AmEx Waived Arbitration By Refusing Fees, 1st Circ. Says

By Julie Manganis

American Express forfeited its right to insist on arbitration in a proposed class action by merchants challenging the company's swipe-fee rules when it failed to pay its share of the arbitrator's fees, estimated to be $17 million, the First Circuit has ruled.

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11th Circ. Saves Delta-Aeromexico Joint Venture

By Linda Chiem

The Eleventh Circuit on Thursday handed Delta Air Lines and Aeromexico a decisive win by vacating a U.S. Department of Transportation order directing them to dismantle their nearly decadelong joint venture, saying the DOT applied a skewed standard and made unsupported findings about the partnership's purported anticompetitive effects.

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9th Circ. Revives Can-Am Fuel Claims Against Sinclair, Glovis

By Ben Adlin

A unanimous Ninth Circuit panel on Thursday revived Can-Am Fuel Distribution LLC's federal franchise claims against Sinclair Oil LLC and Glovis America Inc., holding the companies' licensing agreements are covered by the Petroleum Marketing Practices Act despite an "unusual variation" in the parties' relationship.

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9th Circ. Sides With NLRB In Wash. Terminal Union Work Fight

By Rachel Riley

The full Ninth Circuit Thursday backed the National Labor Relations Board's decision in a union battle for work on a Seattle marine cargo terminal, ruling the International Longshore and Warehouse Union can't use the "work-preservation defense" to defeat accusations that it illegally pressured an employer for disputed work.

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CREXi Drops 9th Circ. Challenge To Quinn Emanuel DQ

By Isaac Monterose

Property listing company Commercial Real Estate Exchange Inc. has moved to dismiss its own Ninth Circuit mandamus petition, which challenged a lower court's disqualification of CREXi's counsel, Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, from a legal battle against rival CoStar.

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Fidelity Says Deal Doesn't Bar $920K Atty Malpractice Claim

By Christine DeRosa

Fidelity National Title Insurance Co. is fighting a Connecticut attorney's bid for summary judgment in a malpractice case over a $2.5 million mortgage refinancing loan, saying neither the statute of limitations nor a prior settlement to which the insurer is not a party bar the suit.

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Colo. Lawyer Says Arbitration Bars Homebuilder's Theft Suit

By Zach Dupont

A lawyer told a Colorado federal judge Tuesday that the lawsuit from a homebuilding company accusing him of stealing tens of thousands of the company's files when he went to work for an adversarial law firm must be dismissed because the company already lost on identical claims in arbitration proceedings.

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Mich. Panel Rejects $2.5M Malpractice Suit Over Bank Debt

By Melanie Dorsey

An attorney failed to show a law firm and two lawyers derailed his efforts to settle a PNC Bank debt and caused him to ultimately pay more than $2.5 million, a Michigan appellate court has ruled, upholding the dismissal of his malpractice suit. 

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Costco Drops Chicken Drippings Slip-And-Fall Coverage Row

By Danielle Ferguson

Costco has agreed to dismiss claims seeking coverage for an underlying suit from a man who was injured when he slipped on rotisserie chicken drippings in a California store, according to a joint motion to dismiss Wednesday.

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Brief

Aerospace Co. Ends 'Copycat' Trade Secrets Suit

By Benjamin Morse

A Colorado state judge has dismissed a suit by an aerospace and defense manufacturer accusing its former business consultants of using confidential information to create a "copycat" rival.

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Costco Asks Judge To Rethink Ruling, Toss Moonlighting Suit

By Ben Adlin

Costco is urging a Washington state judge to reconsider her order denying its bid for a pretrial win over claims that it illegally bars workers from taking on additional employment, arguing that its employee agreements are sufficiently narrow and that plaintiffs' claims are "simply speculation and attorney argument."

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Under Armour Fights Ex-Supplier's Bid For Antitrust Appeal

By Matthew Santoni

Under Armour wants to keep moving toward a November trial for an ex-supplier's tortious interference claims, arguing that a request to pause the case for an immediate appeal of trimmed antitrust allegations rested on the slim chance the Third Circuit would reverse dismissal of those claims.

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Wood-Pellet Execs' $650M Bet Blamed For Bankruptcy

By Jarek Rutz

The litigation trustee for wood-pellet producer Enviva Inc.'s Chapter 11 litigation trust has sued five former executives in the Delaware Chancery Court, accusing them of secretly committing the company to more than $650 million in high-priced pellet purchases to boost short-term earnings and their chances of receiving bonuses, ultimately helping drive Enviva into bankruptcy.

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Brief

Sports Card Seller, Dealer Settle Collapsed Buyout Suit

By Alex Lawson

A California trading card distributor and Michigan-based House of Hits Sports Cards on Thursday settled their dispute over a proposed six-figure buyout that fell through after House of Hits allegedly failed to render payment under the agreement.

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Lenders Sue Over $1M Loan Tied To Cannabis Farm

By Jonathan Capriel

A group of California lenders is trying to claw back a $1 million loan that was supposed to launch a cannabis farm in Miranda, claiming they learned too late that the property had already lost its permits to grow and that the borrowers had misused most of the loan proceeds.

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Vape Shop Says NC University Wants It Out Of Nextdoor Plaza

By Rae Ann Varona

A North Carolina-based vape shop sued High Point University in state court, accusing the private university of illegally trying to force it out of an adjacent shopping center by, among other things, having guards turn prospective customers identified as students away from the center's parking lot based on "campus rules."

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Expect More Probes After 3rd Circ. Algorithmic Pricing Ruling

The Third Circuit's recent decision in Cornish-Adebiyi v. Caesars Entertainment, allowing algorithmic price-fixing claims to proceed past motions to dismiss, may serve as a road map for how to contend with increased litigation risk in this developing area of antitrust law, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

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Managing OSHA Mental Illness Logs After 5th Circ. Vacatur

Employers with facilities in multiple states need to carefully weigh their recordkeeping procedures following the Fifth Circuit’s recent decision that the Occupational Safety and Health Administration cannot require employers to log work-related mental illness, as inconsistent logs across facilities may raise other issues, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.

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Series

Being In A Band Made Me A Better Lawyer

Playing shows in storied New York City venues and rehearsing with my bandmates in poorly ventilated rooms helped develop the professional qualities I rely on as a litigator, including an ability to collaborate with strong-minded equals and the determination to treat each client with singular focus, says Eliad Shapiro at Herrick Feinstein.

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How Does In-House Pay Compare? Take The Law360 Survey

How do in-house salaries vary across industries, roles, and organizational revenue? What compensation tools are companies using to lure top talent? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's In-House Compensation Survey.

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TikTok's Ex-Legal Head Made Racist Comments, Suit Says

By Bonnie Eslinger

TikTok and its former head of global legal operations have been accused in a California state court lawsuit of harassment and discrimination based on race and sex by a former legal department employee who claims the executive subjected her and other nonwhite colleagues to an "unrelenting campaign of harassment."

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Meta Atty 'Absolutely Wrong' On Client Privilege, Judge Warns

By Dorothy Atkins

With trial dark Thursday due to juror illness, a California judge overseeing states' claims that Meta Platforms Inc. hid social media's harms heard arguments over evidence, at one point criticizing Meta's efforts to assert attorney-client privilege and calling the company's in-house lawyer "absolutely wrong" about the appropriate standard.

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Uber Gets Greenlight On Most Fraud Claims Against LA Firms

By Hailey Konnath

A California federal judge Wednesday largely rejected two Los Angeles personal injury firms' attempts to ditch Uber's suit claiming it's being targeted by a scheme involving fraudulent personal injury claims, finding Uber has plausibly alleged that the firms schemed with a surgeon to rack up medical costs.

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Trump Taps DOJ Official, ND Solicitor General For Judgeships

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced Thursday he's tapping Jesus Osete, a top U.S. Department of Justice official, to serve on the Western District of Missouri and Philip Axt, solicitor general of North Dakota, for the District of North Dakota.

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Jay-Z Appeals Buzbee Win In Rapper's Defamation Suit

By Rae Ann Varona

Music mogul Jay-Z's counsel fought uphill Thursday to convince a California state appeals court to revive claims that Texas attorney Tony Buzbee defamed and extorted him by roping him into a sexual abuse suit against Sean "Diddy" Combs, arguing in court that a trial court erroneously read evidence in Buzbee's favor.

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Eastman Among 16 Calif. Attys Disbarred In Q2 2026

By Emily Sawicki

The State Bar of California removed the licenses of 16 attorneys between April and June of this year over a broad spectrum of ethical breaches ranging from the high-profile case of John Eastman attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, to a lawyer found to be in possession of child sex abuse images.

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