Ill. Jury Awards $49.5M To Ethiopian Air Victim's Family

By Lauraann Wood

Illinois federal jurors awarded $49.5 million Wednesday to the family of a global health worker who died alongside 156 others when a Boeing jet carrying Ethiopian Airlines Flight ET 302 crashed within minutes of takeoff.

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Fla. Law Makes Lyft Immune To Passenger's Assault Suit

By Y. Peter Kang

A Florida state appeals court ruled Wednesday that a state law shielding Lyft and other ride-hailing companies from liability bars a suit over a driver's alleged assault of a passenger, noting that the law's immunity provision is "very broad."

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First Brands Can Sell Molding Co. For $80M In Ch. 11

By Alex Wittenberg

First Brands secured a Texas bankruptcy judge's sign-off Wednesday on the $80 million sale of Toledo Molding & Die, a deal that is expected to preserve 600 jobs and help the troubled auto parts group pay down its debt.

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Spirit Employees File WARN Act Suit In Ch. 11

By Emily Lever

Laid-off employees of Spirit Airlines have filed a putative class action against the debtor, demanding two months' pay and benefits following Spirit's abrupt shutdown and the loss of their jobs.

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Business Exec Says NBA Cut Him Out Of Airline Partnership

By Tom Lotshaw

A California businessman claims the NBA should have to cough up millions of dollars in damages for cutting him out of a lucrative sponsorship deal it struck with Emirates airline.

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Toyota Foundation Accused Of 'Ugly Injustice' In IP Theft Suit

By Rae Ann Varona

A Toyota mobility systems foundation stole trade secrets from a small Zimbabwean social enterprise by inducing the enterprise to share its proprietary mobility solutions through a joint venture agreement before excluding the enterprise from a "Smart Village" program they collaborated on, the enterprise has alleged in California federal court.

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Tesla Shareholders Appeal Suit Dismissal Tied To Texas Move

By Sydney Price

Tesla shareholders, whose breach of fiduciary duty suit against Elon Musk and the automaker's directors was dismissed last month following the company's move to Texas, appealed the dismissal to the Delaware Supreme Court on Wednesday.

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Event Company Says NFL's Lions Can't Block TM Suit

By Susan Smiley

A Michigan events management company on Wednesday pushed back on the Detroit Lions' request for a Michigan federal judge to toss their trademark infringement suit, arguing the NFL team did nothing to disprove U.S. Events' claim that the Lions used their protected "Motor City Muscle" slogan to promote their team jerseys without their permission.

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Split 6th Circ. Affirms $1 Damages In Touch Screen Tech Case

By Elliot Weld

A split panel of the Sixth Circuit has upheld a $1 damages award that a Michigan federal judge gave to electronics manufacturer Oldnar Corp., with two judges saying they agreed that Oldnar had not proved higher damages with reasonable certainty.

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Brief

Colo. Jury Awards $1.3M To I-70 Project Subcontractor

By Rachel Konieczny

A Colorado state jury declined to award $32.5 million to the lead contractor of the reconstruction project of a 10-mile stretch of Interstate 70 in Denver, finding instead that the contractor breached a subcontract and owes its subcontractor $1.3 million in damages.

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EV Station Builder Accused Of Masking Wages As Per Diem

By Chart Riggall

A Georgia construction contractor specializing in EV charging stations used a misleading per diem system to avoid paying its laborers overtime, a former employee alleged in a proposed collective action.

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Thompson Hine Hires Nelson Mullins, Ex-NHTSA Atty In DC

By Jack Rodgers

Thompson Hine LLP has hired a former Nelson Mullins Riley & Scarborough LLP lawyer, who the firm said helped lead one of the largest and most complex consumer product recalls in U.S. history while working at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

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How Cos. Can Navigate Iran Sanctions Risks In China

For multinational financial institutions and other companies caught between the U.S. and China’s competing compliance regimes as they relate to Iranian oil, finding a path forward will require careful, jurisdiction-specific analysis, say attorneys at Perkins Coie and Ashurst.

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Series

The Biz Court Digest: Georgia Court Has Business On Its Mind

Thanks to recent legislation, the Georgia State-wide Business Court will soon offer business litigants greater access to the court than ever before, further enhancing the court's emphasis on efficiency, predictability and accessibility for sophisticated commercial disputes, says former GSBC judge Walt Davis at Jones Day.

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Analysis

Insider Trading Case Shows BigLaw Associate Vetting Gaps

By Chris Villani

A BigLaw attorney who was able to move through three major firms while allegedly orchestrating a massive insider trading scheme may have been aided by relatively loose hiring practices for associates that firms may consider strengthening moving forward, recruiting experts told Law360.

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DOJ Asserts Broad Power In BigLaw Executive Order Appeal

By Jared Foretek

A Trump administration attorney told the D.C. Circuit on Thursday that the courts have no authority to review the president's decision to revoke someone's security clearance for any reason, including race, religion, or even refusal to pay a $1 million bribe.

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Trump's 8th Circ. Pick Clears Senate Panel Vote

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump's nominee for the Eighth Circuit, who represented the president in the cases brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, advanced to the full Senate on Thursday.

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Thomas Urges Defense Of Constitution At Judicial Conference

By Carolina Bolado

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas urged attendees at the Eleventh Circuit Judicial Conference on Thursday to "stand up" for the U.S. Constitution and to see the positives in the country, despite its flaws, on its 250th birthday.

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Fenwick Hit With FTX Suit In DC Over $525M Losses

By Emily Lever

A group of former FTX customers has sued Fenwick & West LLP in federal court in Washington over its work representing FTX from 2018 to 2022, seeking to recover more than $525 million for losses stemming from the cryptocurrency exchange's collapse.

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NYC Bar Endorses Random Audits For Law Firm Accounts

By Emily Sawicki

The New York City Bar Association's Professional Discipline Committee on Thursday threw its support behind a statewide bill to institute a random audit program for law firm financial accounts.

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Ogletree Fights Atty's Discovery Bid For DQ Push In Bias Suit

By Lynn LaRowe

A Georgia federal court should deny a bid for discovery aimed at disqualifying Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC from defending a security company against discrimination claims because the request stems from the plaintiff's lawyer's "personal grievances," the company said Thursday.

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Lover's Ex-Wife Fights Sinema's Request For Therapy Notes

By Abigail Harrison

A bid by former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona to unearth notes and communications from a therapist working with her lover's ex-wife should be summarily denied, as the ex-wife, Heather Ammel, told a North Carolina federal court Thursday that the request is a clear overreach.

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8th Circ. Backs Dismissal Of Horse Breeder's Malpractice Suit

By Tom Lotshaw

The Eighth Circuit said a federal judge was right to dismiss a malpractice suit a Minnesota horse breeder brought against Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP and one of its former attorneys for mishandling malpractice cases against three other firms.

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