Analysis

Air India Crash — Boeing 787 Dreamliner: What Do We Know?

By Linda Chiem

The Boeing Co. is bracing for renewed scrutiny after Thursday's deadly crash of an Air India flight with 242 people onboard as another line of its jets — this time, its 787-8 Dreamliner — is involved in an overseas aviation disaster just as the company was eyeing a fresh chapter following its 737 Max crisis.

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Admin Of $600M Norfolk Southern Derailment Deal Removed

By Matthew Santoni

The company administrating the payouts to plaintiffs in Norfolk Southern's $600 million settlement stemming from the fiery derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, has been replaced, because it purportedly made miscalculations that overpaid some claimants.

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Charter Flight Co. Sanctioned In 'Hot Start' Damage Suit

By Mike Curley

A Kansas federal judge sanctioned charter flight company Sky Jet M.G. Inc. on Thursday in its suit alleging an aviation repair company improperly overhauled an engine component leading to a "hot start," finding Sky Jet deliberately tried to prevent the repair company from finding out about cockpit recordings of the incident.

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Volkswagen Beats SUV Owner's Out-Of-Warranty Defect Suit

By Rae Ann Varona

An Alabama federal judge on Wednesday tossed a Volkswagen owner's putative class action accusing the automaker of refusing to cover her allegedly defective SUV under warranty, saying the driver sought repairs outside of warranty limits and failed to show that the vehicle was so unsafe that it was defective.

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Panasonic Can't Get Fees After $1 Touchscreen Tech Loss

By Christine DeRosa

A Michigan federal judge on Thursday ruled that Panasonic can't collect nearly $318,000 in legal fees after Panasonic unit Sanyo North America Corp. was found to be on the hook for $1 in damages earlier this year to electronics company Oldnar Corp. for wrongly using its touchscreen technology to develop a vehicle console for General Motors.

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Ohio Law Bars Cities' Negligence Claims Against Hyundai, Kia

By Hope Patti

A California federal court sided with Hyundai and Kia by finding that an Ohio products liability law bars negligence claims from five Ohio cities in sprawling multidistrict litigation alleging the automakers knowingly sold vehicles with design flaws that resulted in a car theft crime spree.

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Calif. Sues Trump Over 'Wildly Partisan' EV Waiver Repeal

By Dorothy Atkins

The California attorney general and 10 other states sued the Trump administration in federal court Thursday, minutes after President Donald Trump signed resolutions repealing California's Clean Air Act waiver that allowed the state to establish its own vehicle emissions standards, slamming the resolutions as unconstitutional, irrational and "wildly partisan."

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3rd Circ. Will Reconsider Shipbuilder's Ch. 11 Reopening Bid

By Matthew Santoni

The Third Circuit said Thursday that it will reconsider whether to reopen Congoleum Corp.'s 2003 Chapter 11 bankruptcy so the bankruptcy court, not a district court, can say whether Congoleum affiliate Bath Iron Works should share liability for cleaning up a polluted New Jersey river.

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Reed Smith Pushes For 2nd Circ. Stay In $102M Award Fight

By Emily Sawicki

Still seeking to represent prebankruptcy owners of international shipping company Eletson Holdings Inc., Reed Smith LLP has asked the Second Circuit to stay a bankruptcy proceeding and a district court action, arguing the reorganized Eletson, now allegedly under common control with a former adversary, has launched a "calculated effort" to seize the company's privileged client information.

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Fla. Jury Awards $2M To Welder Pinned Under Tow Truck Bed

By David Minsky

A Florida state court jury awarded $2 million in damages to a welder who sustained serious injuries when he was pinned under the bed of a tow truck during an incident while working as an independent contractor at a metal fabrication shop in 2022.

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Latham, Paul Weiss Advise Auto Parts Cos. On $2.7B Deal

By Al Barbarino

Latham-led Allison Transmission Holdings Inc. has agreed to acquire Paul Weiss-advised Dana Inc.'s off-highway unit for $2.7 billion, in a deal aimed at broadening Allison's global reach and strengthening its commercial portfolio.

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6th Circ. Skeptical Of Auto Co.'s NLRB Constitutionality Suit

By Tim Ryan

A Sixth Circuit panel appeared unlikely Thursday to back an auto parts manufacturer's request to block a National Labor Relations Board prosecution because of alleged constitutional defects in the agency's structure, as the judges probed whether an agency judge's decision against the company and the board's lack of a quorum affect the dispute.

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Texas Man Gets 11 Years In Cross-Border Transport Case

By Matthew Perlman

A Texas federal court has sentenced a man to 11 years in prison for helping lead a violent conspiracy to monopolize the transport of used vehicles and other goods from the U.S. through Mexico for resale in Central America.

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Unifi Aviation Sued For Firing Ga. Worker After FMLA Approval

By Kelcey Caulder

The largest aviation ground handling service in North America has been sued in Georgia federal court by a woman who alleges she was pressured to speak with a male manager about her reproductive issues after requesting medical leave, then fired once that leave was approved.

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Ex-UPS Workers Urge 9th Circ. To Revive State Law Claims

By Craig Clough

An attorney for some former United Parcel Service workers urged a Ninth Circuit panel Thursday to undo a decision barring them from proceeding with some state employment claims because the workers memorialized them on union grievance forms, telling the panel the claims aren't preempted by federal law.

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GM Case Highlights New Trends In AI-Related Securities Suits

Bold company statements about artificial intelligence have resulted in a rise in AI-related securities litigation, and a recent Michigan federal court decision in In Re: General Motors Co. Securities Litigation illustrates how courts are analyzing these AI-based claims and applying traditional securities concepts to new technologies, say attorneys at Cooley.

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Attacks On Judicial Independence Tend To Manifest In 3 Ways

Attacks on judicial independence now run the gamut from gross (bald-faced interference) to systemic (structural changes) to insidious (efforts to undermine public trust), so lawyers, judges and the public must recognize the fateful moment in which we live and defend the rule of law every day, says Jim Moliterno at Washington and Lee University.

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

By Max Austin

This past week in London has seen Tottenham Hotspur FC kick off against Manchester United co-owner Ineos Automotive following a soured sponsorship deal, Acer and Nokia clash over patents for video coding technology, and two investors reignite litigation against the founders of an AI exercise bike business that unlawfully pocketed $1.2 million in investments to fund their own lifestyles. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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IRS, Law Firm Settle $790K Worker Credit Refund Suit

By Anna Scott Farrell

The Internal Revenue Service settled a lawsuit seeking more than $790,000 in pandemic-era worker tax credits by a law firm that had claimed the agency was delaying paying out, according to a dismissal order Friday by a Pennsylvania federal court.

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7 Willkie Partners Join Cooley Over Trump EO Deal

By Aebra Coe

Seven partners have left Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, including both managing partners of the firm's San Francisco office, to join Cooley LLP, reportedly over their former employer's decision to strike a deal with the Trump administration related to a potential executive order.

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Jackson Walker, Ex-Judge Facing Class Action Over Romance

By Catherine Marfin

A former bankruptcy judge and Jackson Walker LLP have been hit with another lawsuit over the judge's secret romance with a former firm partner, this time a proposed class action from a group of bondholders of financial company GWG Holdings Inc.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

Compliance experts say corporate leaders with business interests south of the border are worried about possible terrorism-related charges under the Trump administration for inadvertently working with the cartels. Meanwhile, the head of Glass Lewis pushed back against allegations from some lawmakers concerning the firm's "expansive, opaque and ideologically driven influence" on companies. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.​

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Beltway Moves: Torridon Law, MoFo, V&E

By Alison Knezevich

Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo headed to Torridon Law PLLC this week in one of the latest high-profile moves in the Washington, D.C., legal industry over the first half of June.

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Grassley Budget Bill Calls For More Use Of Injunction Bonds

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, has released his portion of the budget reconciliation text, which would bolster the use of injunction bonds to raise the stakes for plaintiffs seeking to halt White House initiatives.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

The Institute for Justice, Mitchell Shapiro Greenamyre & Funt LLP, Spears & Filipovits LLC and attorney Lisa Lambert lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Constitution's supremacy clause cannot shield the federal government from Federal Tort Claims Act suits.

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Akerman Seeks To Move Malpractice Suits From Medical Cos.

By Madison Arnold

Akerman LLP has asked to have two malpractice cases from medical laboratories moved from Palm Beach County to Miami-Dade County, where the firm's related unpaid fees case against Rennova Health Inc. is being litigated.

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Former NJ Deputy AG Claims Office Fired Him For His ADHD

By Beverly Banks

A former deputy attorney general who worked on environmental cases for New Jersey accused the state of retaliating against him when he sought accommodations for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and later terminated him for his disability.

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2nd Circ. Won't Rehear Trump Appeal Of $5M Assault Verdict

By Cara Salvatore

The full Second Circuit refused Friday to revisit President Donald Trump's challenge to writer E. Jean Carroll's $5 million sexual assault finding against him, with two judges dissenting.

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Ex-Attorney Cops To Tax Evasion In Massachusetts

By Anna Scott Farrell

A former attorney pled guilty to tax evasion in a Massachusetts federal court Friday after prosecutors accused him of transferring money to his wife to hide his earnings and using his business accounts to pay for guns and jewelry.

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Wash. High Court Suspends Atty Amid Delays In Bar Probe

By Rachel Riley

The Washington State Supreme Court has suspended an Evergreen state attorney's legal license, at the state bar association's request, for allegedly stalling disciplinary investigations into her work representing student families in two federal lawsuits against school districts.

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The Law Firm Loophole: How Debt Cos. Snare NC Consumers

By Daniel Connolly

A view of Carolina Legal Services' website as it appeared in 2019. The law firm has since closed. (Obtained via the Wayback Machine, a project of the Internet Archive.)

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