Mayer Brown's $21M Fee Bid In RI Truck Tolls Suit Rebuffed

By Linda Chiem

A Rhode Island federal judge on Friday rebuffed Mayer Brown LLP's bid for $21 million in attorney fees for representing the commercial trucking industry's lead trade group in long-running litigation over the state's truck tolling program, saying the American Trucking Associations ultimately was not the "prevailing party."

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Honda System Not 'Perfect,' But Also Not Defective, Jury Told

By Rae Ann Varona

Honda's collision avoidance system, while not "perfect," should not be considered defective under industry standards, an attorney for the automaker's U.S. arm told a California federal court jury Friday during closing arguments in a class action over claims by 100,000-plus drivers that the system caused dangerously abrupt stops.

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State Farm Inks $15.6M Deal In Totaled Car Payout Class Action

By Gina Kim

State Farm policyholders scored preliminary approval of a $15.6 million settlement in Arkansas federal court Friday, resolving claims the insurer systematically undervalued totaled vehicles, almost a year after a civil jury found State Farm violated its contract to pay "actual cash value" of the cars by applying typical negotiation adjustments.

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Ga. Justices Revive Uber Fight Over Pre-Wayfair Sales Tax

By Maria Koklanaris

A Georgia appellate court must reconsider its opinion that Uber was required to collect and remit millions in sales taxes on behalf of drivers and customers who used its app before the Wayfair decision, the state's highest court said.

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Uber Crash Liability Case Review Denied By Texas High Court

By José Luis Martínez

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday declined to review a case brought by passengers injured in a car crash during a trip arranged through Uber Technologies Inc.'s app, leaving intact a lower court ruling rejecting their liability claims and finding that the company's drivers are independent contractors under state law.

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Audi Door Lock Defect Trapped Infant In Back Seat, Suit Says

By Zak Kostro

Electronic door-locking systems in dozens of Audi models intermittently fail to lock or unlock, according to a proposed class action in California federal court, in which a driver alleged the defect once left his infant son trapped in the back seat of his car.

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BMW Facing ITC Trade Secrets Probe Of Infotainment Screens

By Jack McLoone

The U.S. International Trade Commission has opened an investigation into BMW's imports of what are known as infotainment screens, acting on a California technology company's allegations that the German vehicle manufacturer misappropriated its trade secrets to develop a cheaper option.

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Uber Again Says It's A Tech Co., Not A Transportation Provider

By Jonathan Capriel

Uber is once again fighting efforts to frame it as a transportation provider that owes a duty of safety to passengers, telling the California federal court overseeing multidistrict litigation over sexual assault liability that it only operates a technology platform.

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'Total Inaction' On Discovery Dooms Texas Dram Shop Suit

By Y. Peter Kang

A Texas appellate court has affirmed the dismissal of a Dram Shop Act suit accusing an Arlington bar of overserving alcohol to a woman who later drove drunk and got into a fatal crash, citing the plaintiffs' "total inaction" regarding discovery over a two-year period.

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Colo. County Says DOI Skirted Review For Utah Oil Project

By Keith Goldberg

A Colorado county has accused the U.S. Department of the Interior of unlawfully fast-tracking the approval of a Utah oil-by-rail transportation expansion project by misusing its emergency authority to bypass meaningful environmental review and public feedback.

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Brief

FCC Bars Another Chinese Test Lab Over Security Risk

By Christopher Cole

The Federal Communications Commission on Friday pulled the accreditation of another Chinese communications device testing lab due to concerns about Chinese state government control.

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Norwegian Cruise Line, Elliott Cut Deal To Revamp Board

By Al Barbarino

Norwegian Cruise Line said Friday it has reached an agreement with Elliott Investment Management LP for a board shake-up, after the activist investor revealed a more than 10% stake in the cruise operator last month.

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Chemical Co. PQ Countersues Tacoma Port In Pollution Case

By Ben Adlin

The Port of Tacoma's suit wrongfully seeks millions in remediation costs for contamination not associated with chemical company PQ LLC's operations on a Tacoma Tideflats property, the company has said in counterclaims brought against the port.

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen Apple hit back at a tech company's wireless charging patent claim, a flurry of businesses bring COVID-19 pandemic insurance claims as a key deadline draws closer and Ipulse Partners LLP file a claim against a luxury yacht company it represented in a trademark dispute. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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House Rebukes Senate With Clean DHS Funding Vote

By Courtney Bublé

The House voted 213-203 on Friday night on a clean extension of funding for all operations of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, rebuking the Senate, which passed by voice vote in the early hours of Friday morning a bill to fund most of the department except the immigration components. 

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Ex-CEO Sues Former NJ AG Over Tossed RICO Case

By George Woolston

The former CEO of The Michaels Organization, who was indicted in New Jersey's now-dismissed criminal racketeering case against South Jersey power broker George E. Norcross III, has accused former New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin and other members of his office of commencing the prosecution knowing there was no probable cause.

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Texas Justices Order New Trial In Crane Breakage Suit

By Mike Curley

The Texas Supreme Court on Friday ordered a new trial in a suit alleging a contractor failed to properly repair a crane, saying the trial court abused its discretion by denying the contractor's bid to substitute an expert when its original choice left the state and refused to testify shortly before trial.

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8 Tariff Refund Questions For Restructuring Professionals

For restructuring and turnaround professionals, seeking refunds following the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision invalidating tariffs imposed under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act raises several questions about how to capture legitimate recoveries while protecting an enterprise from the consequences of its own history, says Jonny Frank and Laura Greenman at StoneTurn, and Andrew Popescu at Province.

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Series

Watching Hallmark Movies Makes Me A Better Lawyer

I realize you may be judging me for watching, and actually enjoying, Hallmark Channel movies, but the escapism and storylines actually demonstrate qualities and actions that lead to an efficient, productive and positive legal practice, says Karen Ross at Tucker Ellis.

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Pillsbury Asks To Toss Suit Over Nonclient Data Breach

By Matt Perez

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP sought dismissal of a consolidated data breach action in New York federal court Friday due to the plaintiffs' alleged lack of relationship with the firm and inability to identify any cognizable damages.

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Burford Considers Arbitration After 2nd Circ. Tosses $16B Win

By Nadia Dreid

Burford Capital Ltd. says it is contemplating taking its $16 billion fight with Argentina into international arbitration after the Second Circuit wiped out a judgment the litigation funding firm had won against the nation in New York federal court, sending its stock prices tumbling.

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'Is It Kafka?' Judge Presses Pentagon On Press Restrictions

By Jared Foretek

A D.C. federal judge requested additional briefing Monday from the Trump administration before deciding whether to toss the U.S. Department of Defense's revised rules restricting journalists' access to the Pentagon but said some new allegations from reporters read like the revisions came from a Franz Kafka novel.

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Ex-Laffey Bucci Atty Accused Of Stealing Over $1.3M

By James Boyle

Laffey Bucci D'Andrea Reich & Ryan has accused a former name partner in a Pennsylvania state court suit of misdirecting more than $1.3 million in referral and case fees through a secret agreement with another firm and misusing the plaintiffs firm's resources for personal expenses, including an affair with a client.

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Analysis

Exchanges Are First Line In CFTC Prediction Market Policing

By Aislinn Keely

As the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission insists it will be the primary cop for the growing expanse of prediction markets, experts said the agency is signaling that its first line of defense will be the internal enforcement programs of registrants like Kalshi.

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FCA Qui Tams Are Unconstitutional, Eli Lilly Tells Justices

By Mark Payne

The False Claims Act's whistleblower provisions are unconstitutional, drugmaker Eli Lilly has told the U.S. Supreme Court, asking it to overturn a Seventh Circuit decision upholding a $183 million trial win for a whistleblower who claimed the drug company hid how much it charged for Medicaid-covered drugs. 

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Justices Wary Of 'Odd' Arbitration Jurisdiction Theory

By Caroline Simson

A lawyer urging the U.S. Supreme Court to find that federal courts that have sent a dispute to arbitration do not automatically have jurisdiction to confirm or vacate a subsequent award faced heavy skepticism Monday from the justices, who called his argument during oral arguments "odd" and "peculiar."

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court's docket this past week featured disputes involving globally recognized companies, high-dollar contract fights, revived claims from the state's high court and the resolution of a closely watched de-SPAC case.

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Blumenthal Questions SEC Over Crypto Cases, Ryan Exit

By Katryna Perera

U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal is demanding answers from U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins about the sudden resignation of the regulator's enforcement director and whether her departure was related to cryptocurrency cases, including one touching on the Trump family's ventures.

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