Uber Text Doesn't Bind Guest Rider To Arbitrate, DC Circ. Says

By Bonnie Eslinger

Uber cannot force into arbitration a passenger who sued over a crash in which he was severely injured when the ride was requested by his wife since he never created an account or agreed to the ride-hailing company's terms of service, the D.C. Circuit said in a published opinion Friday.

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Uber Cars Not Enough To Establish Venue, Judge Says

By Elliot Weld

A Texas federal magistrate judge has recommended tossing patent infringement claims against Uber Technologies Inc., saying ride-hailing drivers' homes and cars being based in the district was not enough to establish jurisdiction over the company.

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Analysis

Feds Gain Ground In Energy Permit Turf War With States

By Keith Goldberg

A federal judge's endorsement earlier this month of the Trump administration's restart of a pipeline over California's objections will likely embolden the federal government to override state opposition to energy project development, but the ruling won't be the last word on the legality of such moves.

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American Airlines Can't Shake Intellectual Ventures IP Suit

By Theresa Schliep

A Texas federal judge declined Friday to toss a patent infringement suit against American Airlines over in-flight Wi-Fi, finding the patent licensing company Intellectual Ventures has made enough of a case for the suit to proceed.

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Analysis

Patent Marking Case Will Shape License Talks And Damages

By Ryan Davis

A Federal Circuit ruling that patent owners must ensure that all licensees mark their products with patent information in order to recover presuit damages will complicate licensing talks and give defendants a route to limit or escape damages in some cases, attorneys say.

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Mazda Driver Avoids Sanctions In Oil-Burning Defect Suit

By Carla Baranauckas

A North Carolina federal judge has refused to sanction a Mazda driver and his attorneys for their attempt to revive a proposed class action over an alleged oil‑burning defect, finding the effort unlikely to succeed but not improper.

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UPS Workers Sue For Security Screening Time Pay

By Brian Steele

United Parcel Service Inc. required employees to go through security screenings before work, wouldn't let them clock in until afterward and forced them through another unpaid check before they could leave, two Connecticut warehouse workers claimed in a proposed class action that accuses the courier of withholding earned wages.

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Dealership Owners Say GM Sabotaged Them After Purchase

By Mike Curley

The former owners of a General Motors LLC dealership are suing GM in Arizona federal court for $20 million, alleging that the automaker tricked them into buying a doomed location by saying they could later relocate, only to renege and place other restrictions that made it impossible to meet its quotas.

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Don't Miss It: Kirkland, Latham Steer Latest Hot Deals

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

A lot can happen in the world of mergers and acquisitions and equity fundraising over the course of a couple of weeks, and it's difficult to keep up with all the deals.

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Brief

Commerce Finalizes Triple-Digit Duties On Chinese Trailers

By Jack McLoone

Van-type trailers and their subassemblies imported from China into the U.S. are facing major antidumping and countervailing duties after the U.S. Department of Commerce finalized its findings Friday that they are being sold at unfair prices.

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Roundup

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

By Megan Norcott

The past week in London has seen shoe brand Crocs bring an appeal against the chief executive of the U.K.'s Intellectual Property Office, singer Alanis Morissette sued by the former head of operations at Live Nation Israel and the son of convicted fraudster Guo Wengui file an appeal against the Chapter 11 trustee controlling his father's bankruptcy estate. 

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Analysis

Medical Marijuana Industry Grapples With DEA's New Role

By Sam Reisman

After years of allowing the state-sanctioned medical marijuana industry to operate without interference, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is stepping in to regulate a drug it once treated exclusively as contraband, but attorneys and regulators say the cannabis industry's interactions with the agency are off to a rocky start.

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Judge Upholds Robert Bosch Victory In Fuel Patent Trial

By Elliot Weld

A Texas federal judge has refused to grant a Canadian fuel system company a new trial in its patent infringement case against engineering firm Robert Bosch, saying the company had not met the high standard to overturn a jury verdict.

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11th Circ. Won't Nix Royal Caribbean Arbitration Appeal

By Carolina Bolado

The Eleventh Circuit on Friday denied a bid to summarily affirm an order denying Royal Caribbean's motion to arbitration claims by passengers suing the cruise line over numerous incidents of voyeurism involving a former employee.

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2 Men Sentenced For Car Crash Insurance Scam In NY

By Gianna Ferrarin

Two men have been sentenced to prison over an insurance fraud conspiracy in which they staged car crashes on local highways — including one captured in a video that went viral on social media — New York City and state officials announced.

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Geico Beats NJ Class Claims Over Total-Loss Valuations

By Jennifer Mandato

A New Jersey federal judge on Friday dismissed class claims accusing Geico of underpaying the actual cash value of totaled vehicles, finding that a previous Third Circuit ruling made such disputes unsuitable for class treatment based on the need for individualized evidence.

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Insurance Tech SPAC Investor Wins Fight To Resell 5M Shares

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court has handed asset manager Meteora Capital Partners LP a summary judgment win in its contract fight with auto insurance technology company Roadzen Inc., finding Roadzen breached a 2023 stock subscription agreement by failing to register shares and later failing to remove restrictions that kept Meteora from reselling them.

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ConocoPhillips Can't Dodge Climate Torts, Wash. Tribes Say

By Rachel Riley

Two Native American tribes urged a Washington state judge Friday to preserve their climate change tort claims against ConocoPhillips, contending there's a "clear connection" between the oil company's Washington ties, its alleged actions downplaying the dangers of burning fossil fuels and the tribes' purported injuries.

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9th Circ. Wage Ruling Shows Arbitration Pacts Are Still Useful

After years of uncertainty for California employers, the Ninth Circuit’s recent Cocom v. ABM Aviation decision signals that workplace arbitration agreements remain a powerful and enforceable tool — if thoughtfully drafted and employment-focused, says Benjamin Runge at Thompson Coburn.

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McDermott Closing Health Policy Shop In DC

By Alison Knezevich

McDermott Will & Schulte is closing its healthcare lobbying and consulting shop after a dozen years in business.

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Feature

Rachael Rollins Pitches Scandal As Asset In Comeback Bid

By Taylor Bowie

Rachael Rollins rode a progressive wave to become Suffolk County's district attorney in 2019. After a scandal derailed her stint as Massachusetts U.S. attorney, she's trying to win her old DA post back, and leaning into her alleged ethical missteps as a resume boost.

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Calif. County Judges Recuse From Bias Suit Against DA's Office

By Patrick Hoff

The entire bench of a county court recused itself from a lawsuit alleging the San Francisco District Attorney's Office didn't take appropriate action when a Black employee reported a colleague's use of a racial slur, pushing the trial in the decade-old case to early October.

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'Exemplary Performance' Earns Google Users' Attys $146.8M

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge Friday awarded plaintiffs' attorneys $146.8 million in fees after they secured a $425 million jury verdict against Google LLC in a privacy class action covering about 98 million people, calling the one-third fee award "extraordinary" but justified given their "exemplary performance."

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House Eyes Vote To Lock Supreme Court At 9 Justices

By Courtney Bublé

The House returns from recess on Monday, and its agenda could include a vote to keep the number of U.S. Supreme Court justices at nine.

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Trump Denied New Bid To Federalize Hush Money Prosecution

By Pete Brush

A New York federal judge on Friday again denied President Donald Trump's bid to move his criminal hush money conviction out of state court, finding as he did earlier that a federal law defense that Trump was operating in his official capacity would be meritless.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

KKR will pay a $250 million civil penalty to end allegations that it hid key documentation and entire transactions for merger notification. In the meantime, Apple told an Illinois federal judge that a recent Seventh Circuit decision affirming Samsung's win in a biometric privacy suit means the tech giant should prevail over similar claims. These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

WilmerHale leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a California federal judge held that the U.S. Department of Defense's designation of Anthropic PBC as a supply chain risk to national security was retaliation for the company's public criticism of the Trump administration.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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