Auto Cos. Brace For EV Battery Compliance Hurdles

By Linda Chiem

New federal regulations aimed at shoring up the domestic electric vehicle manufacturing supply chain give automakers a much-needed two-year cushion to navigate a compliance minefield, and to figure out how to reinvigorate the recent waning consumer demand for electric vehicles.

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Boeing Again Seeks Exit From Suit Over Love-Triangle Murder

By Lauren Berg

The Boeing Co. is again asking a Seattle federal judge to let it escape liability in a case involving a love triangle among employees that ended in murder, saying the newest iteration of the suit still doesn't adequately allege Boeing knew or should have known about the employee's potential for violence.

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Hyundai To Pay $334K Over Repossessing Vets' Cars

By Henrik Nilsson

Hyundai's American financing arm has agreed to pay $333,941 to resolve the government's suit in California federal court alleging the carmaker reclaimed 26 vehicles owned by members of the armed forces in violation of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act, the U.S. Department of Justice announced on Wednesday.

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Fishermen Drop $35M Coast Guard Kidnapping Claims

By Ryan Harroff

A pair of fishermen who accused the U.S. Coast Guard of "kidnapping" them for 10 days at sea, destroying their ship and getting them sent to prison for years on drug charges that were later dismissed have voluntarily dropped their $35 million suit over the incident.

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Jury Instruction Won't Upend $1.4M Motorcycle Crash Verdict

By Mike Curley

A California appeals court won't undo a $1.4 million verdict in a suit over a motorcycle accident, saying that even if the trial court gave a jury instruction that was extraneous and not applicable to the facts of the case, there's no indication that it prejudiced or misled the jury.

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6th Circ. Partially Remands Sanofi's Tenn. Lake Pollution Suit

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

The Sixth Circuit on Tuesday revived parts of a Sanofi unit's lawsuit against a Tennessee landfill owner that allegedly improperly closed the dump and caused water contamination on the other company's property.

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Wash. Justices Decline Personal Injury Atty's Fee Split Spat

By Rachel Riley

Washington's high court has declined to hear a personal injury lawyer's challenge to his old firm's fee-splitting agreement, letting stand a state appellate court's ruling that the contract had "clear and unequivocal language" compelling him to pass on half the fees he earned from the firm's former clients after his departure.

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DOD Trucking Contractor Owner Indicted On $1M Tax Evasion

By Anna Scott Farrell

The owner of a trucking company that hauled military supplies for the U.S. Department of Defense tried to evade more than $1 million in taxes partly by using a nominee company headed by her former dispatcher, according to an indictment by a federal grand jury in Ohio.

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Fuel Truck Exec Cops To Rigging Firefighting Contract Bids

By Gina Kim

An Idaho fuel truck company executive accused of conspiring with others to manipulate bids for U.S. Forest Service firefighting contracts to suppress other competitors in the market over an eight-year period pled guilty Wednesday in federal court, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Lyft Driver Asks Calif. Justices To OK Intervening In PAGA Suit

By Craig Clough

An attorney for a Lyft driver who sued the company under the Private Attorneys General Act urged the California Supreme Court on Wednesday to find her client has standing to intervene in a competing PAGA Lyft case that reached a settlement, saying the deal threatened to "extinguish" her client's rights.

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Tesla Slams Class Bid For Musk Shares Lockdown In Del.

By Jeff Montgomery

Attorneys for Elon Musk and Tesla Inc. and its board have blasted class attorney motions to sequester billions worth of the automotive company's shares as an improper attempt to shield a nonfinal court ruling on Musk's 10-year compensation plan and as potential interference in a Tesla bid to reincorporate in Texas.

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Trashing Of IP Case Wrongly Cut Atty Fees, Del. Justices Told

By Jeff Montgomery

An attorney for a client who saw all claims against him dropped before trial in a suit focused on allegedly purloined trash-handling trade secrets urged Delaware's Supreme Court on Wednesday to reverse the Chancery Court's purported failure to hear his attorney fee claim.

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Mercedes-Benz Hit With Wheel Defect Suit In Ga.

By Madeline Lyskawa

Mercedes-Benz has been slapped with a proposed class action in Georgia federal court by a sedan owner alleging that a wheel configuration defect in certain sedan models can lead to sudden tire blowouts and cracked rims.

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Coordinators Resist Bid To Open 800 MHz Assignments

By Nadia Dreid

The Association of American Railroads is warning the Federal Communications Commission not to accept a proposal from the wireless industry that would remove frequency coordinators' requirement to concur with one another when operating in bands below 800 MHz reserved for business and industrial purposes.

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Mich. Justices Unsure New Mandate Altered Old Auto Policies

By Carolyn Muyskens

Michigan Supreme Court justices appeared divided Wednesday over whether an overhaul of the state's compulsory car insurance scheme affected pre-existing policies or applied only to policies issued after the reforms went into effect.   

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Feds Charge Two For Killing Witness In Staged Crashes Probe

By Henrik Nilsson

Federal prosecutors in Louisiana have charged two people for murdering a witness who cooperated with the government's investigation into an alleged insurance scam involving multiple staged car crashes in the New Orleans area.

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Chevron's $52M Iran Oil Seizure Loss Not Covered, Court Told

By Ganesh Setty

Three insurers have told a California federal court they owe no coverage to Chevron under separate marine cargo and war risks policies after the oil giant said the Iranian military seized a vessel carrying nearly $52 million worth of Chevron's crude oil in retaliation for U.S. economic sanctions.

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No Reimbursement For $5.5M Crash Settlement, Insurer Says

By Hope Patti

A highway construction company is not entitled to reimbursement for a $5.5 million settlement in an underlying suit over multiple motorcycle accidents that killed one and injured two others, a subcontractor's insurer has told a North Carolina federal court, saying the company does not qualify as an additional insured.

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Mayer Brown, Latham Steer Proficient Auto's $215M IPO

By Tom Zanki

Proficient Auto Logistics Inc. on Wednesday priced a $215 million initial public offering within its range, represented by Mayer Brown LLP and underwriters' counsel Latham & Watkins LLP, in an IPO that will help the specialized freight company combine five logistics businesses into one publicly traded entity. 

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Justices Clarify FAA But Leave Behind Important Questions

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last month in Bissonnette v. LePage firmly shuts the door on any argument that the Federal Arbitration Act's Section 1 exemption is limited to transportation workers whose employers transport goods on behalf of others, but two major issues remain unresolved, say Joshua Wesneski and Crystal Weeks at Weil.

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8 Questions To Ask Before Final CISA Breach Reporting Rule

The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s recently proposed cyber incident reporting requirements for critical infrastructure entities represent the overall approach CISA will take in its final rule, so companies should be asking key compliance questions now and preparing for a more complicated reporting regime, say Arianna Evers and Shannon Mercer at WilmerHale.

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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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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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Ex-McElroy Deutsch CFO Cops To $1.5M Theft From Firm

By George Woolston

McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP's former chief financial officer admitted Wednesday to embezzling more than $1.5 million from the firm and failing to pay income tax, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced.

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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 Will Study Rape Questions' Necessity For Bar Applicants

By Cara Bayles

An American Bar Association commission will issue a report and recommendations by August on the practice of requiring would-be lawyers to disclose and discuss their experiences of sexual violence during the attorney licensure process.

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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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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 T. 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 T. 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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Robins Kaplan File Flub Bad Look For Both Sides, Panel Says

By Rachel Scharf

A Manhattan appeals panel expressed concern Wednesday that Robins Kaplan LLP had poked through an opposing party's Dropbox database that was accidentally shared in investor litigation, while also criticizing the other side for failing to catch the error.

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NJ Justices Approve Measures For Helping Atty Well-Being

By Emily Johnson

The New Jersey Supreme Court has accepted several recommendations from its committee focused on attorney well-being, paving the way for the committee to examine how attorneys can briefly postpone court dates or possibly receive an extension to meet deadlines so they can handle pressing wellness needs.

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Legal Access Program Being Set Up For Separated Families

By Alyssa Aquino

The Biden administration has tapped the Acacia Center for Justice to manage a court-ordered legal access program to help migrant families stay in the U.S. after they were separated under a Trump-era policy to prosecute anybody caught entering the country unlawfully.

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Colo. Judges Urge Attys To Take On More Pro Se Cases

By Thy Vo

A group of Colorado federal judges tried Wednesday to recruit more lawyers to help pro se litigants, who file about a third of the district's cases each year, with the judges recounting tactical mistakes and case delays that attorneys could have prevented.

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