Analysis

Justices Fret Any Climate Tort Ruling Will Open Pandora's Box

By Jeff Overley

U.S. Supreme Court justices Monday pondered the risks of far-reaching fallout whether they allow or restrict burgeoning lawsuits targeting oil companies, acknowledging fears of near-limitless litigation but also struggling to distinguish climate torts from famous legal battles involving tobacco and opioids.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Justices Unsure Climate Lawsuits Are A Constitutional Matter

By Keith Goldberg

U.S. Supreme Court justices on Monday appeared reluctant to endorse the argument that climate change lawsuits brought by state and local governments against fossil fuel companies are constitutionally prohibited, even as they questioned whether such lawsuits can be sustained.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Spirit's Data Sale To Google Protects Consumers, Court Told

By Hailey Konnath

Spirit Airlines and Google have taken "consequential steps" to protect the privacy of millions of consumers whose data is being sold as part of the airline's bankruptcy, a consumer privacy ombudsman said in a report lodged in New York federal bankruptcy court Monday.

Report attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Aerosonic Wins $116.8M In Joby Aero Air Data Probe IP Trial

By Elliot Weld

A Florida federal jury has awarded $116.8 million to aviation manufacturer Aerosonic LLC in its case alleging Joby Aero Inc. stole intellectual property related to air data probes.

Verdict attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Youths Lose Bid To Stay Nix Of GHG Endangerment Finding

By Tom Lotshaw

A D.C. Circuit panel on Monday denied youth plaintiffs' request to stay the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's repeal of a landmark finding that greenhouse gas pollution endangers people's health while they pursue a legal challenge.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Philippine Airlines Asks Tax Court To Cut $5.7M Off Tax Bill

By Kevin Pinner

The IRS cannot deny Philippine Airlines a tax exemption on income from passengers and excess baggage just because the Philippines taxes cargo income, the airline told the U.S. Tax Court in a bid to cut more than $5.7 million off a $7.1 million tax bill.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Air Ambulance Co. Says Pilot's 'Inattention' Wasn't Willful

By Hayley Fowler

A pilot's actions in the cockpit during a patient transport flight that crashed in the mountains of North Carolina don't rise to the level of gross negligence or warrant punitive damages, an operator of air ambulance helicopters said in seeking to purge those claims from a personal injury suit.

Memorandum attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

High Court Turns Away Delta Pilots' Military Leave Bias Suit

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to hear former Delta Air Lines pilots' challenge to an Eleventh Circuit ruling that grounded their suit alleging the airline pushed them out of their jobs for taking military leave.

Order List attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Justices Skip American Airlines Teen In-Flight Death Suit

By Linda Chiem

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider a case from the family of a 14-year-old teenager who died of cardiac arrest on board an American Airlines flight, which sought clarity on what's considered an accident under the Montreal Convention.

Petition attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

High Court Won't Review United Challenge To Vax Bias Class

By Patrick Hoff

The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to review class certification in a religious bias lawsuit over United Airlines' COVID-19 vaccine mandate, leaving in place a Fifth Circuit ruling that found no issue with the trial court's decision.

Order List attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Justices Let Uber's Win Stand In Fatal Florida Crash Suit

By Carolina Bolado

The U.S. Supreme Court declined on Monday to hear a wrongful death suit over an accident that killed an Uber driver's ex-girlfriend, leaving in place a ruling that said the ride-sharing app could not be held liable because the driver was not logged into the app at the time of the crash.

Order List attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Insurer's Late Filing Doesn't Doom Crash Deal, Ga. Court Says

By Kelcey Caulder

A Georgia appeals court found Monday that an insurer's late delivery of a coverage statement did not prevent the enforcement of a settlement in a suit stemming from a car collision, sending the case back to a lower court to determine whether the deal was validly rescinded.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ford Didn't Need To Keep Ex-Engineer's Records, Judge Says

By Mike Curley

A Massachusetts federal magistrate judge on Monday denied a bid for curative measures from a group of drivers suing Ford Motor Co. over allegedly faulty transmissions, saying their proposed class action failed to show that the automaker had a duty to preserve records from a former chief engineer who left the company years before the suit was filed.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Justices Pass On Fatal Drunk-Driving Qualified Immunity Case

By Marco Poggio

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to review a ruling granting qualified immunity to an Alabama sheriff's deputy who was accused of killing a passenger in a crash while driving drunk and off duty, then fleeing the scene.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Split 9th Circ. Backs Ex-GM Worker's $5M Bribery Conviction

By Lauren Berg

A split Ninth Circuit on Monday upheld a former General Motors Co. commodity manager's conviction for soliciting a $5 million cash bribe from an auto parts supplier in return for ensuring it secured a $100 million contract.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Oil Giants Seek 2029 Trial In Wash. Tribes' Climate Harm Suits

By Ben Adlin

Oil giants Exxon, Chevron, Shell and others are at odds with two Native American tribes over when to schedule a trial in the tribes' consolidated lawsuits in Washington state court accusing the companies of downplaying the risks of climate harm.

4 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Justices Won't Hear Google Maps Antitrust Case

By Bryan Koenig

The U.S. Supreme Court refused Monday to scrutinize a Ninth Circuit decision declining to revive a proposed antitrust class action from app makers accusing Google of locking out rival maps products.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Supreme Court Won't Rethink Trucking Co. Bargaining Order

By Tim Ryan

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected a trucking company's bid to reverse a National Labor Relations Board order requiring it to bargain with a union, leaving in place a Fourth Circuit decision that found the order was supported by substantial evidence.

Order List attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

CH Robinson To Acquire RXO In $5.8B Logistics Deal

By Al Barbarino

Transportation technology company C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc. said Monday it has agreed to acquire freight broker RXO in a stock-and-cash transaction for $5.8 billion, creating a combined company with an enterprise value of over $25 billion.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Justices Decline To Hear Post-Mallory Forum-Shopping Fight

By Linda Chiem

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider whether state business-registration laws like Pennsylvania's asserting jurisdiction over out-of-state companies for out-of-state conduct alleged by out-of-state plaintiffs are unconstitutional under the dormant commerce clause.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

11th Circ. Won't Revive Carnival Cruise Jacuzzi Hatch Fall Suit

By Mike Curley

The Eleventh Circuit won't reinstate a cruise passenger's suit against Carnival Corp. alleging she fell down a jacuzzi maintenance hatch while aboard a 2024 cruise, saying she failed to show the cruise line had any constructive notice of the danger.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

High Court Won't Take Up Maine Lobster Boat Tracking Suit

By Allison Grande

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to consider a constitutional challenge to Maine's tracking of vessels that hold federal lobster permits, a policy several lobster fishermen claimed violated their privacy rights.

Order List attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Analysis

Judge Clevenger's Intellect Defined His Time On Fed. Circ.

By Dani Kass

Newly retired Federal Circuit Judge Raymond Clevenger has an "exceptionally keen intellect" that allowed him to spot holes or new paths in cases that the parties or fellow panel members hadn't explored, his former colleagues told Law360.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Sotomayor Warns Judges: Don't Scare Your Jurors

By Brandon Lowrey

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor on Monday criticized an Alabama trial court judge who frightened a pool of prospective jurors by ordering the arrest of a latecomer to jury selection, saying in a statement accompanying a denial of certiorari in the case that fear can undermine a defendant's right to an impartial jury.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Quinn Emanuel Seeks $750K After Defeating Buzbee Suits

By Lynn LaRowe

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP is seeking nearly $750,000 in attorney fees after defeating claims in Texas state court that it conspired with rapper Shawn "Jay-Z" Carter to retaliate against prominent Houston plaintiffs attorney Tony Buzbee and two of his former clients.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

9th Circ. Pauses Rogoff's Return As Seattle US Atty

By Jack Karp

The Ninth Circuit has put on hold a Washington federal judge's decision to reinstate Roger Rogoff as Seattle's top federal prosecutor, a post Rogoff held for less than an hour before he was fired by President Donald Trump.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Jackson Walker Deal Stalled By Standing Issue, Trustee Says

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Trustee's Office told a Texas federal judge that its settlement with Jackson Walker LLP to disgorge fees from cases touched by scandal is on ice while a bankruptcy judge examines the watchdog's standing to seek such relief.

Report attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Eckert Seamans Says Data Breach Harm Is Only Speculative

By James Boyle

Pittsburgh-based law firm Eckert Seamans Cherin & Mellott LLC told a Pennsylvania federal judge on Friday a pair of proposed class actions claiming damages from a data breach at the firm have not made specific complaints of actual harm caused by the breach and should be dismissed.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »