Greg Biffle Estate Rejects $40M In Plane Crash Death Claims

By Hayley Fowler

The estate of the late NASCAR driver Greg Biffle has rejected three wrongful death claims totaling more than $40 million stemming from a fatal plane crash that killed seven people in North Carolina, including the driver and his family.

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Apple Asks High Court To Pause Epic Games App Store Order

By Hailey Konnath

Apple on Monday asked the Supreme Court to stay a mandate upholding an injunction barring Apple from charging developers high commissions on in-app purchases until a district court judge decides what exactly Apple can charge, arguing there are important questions that need to be resolved first.

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Sinema Pans 'Gross Distortion' By Ex-Guard's Wife In Tryst Suit

By Abigail Harrison

Former Arizona U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema on Friday doubled down on her contention that a North Carolina federal court lacks jurisdiction over a lawsuit alleging she destroyed a marriage by sending lascivious texts to her ex-security guard.

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Construction Co. Seeks $2.9M Over Lejeune Build Delays

By Ganesh Setty

A construction company has accused a demolition subcontractor in North Carolina federal court of delaying facility construction for more than 1,000 days at the U.S. Marine Corps' Camp Lejeune training base, seeking roughly $2.9 million in damages.

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Aviation Staffing Co. Used Per Diem To Dodge OT, Suit Says

By MJ Koo

An aviation staffing company paid its avionics technicians the same hourly rate for all hours worked, including overtime, and disguised the scheme using fake per diem payments, a proposed collective and class action filed in Georgia federal court alleges.

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Cloud Co. Denied Sales Workers OT Pay For Years, Suit Says

By MJ Koo

Three former sales workers have sued a cloud software company in North Carolina federal court, alleging the company wrongly classified them as overtime-exempt and denied them time and a half pay for years.

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NC Dems Propose Ballot Measure To Decriminalize Marijuana

By Hayley Fowler

Three Democrats in the North Carolina Senate introduced legislation Monday that proposes putting the decriminalization of both recreational and medical marijuana on the ballot come the November elections.

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Roush NASCAR Team Seeks Final OK For Data Breach Deal

By Abigail Harrison

Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing LLC, a professional stock car racing team, asked a North Carolina federal court Friday for final approval of a settlement in a data breach class action that will offer protection for fraud and identity theft.

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4th Circ. Says Abortion Protester Doesn't Deserve Jury Trial

By Elizabeth Daley

An abortion protester who blocked the doors to a Columbia, South Carolina, clinic did not have the right to a jury trial because the crime, for which he was sentenced to six months in jail and fined $1,000, was not serious enough to warrant it, a Fourth Circuit panel said.

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2 AI Snafus Show Why Attys Can't Outsource Judgment

The recent incident involving Sullivan & Cromwell where citations in a filed motion were fabricated by artificial intelligence, as well as a punitive ruling from the Sixth Circuit in U.S. v. Farris, demonstrate that the obligation to supervise AI has belonged and always will belong to lawyers, says John Powell at the Kentucky School Boards Association.

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Bondi Spurs Ethics Doubts By Using DOJ Official As Counsel

By Courtney Bublé

Harmeet Dhillon, an official with the U.S. Department of Justice, is representing former Attorney General Pam Bondi in proceedings before the House oversight committee, which Democrats on the panel say raises ethical quandaries.

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Attys Defend $85M Fee Bid Blasted By Judge In Google Deal

By Bonnie Eslinger

Consumers who pursued an antitrust class action against Google urged the California federal judge who criticized their 98,000 hours billed as "grotesquely bloated" to approve their $85 million fee request, emphasizing Friday that they filed suit a year before state attorneys general joined the case and maintained a leading role in the litigation.

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Military Atty Can Prosecute Minn. Civilian Despite Regulations

By Jack Karp

A Minnesota federal judge won't stop a military attorney from being appointed to prosecute a civilian accused of assaulting federal immigration officers, despite finding that the appointment violates binding U.S. Department of Defense regulations.

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DOJ Apology For Hidden Warrant Not Satisfying For Judge

By Tom Lotshaw

A Rhode Island federal judge, whom the U.S. Department of Homeland Security criticized for releasing a noncitizen with an alleged overseas warrant for homicide, was dissatisfied with an assistant U.S. attorney's apology for not disclosing the warrant to the court beforehand.

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Wash. Bar Task Force Spotlights Atty Mental Health Issues

By Rachel Riley

A Washington State Bar Association wellness survey of roughly 900 members found that nearly 10% said they experienced suicidal thoughts or self-harm in the past year, and about 20% expressed concerns about their alcohol consumption, a task force reported to bar leadership on Saturday.

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Lewis Brisbois Gets Ex-Paralegal's Claims Sent To Arbitration

By Adrian Cruz

A Florida state judge determined that a former Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP paralegal has to arbitrate her claims accusing the firm of defamation and costing her a job at another firm.

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Analysis

DOJ's In-House Detention Legal Aid Plan Is MIA

By Courtney Bublé

A year ago, U.S. Department of Justice officials said the government would be taking over a program historically run by nonprofits to provide legal orientations and referrals for pro bono representation for adults in immigration detention facilities. But those involved in the program say the Trump administration hasn't taken any steps to run the program.

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2nd Circ. Raises Concern Over Challenge To NY US Atty's DQ

By Stewart Bishop

A Second Circuit panel on Monday voiced concern over the U.S. Department of Justice's argument that a now-former acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York was serving lawfully when he subpoenaed the New York Attorney General's office over a pair of cases disfavored by President Donald Trump.

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Maduro Gets June Court Date After US Relents On Atty Fees

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal judge on Monday directed former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to return to court in June, after he and his wife, Cilia Flores, reached an apparent agreement with the Trump administration to access Venezuela government funds for their legal fees.

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Mass. Justices Uneasy Over Judge's Handling Of ICE Incident

By Julie Manganis

Massachusetts' top court on Monday appeared concerned that a state district court judge in 2018 offered to detain a defendant sought by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, as the justices considered a public reprimand.

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Atty Seeks Docs To Back Ogletree DQ Bid In Bias Suit

By Adrian Cruz

A Georgia attorney on Monday asked a federal judge to allow discovery related to her bid to have Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC disqualified from defending ADT LLC against discrimination claims while concurrently defending Microsoft Corp. in the attorney's own pregnancy bias suit.

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Longtime South Fla. Federal Judge James King Dies At 98

By Carolina Bolado

U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King, a Nixon appointee who spent more than half a century on the federal bench and helped shape the Southern District of Florida, died Saturday at the age of 98.

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Calif. District OKs Civil Court Audio Feeds Including Musk Trial

By Dorothy Atkins

The Northern District of California modified local court rules late Friday to allow judges to stream audio for civil jury trials in the district, accompanying its announcement with a separate notice that the high-profile Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial over OpenAI's for-profit conversion is available to access via audio stream.

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