Lockheed To Pay $29.5M Over Alleged DEI Bias Practices

By Craig Clough

Lockheed Martin Corp. agreed to pay $29.5 million under two settlements announced Monday by the U.S. Department of Justice over allegations that the defense contractor considered race or sex in some pay, hiring and promotion decisions while certifying compliance with federal antidiscrimination requirements

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3M Inks $7.35B Deal To Settle Most PFAS Foam Claims

By Lauren Berg

3M Co. announced Tuesday that it will pay up to $7.35 billion over nine years to resolve nearly all personal injury claims related to PFAS "forever chemicals" in firefighting foam.

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4th Circ. Keeps CIA Officers' Appeal Rights In DEI Firing Suit

By Rae Ann Varona

All but one of the Fourth Circuit's judges voted to deny the federal government's request for an en banc rehearing of a panel's split decision that allowed CIA officers to appeal terminations that were allegedly due to their involvement with assignments related to DEI and accessibility, according to a Tuesday order.

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11th Circ. Revives Payment Bid For Military Paint Facility Work

By Ganesh Setty

The Eleventh Circuit revived a subcontractor's bid for full payment under a U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contract to construct a facility for vehicle paint preparation, ruling that a Georgia federal court erred in finding the subcontractor sued too late.

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GAO Says Army Corps Used Unstated Evaluation Factor

By Ganesh Setty

The U.S. Government Accountability Office has partially sustained a joint venture's protest over a $200 million U.S. Army Corps of Engineers solicitation seeking architecture and engineering services due to an unstated evaluation criterion, recommending that offerors be reranked.

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FCC Evaluating Plan To Boost Drones In 3 Spectrum Bands

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

The Federal Communications Commission is evaluating a draft plan to update rules for three spectrum bands to make it easier to deploy drones as well as expand broadband connectivity in aviation.

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Brief

Cruz Tees Up Hearing For 3rd FCC Republican

By Christopher Cole

U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, on Tuesday announced a confirmation hearing next week for a third Republican nominee to the Federal Communications Commission.

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Brief

China, Peru Modernize Free Trade Agreement

By Jack McLoone

China and Peru have updated their bilateral trade treaty to both update existing provisions and add new ones aimed at addressing changes in commerce and global trade since the deal was first reached in 2009, the two countries said.

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SEC Says Guilty Plea Proves CEO's Stock Fraud Scheme

By Jonathan Capriel

A Seattle federal court should find that a former cannabis company CEO committed securities fraud, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission said, arguing his guilty plea and criminal conviction for pump-and-dump schemes and lying to investors should settle the matter.

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Nonprofits Say Pentagon Group Flouts Transparency Law

By Tom Lotshaw

Watchdog organizations have urged a D.C. federal judge to nix a "future of warfare" committee that U.S. Department of Defense officials created, accusing them of violating a sunshine and transparency law by stacking it with conflicted government contractors and others who share their views about the military.

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Boeing, Bell Textron Say No Jury Trial For Osprey Crash Suit

By Mike Curley

The Boeing Co., Bell Textron Inc. and Universal Stainless & Alloy Products Inc. are urging a Pennsylvania federal court to deny a bid for a jury trial from the families of U.S. service members killed in a November 2023 V-22 Osprey crash.

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Troops Urge Justices To Delay Review Of Military Trans Ban

By Katie Buehler

A group of transgender servicemembers have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to decline to review the Trump administration's ban on transgender individuals serving in the military for now, saying the government's current appeal of a narrow circuit court ruling against the policy is premature and incomplete.

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Mass. Judge Nixes Feds' Bid To Stay Grant Termination Ruling

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge on Tuesday rejected the Trump administration's request to stay her judgment that it cannot terminate already-awarded federal grants based solely on the president's current priorities, and chided the government for intentionally slow-walking the case.

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Texas Residents Say SpaceX Knew Launches Were Too Loud

By Mike Curley

A group of Texas homeowners is pushing back against SpaceX's bid to throw out their noneconomic damages in a suit alleging that its space launches were loud enough to damage their homes, saying the Elon Musk-owned company knew about the dangers but pressed on anyway.

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Tribe Says Pipeline Harm Statement Shouldn't Be Dismissed

By Joyce Hanson

A Native American tribe has asked a D.C. federal judge not to strike its natural resources director's statement about potential harm the Army Corps of Engineers will cause by allowing Enbridge Energy to reroute 41 miles of a pipeline around the tribe's lands.

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W.Va. Coal Mine Opponents Defend Permit Vacatur At 4th Circ.

By Tom Lotshaw

Environmental groups told the Fourth Circuit that a West Virginia federal judge was right to scrap a Clean Water Act permit that allowed Republic Energy LLC to bury 20,000 feet of valley streams with fill from surface coal mining.

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Approach The Bench: Judge Wilson On Trial By Zoom

By Cara Bayles and Kelley Marcano

Before she became a state court judge in Washington, Judge Coreen Wilson worked as a trial attorney litigating hundreds of cases, including the country's first binding virtual civil jury trial during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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DOJ Says Trump Adviser Needn't Answer ABA Subpoenas Yet

By Jared Foretek

The U.S. Department of Justice is arguing that Trump attorney Boris Epshteyn shouldn't have to respond to subpoenas from the American Bar Association in its challenge to the Trump administration's campaign against law firms until the presiding judge rules on the administration's preexisting motion to quash them.

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Judge Questions Federal Role In Ed Martin Ethics Case

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. federal judge struggled Tuesday to see how he could preside over a state attorney ethics proceeding if U.S. pardon attorney Ed Martin gets his way and keeps the case in federal court, as the city's ethics board fought to have it sent back to state court.

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Brownstein Hyatt Faces Suit Over Flawed Cannabis Co. Deal

By Rachel Konieczny

A Colorado real estate developer and his company alleged that Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck LLP negligently drafted their settlement agreement in a dispute with members of cannabis dispensary chain Native Roots over a sale of the chain's entities, resulting in a roughly $100 million arbitration award against the developer's company.

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Texas Atty Seeks Release In Cyberstalking Case

By Lynn LaRowe

A Texas lawyer who is expected to plead guilty in a cyberstalking case involving BigLaw firm attorneys is asking a federal court to free her, saying circumstances are "materially different" because of mental health treatment she has received while behind bars.

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Adult Daycare Pushes To Revive Suit Against Fox Rothschild

By Rose Krebs

An adult daycare company is asking a New Jersey state court to undo the toss of its suit against Fox Rothschild LLP and one of its attorneys, saying the dismissal was in error because the business had sought more time to respond to a dismissal motion.

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Volunteer Exits Malicious Prosecution Suit Naming DLA Piper

By Craig Clough

A Los Angeles judge on Tuesday tossed a malicious prosecution claim against a former volunteer for Breaking Code Silence on free speech grounds, even as he called the broader case against DLA Piper and the nonprofit "stronger than most."

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Ashurst Perkins ICap Suit Stayed Amid Bankruptcy Fight

By Ben Adlin

A Washington state judge has agreed to freeze a lawsuit accusing law firm Ashurst Perkins Coie of aiding and abetting a nearly $230 million Ponzi scheme, ordering the King County Superior Court litigation be put on hold pending an outcome in a related bankruptcy dispute.

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Roundup

The Top In-House Hires Of October

By Michele Gorman

Legal department hires during the past month included high-profile appointments at Fox, Dell and LinkedIn. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from October.

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