name of Sharma was arrested for allowing drug and sex trafficking to occur in their Red Carpet Inn hotel in Dumfries.

In another case, federal authorities in Nebraska carried out a series of raids, leading to the arrest of a group of Indian nationals who were allegedly engaged in an elaborate scheme involving sex, labor, and drug trafficking. In addition to multiple businesses owned by the suspected traffickers in Nebraska, the scheme also involved companies in Georgia and Texas.

In yet another case, Kavankumar Patel, an illegal migrant from India, was sentenced to a ten-year prison term for participating in a child sex-trafficking ring in Omaha, Nebraska, the Department of Justice announced.

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