Connecticut appellate judges sounded skeptical Tuesday that a female mechanic could support a gender bias claim against RTX Corp.'s Pratt & Whitney division by citing her short stature and tattoos, noting that those characteristics are not gender-specific.
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TOP NEWS

'Women Only Have Tattoos?' Judges Doubt Bias At RTX Unit

By Brian Steele

Connecticut appellate judges sounded skeptical Tuesday that a female mechanic could support a gender bias claim against RTX Corp.'s Pratt & Whitney division by citing her short stature and tattoos, noting that those characteristics are not gender-specific.

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Defense Contractor Fired Execs For Flagging Fraud, Suit Says

By MJ Koo

A defense contractor fired two executives who reported a $1.9 million fraud scheme on a classified government contract, but retained the manager who orchestrated it, according to a lawsuit filed Tuesday in Colorado federal court.

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Judge Says Army Override For Kitchen Support Was Justified

By Tom Lotshaw

A Court of Federal Claims judge affirmed the U.S. Army's decision to forge ahead with a short-term task order to shore up kitchen staffing gaps at West Point and override a stay triggered when a company protested the deal.

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Paul Weiss, Skadden Lead Amazon's $11.6B Globalstar Deal

By Al Barbarino

Amazon.com Inc. said Tuesday it has agreed to purchase Globalstar Inc. for about $11.6 billion, part of an effort to build out its nascent Leo satellite internet business, with Paul Weiss Rifkind Wharton & Garrison LLP and Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP providing legal counsel on the deal.

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POLICY & REGULATION

Senate Panel Passes Bipartisan Satellite Cybersecurity Bills

By Christopher Cole

A key U.S. Senate committee passed a pair of bills Tuesday aimed at improving satellite network security, in part by restricting market access in the U.S. to prevent authorizations for foreign actors deemed as risky.

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FCC Seeks To Expand Power Of The Covered List

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission isn't done with the covered list yet — later this month the agency will consider changing its rules to expand the reach of the list, so any entity placed on it will no longer be able to provide interstate communications services.

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LITIGATION

AI Security Co. Investors Seek 1st OK For $15M Settlement

By Emilie Ruscoe

Investors in Evolv Technologies Holdings Inc. seek an initial nod for a $15 million deal to settle proposed class action claims that the company overstated the effectiveness of its flagship artificial intelligence-powered weapon detection service and improperly recognized millions in revenue from unpaid trial deals with customers.

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Aerospace Firm Says Ex-Consultants Built 'Copycat' Rival

By Ganesh Setty

A woman-owned aerospace and defense manufacturing company accused its former business consultants in Colorado state court of conspiring to take its confidential information and form a "copycat" business, alleging they've deprived it of business opportunities and devalued its trade secrets.

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Submarine Co. Strikes Deal To End Long-Haul COVID Bias Suit

By Grace Elletson

A nuclear submarine builder agreed to settle and close a former worker's suit alleging the company fired her for taking medical leave to treat her long-haul COVID symptoms, according to a Connecticut federal court filing.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

Grassley Says Cruz And Lee Top His List If Alito Retires

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said on Tuesday that if U.S. Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito were to retire then he would recommend the president nominate either Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, or Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah.

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Ginsburg Hack Conviction Upheld For Man Who Blamed Cat

By Craig Clough

The Fourth Circuit affirmed Tuesday a former hospital transplant coordinator's conviction for illegally accessing U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg's healthcare records, upholding a ruling that the defendant was not improperly coerced when he told FBI agents a coworker or his cat may have been responsible.

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Judiciary Panel Backs Legal Finance Project, Subpoena Rules

By Jeff Overley

Federal judiciary advisers agreed Tuesday to develop transparency obligations for litigation funders despite "vehement" views in the defense and plaintiffs bars, while also advancing controversial subpoena rules involving remote testimony and process servers.

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Analysis

IBM's FCA Deal Creates Unease Over DEI Enforcement Scope

By Madeline Lyskawa

IBM's agreement to pay the Trump administration $17 million to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act with policies aimed at increasing the diversity of its workforce continues to raise more questions than answers about what the administration views as illegal diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

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Mintz Can't Halt Texas Malpractice Suit For Fee Fight In Mass.

By Elliot Weld

A Massachusetts federal judge on Tuesday declined Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC's request to halt a former client's legal malpractice case against the firm in Texas federal court while the two fight over a $2 million "success fee" the law firm claims it is owed.

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DC Circ. Halts Boasberg's 'Unnecessary' Alien Enemies Probe

By Britain Eakin

A split D.C. Circuit panel on Tuesday halted for the second time U.S. District Judge James Boasberg's criminal contempt probe of Trump administration officials for willfully violating his order barring removals of Venezuelans under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act.

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House Dem Threatens Bondi Contempt Over Epstein Files

By Courtney Bublé

The top Democrat on the House Oversight Committee is looking to hold former Attorney General Pam Bondi in contempt if she does not appear before the committee to discuss the U.S. Department of Justice's handling of the Epstein files.

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Grassley Hits 100 Judge Confirmations As 2 Clear Senate

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate on Tuesday confirmed the 100th district judge under Sen. Chuck Grassley's leadership of the Senate Judiciary Committee.

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Investors Want Sanctions For Fake Citations In LGBCoin Suit

By Carolina Bolado

Investors in the "Let's Go Brandon" meme token urged a Florida federal judge Monday to issue "case-terminating sanctions" against the man behind the coin, saying he and his counsel have lied in discovery, disobeyed court orders and submitted fake legal citations in at least eight filings.

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Calif. Federal Judges Weigh Audio Access For Civil Jury Trials

By Dorothy Atkins

California Northern District federal judges are seeking public comment on modifying local court rules to allow jurists to audio stream civil jury trials in the district, which regularly presides over high-stakes courtroom fights involving tech giants such as Google, Meta, OpenAI and Apple.

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IOLTA Group Owed Notice Of Settlements, Mass. Justices Say

By Julie Manganis

Massachusetts' highest court said Tuesday that a committee overseeing lawyers' trust accounts should have been given a chance to request potential leftover funds prior to a judge's approval of a class action settlement, but saw no reason to unwind the deal.

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COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Amazon.com Inc.

American Civil Liberties Union

Apple Inc.

Epic Games Inc.

FedEx Corp.

George Washington University

Globalstar Inc.

Google LLC

Greer's

Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd.

International Business Machines Corp.

KBR Inc.

Lawyers for Civil Justice

Lincoln Property Co.

Meta Platforms Inc.

Microsoft Corp.

NASCAR Digital Media LLC

New York University

OpenAI OpCo LLC

Pratt & Whitney

RTX Corp.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp.

The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

The UPS Store

Twitter Inc.

ZTE Corp.

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Andrews DeValerio

Blank Rome

Bowditch & Dewey

Bradley Arant

Burnham & Gorokhov

Casey Lundregan

Cherry Johnson Siegmund James

Cicchiello & Cicchiello LLP

Covington & Burling

Di Pietro Partners

Foley Hoag

Fried Frank

Glancy Prongay

Holland & Knight

Koutoulas Law

Lanier Law Firm

Law Offices of Ruth I. Major

Merchant & Gould

Metaxas Brown

Mintz Levin

Morrison & Foerster

Ogborn Mihm

Paul Weiss

Robinson Bradshaw

Sabatini & Associates

Scheef & Stone

Scott&Scott

Seyfarth Shaw

Shepherd & Shepherd

Skadden Arps

Steptoe LLP

Sullivan & Cromwell

Wheeler Trigg

Zigler Law Group

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Communications Commission

Federal Trade Commission

Judicial Conference of the United States

Los Angeles Superior Court

Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court

National Reconnaissance Office

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

U.S. Army

U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Virginia

U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit

U.S. Department of Commerce

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut

U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Arkansas

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. Government Accountability Office

U.S. Navy

U.S. Postal Service

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

United States District Court for the District of Colorado