Jury Awards $45M To Conn. Man Paralyzed In Cycle Crash

By Aaron Keller

A Connecticut towing company is on the hook for most of a $45 million verdict favoring a 26-year-old motorcycle rider left permanently paralyzed after striking a company customer's SUV as the driver tried to leave from behind an illegally parked tow truck, the biker's law firm announced Thursday.

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Victim Takes Stand, Tells Of Girlfriend Killed In Tesla Crash

By Carolina Bolado

A woman killed in a 2019 Florida Keys crash was "just a light" who brought joy to everyone she met, her boyfriend told jurors Thursday in a trial over whether Tesla's autopilot system is to blame for the crash.

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Union Pacific, Norfolk Pursuing Coast-to-Coast Rail Megadeal

By Al Barbarino

Norfolk Southern Corp. and Union Pacific Corp. on Thursday confirmed they are in "advanced discussions" on a potential megamerger that would create a transcontinental rail giant — and one that may stand a better chance of success under a more flexible regulatory regime. 

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EU Prepared To Impose €93B In Tariffs On US Goods

By Josh White

The European Commission voted Thursday to impose tariffs on €93 billion ($109 billion) worth of U.S. goods if no trade deal is reached by August as the two sides continue negotiations.

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7th Circ. Erases Class Cert. Over Progressive's Car Valuation

By Ganesh Setty

The Seventh Circuit on Thursday reversed a policyholder's class certification win against Progressive Insurance over certain adjustments the insurer makes when calculating a totaled vehicle's actual cash value, finding that whether Progressive paid insureds the proper amount is a primarily individualized inquiry.

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FERC Chair Bids Goodbye At Last Monthly Meeting

By Madeline Lyskawa

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Mark Christie presided over his final monthly open meeting on Thursday, after President Donald Trump nominated Vinson & Elkins LLP energy regulatory counsel Laura Swett to fill the Republican commissioner's seat.

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Buzbee Gets Ex-Client's Fraud Claims Moved To Arbitration

By Lynn LaRowe

A Louisiana federal court has granted Houston personal injury attorney Tony Buzbee's request for arbitration in a lawsuit by an injured seaman who claims the Texas lawyer and his firm bilked him out of settlement funds in a Jones Act lawsuit.

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Brief

Shipowner Settles Longshoreman's Personal Injury Claims

By Jonathan Capriel

A Georgia longshoreman and a cargo ship owner have settled a federal lawsuit accusing the company of negligence after a gangway handrail collapse that injured the worker, according to a judge's order dismissing the case.

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NJ Attys Warn RICO Case Revival Would 'Chill' Lawyering

By George Woolston

The New Jersey State Bar Association told a Garden State appellate court that lawyers across the state will be chilled from zealously advocating for their clients if it revives the state's racketeering indictment against two politically connected attorneys, making it the second attorney advocacy group to file a proposed amicus curiae brief in the case.

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Dish Network Can't Get Redo In $3.5M Auto Crash Suit

By Mike Curley

A New Jersey appeals panel won't let Dish Network Service LLC get a retrial following a $3.5 million verdict in favor of a woman grievously injured in a collision involving one of its drivers, rejecting its argument that the evidence didn't support the verdict.

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Tesla Faces EDTX Suit Alleging Vehicles Infringe Patents

By Adam Lidgett

Tesla has been hit with a lawsuit in Texas federal court accusing the automotive company of infringing a series of patents related to ways to train autonomous vehicles with its models, including the Cybertruck.

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Green Groups Cleared To Join EV Funding Freeze Challenge

By Rachel Riley

A Washington federal judge will let the Sierra Club and other environmental organizations enter a multistate lawsuit against the federal government seeking to preserve funding for new electric-vehicle charging infrastructure, concluding the groups have a significant interest in protecting the project funds.  

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Boeing Hit With Disability Bias Suit Over Bonus Exclusion

By Emily Brill

Boeing employees on long-term disability leave missed out on a $12,000 bonus distributed after workers ratified a union contract in September, a new proposed class action alleges, claiming that limits on who qualified for the bonus violated Washington state discrimination law.

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Luminar CEO's Resignation Sparks Investor Suit

By Sydney Price

Laser sensor company Luminar Technologies Inc., its ex-CEO and chief financial officer were hit with a proposed shareholder class action alleging that they failed to inform investors that its highest officer was engaging in conduct that made him subject to an inquiry by an audit committee, leading to his resignation in May.

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Rule 23 Class Certification Matters In Settlements, Too

The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Trump v. CASA Inc. highlighted requirements for certifying classes for litigation in federal court, but counsel must also understand how Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure may affect certifying classes for settlement purposes, say attorneys at Sidley.

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How Cos. In China Can Tailor Compliance Amid FCPA Shifts

The U.S. Department of Justice’s recently updated Foreign Corrupt Practices Act enforcement guidelines create a fluid business environment for companies operating in China that will require a customized compliance approach to navigate both countries’ corporate and legal systems, say attorneys at Dickinson Wright.

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7 Ways Employers Can Avoid Labor Friction Over AI

As artificial intelligence use in the workplace emerges as a key labor relations topic in the U.S. and Europe, employers looking to reduce reputational risk and prevent costly disputes should consider proactive strategies to engage with unions, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

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Series

Playing Baseball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Playing baseball in college, and now Wiffle ball in a local league, has taught me that teamwork, mental endurance and emotional intelligence are not only important to success in the sport, but also to success as a trial attorney, says Kevan Dorsey at Swift Currie.

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Courts 'Turning Up The Heat' On AI Fake Citation Sanctions

By Emily Sawicki

As the volume of sanctions orders resulting from attorneys' use of faulty citations blamed on artificial intelligence continues to rise, federal judges are beginning to pivot from financial sanctions to more creative means of disciplining lawyers, including targeting their professional reputations in ways that could really hurt.

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Trump Admin Making Another EO Appeal, Targeting WilmerHale

By Jack Karp

The Trump administration is appealing a D.C. federal judge's ruling that President Donald Trump's executive order targeting WilmerHale amounts to a "staggering" assault on the First Amendment, according to a notice filed Friday.

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Will Tom Girardi's Wardrobe Mishap Help His Appeal?

By Craig Clough

When once-legendary attorney Tom Girardi's pants fell down as he finished testifying in his defense, the judge had to decide: Was this a desperate bid to feign incompetence and avoid prison for stealing client funds, or just an accident by an 86-year-old man with dementia? And if it really was an accident, does it now give Girardi a shot at winning his appeal and overturning his sentence?

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Former Jan. 6 Prosecutor, 2 Other Ex-DOJ Employees File Suit

By Rose Krebs

A former assistant U.S. attorney who prosecuted defendants charged in connection with the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol has filed a federal lawsuit along with two other ex-Department of Justice employees alleging they were unlawfully fired.

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Epic Defends Apple Antitrust Injunction After Birthright Ruling

By Dorothy Atkins

Epic Games has told the Ninth Circuit the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in litigation challenging President Donald Trump's birthright citizenship executive order should not affect a nationwide injunction and civil contempt order issued in its antitrust case over Apple's App Store policies, arguing Apple misread the high court's precedent.

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11th Circ. Calls Dismissal Of Ga. Bar Bias Suit 'Indefensible'

By Chart Riggall

An Eleventh Circuit panel appeared all but certain Friday that it would revive a Georgia attorney's race bias suit against the state's bar association, calling a federal district court's dismissal of her claims that the bar has a two-tiered disciplinary system "indefensible."

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Podcaster At Fees Hearing Blames His Atty For Sanctions

By Zach Dupont

A podcaster accused of spreading lies that a former Dominion Voting Systems Inc. executive rigged the 2020 election blamed his lawyer Friday for his noncompliance with the Colorado federal court, accusing the attorney of "malpractice" and "negligence."

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Dentons Stalling Discovery In Terraform Ch. 11, Court Told

By Alex Wittenberg

The bankruptcy plan administrator for failed cryptocurrency platform Terraform Labs has accused Dentons US LLP of blocking his discovery requests in an attempt to secure final approval of some $25 million in fees, saying the law firm is seeking to "run out the clock" to dodge an investigation into its role in Terraform's collapse.

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Veteran CFPB Enforcement Atty Heads For The Exit

By Jon Hill

A longtime Consumer Financial Protection Bureau litigator told a Virginia federal court on Friday that she is leaving after more than a decade at the agency, becoming the latest departure at the regulator as its future under the Trump administration remains in limbo.

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Legal Org Urges DC Circ. To Reject Trump's Tariff Powers

By Anna Scott Farrell

The D.C. Circuit should affirm a ruling that sided with toy makers and blocked President Donald Trump from using an international economic law to impose emergency tariffs because the law does not give the president the authority he claims, a legal organization argued.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

This past week in London has seen the owner of a £6 million ($8 million) mansion once rented by Adele sue real estate consultants Strutt & Parker, Romanian-Australian mining investor Vasile Frank Timis bring a claim against reputation and privacy firm Schillings, and a Chinese businessman bring a legal action against his former lawyer over an alleged £12.5 million mortgage fraud.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

Glass Lewis brought a lawsuit against Texas over a measure it claims requires the proxy advisory firm to "publicly condemn itself" when its advice for clients reflects certain viewpoints the government disfavors. Meanwhile, a new proposed class action alleges Boeing employees on long-term disability leave missed out on a $12,000 bonus distributed after workers ratified a union contract. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Jones Day and DLA Piper lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Federal Circuit overturned a more than $125 million judgment against Medtronic's CoreValve unit for infringing a Colibri Heart Valve LLC patent.

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