9th Circ. Reopens Alaska Airlines Workers' Religious Bias Suit

By Bonnie Eslinger

The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday revived a suit from two flight attendants claiming they were illegally fired by Alaska Airlines and abandoned by their union for opposing the airline's support for LGBTQ+ rights, saying they demonstrated a plausible dispute about whether Alaska terminated them based on their religious beliefs.

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Tricolor's Ex-COO Cops To Fraud Charges Tied To Collapse

By Hailey Konnath

The former chief operating officer of bankrupt subprime auto lender Tricolor Holdings pled guilty Wednesday to charges stemming from what prosecutors have described as a yearslong scheme to defraud the company's lenders and investors.

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EV Charging Co. Lenders, Ex-CEO Escape Liquidity Woes Suit

By Katryna Perera

A New York federal judge has trimmed claims and dismissed several defendants from a proposed investor class action against the current and former executives of bankrupt electric-vehicle charging infrastructure company Charge Enterprises Inc., who they allege concealed a liquidity crisis involving the company's founder and his investment advisory firm that allegedly precipitated Charge's bankruptcy.

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Judge OKs $6.5M 'Illusory' Underinsured Motorist Limits Deal

By Danielle Ferguson

Drivers alleging their insurance carriers sold deceptive underinsured motorist benefits have secured approval of a $6.5 million settlement resolving a class action in New Mexico federal court that highlighted novel legal issues and led the state's top court to declare that underinsured motorist coverage with minimum limits in the state was misleading to the average consumer.

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Zync Fights Block Of ITC Trade Secret Case Against BMW

By Adam Lidgett

Technology company Zync Inc. wants a California federal court to pause an order blocking it from pursuing a trade secrets case against BMW at the U.S. International Trade Commission, calling the court's decision "extraordinary."

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PTAB Declines Another Tesla Patent Invalidation Bid

By Elliot Weld

The Patent Trial and Appeal Board found that a patent covering wireless network technology was not unpatentable despite Tesla Inc.'s arguments that it was invalid for obviousness, dealing the company a second blow in two days on its challenges to patents asserted by Intellectual Ventures II LLC.

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UPS Failed To Provide Breaks And Accurate Pay, Workers Say

By MJ Koo

Two former United Parcel Service Inc. workers have sued the package delivery company in Washington federal court, alleging it failed to provide legally required meal and rest breaks and shorted employees on wages and overtime under state law.

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EPA Proposal Tightens Scope And Length Of NEPA Reviews

By Keith Goldberg

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday floated an overhaul of how it conducts environmental reviews that includes limiting the scope of what environmental impacts the agency considers and establishing a two-year deadline to complete reviews.

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A Midyear Look At Antiterrorism Act Jurisprudence And Policy

Plaintiffs have filed comparably fewer new actions under the Antiterrorism Act this year, though a handful of key decisions further defined the statute’s aiding-and-abetting standard and highlighted continuing risks for financial services companies, say attorneys at Skadden.

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How NEPA Review Has Changed Since Seven County

A year after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Seven County Infrastructure Coalition v. Eagle County instituted major changes to judicial review under the National Environmental Policy Act, courts are effectively applying the decision, but where things go from here may be up to agencies and project proponents, say attorneys at Venable.

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Why Highly Specialized Experts May Risk Exclusion At Trial

Expert witnesses with highly specific areas of focus may be vulnerable to exclusion in court, making it important for attorneys to check how potential witnesses' qualifications can be bolstered by their publications and other professional activities, say Evan Weisberg and Christopher Cunio at Hunton, and Kevin Cahill at FTI Consulting.

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How 3 Courts Are Approaching AI Adoption

By Emily Sawicki

The rules surrounding artificial intelligence experimentation in courts run the gamut from court systems offering proprietary tools and training to unwritten policies that essentially amount to don't ask, don't tell.

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Analysis

With Data And AI, Whistleblowers Set Off An FCA Tidal Wave

By Phillip Bantz

Whistleblowers are increasingly using artificial intelligence to comb through public data in search of potential False Claims Act cases, unleashing a flood of new complaints that are shaking up white collar defense and government enforcement efforts while subjecting more companies to potentially false allegations, experts say.

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Conn. Justices Threaten Sanctions For AI Errors

By Andrea Keckley

The Connecticut Supreme Court has threatened to sanction GLG Law LLC and one of its attorneys for submitting documents in two cases "that misrepresented the law through the use of generative artificial intelligence," according to a Tuesday order that summoned them to appear in court next month.

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Atty DQ Over Inadvertent Doc Disclosure Overturned

By Y. Peter Kang

A California state appeals court has upended the disqualification of defense counsel in a sexual battery suit, saying documents undermining the case that were accidentally produced via a Dropbox link were not privileged.

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DOJ Nominee Questioned About Deleted Social Media Posts

By Courtney Bublé

A nominee for a top U.S. Department of Justice position, who is a real estate attorney turned tech entrepreneur, came under fire on Wednesday for past social media posts that he's now deleted.

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Booker, Cassidy Press DOJ On Trump Immunity Deal

By Courtney Bublé

Sens. Bill Cassidy, R-La., and Cory Booker, D-N.J., wrote to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche on Wednesday expressing "serious concerns" about the alleged immunity for President Donald Trump, his family and businesses in the controversial settlement he reached with the IRS.

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