Boeing might be on the verge of closing a chapter in its 737 Max legal saga as the U.S. Department of Justice contemplates dropping its criminal conspiracy case against the company in what experts described as an unprecedented move just a year after Boeing was preparing to be branded a corporate felon.
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TOP NEWS

Analysis

What's Next As DOJ Mulls Dropping Boeing Criminal Case

By Linda Chiem

Boeing might be on the verge of closing a chapter in its 737 Max legal saga as the U.S. Department of Justice contemplates dropping its criminal conspiracy case against the company in what experts described as an unprecedented move just a year after Boeing was preparing to be branded a corporate felon.

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'Circular Firing Squad' Is Stalling Romance Case, Judge Says

By Catherine Marfin

A Texas federal judge told Jackson Walker LLP and Kirkland & Ellis LLP that they were stuck in a "circular firing squad" in a debate over whether the former CEO of a defunct barge company could sue the firms over a former bankruptcy judge's secret romance with an attorney.

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Alaska Airlines Grilled In Wash. COVID Workers' Comp Case

By Rachel Riley

Members of Washington's highest court cast doubt Thursday about Alaska Airlines' stance in a flight attendant's COVID-19 workers' compensation case, with several justices seemingly frustrated by the employer's attempt to draw a line between covered occupational disease and sickness that develops during job-related travel.

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High Court Declines To Narrow Reach Of Federal Fraud Law

By Phillip Bantz and Stewart Bishop

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday held that using deceptive means to induce a business transaction may still be a crime even if the defendant doesn't seek to cause economic loss, a departure from earlier decisions that have narrowed the scope of federal fraud statutes.

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Congress Kills Calif. EV Program Waiver, Other Climate Rules

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

Congress on Thursday sent President Donald Trump four resolutions undoing U.S. Environmental Protection Agency actions, including the Biden-era approval of California's effort to ban the sale of gas-powered vehicles in the state, drawing a promise of litigation from the state.

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Tire Co., EEOC Resolve Guatemalan Harassment Suit

By Patrick Hoff

A Massachusetts scrap tire facility agreed to pay $250,000 to settle a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission lawsuit claiming the company's owner used derogatory language toward Guatemalan workers and threatened them with deportation, according to a Thursday filing in federal court.

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Review

At NY Show, The Trial Is Fake But The Entertainment Is Real

By Cara Salvatore

Playing at Irondale in Brooklyn, production company Fever's "The Jury Experience" seeks to capitalize on the trend of immersive, interactive entertainment by giving members of the public a chance to take part in something conventional wisdom says they'd normally try to avoid — jury duty.

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AVIATION

Contractor Settles DOJ's Aircraft Adhesive FCA Allegations

By Ryan Harroff

A federal contractor paid to make an external pod to carry communications equipment on military aircraft agreed to pay $512,000 to resolve allegations that it misrepresented or omitted important information regarding the adhesive used in a prototype as well as the testing procedures used on that prototype.

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AUTOMOTIVE

EV Carmaker Lucid Gets Inflated Biz Suit Trimmed, Again

By Lauren Berg

A California federal judge on Thursday again trimmed a proposed investor class action that alleges electric carmaker Lucid made misleading production forecasts, finding that the latest complaint still doesn't adequately allege the defendants knew some of the challenged statements were false when they were issued.

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TRUCKING

Medical Pot Patient's Bias Suit Against Penske Can Proceed

By Sam Reisman

A Pennsylvania federal judge has refused to dismiss a discrimination case brought by a medical marijuana patient alleging a unit of Penske Corp. unlawfully rescinded his job offer.

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INFRASTRUCTURE

EPA Warns States, Tribes On Clean Water Act Authority

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday warned states and tribes that their authority under the Clean Water Act to veto certain water quality certifications shouldn't be used to "shut down projects" for concerns outside the law's scope.

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ENERGY

Michigan Seeks 6th Circ. Rehearing In Enbridge Pipeline Row

By Carolyn Muyskens

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer has asked the full Sixth Circuit to find she is protected by sovereign immunity from an Enbridge Energy lawsuit to halt her efforts to shut down an oil and natural gas pipeline.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

Series

Playing Poker Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Poker is a master class in psychology, risk management and strategic thinking, and I’m a better attorney because it has taught me to read my opponents, adapt when I’m dealt the unexpected and stay patient until I'm ready to reveal my hand, says Casey Kingsley at McCreadyLaw.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

NC Judge Censured For Drunken Driving With His Child In Car

By Emily Sawicki

The North Carolina Supreme Court on Friday censured a state judge after he was found guilty of drunken driving with his minor daughter in the vehicle, calling the discipline the "minimum acceptable consequence" for the judge's wrongdoing.

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Westlaw AI Win Right But Appellate Review Wise, Judge Says

By Lauren Berg

A Delaware federal judge Friday voiced confidence in his ruling that tech startup Ross Intelligence infringed copyrighted material from Thomson Reuters' Westlaw platform to create a competing legal research tool powered by artificial intelligence, but explained that granting interlocutory appeal on two questions will help resolve the case more efficiently.

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Southwest Flight Attendant Fights To Revive Nixed Sanctions

By Grace Elletson

A flight attendant urged the Fifth Circuit to reconsider its move to axe a contempt order against Southwest Airlines in her wrongful termination suit, arguing it shouldn't be scrapped just because the panel took issue with court-ordered religious liberty training for Southwest attorneys.

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Taxation With Representation: Troutman, A&O Shearman

By Zak Kostro

In this week's Taxation With Representation, Blackstone acquires TXNM Energy, OpenAI buys io Products, Lumen Technologies sells its Mass Markets fiber-to-the-home business in 11 states to AT&T, and AMD sells its data center infrastructure manufacturing business to Sanmina.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Latham & Watkins LLP leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a deadlocked U.S. Supreme Court left in place an Oklahoma state court ruling barring the launch of the nation's first religious charter school.

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Brief

Grassley Slams Durbin Over Holds On US Attorney Nominees

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, slammed his Democratic counterpart on Friday for holding up U.S. attorney nominations.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

A new study found that the total number of shareholder proxy proposals submitted this year dropped significantly after the SEC rescinded past guidance. Meanwhile, a handful of BigLaw firms wrote to members of Congress defending the controversial agreements they made with the Trump administration to avoid executive orders targeting their shops. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.​

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Brief

AI-Generated Evidence Rule Making Way To Public Comment

By Sarah Martinson

A committee of the Judicial Conference of the United States is scheduled to decide whether to approve a proposed new rule on evidence generated with artificial intelligence for public comment at its June 10 meeting.

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Feature

My So-Called Retirement: Some IP Lawyers Just Can't Quit

By Theresa Schliep

When patent partner Terry Rea set out to retire, the onetime acting director of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office had her eyes on the independence that retirement promises — flexible hours, fewer deadlines and less stress over having lots of people counting on you.

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Split DC Circ. Affirms Ax Of Ex-Trump Aide's Surveillance Suit

By Dorothy Atkins

A split D.C. Circuit affirmed Friday the dismissal of claims by former Trump 2016 campaign adviser Carter Page that the U.S. Department of Justice, FBI and former top officials violated privacy statutes in surveilling him as part of a Russian election interference probe.

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Law Prof Rebuked For Trying To End Sister's Conservatorship

By Thy Vo

Colorado appellate judges have said a Northwestern University law professor lacked standing to request termination of a conservatorship over his sister, citing the professor stealing at least $1.5 million from his sister's inheritance and calling him "the antithesis" of a person interested in her welfare.

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Ga. Judge Acted As 'Jury And Executioner,' Ethics Panel Told

By Chart Riggall

A Georgia woman told a state judicial ethics tribunal Friday that she was "humiliated" by a Fulton County judge's decision to lock her in a cell during her parents' divorce hearing, recalling that she felt the judge had claimed for herself the additional titles of "jury and executioner," while the woman's father came to the judge's defense.

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Judge Strikes Down Trump Order Against Jenner & Block

By Jake Maher

Jenner & Block LLP on Friday defeated a Trump administration executive order suspending security clearances for its employees in retaliation for its pro bono work and for a former partner's work with former special counsel Robert Mueller.

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COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

AT&T Inc.

Alliance Defending Freedom

Ames & Gough Insurance Risk Management Inc.

Apple Inc.

BARBRI

BMG Rights Management GmbH

Biosense Webster

Bouchard Transportation Co. Inc.

Charter Communications Inc.

Cox Communications Inc.

Enbridge Energy Partners LP

Epic Games Inc.

Ethiopian Airlines Enterprise

Google LLC

Holtec International Inc

Intapp Inc.

Johnson & Johnson

Levi Strauss & Co.

Lumen Technologies Inc.

Meta Platforms Inc.

Monsanto Co.

National Right to Work Legal Defense Foundation

Nucor Corp.

Penske Automotive Group Inc.

Planned Parenthood Federation

Sanmina Corp.

Southwest Airlines Co.

State Bar of Texas

The Boeing Co.

The KeyW Holding Corp.

Thomson Reuters Corp.

Transport Workers Union of America

Ulta Beauty Inc.

Walmart Inc.

e.l.f. Beauty Inc.

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

A&O Shearman

ArentFox Schiff LLP

Arnold & Porter

BCL Solicitors

Banks Weaver

Barton LLP

Beck Redden

Berger Montague

Boies Schiller

Bracewell LLP

Brownstein Hyatt

Cadwalader Wickersham

Clyde & Co

Cooley LLP

Crowell & Moring

Dickinson Wright

Employment Law Solution

Gibson Dunn

Gregor Wynne

Gress Clark

Hodgson Russ

Hueston Hennigan

Jackson Walker LLP

Jenner & Block

Karpf Karpf

Keker Van Nest & Peters

Kellogg Hansen

Kessler Topaz

Kirkland & Ellis

Latham & Watkins

Littler Mendelson

Mathewson Law LLC

Milbank LLP

Mintz Levin

Morris Nichols

Morrison Foerster

Munger Tolles

O'Melveny & Myers

Ogletree Deakins

Paul Hastings

Paul Weiss

Perkins Coie

Pillsbury Winthrop

Potter Anderson

Pryor & Bruce

Reed Smith

Ropes & Gray

Rusty Hardin & Associates

Ryan Law Partners

Schaerr Jaffe

Schwartz Sladkus

Sidley Austin

Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP

Skadden Arps

Small Snell

Steptoe LLP

Susman Godfrey

Theodora Oringher

Troutman

Turner Boyd

Wachtell Lipton

Wade Ash

White & Case

Willkie Farr

WilmerHale

Zuckerman Spaeder

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

City and County of San Francisco, California

Coeur d'Alene Tribe

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Federal Aviation Administration

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Ingham County Circuit Court

Judicial Conference of the United States

Michigan Attorney General's Office

Michigan Department of Natural Resources

Oklahoma Attorney General's Office

Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality

Oklahoma Supreme Court

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation

U.S. Air Force

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit

U.S. Department of Defense

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Transportation

U.S. District & Bankruptcy Courts of Southern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware

U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. Government Accountability Office

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court