NHTSA Floats Rule Nixing Brake Pedals In Autonomous Vehicles

By Linda Chiem

The U.S. Department of Transportation on Thursday proposed eliminating brake pedal requirements for cars equipped with higher levels of automated driving systems as the Trump administration presses ahead with efforts to ease regulations and accelerate U.S. development of self-driving vehicles.

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Monitor Says UAW Prez Retaliated Against VP For Favor Snub

By Emily Brill

The United Auto Workers president ended a union official's oversight of UAW's Stellantis department in retaliation for the official's refusal to do favors for him, the monitor appointed to oversee the union in the wake of a corruption scandal said Thursday in his latest status report, filed in Michigan federal court.

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Logistics Co. Inks $1.7M Deal To End Driver OT Suit

By Benjamin Morse

A logistics provider that helps manage trailers on company grounds agreed to pay up to $1.7 million to resolve a collective action alleging it misclassified drivers as overtime-exempt, according to an unopposed approval motion filed Thursday in Georgia federal court.

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Delta Retirees Want Benefits Class Cleared For Takeoff

By Kelcey Caulder

Married retirees of Delta Air Lines Inc. asked a Nevada federal court to grant them class certification in a lawsuit alleging the airline shorted them on retirement benefits by miscalculating lump-sum payouts, arguing the proposed class shared enough common ground to warrant the court's sign-off.

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Ark. Farmers Say Crop Dusting Drones Crash And Burn

By Mike Curley

A proposed class of farmers is suing the makers of the EAVision J100 agricultural spray drones in Arkansas federal court, saying despite being advertised as having lidar and collision-avoidance technology, the drones have been known to crash and catch fire, endangering farmworkers, crops and livestock.

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Hyundai Motor Says Jury Had It Right With $2.5M TM Verdict

By Elliot Weld

Hyundai Motor Co. has asked a California federal judge to reject a request from a computer company called Hyundai Technology for a new trial after a jury awarded the automaker $2.5 million for trademark infringement, saying the technology company was willfully ignoring the many examples of consumer confusion.

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Mich. Justices Revive BAC Proof In Fatal Crash Prosecution

By Susan Smiley

The Michigan Supreme Court ruled that a jury should be allowed to hear evidence that a motorcyclist killed in a traffic collision may have been intoxicated at the time of the crash, reversing lower court decisions that excluded the evidence from a criminal prosecution against the driver of the other vehicle.

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Tesla Autopilot Crash Killed Grandmother, Lawsuit Claims

By Jonathan Capriel

A crash where a Tesla Model 3 plowed through a Texas family's home, fatally wounding a 76-year-old grandmother, is currently the subject of a federal probe and a wrongful death lawsuit, the latter of which claims the automaker knowingly sold dangerously defective self-driving systems.

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7th Circ. Won't Reinstate Trans Bus Driver's Bias Suit

By Grace Elletson

The Seventh Circuit declined to revive a transgender bus driver's suit claiming the Chicago Transit Authority fired him due to his gender identity, ruling he failed to show the decision was driven by prejudice rather than claims that he took medical leave that wasn't approved.

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Trucking Co. Can't Nix $2.8M Crash Judgment, 5th Circ. Says

By Jonathan Capriel

A trucking company accused of triggering a pileup on Interstate 20 in Mississippi cannot evade a $2.8 million default judgment, the Fifth Circuit ruled in a published opinion, saying "equity and justice do not compel giving" the company "a do-over now."

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Universal Trucker Gets Class OK In Ill. Biometric Privacy Row

By Allison Grande

An Illinois federal judge granted class status to a former Universal Intermodal Services employee in his suit accusing the company and affiliates of illegally collecting workers' biometric data, finding the potential inclusion in the certified classes of temporary workers or those who might have signed consent forms didn't foreclose the move.

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NYC Seeks To Shut Down Delivery App Over Wage Violations

By MJ Koo

New York City has moved to bar a food delivery app from operating in the city unless it begins paying its workers the legally required minimum wage, after the company's own reports showed it paid workers as little as $1.82 per hour.

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Brief

Wash. Resident Gets 18 Months For Russia Export Conspiracy

By Ganesh Setty

The U.S. Department of Justice said a Washington state resident has received a prison sentence of 18 months on Wednesday over a scheme to flout U.S. export restrictions on Russia, after pleading guilty in New York federal court in October.

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Chinese Container-Makers Facing Another Price-Fixing Suit

By Jack McLoone

A small group of Chinese companies said to control 95% of worldwide shipping container manufacturing colluded to keep prices high during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a proposed class action brought by a container purchaser in California federal court.

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Feds Immune To Cross-Claims In Caltech Pollution Suit

By Mike Curley

A California federal judge has dismissed with prejudice cross-claims from the city of Pasadena against the U.S. government in a suit by the California Institute of Technology over groundwater contamination from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, finding the federal government has immunity.

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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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Wash. Justices Back Climate Act Farm Fuel Exemption Regs

By Rachel Riley

The Washington Supreme Court unanimously rejected the Washington Farm Bureau's challenge to regulations surrounding a farm fuel exemption in a landmark 2021 law establishing the state's cap-and-invest program, finding Thursday the rule aligns with lawmakers' ultimate goal of curbing top greenhouse gas emitters.

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Brief Iran Sanctions Pause Will Most Benefit Non-US Cos.

Due to its short duration, the Office of Foreign Assets Control’s recently issued general license easing Iran sanctions will mostly benefit companies with preexisting commercial relationships involving Iranian petroleum, and is unlikely to mitigate overcompliance and de-risking behavior by U.S. and foreign financial institutions, says Michelle Roberts at Berliner Corcoran.

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Series

Moshing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Entering a mosh pit is much like entering the practice of law — it is difficult, you have to know both the written and unwritten rules, and conduct yourself according to the expectations of each community, says Christopher Deubert at Constangy Brooks.

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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 Michelle Mone sued by PPE Medpro, Broadfield Law sued by the founders of an international aid company, and litigation funder Fortress bring a claim against Edwin Coe and businesses the law firm represented in a cartel claim.

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Chicago IP Duo Leave Winston & Strawn For King & Spalding

By Tracey Read

King & Spalding LLP has added two more Winston & Strawn LLP partners who will reunite with 15 former colleagues who joined the firm earlier this year.

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Q&A

This Pride Month, LGBTQ+ Bar Leader Talks Community, Hope

By Emma Cueto

In 2026, the LGBTQ+ Bar is focused on expanding programs, especially those focused on law students and younger attorneys, and building up community ties at a time of growing legal threats to LGBTQ people.

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Insurer Says NJ Atty Sank Coverage By Not Cooperating

By Christine DeRosa

Hanover Insurance Co. has asked a New Jersey federal court for a declaratory judgment finding that it doesn't have to defend an attorney and his firm in a suit over a real estate deal gone wrong, telling the court that the attorney refuses to cooperate with the firm it hired to defend him in the underlying suit.

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Trump Reportedly Mulls FCC Attorney For DOJ Antitrust Chief

By Matthew Perlman

President Donald Trump is reportedly preparing to nominate the Federal Communications Commission's general counsel to serve as the top antitrust official in the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Judge Stays Jackson Walker RICO Suit Over Sorrento Ch. 11

By Clara Geoghegan

A California federal judge has paused Sorrento Therapeutics shareholders' litigation after a Texas bankruptcy court ruled they lacked standing to pursue racketeering claims over a former Jackson Walker attorney's relationship with the judge who initially oversaw the biotech company's Chapter 11.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

A Connecticut federal judge told attorneys to challenge clients who demand use of generative artificial intelligence tools to conduct legal research, and a Kansas federal judge blocked a state law imposing requirements on proxy advisers' voting recommendations. These were among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Scientologists Want 'Ignored' Boies Schiller AI Errors Review

By Emily Sawicki

The Church of Scientology has asked the California Supreme Court to review an appellate order that didn't impose sanctions on Boies Schiller Flexner LLP for filing a brief containing artificial intelligence-generated citation errors in a harassment and retaliation suit pending against the church.

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High Court To Issue Big Decisions In Term's Final Days

By Katie Buehler

As the U.S. Supreme Court enters the final days of its term, the justices still have several major decisions to issue, including some concerning birthright citizenship, the president's power to remove independent agency officials, transgender athletes and election rules. 

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Clement & Murphy PLLC, Covington & Burling LLP and Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court handed Monsanto a win in its long-running battle over the labeling of alleged cancer risks of its bestselling weedkiller Roundup.

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Homebuilder Says Colo. Atty Took Its Info To Adversary Firm

By Rachel Konieczny

A Colorado lawyer who represented a homebuilding company for more than a decade stole tens of thousands of the company's files when he went to work for a law firm that is a regular adversary to the homebuilder, the company alleged in Colorado state court. 

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King & Spalding Insists On Fraud Suit Pause Amid 'Conflicts'

By Brian Steele

King & Spalding LLP has urged a Connecticut state court to keep its involvement in a $300 million fraud lawsuit on hold while it challenges the denial of its attorneys' withdrawal from representing several individual defendants, citing "serious, nonwaivable conflicts of interest" that will prevent the firm from proceeding.

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PACER Fees Will Rise To Fund Cyber Defense Upgrades

By Bonnie Eslinger

The federal judiciary announced Friday it will temporarily increase the fees for electronic access to court records to pay for a potential $800 million upgrade that will modernize and strengthen court records systems PACER and CM/ECF, an upgrade it previously said is needed to respond to escalating cyberattacks.

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Analysis

Bosch DOJ Declination Shows Benefits Of Early Self-Reporting

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Department of Justice's recent decision not to prosecute German technology company Bosch for exporting products to a sanctioned Chinese company signals to businesses that prompt self-reporting to the government can help them secure a declination even for serious national security offenses.

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Messner Reeves Says $8.3M Fraud Suit Repeats Utah Case

By Zach Dupont

Colorado law firm Messner Reeves LLP has claimed in federal court that a lawsuit accusing it of stealing more than $8 million as part of a fraudulent loan scheme should be dismissed because the plaintiffs' Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act claims were dismissed by another court with prejudice.

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