Spirit Airlines Cleared To Tap Over $275M To Fund Ch. 11

By Alex Wittenberg

Budget air carrier Spirit Airlines secured a New York bankruptcy judge's approval Monday of its bid to borrow up to $275 million and use other funds to support the business as Spirit gears up to reject aircraft leases during its Chapter 11.

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Biz Groups Ask Justices To Shield Freight Brokers From Suits

By Linda Chiem

Business and trucking trade groups asked the U.S. Supreme Court to smooth out splintered circuit court rulings that have exposed freight brokers to patchwork liability for state-based negligence claims, saying there could be lasting disruptions to the supply chain if the justices don't intervene.

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JetBlue Loses Fla. Tax Fight Over Airline Revenue Miles

By Maria Koklanaris

A Florida judge rejected JetBlue's claims that the state's method of apportioning airline income by counting miles flown outside the state's borders is unconstitutional, saying that the formula ensures that "Florida reaches no more than its fair share" of tax.

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3rd Circ. Shuts Down Drivers' 'Destination Charge' Suit

By Mike Curley

The Third Circuit won't give drivers another shot at alleging that FCA US LLC unfairly inflated "destination charge" fees when they bought their vehicles, saying their proposed amended complaint still doesn't show how the carmaker violated 11 states' consumer protection laws.

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Phillips 66 Faces Retrial After 'Improper' Infringement Theory

By Ivan Moreno

The Federal Circuit on Monday ordered a new trial over allegations that Phillips 66 infringed Magēmā Technology's oil refinery patents, saying in a precedential opinion that a Texas federal court wrongfully concluded that Phillips' noninfringement theory was harmless, as it had also found the theory "improper and prejudicial."

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Uber Put Profits Over Safety, Jury Told At 1st Sex Assault Trial

By Bonnie Eslinger

Uber put growth and money over passenger safety, counsel for a woman claiming she was sexually assaulted by a driver said Monday at the first trial in coordinated proceedings in San Francisco involving hundreds of plaintiffs, while Uber's lawyer countered sexual violence incidents against passengers are "exceedingly" rare.

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Brief

Conn. Nissan Dealer's Managers Settle Price Add-On Claims

By Brian Steele

Two sales managers from a Nissan dealership have inked agreements with the Federal Trade Commission and the state of Connecticut over claims that the dealership broke the law by adding deceptive extras to vehicle sale prices.

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Judge Axes Machine Learning Railyard Patents Under Alice

By Theresa Schliep

A Delaware federal court has found that three patents owned by ConGlobal Technologies and asserted against Roboflow Inc. are invalid, with a visiting Federal Circuit judge concluding that the use of machine learning in the claimed railway positioning system doesn't render the claims patent eligible.

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Brief

Phone Dealer, Freight Co. Settle Suit Over Stolen Shipment

By Carla Baranauckas

PCS Wireless LLC and RXO Capacity Solutions LLC have reached a settlement in the cellphone dealer's lawsuit over a stolen shipment and a contentious discovery dispute, according to a joint notice filed in a North Carolina federal court.

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Las Vegas Man Gets 7 Years For $1.4M Fraud Scheme

By Jonathan Capriel

A Las Vegas man who pled guilty to charges related to defrauding investors out of $1.4 million, largely for a phony cannabis manufacturing venture, was sentenced to seven years in prison by a New York federal judge in a Friday order that more than doubled the maximum time prosecutors sought.

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E-Bike Co. Hid Battery Issues, Investor Says In Stock Suit

By Mike Curley

An investor sued Fly-E Group Inc. on Monday in New York federal court, alleging that the company and its officers ignored slumping sales because of problems with its lithium-ion batteries, inflating stocks until they dropped by 87% in a single day when the truth came out.

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Caltrans Escapes $3.8M Verdict Over Bicyclist's Injuries

By Y. Peter Kang

The California Department of Transportation successfully overturned a $3.8 million jury verdict in a case involving a bicycle accident on a bridge in Santa Barbara that caused a man's severe injuries, as an appeals court ruled Monday that the trial court improperly excluded Caltrans' witnesses as a discovery sanction.

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Texas Couple Fights Firm's Sanctions Bid In Crash Data Suit

By Hope Patti

A Houston couple who accused a law firm and a since-dismissed Progressive unit of conspiring to share car crash victims' private information told a Texas federal court that their suit is "neither frivolous, unreasonable, nor improper" as they pushed back against the law firm's sanctions request. 

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Chamber Accuses Mich. Of 'Gamesmanship' In Pipeline Fight

By Carolyn Muyskens

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has urged the Supreme Court to rule that judges have the power to waive the deadline to transfer a lawsuit to federal court in special circumstances, saying Michigan shouldn't be allowed to play procedural games to keep a case against energy infrastructure firm Enbridge Energy LP in state court. 

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Calif. Says Texas Doesn't Belong In Emissions Waiver Fight

By Spencer Brewer

The state of California told a federal judge that Texas has no business in a suit challenging the revocation of Clean Air Act waivers that allowed the state to set its own emissions standards, saying the Lone Star State wishes to inject "collateral issues" into the suit.

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Attys Debate 'Misuse' Or 'Defect' In Ga. Mattress Injury Trial

By Kelcey Caulder

A truck driver and his wife, who sued a mattress-maker and bedding components supplier over injuries she allegedly received after her skin was punctured by a mattress in a tractor-trailer's sleeping cabin, told an Atlanta jury that the mattress was defective, while the companies blamed mattress "misuse."

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Senate Confirms Florida And Missouri Judges

By Courtney Bublé

The U.S. Senate confirmed two judges Tuesday, one for Florida and the other for Missouri.

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DA Willis, Lawmakers Cite Novel Fight In Constitutional Clash

By Emily Johnson

A Georgia Senate committee investigating Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over her prosecution of President Donald Trump and others in an election interference case and Willis stressed to the state Supreme Court the novel nature of their dispute over a subpoena ordering her to testify, while they took competing sides on the constitutional issues at stake.

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Kennedys Lands Ex-Bullivant Houser Team In Seattle

By Matt Perez

U.K.-based law firm Kennedys, which opened a Seattle office less than a year ago, announced Tuesday the hiring of an eight-person insurance and litigation team formerly of Bullivant Houser Bailey PC.

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Feds, State Push Fla. Justices To Reject Bondi Ethics Probe

By Madison Arnold

The federal government and the state of Florida both threw their support behind the Florida Bar and its decision not to investigate U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi for alleged unethical conduct, calling a Sunshine State lawyer's attempt to force an investigation "lawfare."

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'Whiz Honor' Judge Accused Of Trying To Sway Sentencing

By James Boyle

A Philadelphia judge under investigation for ethics violations related to the promotion of his wife's cheesesteak shop faces new disciplinary charges over allegations that he attempted to influence a fellow judge's sentencing decision for an associate of rapper Meek Mill.

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Ga. Judges Keep Trump's Interim US Atty In Atlanta Post

By Chart Riggall

Judges of the Northern District of Georgia have voted to tap interim U.S. Attorney Theodore Hertzberg as the district's top prosecutor, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday, keeping the Trump administration's pick to helm the Atlanta office in place for now.

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Analysis

Why SEC, CFTC Crypto Rules 'Sprint' Could Be A Marathon

By Phillip Bantz

The White House-backed push to entice the crypto industry's return to the U.S. with clearer rules is off to a quick start, but experts say the process could drag on longer than anticipated as regulators navigate competing interests of embracing the evolving digital assets market and protecting consumers.

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Career SEC Attorney Joins Latham's DC Finance Practice

By Jack Rodgers

Latham & Watkins LLP has hired the former chief of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's Office of Structured Finance, who is joining the firm after more than 20 years at the agency, to work with those structured finance clients.

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Ex-CFTC Atty Presses Religious Bias Claim At 2nd Circ.

By Frank G. Runyeon

A former Commodity Futures Trading Commission lawyer urged an inquisitive panel of the Second Circuit Tuesday to revive the religious discrimination claims he brought alleging a "gag order" effectively banned him from praying with a friend who was serving as the agency watchdog at the time.

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