A Washington state appeals panel won't let the former CEO of boating company Harley Marine Services Inc. reinstate a $75 million defamation verdict against his former business partners, finding that the comments that formed the basis for the verdict are covered under the state's "absolute" litigation privilege.
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TOP NEWS

Ex-Tugboat CEO Can't Reinstate $75M Defamation Verdict

By Mike Curley

A Washington state appeals panel won't let the former CEO of boating company Harley Marine Services Inc. reinstate a $75 million defamation verdict against his former business partners, finding that the comments that formed the basis for the verdict are covered under the state's "absolute" litigation privilege.

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Boeing Can't Widen Ethiopian Airlines Test Case Pool

By Lauraann Wood

An Illinois federal judge chose six cases Tuesday for a November trial over the Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crash and gave Boeing the power to decide the order in which they'll face a jury, finding a middle road between sides sparring over how to select the bellwether cases.

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Attys Denied $10M Fees As Family Dollar Deal Is Approved

By Mike Curley

A Tennessee federal judge has given final approval to a settlement to end consumer claims stemming from a rodent infestation at a Family Dollar Stores Inc. warehouse, but denied a bid by class counsel for $10 million in fees.

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Spirit Aerosystems Eyes Buyout By Boeing Amid Safety Probe

By Rae Ann Varona

Boeing is in talks to acquire aerospace supplier Spirit AeroSystems, which took a first-quarter hit partly due to Boeing 737 production delays and a safety investigation resulting from a midair 737 door plug blowout in January, Spirit announced Tuesday.

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Energy Dept. Says Red States Can't Block LNG Export Pause

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

The U.S. Department of Energy has asked a Louisiana federal judge to toss a group of Republican-led states' lawsuit challenging a pause on reviewing applications to export liquefied natural gas to non-free trade agreement countries, saying the states have created a "false narrative" about the move.

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DOJ Tells High Court To Undo 4th Circ. OT Carveout Ruling

By Abby Wargo

Employers need only adhere to a less stringent standard in proving whether a worker is overtime-exempt, the U.S. Department of Justice told the U.S. Supreme Court Tuesday in support of the reversal of a Fourth Circuit ruling that sales workers didn't fit the carveout's guidelines.

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LOGISTICS

DOJ Says Cross-Border Antitrust Trial Must Stay In Houston

By Alyssa Aquino

Prosecutors have advised Houston's federal court against transferring a criminal case closer to the border, saying their witnesses fear testifying against defendants charged with using violence to control the cross-border sale of used vehicles and other goods in Central America.

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INSURANCE

Insurer Cites Discovery Law In Info Bid For Accident Claim

By Caroline Simson

A Canadian government-backed insurer is urging an Arizona court to force the state's Department of Transportation to provide documents or testimony in an arbitration stemming from an ex-professional soccer player's claim for damages after he was injured in a hit-and-run accident in Scottsdale in 2016.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

Best Practices For Space Security In Our Connected World

NASA's recently published space security guide is another indication that cyber-resilience has become a global theme for the space and satellite sector, as well as a useful reference for companies and organizations reviewing their cybersecurity frameworks or looking to partner with the U.S. agency, says Hayley Blyth at Bird & Bird.

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A Recipe For Growth Equity Investing In A Slow M&A Market

Carl Marcellino at Ropes & Gray discusses the factors bolstering appetite for growth equity fundraising in a depressed M&A market, and walks through the deal terms and other ingredients that set growth equity transactions apart from bread-and-butter venture capital investing.

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What 100 Federal Cases Suggest About Changes To Chevron

With the U.S. Supreme Court poised to overturn or narrow its 40-year-old doctrine of Chevron deference, a review of 100 recent federal district court decisions confirm that changes to the Chevron framework will have broad ramifications — but the magnitude of the impact will depend on the details of the high court's ruling, say Kali Schellenberg and Jon Cochran at LeVan Stapleton.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Lewis Brisbois Atty Fatally Shot In McDonald's Altercation

By Ryan Boysen

A Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP attorney was fatally shot at a McDonald's in Houston after reportedly stepping in as a good Samaritan and attempting to calm down an irate customer who'd been arguing with staff at the fast food restaurant.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Lieff Cabraser's Kelly Dermody

By Irene Spezzamonte

A semester off from Harvard University in the late 1980s meant for reflection instead turned into a pivotal moment in Kelly Dermody's life, settling the roots for her successful career during which she has become a lighthouse for employment and discrimination cases.

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ABA Directs Attys To Avoid Sharing Client Info On Listservs

By Emily Sawicki

It is in the best interest of clients for their legal counsel to avoid sharing information related to representation while seeking advice in an online listserv forum, if the comments or questions could be connected to a client's identity, according to American Bar Association guidance published Wednesday.

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Analysis

In Story Of Sex And Lies, Can Cohen Write Final Chapter?

By Phillip Bantz

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has told a story of scandal and scheming to the jury in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial, setting the stage for the prosecution's star witness to take the stand and wrap up the narrative.

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Ga. Appeals Court Will Review Trump DQ Bid In Election Case

By Kelcey Caulder

The Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday agreed to review a judge's ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue prosecuting the election interference case she brought against former President Donald Trump.

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Fani Willis Is Outraising Primary Challenger More Than 5 To 1

By Chart Riggall

Less than two weeks from the first hurdle in her bid for reelection, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is boasting a​​ campaign war chest more than five times heftier than her Democratic challenger's, according to campaign finance disclosures filed this week.

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Biden Picks US Magistrate Judge In Fla. For 11th Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday his intent to nominate U.S. Magistrate Judge Embry J. Kidd to the Eleventh Circuit.

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Judge OKs American University's $5.4M COVID Tuition Deal

By Ali Sullivan

A D.C. federal judge gave the final nod to a $5.4 million deal resolving class action claims brought by American University students seeking tuition refunds after the school pivoted to remote learning during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Series

Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

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COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

AlixPartners LLP

American Bar Association

Chevron Corp.

Collins Aerospace Inc.

Dollar Tree Inc.

Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise

George Washington University

Getty Images Inc.

HMS Holdings Corp.

Harley Marine Services Inc.

Harvard University

HighLevel Inc.

Insurance Corporation of British Columbia

L'Oreal SA

LinkedIn Corp.

Los Angeles Rams

MSD Partners LP

Major League Soccer LLC

McDonald's Corp.

McKinsey & Co. Inc.

Morgan Stanley

Natural Resources Defense Council

New Mountain Capital LLC

New York University

Public Citizen Inc.

Sales Inc.

Spirit AeroSystems Holdings Inc.

Summit Partners

The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

The Leadership Conference on Civil & Human Rights

The Rawlings Group

The State University of New York

Trump Organization Inc.

U.S. Chamber of Commerce

Walmart Inc.

Washington Legal Foundation

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Aidala Bertuna

Barrett Law Group

Bird & Bird

Bradley Arant

Buchalter APC

Bursor & Fisher

Caldwell Carlson

Clifford Law Offices

Consovoy McCarthy

Cuneo Gilbert

Evans Dove Nelson

Fitzpatrick Hunt

Ford O'Brien

Gibson Dunn

Griffin Durham

Hamberger & Weiss

Jenner & Block

Kreindler & Kreindler

LeVan Stapleton

Leeds Brown

Lewis Baach

Lewis Brisbois

Lieff Cabraser

Marino Tortorella

McNaul Ebel

Melehy & Associates

Nelson Mullins

Orrick Herrington

Outten & Golden

Perkins Coie

Pierson Law LLC

Podhurst Orseck

Poulin Willey

Ropes & Gray

Stein Sperling

Stranch Jennings

Vorys

Williams & Connolly

WilmerHale

Winston & Strawn

Zuckerman Spaeder

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

European Union

Food and Drug Administration

Georgia Supreme Court

Louisiana Attorney General's Office

Manhattan District Attorney's Office

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

National Institute of Standards and Technology

National Marine Fisheries Service

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Texas

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Department of Energy

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Labor

U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

U.S. District Court for the Western District of New York

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Tennessee

U.S. Supreme Court