Roundup

Transpo Tracker: Boeing 737 Max, John Deere Deal

By Linda Chiem

In our latest Law360 Transportation Tracker, Boeing is still contending with litigation associated with the 737 Max 8 jets, while a proposed $99 million class settlement could end farmers' right-to-repair claims against agricultural equipment maker John Deere and an appeals court decertified a class of 90,000 State Farm policyholders accusing the insurer of systematically undervaluing totaled vehicles.

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Tort Report: Tesla's Legal Exposure Seen As High As $14.5B

By Y. Peter Kang

A new report stating that Tesla faces billions in legal liabilities and a $140 million football brain injury verdict against the NCAA lead Law360's Tort Report, which compiles recent personal injury and medical malpractice news that may have flown under the radar.

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Levin Simes Atty Sidelined For 'Outrageous' Uber Remarks

By Hailey Konnath

A Levin Simes LLP attorney has agreed to take on a more limited role in multidistrict litigation over Uber driver sexual assaults after he made "outrageous" remarks during a meeting with Uber's lawyers, calling one a "pedophile," "rapist" and "scumbag," among other vulgar insults, according to a stipulation.

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Calif. Hits GM With Record $12.75M Data Privacy Penalty

By Allison Grande

General Motors has agreed to pay $12.75 million — the largest penalty imposed to date under California's data privacy law — and halt its sale of geolocation and driver behavior data to consumer reporting agencies to resolve claims that it illegally kept and handed off this information to a pair of data brokers, California's attorney general and several other state enforcers announced Friday.

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Boeing Can Appeal Class Cert. In 737 Max Investor Suit

By Hailey Konnath

The Seventh Circuit is permitting Boeing to immediately challenge an Illinois federal judge's certification of a class of investors accusing it of misrepresenting the 737 Max 8 jets' safety after a pair of deadly crashes, according to an order filed Thursday.

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Union Says Southwest Manufactured Deposition 'Emergency'

By Benjamin Morse

The Southwest Airlines Pilots Association urged a Texas federal judge to reject Southwest Airlines' emergency bid to reconsider an order postponing depositions of union-affiliated pilots facing internal investigations, arguing the airline manufactured the time squeeze through its own delays.

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Regulators Probe Avride Crashes Over Self-Driving Concerns

By Jonathan Capriel

Federal safety regulators have opened an investigation into Avride Inc., an autonomous driving technology developer, after its self-driving vehicles in Texas allegedly crashed into other cars and other nonmoving objects, causing property damage and at least one minor injury.

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Former Exec Says Herb Chambers Reneged On $10M Bonus

By Julie Manganis

A former vice president of a New England auto dealership group that sold for $1.34 billion last year says former owner Herb Chambers broke a promise to pay him a $10 million "closing bonus" upon the sale of the company, according to a complaint filed Friday in Massachusetts state court.

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Cop Testimony In Pot Case Wasn't 'Harmless,' Fla. Panel Says

By Elizabeth Daley

A man sentenced to four years for drug possession with an intent to sell after an officer testified that the intent was shown by the amount of marijuana he possessed, along with baggies and a scale, must have his conviction connected to selling reversed, a Florida appeals court said on Friday.

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Amtrak Wins Arbitration Bid In Passenger Injury Suit

By Y. Peter Kang

A Pennsylvania federal judge has sent to arbitration a personal injury suit accusing Amtrak of causing a passenger's injuries, saying the passenger agreed to arbitrate her claims by accepting Amtrak's online ticket terms.

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Progressive Ducks $1M Crash Liability After Policy Reversal

By Gianna Ferrarin

A Progressive unit had no duty to cover a $1 million default judgment stemming from a 2019 tractor-trailer crash because the truck involved had been retroactively removed from the insurer's commercial auto policy before the accident occurred, a South Carolina federal court ruled.

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V2X Cites Lack Of Conn. Ties In Contract Suit Dismissal Bid

By Ganesh Setty

Defense company V2X Inc. told a Connecticut state court it shouldn't face a consulting firm's third-party lawsuit alleging that V2X conspired with RTX Corp. and the firm's subcontractor to remove it from an information technology contract, saying there is no connection to Connecticut.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen Morrisons sued by a former logistics partner, EDF and Cripps LLP face a claim brought by a family estate near Hinkley Point C and a former BBC broadcaster file a defamation claim against a Welsh news site over articles linking her to Russian state media and conspiracy theories. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Don't Miss It: Paul Hastings, V&E Steer Latest Hot Deals

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

A lot can happen in the world of mergers and acquisitions and equity fundraising over the course of a couple weeks, and it's difficult to keep up with all the deals.

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Notable Q1 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

Notable insurance class action decisions from the first quarter of the year included reminders about the statute of limitations as a key defense for claims relating to allegedly deficient forms, the importance of focus on the specific contract at issue and further guidance on the contours of Rule 23, says Kevin Zimmerman at BakerHostetler.

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The Ethics And Practicalities Of Representing AI Agents

With autonomous artificial intelligence agents now able to take action without explicit instructions from — or the awareness of — their human owners, the bar must confront whether existing frameworks like informed consent and client privilege will be sufficient on the day an AI agent calls seeking counsel, say attorneys at Morrison Cohen.

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Ex-Wachtell Lipton Atty Tied To Stolen BigLaw Info Trades

By Chris Villani

A former Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz attorney who later worked for investment bank LionTree LLC is an unindicted co-conspirator in a sweeping alleged insider trading scheme that involved stolen information from several prominent law firms, according to a review of publicly available information.

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Legal Industry Bounces Back, Gaining 2,400 Jobs In April

By Tracey Read

The legal sector is once again on a positive trajectory, gaining 2,400 jobs last month, according to seasonally adjusted data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Top Atty In DOJ Appeal Over Law Firm Exec Orders To Depart

By Jake Maher

The lead federal prosecutor on the Trump administration's appeal to reinstate executive orders targeting four law firms is stepping down from his government role at the end of May, he publicly announced this week.

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DLA Piper Accused Of 'Frivolous' Suit To Please Chipotle GC

By Gina Kim

DLA Piper aggressively litigated a "frivolous" computer fraud lawsuit against a nonprofit volunteer in order to appease the then-general counsel of Chipotle, a client, who referred the case to the firm, according to a malicious-prosecution complaint filed Thursday in California state court. 

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Prosecutor Faces Probe Into Withheld Immigration Case Info

By Bonnie Eslinger

The lead assistant federal prosecutor for Rhode Island's civil division is under investigation for allegedly withholding information in an immigration case, according to an order from the Ocean State's top federal judge.

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Prosecutors Oppose Move To Put Off Goldstein Sentencing

By Jared Foretek

Federal prosecutors are claiming that SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein may have violated his pretrial release conditions when he racked up over $1.7 million in gambling income last year, telling a federal judge not to delay sentencing for the famed U.S. Supreme Court lawyer.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

The head of the U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits section said agency investigations will focus on benefit plan managers' loyalty conflicts, including pursuit of socially conscious goals. Meanwhile, Dell became the latest company to consider Texas as its new legal home. These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

The National Immigrant Justice Center and the American Civil Liberties Union lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a split Seventh Circuit panel rejected the Trump administration's argument that immigrants unlawfully in the United States have no due process rights.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

By Adam LoBelia

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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