Musk's SpaceX, Tesla Emails Fair Game For Apple, OpenAI

By Bryan Koenig

A Texas federal judge said X Corp. must produce Elon Musk's SpaceX and Tesla emails as part of its lawsuit accusing Apple Inc. and OpenAI of anticompetitively edging out rival artificial intelligence chatbots through a deal integrating ChatGPT into iPhones.

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Brembo Beats NASCAR Supplier's NC Extortion Claims

By Tom Lotshaw

A North Carolina federal judge has tossed a NASCAR parts distributor's lawsuit alleging Brembo NV improperly interfered with its contractual negotiations with a longstanding business partner, ruling Tuesday that the company failed to plausibly allege the Italian parts manufacturer acted with malice.

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Texas Judge Remands Broker Liability Suit After Montgomery

By Linda Chiem

A Texas federal judge said Tuesday that, following the U.S. Supreme Court's recent Montgomery ruling, a lawsuit alleging freight broker and logistics giant C.H. Robinson is vicariously liable for a fatal 2022 accident involving an "unlawfully double-brokered" truck load belongs back in state court.

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Analysis

The Plaintiffs Atty Now 5-0 At Supreme Court With No Dissents

By Jeff Overley

It's true that Jennifer Bennett is undefeated at the U.S. Supreme Court, but it's also an understatement. Bennett's five wins, including two recent ones, were all unanimous decisions. They showed that the plaintiffs bar can still persuade a conservative supermajority. And they turned the tide after a spree of decisions keeping workers and consumers out of court.

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Lithia Motors Can't Ship 401(k) Forfeiture Suit To Ore.

By Kellie Mejdrich

A California federal judge turned down an auto dealership company's bid for an Oregon transfer of an ex-worker's proposed class action alleging the company misallocated forfeitures from an employee 401(k) plan, and also rejected the company's bid to stay pleading deadlines in the case.

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NY Says Santander Unit Will Pay $675K Over Extension Fees

By Jon Hill

New York's top banking regulator said Wednesday that the U.S. vehicle financing arm of Spanish banking giant Santander will pay a fine and consumer refunds totaling more than $675,000 to settle findings from an investigation into its auto loan fee practices.

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Ex-Pitcher, Philanthropist Owe $176M For Fatal Crash

By Cara Salvatore

A California jury said Wednesday a philanthropist and a former Major League Baseball pitcher should pay a total of $176 million over a car crash that killed two children as they crossed the road, after hearing allegations the defendants had been drinking and speeding.

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Brief

Germany's Rheinmetall Selling Auto Biz To Aequita For $406M

By Al Barbarino

German defense contractor Rheinmetall said Wednesday it has agreed to sell its civilian Power Systems business to Munich-based industrial holding company Aequita for €350 million, or roughly $406 million.

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Derailment Litigants Say Flawed Tests Should Undo EPA Deal

By Matthew Santoni

A pair of Ohio residents want a federal court to reject or significantly revise a proposed $350 million settlement between Norfolk Southern and the federal government over the 2023 East Palestine derailment, contending the deal was built on the flawed premise that the fiery train wreck and chemical spill did not leave behind significant contamination.

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Fed. Circ. Affirms PTAB Invalidation Of Railcar Patent Claims

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday refused to revive claims across a pair of Amsted Rail Co. Inc. patents covering a way of monitoring the performance of railcars, backing Patent Trial and Appeal Board decisions that the claims were invalid.

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Conrail Freed From Bridge Work Order Vexed By Missing Comma

By Carla Baranauckas

A Pennsylvania appellate court on Wednesday vacated a state agency order that assigned responsibility for inspecting and maintaining the drainage system on a Philadelphia railroad bridge to Consolidated Rail Corp., rejecting an interpretation that relied on the omission of a comma in a 60-year-old regulatory directive.

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Schneider Fights $47M Verdict In Ga. Crash Death Appeal

By Kelcey Caulder

A Georgia appeals court considered Wednesday whether a freight company and one of its drivers' inability to cross-examine a former defendant turned key witness justified overturning the $47 million verdict against them in a case brought by a woman whose husband was killed in a 2017 crash.

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Brief

USTR Seeks Input On China Preferential Trade Mechanism

By Jack McLoone

The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative announced what it is calling a government-to-government mechanism that will manage bilateral trade between the U.S. and China, including by considering tariff cuts, and asked for public comments on the program's development.

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High Seas Vessel Forfeitures Face Constitutional Headwinds

The owner of an oil tanker the government seized over ties to Iran recently asked a D.C. federal court to dismiss the forfeiture action for lack of jurisdiction, raising constitutional questions about U.S. forfeiture law and the seizure of ships without a foreign government's cooperation, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

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Private Lender Verification Lessons From Recent Fraud Cases

Recent fraud allegations involving private credit borrowers raise compliance red flags for lenders, who must recognize that financial and collateral verification is an essential safeguard as failures in underwriting and monitoring infect the broader market, say Michael Bresnick at Venable and Brian Mich at Control Risks Group.

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5 Things Associates Must Ask About Their Firm's Merger Plan

The associates who navigate law firm mergers best ask the right questions early, such as inquiring about partners' plans, to assess how the merger could affect their workflow and career path, says Jackie Bokser-LeFebvre at Major Lindsey.

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BigLaw Insider Trading Defendants Have Big-Name Legal Help

By Chris Villani

An insider trading case involving nonpublic information prosecutors say was stolen from some of the largest law firms in the U.S. has ensnared more than two dozen defendants, many of whom have turned to lawyers with notable clients including Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein and Luigi Mangione.

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Hueston Hennigan Follows Milbank's Lead In Associate Pay

By Tracey Read

The race to match Milbank LLP's attorney pay hikes is officially on, with trial firm Hueston Hennigan the latest to announce it will increase associate pay by $10,000 to $20,000 annually.

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Goldstein Cites Addiction To Avoid Time, DOJ Seeks 8 Years

By Jared Foretek

Federal prosecutors recommended a 97-month prison sentence for convicted SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein, telling a Maryland federal court he has bilked the government out of more than $9.5 million in unpaid taxes. Goldstein, meanwhile, asked for a suspended sentence and supervised release, citing a "severe and longstanding gambling addiction."

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Rocade Capital Buys LFG To Create Combined $2B Lit Funder

By Ryan Boysen

Rocade Capital LLC has acquired fellow litigation funder Law Finance Group LLC, creating a combined platform that has deployed more than $2.3 billion and specializes in $10 million to $50 million deals, including post-judgment financing, portfolio deals and lending to plaintiff's firms.

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Court Reporter Shortage A 'Crisis,' Calif. Supreme Court Told

By Bonnie Eslinger

Two legal nonprofits urged the California Supreme Court to issue an order entitling low-income civil litigants to electronic recording if a live court reporter is not available, saying at a hearing Wednesday that a court reporter shortage in the Golden State has created a "crisis."

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9th Circ. Suspends 2 Attys For 6 Months Over AI Hallucinations

By Rae Ann Varona

The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday temporarily suspended two California immigration attorneys from practicing before the appellate court for filing briefs in a deportation relief case containing artificial intelligence-generated hallucinations, finding no excuse for their "extraordinary confession" of not vetting citations used by unlicensed brief writers.

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Tenn. Firm Sanctioned For AI Misuse In Baker Donelson Suit

By Emily Sawicki

A Tennessee federal judge has sanctioned a Memphis, Tennessee, law firm over its misuse of artificial intelligence amid a malpractice suit against Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC, ordering the regional firm to reimburse costs associated with the matter and report the misconduct to the state's disciplinary counsel.

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Feature

'Read The Cases': Conn. Judge Offers AI Advice To Attys

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut federal judge told a gathering of attorneys Tuesday that his law clerks are not allowed to use generative artificial intelligence for any purpose involving legal research, his interns are barred from using it at all, and lawyers must be careful when relying on the material that the tools produce.

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Atty Can't Shake $120M Verdict In RICO, Defamation Dispute

By Carolina Bolado

An Alabama federal judge refused to disturb a $120 million verdict against a former Conrad & Scherer LLP managing partner, ruling there was enough evidence at trial for a jury to find the attorney liable on Drummond Co.'s racketeering and defamation claims.

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Graham Pushes Federal Tort Path After DOJ Drops $1.8B Fund

By Courtney Bublé

The U.S. Department of Justice seemed, at least briefly, to support a Republican senator's alternative solution to the "anti-weaponization" $1.8 billion fund that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday the department is abandoning.

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DOJ Sets New Healthcare Fraud Convictions Record

By Phillip Bantz

The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday announced that its Health Care Fraud Unit secured six jury trial convictions across the country in less than three weeks, with the cases involving more than $1.1 billion in fraud losses.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Dardarian Ho's Linda Dardarian

By Lynn LaRowe

Despite being on the other side of a disability rights case that will cost his municipality at least $150 million, Kevin McLaughlin, city attorney for Oakland, California, believes that if more lawyers were like Linda Dardarian, there would be far less lamenting about civility in the legal profession.

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