{"id":220269,"date":"2026-03-25T20:20:15","date_gmt":"2026-03-25T20:20:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/220269\/"},"modified":"2026-03-25T20:20:15","modified_gmt":"2026-03-25T20:20:15","slug":"texas-tech-law-alumnus-mark-lanier-leads-team-that-wins-landmark-social-media-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/220269\/","title":{"rendered":"Texas Tech Law alumnus Mark Lanier leads team that wins landmark social media case"},"content":{"rendered":"

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – A jury found both Meta and YouTube liable<\/a> in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit<\/a> that aimed to hold social media platforms responsible for harm to children using their services, awarding the plaintiff $3 million in damages. <\/p>\n

\"PlaintiffsPlaintiffs attorney Mark Lanier arrives for closing arguments in a landmark trial over whether social media platforms deliberately addict and harm children on Thursday, March 12, 2026, in Los Angeles. (AP Photo\/Damian Dovarganes)(Damian Dovarganes | AP)<\/p>\n

The attorney leading the plaintiffs\u2019 legal team is Mark Lanier, regarded as one of the top civil litigants in the United States. He grew up in Lubbock and is a 1984 graduate of the Texas Tech School of Law. In 2015 the School of Law honored Lanier as a distinguished alumnus in 2015, and Texas Tech University presented its distinguished alumnus award in 2016. <\/p>\n

The AP reported Wednesday: Lawyers representing Kaley, led by Mark Lanier, were tasked with proving that the respective defendants\u2019 negligence was a substantial factor in causing Kaley\u2019s harm. They pointed to specific design features they said were designed to \u201chook\u201d young users, like the \u201cinfinite\u201d nature of feeds that allowed for an endless supply of content, autoplay features, and even notifications.<\/p>\n

This is just the latest in major victories for Lanier.<\/p>\n

Lanier\u2019s biography at lanierlawfirm.com<\/a> states he \u201chas achieved some of the largest verdicts in history, accomplishments that have changed business practices to protect the public and have gained justice for victims of asbestos exposure, dangerous drugs, medical devices, and other consumer products. In addition, he has successfully represented a select number of clients in claims involving fraud, breach of contract, and other forms of business litigation.<\/p>\n

Lanier delivered commencement addresses to graduating Red Raiders in 2016. An announcement from Tech<\/a> at the time described him as \u201cone of the most influential civil trial lawyers in the country\u201d.<\/p>\n

In 2008, Mark and Becky Lanier gifted Texas Tech Law $6 million<\/a> to establish the Mark and Becky Lanier Professional Development Center. By happenstance, Tech Law Dean Jack Nowlin delivered a program to the Rotary Club of Lubbock Wednesday. Dean Nowlin spoke about additional significant gifts Lanier has made to the school, to further support law students. <\/p>\n

The Spring 2005 edition<\/a> of the Tech Law alumni magazine featured Lanier on its cover, headlined \u201cSix Million Dollar Man, for contributing the largest single gift to the Law School and, at the time, the second-largest gift to Texas Tech University. <\/p>\n

The Community Foundation of West Texas offers the Mark and Becky Lanier Raider\/Mustang Scholarship<\/a> for Coronado High School seniors who also attended McKenzie Middle School. Mark Lanier is a graduate of Coronado. <\/p>\n

Lanier founded the Lanier Theological Library<\/a> as well as the Christian Trial Lawyers Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n

RELATED: Texas Supreme Court Justices Hear Cases in Lubbock<\/a><\/p>\n

RELATED: Lubbock Christian University hosts 14th annual Lanier Lecture<\/a><\/p>\n

Carolyn Lanier\u2019s legacy, influence<\/p>\n

Lanier\u2019s mother Carolyn Lanier was the first executive director of the South Plains Food Bank. Ray and Lou Diekemper opened the Food Bank in 1983, as explained on the Food Bank website<\/a>. <\/p>\n

A KCBD story in 2022<\/a> explained a call in 1983 from Carolyn Lanier to KCBD News Director Skip Watson led to the annual U Can Share drive. We spoke with Skip\u2019s widow Cindy Watson in 2022.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Skip] came home and said he had gotten a call from Carolyn Lanier, who was the executive director for the Food Bank. And she told him, \u2018we\u2019ve got to have more food, Skip. We don\u2019t have enough. We have way more people than we have food.\u2019<\/p>\n

That was when he came up with the concept of the U Can Share Food Drive.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the 2013 Lubbock Area United Way campaign kickoff, Mark Lanier spoke about the people of Lubbock that set it apart. As the featured speaker that day, Lanier cited his law firm\u2019s offices in Houston, Los Angeles and New York, and travels around the world, but said nothing compared to the people here. He also spoke of his mother\u2019s <\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 KCBD. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) – A jury found both Meta and YouTube liable in a first-of-its-kind lawsuit that aimed…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":220270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[85872,168,170,169,85870,5403,85871,8802],"class_list":["post-220269","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-lubbock","tag-carolyn-lanier","tag-lubbock","tag-lubbock-headlines","tag-lubbock-news","tag-mark-lanier","tag-meta","tag-texas-tech-school-of-law","tag-youtube"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=220269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/220269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/220270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=220269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=220269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=220269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}