Miami F1 Track Flaw Suit Settles At Start Of Trial

By Carolina Bolado

After trying and failing to boot the judge overseeing a case over the construction of a track that failed during the Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix race in 2022, a British racetrack consultant avoided a trial with a last-minute settlement.

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Flyers Ask Full 5th Circ. To Rehear CrowdStrike IT Outage Suit

By Linda Chiem

Airline passengers have asked the full Fifth Circuit to review a panel decision rejecting their proposed class action alleging the cybersecurity firm behind 2024's crippling global IT outage should be held liable for stress and physical injuries they suffered while stranded by delayed or canceled flights.

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9th Circ. Backs FMCSA Block On Calif. Bus Driver Break Rules

By Rachel Riley

A Ninth Circuit panel on Thursday validated the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration's conclusion that national hours-of-service regulations trump California's meal and rest break rules for bus drivers, saying the agency was justified in finding that the Golden State rules strain interstate commerce.

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Georgia Fed. Judge Facing Impeachment Threat, New DQ Bid

By Emily Johnson

A Georgia federal judge reportedly disciplined for having sexual intercourse in her chambers and attending a political event is facing renewed pressure, as a former UPS employee seeks her disqualification from his dismissed racial discrimination lawsuit and a Georgia congressman drafts articles of impeachment to remove her from the bench.

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Boeing Arbitration Stalls As Ethiopian Insurers Seek Umpire

By Caroline Simson

A group of insurers has asked a Washington, D.C., federal court for assistance as Boeing pursues a $1 billion arbitration against them for claims relating to the 2019 crash of a 737 Max 8 jet operated by Ethiopian Airlines, killing everyone on board.

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Texas Judge Shields Some ChatGPT Chats As Work Product

By José Luis Martínez

A Texas Business Court judge shielded from discovery some of a party's personal ChatGPT conversations in car dealership buyout litigation, saying that the chats were protected work product and that using the OpenAI tool did not itself waive that protection.

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GM Truck Owners Seek Recall Studies In Engine Defect Fight

By Melanie Dorsey

Owners of General Motors trucks equipped with allegedly defective L87 engines have asked a Michigan federal judge to order the automaker to immediately produce studies concerning the fuel economy effects of its recall remedy, arguing the documents could narrow the litigation and test GM's public claims that the fix has only a negligible impact on gas mileage.

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Trucking Co. Will Pay $4.5M To End Applicant's Race Bias Suit

By Kelcey Caulder

A trucking company has reached a $4.5 million deal to resolve a lawsuit in which a Black applicant who said the company walked back a job offer because of his race scored a $3.4 million jury award in 2023, according to recent filings in Georgia federal court.

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Brief

Chinese, Mexican Van Trailers Face Countervailing Duties

By Jack McLoone

Van-type trailers from China and Mexico are facing countervailing duty orders after the U.S. Department of Commerce preliminarily found Thursday they are benefiting from government subsidies, though it dropped its investigation into Canadian versions of the products.

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Phone Sex Caller Can't Be Sued Over Fatal Big Rig Crash

By Y. Peter Kang

A Texas appeals court on Thursday affirmed the dismissal of a suit accusing a woman of distracting a commercial tractor-trailer driver with a phone sex call to his cellphone, causing him to strike and kill another driver, with the court saying remote callers have no duty to control a driver's conduct behind the wheel.

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Safeway Sues To Undo Teamsters Local's Driver Mileage Win

By Katherine Smith

Safeway Inc. has urged a Washington federal court to vacate an arbitration award finding the grocery store chain violated its collective bargaining agreement with a Teamsters local by unilaterally changing its method for calculating how much its delivery drivers are paid, arguing that the award "fails to draw its essence" from the agreement.

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Parking Cos. Face Privacy Class Action Over Plate Readers

By Aneeta Mathur-Ashton

Four private parking operators and technology vendors in Maryland are facing a proposed privacy class action after five drivers accused them of illegally pulling their personal information from the state DMV to send them invoices with exorbitant fees.

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Feds Appeal Trade Court's Emergency Tariff Refund Order

By Dylan Moroses

The federal government has appealed the U.S. Court of International Trade's order requiring refunds on all duties paid under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act after the U.S. Supreme Court struck them down this year, according to filings in the trade court and Federal Circuit.

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Colo. Changes Mobile Home Tax Rules, Drops Exemption Hike

By Sanjay Talwani

Colorado will change processes related to delinquent mobile home property taxes under legislation signed by Gov. Jared Polis but will not boost the exemption for mobile homes as proposed in the original version of the bill.

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Exxon Owes $580K For Atty Fees In Gas Station Cleanup Suit

By Rachel Riley

Exxon Mobil must pay nearly $580,000 in legal fees and costs after a Washington federal judge found the oil giant partially on the hook for the cleanup of a Seattle gas station, awarding half the station owner's requested amount based on its "limited success" at trial.

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EPA Unlawfully Delayed Methane Rule, Groups Tell DC Circ.

By Elaine Briseño

Environmental groups told the D.C. Circuit that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency violated the Clean Air Act by extending without justification compliance deadlines for initiating requirements aimed at reducing methane pollution from the oil and gas sector.

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Series

Competing At Poker Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Playing poker in male-dominated rooms taught me to treat skepticism as background noise when my opponents seem to underestimate me, to apply pressure when it matters and to adapt without losing strategic discipline — skills that are all indispensable in restructuring and insolvency matters, says Alexis Gambale at Pashman Stein.

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Rising Tech Cargo Theft Exposes Coverage Gaps

Rising cargo theft losses tied to high-value technology shipments expose major gaps in cargo and inland marine coverage, requiring property owners and manufacturers to reassess insurance policy limits, exclusions and contractual risk transfer, say attorneys at Hunton.

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Quinn Emanuel, Texas Boutique Match Milbank Associate Pay

By Kevin Penton

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP and a Texas-based litigation boutique are the latest firms to match Milbank LLP's pay hikes for associates, with annual increases of $10,000 to $20,000 that top off at $455,000.

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Blanche's AG Bid Could Face Rocky Path In Senate

By Courtney Bublé

Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche will be tapped for the permanent role, but he might not have a smooth path to confirmation.

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Goldstein Seeks Sentencing Delay, Citing New Tax Claims

By Jared Foretek

SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein renewed his push Wednesday in Maryland federal court for a delayed sentencing, saying prosecutors blindsided his defense by including additional uncharged years of alleged tax avoidance in the government's sentencing memorandum.

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Deepfake Mocks Judge Spearheading Judiciary Deepfake Rule

By Jeff Overley

The New York federal judge developing policies for phony audiovisual materials revealed Thursday firsthand experience with the subject: an artificial intelligence video on social media that depicts him as a maniacal Nazi who recently sentenced a private equity executive to prison "for being a Republican."

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Analysis

'Parallel' DOJ, SEC Investigations Not So Parallel Anymore

By Phillip Bantz

The level of coordination between the U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has decreased under the Trump administration, resulting in disjointed investigatory efforts and misaligned timing in parallel investigations, experts say.

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'Kentucky Hammer' Tries To Control Attys, PI Market, Suit Says

By James Boyle

The principal attorney of personal injury firm Isaacs & Isaacs PCS, who advertises as the "Kentucky Hammer," has been accused by a former attorney at the firm of bullying his employees into signing unfavorable contracts and attempting to monopolize the local personal injury market.

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Baker Donelson Seeks 'No Recovery' Ruling In Ponzi Fallout

By Emily Sawicki

Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC on Thursday asked a Mississippi federal court to issue a single check-box form ruling that states the firm does not owe a monetary judgment stemming from a jury's verdict finding it committed negligent supervision amid a timber company's nine-figure Ponzi scheme, which was perpetrated in part by two of the firm's then-partners.

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Calif. Bar Accuses More Attys In Unlicensed Practice Scheme

By Lauren Berg

Three more attorneys at the Los Angeles personal injury firm facing investigation for its involvement in a record $4 billion sex abuse settlement against Los Angeles County are facing disciplinary charges by the State Bar of California, alleging the firm illegally practiced law outside the state.

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NY AG Must Preserve Cohen Docs In Trump's Civil Fraud Case

By Frank G. Runyeon

The New York state trial court judge overseeing President Donald Trump's civil fraud case granted his request to preserve notes from private meetings between state litigators and Trump's former attorney Michael Cohen after the key witness said he felt "pressured" to testify.

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SEC Disgorgement Powers Stay Intact After High Court Fight

By Jessica Corso

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday said that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission could collect ill-gotten gains from alleged fraudsters without having to identify victims who were financially harmed by the fraud, declining to place further limits on the agency's disgorgement powers six years after it last did so.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Robbins Geller's David Knotts

By Sydney Price

Right after graduating from Cornell University Law School, David Knotts, a native of Kansas City, Missouri, landed at one of the world's largest corporate defense firms.

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