Transportation

  • September 23, 2026

    9th Circ. Backs Delta Immunity Over In-Flight Restraint

    Airlines are broadly immune from civil litigation when they report to law enforcement a passenger behaving suspiciously, the Ninth Circuit ruled Wednesday, ending litigation by a passenger who secured a $7 million verdict against Delta Air Lines after a jury found he had not behaved suspiciously and that flight staff had caused him to be injured.

  • September 23, 2026

    NY's Landmark Climate Change Superfund Blocked Again

    Another New York federal judge on Wednesday agreed with the federal government that the Empire State overstepped its authority with its Climate Change Superfund Act, the second such ruling on the state's landmark attempt to collect payments from fossil fuel companies to fund climate change mitigation efforts.

  • September 23, 2026

    Boeing Pushes For Pretrial Win In Norwegian Air 737 Max Suit

    The Boeing Co. has asked a Washington federal judge to hand it a win in Norwegian Air subsidiaries' suit over their purchase of 737 Max airplanes, arguing there is no evidence supporting the subsidiaries' claims that Boeing misled them as to the safety and reliability of the aircraft.

  • September 23, 2026

    9th Circ. Grounds Suit Over Wash. Airport Flight Path Pollution

    A Ninth Circuit panel said Wednesday that a provision of the Clean Air Act limiting state regulation of aircraft emissions is enough to extinguish a group of Washington residents' proposed class action against Delta Air Lines, Alaska Airlines and the Seattle-Tacoma International Airport's operator over alleged flight path pollution.

  • September 23, 2026

    Honeywell Aerospace Hit With Suit Over $2M DOJ Settlement

    Honeywell Aerospace is facing an investor suit alleging it failed to disclose a federal investigation that led to a $2 million settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice and that a small set of suppliers had a "disproportionate impact" on the aerospace and defense company's revenue.

  • September 23, 2026

    Fla. Court Says Tesla Shouldn't Transfer Fatal Crash Suit

    A Florida state judge on Wednesday issued a report recommending denial of Tesla Inc.'s bid to transfer a fatal crash lawsuit from Broward County to Miami-Dade County, saying it's too late to move the case after nearly five years of litigation. 

  • September 23, 2026

    Delta Anti-Moonlighting Suit Sent Back To Wash. State Court

    A federal judge has sent a proposed class action accusing Delta Air Lines of barring low-wage workers from holding second jobs back to Washington state court, finding the worker who brought the suit failed to show she suffered a concrete injury that gave the federal court authority to hear the case.

  • September 23, 2026

    OpenAI Looks To End SpaceXAI's Apple Deal Antitrust Case

    OpenAI is urging a Texas federal court to end an antitrust case from Elon Musk's SpaceXAI over a deal integrating ChatGPT into Apple devices, saying the pact is not exclusive and does not block competition from rival chatbots.

  • September 23, 2026

    KCSR Appeals STB's BNSF Terminal Trackage Rights Ruling

    Canadian Pacific Kansas City subsidiary Kansas City Southern Railway is asking the D.C. Circuit to overturn a Surface Transportation Board ruling that set the price BNSF Railway will pay to use a nine-mile conduit for petroleum and chemical shipping in Louisiana, in an appeal filed this week.

  • September 23, 2026

    Spirit Airlines Gets OK To Sell 27 Planes For $668M In Ch. 11

    Spirit Airlines on Wednesday secured a New York bankruptcy judge's approval to sell 27 airplanes to two buyers for a combined $668 million.

  • September 23, 2026

    Fed. Grants Bind Railways To Fed. Labor Law, NMB Argues

    The Eleventh Circuit should affirm a Florida federal judge's finding that a high-speed rail operator is subject to the Railway Labor Act, the National Mediation Board argued, saying the operator can't wriggle its way out of complying because it runs an intercity rather than interstate rail line.

  • September 23, 2026

    Nepotism Allegation Can't Sustain Race Bias Suit, Judge Says

    An automotive parts manufacturer does not have to face a Black former employee's lawsuit alleging she was fired for using her cellphone at work while a human resources manager's white daughter evaded discipline, a Michigan federal judge ruled, concluding Wednesday that the worker's nepotism accusations couldn't support race bias claims.

  • September 23, 2026

    Judge Rejects $2.5M Fees For Opt-Out Attys In Chevy Case

    A Michigan federal judge has rejected a motion from LG Chem and its affiliates for $2.5 million in fees for attorneys who had urged their clients to opt out of a $150 million settlement resolving allegations that Chevrolet Bolt batteries were defective, then to opt back in, saying the attorneys did nothing to materially improve or work toward the deal.

  • September 23, 2026

    Judge Won't Overturn $5M American Axle Win In Patent Case

    Neapco Holdings LLC has lost its bid to dodge paying a $5.2 million award in a patent suit from American Axle after a Delaware federal judge found that there was enough evidence to back the jury's finding and that the monetary amount wasn't excessive.

  • September 23, 2026

    Commerce Says Chinese Co.'s Small Engines Skirting Duties

    A pair of engines produced by a Chinese company and imported to the U.S. were developed in order to evade duty orders on small engines from the country, the U.S. Department of Commerce found Wednesday.

  • September 23, 2026

    Mail Delivery Co. Strikes Deal In EEOC Sunday Work Suit

    A mail delivery contractor agreed to pay $60,000 to end a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit claiming the business demanded a Christian employee work on Sundays, even though he complained those shifts made him miss church.

  • September 23, 2026

    Commerce Finalizes Duty Rates For Certain Freight Couplers

    The U.S. Department of Commerce on Wednesday finalized its determinations that imported freight rail couplers from India and the Czech Republic are being sold at unfair prices.

  • September 22, 2026

    Feds' Latest Permit For Calif. Pipeline Challenged At 9th Circ.

    Environmental groups are urging the Ninth Circuit to review Trump administration's recent decision approving operations of two coastal California oil pipeline segments, including one that was shut down for years following a 2015 oil spill, saying on Tuesday that the new permit waives key safety requirements.

  • September 22, 2026

    Bad Recordkeeping Kills City's Railroad Indemnity Defense

    A Missouri city must cover financial damages Norfolk Southern suffered when it settled lawsuits stemming from a train crash that killed one city worker and injured another, a federal judge ruled, slamming the city's shoddy recordkeeping and the unreliable testimony of its official.

  • September 22, 2026

    Big Tech Backs Samsung At Fed. Circ. Over Patent Injunctions

    Top technology companies and various industry groups have urged the Federal Circuit to deny Collision Communications an injunction after the patent owner's $445.5 million infringement verdict against Samsung, saying an injunction would undermine U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

  • September 22, 2026

    'Yikes' Email Sinks BIPA Coverage For Donut, Transport Cos.

    An email stating "Yikes ... no" in response to outside counsel's inquiry regarding a commercial bakery's biometric data collection practices proves the business and a logistics company misrepresented material facts while seeking insurance that could have covered an underlying privacy dispute, an Illinois federal judge said Monday.

  • September 22, 2026

    Uber, Lyft Asked To Explain Duty To Drivers In Ohio Injury Suit

    Uber, Lyft and a man who blames them for his injuries when one of their drivers rear-ended him have been asked by an Ohio federal judge to explain whether the companies are the legal proximate cause of his injuries.

  • September 22, 2026

    USPTO Announces New AI Chief, Int'l Pilot, Outreach Office

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has a new leader for artificial intelligence, is participating in a pilot program for a global intellectual property recordation system and is launching the latest outreach office. Here's what you need to know.

  • September 22, 2026

    Ford Seeks To Toss F-150 Oil Consumption Class Claims

    Ford Motor Co. has asked a Michigan federal judge to dismiss claims brought by seven Ford F-150 owners who allege the automaker concealed an oil consumption defect, arguing that the drivers have failed to plausibly allege Ford knew about the purported problem when they bought their trucks.

  • September 22, 2026

    Flyers Tell 9th Circ. Alaska-Hawaiian Merger Eroding Service

    Airline customers have told the Ninth Circuit that Alaska Airlines' 2024 acquisition of Hawaiian Airlines eroded consumer choice on numerous routes, and that a district court improperly dismissed their antitrust lawsuit with premature and flawed findings that cannot be allowed to stand.

Expert Analysis

  • EPA's Retreat On GHGs Reshapes Preemption Debate

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    In the wake of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's rescission of its finding that it can regulate climate-threatening greenhouse gases, states are poised to step up their own GHG regulation — but the EPA's new framework creates substantial uncertainty over the extent of federal preemption, say attorneys at Holland & Hart.

  • Steps To Maintain War Insurance Amid Middle East Conflict

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    To ensure they are adequately protected from war-related risk, companies affected by the escalating conflict in the Persian Gulf should consider how their war insurance coverage interacts with financing structures, lease obligations and commercial risk allocation, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • 'Made In America' Rules Raise Stakes For Gov't Contractors

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    The convergence of widely varying "buy American" requirements, increased enforcement efforts and continuing regulatory attempts to limit foreign sourcing suggests that government contractors should carefully review their supply chain and country-of-origin compliance to remain competitive, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • Series

    Alpine Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Skiing has shaped habits I rely on daily as an attorney — focus, resilience and the ability to remain steady when circumstances shift rapidly — and influences the way I approach legal strategy, client counseling and teamwork, says Isaku Begert at Marshall Gerstein.

  • Opinion

    Time To Fix The Accountability Gap In Freight Logistics

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    In Montgomery v. Caribe Transport, the U.S. Supreme Court must resolve an urgent question: whether freight broker selection in trucking accidents is categorically protected — meaning unreasonable safety decisions are insulated from liability — or subject to accountability under traditional negligence principles, says Amanda Demanda at Amanda Demanda Injury Lawyers.

  • What Voluntary Calif. Carbon Reports Show About Compliance

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    While the enforcement of California's S.B. 261 is currently paused due to a Ninth Circuit injunction, more than 130 companies have nonetheless chosen to voluntarily publish climate-related financial risk disclosures, providing a useful snapshot of how the market is interpreting the law's requirements in practice, say attorneys at DLA Piper.

  • What A Court Doc Audit Reveals About Erroneous Filings

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    My audit of 1,522 court documents from last month found that over 95% contained at least one verifiable error, with fewer than 1% showing clear indicators of artificial intelligence use — highlighting above all else that lawyers may want to focus most on strengthening their review processes, says Elliott Ash at ETH Zurich.

  • Appellate Strategy Lessons From Pa. Excess Coverage Ruling

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    In FedEx v. National Union Fire Insurance, a Pennsylvania state court recently set forth a clear holding that policyholders may recover postjudgment interest under excess liability insurance policies only when the policy language expressly allows, offering important takeaways for planning appeals, say attorneys at Hunton.

  • What's Missing From Latest Gov't Claims Against Harvard

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    The most interesting thing about the Trump administration’s recent civil rights enforcement efforts targeting Harvard University is its decision not to assert violations of the False Claims Act when given the opportunity, despite signals that its enforcement efforts will include use of the federal FCA, say attorneys at Bass Berry.

  • How Cos. Can Prepare For 'Made In America' Ad Scrutiny

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    The Trump administration's executive order to combat fraudulent "Made in America" claims in consumer-facing advertising, along with actions by the Federal Trade Commission, suggest a potential increased focus on consumer protection and pricing-related matters, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Parsing Rule 12(c) Motion Overuse In Securities Class Actions

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    Defendants in securities class actions have more frequently been filing motions for judgment on the pleadings following the denial of motions to dismiss, but courts have recently demonstrated an increasing willingness to reject these previously rare motions, finding them transparent attempts to relitigate already-decided issues, say attorneys at Labaton Keller.

  • Series

    Ultramarathons Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Completing a 100-mile ultramarathon was tougher, more humbling and more rewarding than I ever imagined, and the experience highlighted how long-distance running has sharpened my ability to adapt to the evolving nature of antitrust law and strengthened my resolve to handle demanding, unforeseen challenges, says Dan Oakes at Axinn.

  • Proactive Risk Allocation Reduces Infrastructure Disputes

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    Recent wrangling between federal and state officials over the Gateway Program illustrates how quickly funding and project governance disputes can disrupt significant public infrastructure initiatives — and highlights that the way risks are contractually allocated can determine whether disagreements are resolved efficiently or lead to costly delays, says Thibaut Giret at Alstef Group.

  • Series

    Pa. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q1

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    The first quarter of 2026 brought several consequential developments for Pennsylvania financial institutions, including the state banking department's first assessment overhaul in 10 years, a bill prohibiting interchange fees on card transaction sales taxes and a federal appeals court's upholding of a $52 million enforcement action, say attorneys at Gross McGinley.

  • 6th Circ. Can Extend Insurance Valuation Clarity Beyond Auto

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    In rehearing Clippinger v. State Farm, the Sixth Circuit can align itself with the recent drumbeat of other circuits rejecting class certification of auto total loss claims and set standards that apply to similar claims brought under homeowners and other types of insurance policies, say attorneys at Jackson Walker.

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