Analysis

Freight Brokers Brace For New Risks After High Court Ruling

By Linda Chiem

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday shattered what freight brokers believed was an ironclad shield against state-based negligence and injury claims over catastrophic accidents, as the trucking industry's middlemen face heightened legal exposure and question what reasonable care means in selecting motor carriers for a transport, experts say.

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Justices Say Freight Brokers Can Face Negligence Suits

By Linda Chiem

The U.S. Supreme Court said Thursday that freight brokers might also be liable under state law for selecting unsafe motor carriers that then get into highway crashes that kill or injure people, offering long-sought clarity on liability standards in a commercial trucking industry unnerved by supersized verdicts against carriers and drivers.

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'Who's Telling The Truth?' Musk-OpenAI Fight Goes To Jury

By Dorothy Atkins

Elon Musk's counsel urged a California federal jury during trial closings Thursday to find OpenAI breached its charitable trust aided by Microsoft Corp. and slammed OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's credibility, while OpenAI's counsel argued Musk is trying to attack his competitor and urged jurors to ask themselves, "Who's telling the truth?"

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8th Circ. Backs Dismissal Of Horse Breeder's Malpractice Suit

By Tom Lotshaw

The Eighth Circuit said a federal judge was right to dismiss a malpractice suit a Minnesota horse breeder brought against Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP and one of its former attorneys for mishandling malpractice cases against three other firms.

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Oppenheimer Customers Ink $70M Cash Sweep Rate Deal

By Lauren Berg

A class of Oppenheimer & Co. customers are asking a New York federal judge to greenlight a $70 million settlement resolving their claims that the investment bank pocketed hefty fees from its cash sweep account program while paying customers "unreasonable, below-market interest rates."

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Tourism Co. Floats Jail For Balloon Biz Owner Who Owes $2M

By Julie Manganis

A Chinese tourism company has asked a Massachusetts federal court to jail the owner of a hot air balloon business who still owes it more than $2 million from a 2022 judgment, alleging he has continued to flout a prior contempt and sanctions order.

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Sills Cummis, Ex-Client Compete To Narrow Malpractice Trial

By Jake Maher

Sills Cummis & Gross PC and the former manager of a rock musician suing the firm for malpractice sought to limit the scope of evidence in an upcoming trial over $1.2 million in damages in motions to a New Jersey state court this week.

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Fla. Property Manager To Pay Evicted Sailor $60K In DOJ Deal

By Nate Beck

A Florida property management company will pay $60,000 to a U.S. Navy sailor to settle allegations by federal prosecutors that the company used a false affidavit to win an eviction that forced the sailor to live apart from his wife — at times on a Navy ship with no heat.

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Fortive, Subsidiary Seek Early Win In Wrongful Firing Suit

By Rachel Konieczny

Technology company Fortive and a medical equipment subsidiary asked a Colorado federal judge for an early win in a former regional sales director's lawsuit alleging she was fired for raising concerns about compliance with anti-kickback rules, contending the subsidiary terminated her due to a restructuring and that Fortive wasn't her employer.

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United Rentals, Ex-Worker Strike Deal In Noncompete Suit

By Aaron Keller

United Rentals Inc. on Thursday asked a Connecticut federal judge to approve a permanent injunction blocking a former North Carolina salesperson from working for a competitor within 100 miles of United's Raleigh branch office through mid-January 2027, ending a 4-month-old noncompete suit.

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Text-Marketing Startup Sued In Chancery Over Stock Dilution

By Jarek Rutz

A Texas investor has sued text-marketing company Voxie Inc. in Delaware Chancery Court, claiming the startup pushed through a new financing round and charter amendment that stripped away negotiated protections for early preferred shareholders without getting their required approval.

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Calif. Cannabis Distributor Gets $1.35M In Delivery Row

By Jonathan Capriel

Cannabis company Magnolia Extracts LLC must pay a distributor $1.35 million for delivered products, a California state court judge has ruled, saying the retailer waived any opportunity to claim the products were defective after accepting the shipment and then reselling it.

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Series

Playing Basketball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

My grandfather used to say "I wear your jersey" as shorthand for wholly committing to support someone with loyalty and integrity — ideals that have shaped my life on the basketball court and in legal practice, says Tracy Schimelfenig at Schimelfenig Legal.

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Analysis

Insider Trading Case Shows BigLaw Associate Vetting Gaps

By Chris Villani

A BigLaw attorney who was able to move through three major firms while allegedly orchestrating a massive insider trading scheme may have been aided by relatively loose hiring practices for associates that firms may consider strengthening moving forward, recruiting experts told Law360.

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DOJ Asserts Broad Power In BigLaw Executive Order Appeal

By Jared Foretek

A Trump administration attorney told the D.C. Circuit on Thursday that the courts have no authority to review the president's decision to revoke someone's security clearance for any reason, including race, religion, or even refusal to pay a $1 million bribe.

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Trump's 8th Circ. Pick Clears Senate Panel Vote

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump's nominee for the Eighth Circuit, who represented the president in the cases brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, advanced to the full Senate on Thursday.

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Thomas Urges Defense Of Constitution At Judicial Conference

By Carolina Bolado

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas urged attendees at the Eleventh Circuit Judicial Conference on Thursday to "stand up" for the U.S. Constitution and to see the positives in the country, despite its flaws, on its 250th birthday.

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Fenwick Hit With FTX Suit In DC Over $525M Losses

By Emily Lever

A group of former FTX customers has sued Fenwick & West LLP in federal court in Washington over its work representing FTX from 2018 to 2022, seeking to recover more than $525 million for losses stemming from the cryptocurrency exchange's collapse.

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NYC Bar Endorses Random Audits For Law Firm Accounts

By Emily Sawicki

The New York City Bar Association's Professional Discipline Committee on Thursday threw its support behind a statewide bill to institute a random audit program for law firm financial accounts.

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Ogletree Fights Atty's Discovery Bid For DQ Push In Bias Suit

By Lynn LaRowe

A Georgia federal court should deny a bid for discovery aimed at disqualifying Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC from defending a security company against discrimination claims because the request stems from the plaintiff's lawyer's "personal grievances," the company said Thursday.

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Lover's Ex-Wife Fights Sinema's Request For Therapy Notes

By Abigail Harrison

A bid by former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona to unearth notes and communications from a therapist working with her lover's ex-wife should be summarily denied, as the ex-wife, Heather Ammel, told a North Carolina federal court Thursday that the request is a clear overreach.

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