9th Circ. Reopens Alaska Airlines Workers' Religious Bias Suit

By Bonnie Eslinger

The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday revived a suit from two flight attendants claiming they were illegally fired by Alaska Airlines and abandoned by their union for opposing the airline's support for LGBTQ+ rights, saying they demonstrated a plausible dispute about whether Alaska terminated them based on their religious beliefs.

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Tricolor's Ex-COO Cops To Fraud Charges Tied To Collapse

By Hailey Konnath

The former chief operating officer of bankrupt subprime auto lender Tricolor Holdings pled guilty Wednesday to charges stemming from what prosecutors have described as a yearslong scheme to defraud the company's lenders and investors.

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EV Charging Co. Lenders, Ex-CEO Escape Liquidity Woes Suit

By Katryna Perera

A New York federal judge has trimmed claims and dismissed several defendants from a proposed investor class action against the current and former executives of bankrupt electric-vehicle charging infrastructure company Charge Enterprises Inc., who they allege concealed a liquidity crisis involving the company's founder and his investment advisory firm that allegedly precipitated Charge's bankruptcy.

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Judge OKs $6.5M 'Illusory' Underinsured Motorist Limits Deal

By Danielle Ferguson

Drivers alleging their insurance carriers sold deceptive underinsured motorist benefits have secured approval of a $6.5 million settlement resolving a class action in New Mexico federal court that highlighted novel legal issues and led the state's top court to declare that underinsured motorist coverage with minimum limits in the state was misleading to the average consumer.

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Zync Fights Block Of ITC Trade Secret Case Against BMW

By Adam Lidgett

Technology company Zync Inc. wants a California federal court to pause an order blocking it from pursuing a trade secrets case against BMW at the U.S. International Trade Commission, calling the court's decision "extraordinary."

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PTAB Declines Another Tesla Patent Invalidation Bid

By Elliot Weld

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board found that a patent covering wireless network technology was not unpatentable despite Tesla Inc.'s arguments that it was invalid for obviousness, dealing the company a second blow in two days on its challenges to patents asserted by Intellectual Ventures II LLC.

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UPS Failed To Provide Breaks And Accurate Pay, Workers Say

By MJ Koo

Two former United Parcel Service Inc. workers have sued the package delivery company in Washington federal court, alleging it failed to provide legally required meal and rest breaks and shorted employees on wages and overtime under state law.

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EPA Proposal Tightens Scope And Length Of NEPA Reviews

By Keith Goldberg

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday floated an overhaul of how it conducts environmental reviews that includes limiting the scope of what environmental impacts the agency considers and establishing a two-year deadline to complete reviews.

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A Midyear Look At Antiterrorism Act Jurisprudence And Policy

Plaintiffs have filed comparably fewer new actions under the Antiterrorism Act this year, though a handful of key decisions further defined the statute’s aiding-and-abetting standard and highlighted continuing risks for financial services companies, say attorneys at Skadden.

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How NEPA Review Has Changed Since Seven County

A year after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County instituted major changes to judicial review under the National Environmental Policy Act, courts are effectively applying the decision, but where things go from here may be up to agencies and project proponents, say attorneys at Venable.

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Why Highly Specialized Experts May Risk Exclusion At Trial

Expert witnesses with highly specific areas of focus may be vulnerable to exclusion in court, making it important for attorneys to check how potential witnesses' qualifications can be bolstered by their publications and other professional activities, say Evan Weisberg and Christopher Cunio at Hunton, and Kevin Cahill at FTI Consulting.

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Groombridge Wu Tops Milbank Pay Scale For Associates

By Kevin Penton

Groombridge Wu Baughman & Stone LLP is the latest firm to top the pay scale for associates announced earlier this month by Milbank LLP, with attorneys set to earn as much as $470,000.

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Senate Confirming Judges Faster Than In Trump's 1st Term

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate has confirmed 45 judges in the second Trump term, outpacing the rate of his first administration, Senate Republicans announced on Thursday.

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Attys Urged To Challenge Clients Who Demand AI Research

By Aaron Keller

A Connecticut federal judge urged attorneys during a Thursday sanctions hearing to push back against clients who demand lawyers use generative artificial intelligence tools to conduct legal research, saying the technology is no substitute for professional judgment and discretion because it "aims to please" and can misstate the law.

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Lack Of Evidence Sinks Insurance Fraud Case, Atty Says

By Emily Sawicki

A Louisiana law firm and lawyer found guilty of criminal conspiracy and wire fraud for staging vehicle crashes as part of a scheme to defraud insurance carriers and trucking companies are seeking acquittal or a new trial, arguing that federal prosecutors failed to support their claims with evidence.

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SCOTUSblog Founder Goldstein Blasts 'Inflated' DOJ Tax Math

By Jared Foretek

Convicted SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein and federal prosecutors are clashing again over their dramatically divergent sentencing recommendations, with the defense accusing the government of presenting a "one-dimensional caricature" of the famed lawyer in seeking an eight-year sentence, and prosecutors accusing him of potentially deleting "secret chats" with his gambling backers.

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Feds Say Would-Be Kavanaugh Assassin Was Let Off Easy

By Nadia Dreid

Both federal prosecutors and a Stephen Miller-founded public interest group believe that a Maryland federal judge let a woman accused of trying to kill U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh off too easy because of her gender identity and want the Fourth Circuit to order resentencing.

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Quinn Emanuel Says 3M Fee Proposal Undervalues Its Work

By Carolina Bolado

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP has objected to a special master's recommendation on the allocation of common benefit fees in the $6 billion settlement that ended multidistrict litigation against 3M over allegedly faulty combat earplugs, saying the amount doesn't value the "length, extent and impact" of the firm's work.

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