Morgan & Morgan Wants To Probe Derailment Atty Fee Split

By Matthew Santoni

The firm Morgan & Morgan PA asked an Ohio federal court Friday to reopen discovery in the East Palestine derailment litigation and delve into the decision-making behind the attorney fees for Norfolk Southern's $600 million settlement, after the Sixth Circuit gave the firm a chance to double-check whether it had received its fair share.

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Firms Must Face Discovery In $102M Award Feud

By Caroline Simson

A New York federal judge on Friday permitted Levona Holdings to closely scrutinize declarations provided by attorneys with Greenberg Traurig LLP and Reed Smith LLP as it pursues sanctions against the firms following the court's vacatur of a $102 million arbitral award procured through fraud.

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Auto System Maker Can't Escape Trucking Cos.' Fraud Claims

By Mike Curley

An Illinois federal judge will not let a vehicle systems company escape a proposed class action from motor carriers over allegedly faulty frontal crash avoidance and mitigation systems, saying its contacts with its alleged co-conspirators are enough to give the court jurisdiction.

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Up Next At High Court: Late Ballots And 'Last-Mile' Drivers

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court will kick off its March oral arguments session by reviewing disputes over the validity of state laws allowing late-arriving mail-in ballots to be counted in federal elections and whether "last-mile" delivery drivers qualify for the transportation worker exemption to the Federal Arbitration Act. 

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NC High Court Says Repose Is 'Immunity,' Substantial Right

By Mike Curley

The North Carolina Supreme Court on Friday allowed an airplane parts maker to appeal an order denying its motion for summary judgment in a suit over a 2015 plane crash, overturning precedent to find that the statute of repose under the General Aviation Revitalization Act is a type of immunity and therefore a "substantial right" impacted by the denial.

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Chicago Transit Authority Says Feds Can't Hold $2B 'Hostage'

By Hailey Konnath

The Chicago Transit Authority on Friday asked an Illinois federal court to force the federal government to release more than $2 billion in funding for extending and updating city train lines, claiming the government is trying to "hold hostage" the grants supporting "crucial infrastructure projects" for the city.

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JetBlue Pilots Union Demands To Arbitrate United Deal Fight

By Dorothy Atkins

A pilots labor union hit JetBlue Airways with a lawsuit in New York federal court, seeking to force the airline to arbitrate pilots' contract dispute over its Blue Sky partnership with United Airlines, which the union claims allows JetBlue to unfairly farm out flights to other carriers.

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DOT Diversity Program Overhaul Moots Contractors' Challenge

By Linda Chiem

A Kentucky federal judge has determined that a constitutional challenge to the U.S. Department of Transportation's more than 40-year-old Disadvantaged Business Enterprise Program for women- and minority-owned businesses is now moot since the Trump administration overhauled the program last year.

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Fed. Circ. Revives Patent Infringement Suit Over Paint Tech

By Adam Lidgett

The Federal Circuit on Friday threw out a lower court's finding that a spray paint equipment supplier didn't infringe patents covering a part used in paint applications, saying the district court judge misinterpreted certain elements of the patents.

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Roundup

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen an ex-professional footballer revive a dispute with Charles Russell Speechlys, Virgin Media face a group data protection claim after hundreds of thousands of customers' personal details were exposed online for months, and Mishcon de Reya sued by a real estate private equity firm founded by a former Morgan Stanley executive.

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Insurer Can't Cancel Motor Carriers' Auto Policy

By Hope Patti

A Texas federal court blocked an insurer's effort to prematurely cancel an auto liability policy for a federally authorized group of motor carriers, agreeing with the companies that such an action would cause irreparable damage by interfering with their reputation and business operations.

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Conn. Panel Backs Geico Win In Towing Defamation Case

By Gianna Ferrarin

A Connecticut appeals court on Friday affirmed a win for Geico in a defamation case brought by several tow truck operators, agreeing with a lower court that the insurer's fee complaints to the state Department of Motor Vehicles were protected by litigation privilege.

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Texas Biz Court Hears Arguments On $50M ERCOT Charge

By José Luis Martínez

The Texas business court on Friday considered whether a power scheduler must cover roughly $50 million in charges assessed against a commercial electricity supplier by the Electric Reliability Council of Texas after reserve capacity tied to an industrial customer was not submitted during Winter Storm Uri in 2021.

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What's Next For The Advanced Air Mobility Sector

The U.S. Department of Transportation’s recent selection of electric vertical takeoff and landing pilot program participants marks a transition from aspirational policy to accountable implementation, and regulatory strategy should be at the center of business planning across the advanced air mobility ecosystem, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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5 Tips For Navigating Your Firm's All-Attorney Summit

Law firm retreats should be approached strategically, as they present valuable opportunities to advance both the firm's objectives and attorneys' professional development through meaningful participation, building and strengthening internal relationships, and proactive follow-up, says James Argionis at Cozen O’Connor.

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DOJ Rebuked Over Lack Of Candor For 'Imperious Client'

By Jack Karp

A Florida federal judge has rebuked government attorneys for failing to be up-front about legal authority that contradicts their position in a habeas case, warning them not to let their "imperious client" get between them and their ethical obligations.

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The Hypnosis That Helped Send A Man To Death Row

By Marco Poggio

The capital murder conviction of Charles Don Flores, a man on Texas’ death row, hinged on a courtroom identification by a witness who had previously undergone hypnosis. His lawyers are now asking the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene, after Texas’ top court shot down his claims that the hypnosis session contaminated the witness’s memory and tainted her identification.

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Ore. Atty Sanctioned $10K For Brief With Fabricated Citations

By Hailey Konnath

An Oregon appellate court has ordered an attorney to pay $10,000 for filing an opening brief containing fabricated case citations, quotations that "do not exist anywhere in Oregon case law" and other inaccuracies, according to an opinion.

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Where Calif. State Courts Landed On Generative AI Use Rules

By Emily Sawicki

The majority of California's 58 superior courts — together making up the country's largest trial court system — have decided to greenlight the use of generative artificial intelligence in their work this year, a Law360 investigation found.

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Legal Sector Bracing For Impact Of Del. Corp. Law Changes

By Rose Krebs

Now that the Delaware Supreme Court has signed off on controversial corporate law amendments, the legal industry is anxiously awaiting the real-world impacts of those changes, panelists at Tulane University Law School's Corporate Law Institute said on Friday.

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Roundup

Balancing The Scales: $3M Jury Verdict, GEO Appeal Denial

By Orlando Lorenzo

A Philadelphia federal judge rejected bids to disturb a $3 million jury award and impose sanctions on plaintiff's counsel arising from proceedings he described as "near-daily Festivus celebrations, where everyone got to air their grievances 'for the sake of the record'" and a Detroit man saw his murder conviction vacated after 27 years due to the case's reliance on a coerced confession and a lack of physical evidence, among other access to justice stories you may have missed.

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Bondi Keeps Ousted Wisconsin US Atty With New Title

By Lauren Berg

U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi swapped Brad D. Schimel's title from interim U.S. attorney to first assistant U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Wisconsin in order to keep him in charge of the office after his tenure expired earlier this week.

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Beasley Allen Can't Halt DQ Ruling In J&J Talc Litigation

By George Woolston

A New Jersey state appeals court has refused to pause its decision disqualifying the Beasley Allen Law Firm from representing plaintiffs in multicounty litigation over Johnson & Johnson's talc-based baby powder, according to a court order.

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Top SEC Enforcer Signals Continuity After Ryan Departure

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's acting enforcement chief said Friday that the agency will continue to "focus on quality over quantity" when it comes to the cases it brings, projecting continuity with his predecessor's approach after her abrupt departure from the agency earlier this week.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

Major shareholder groups sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, claiming the agency violated the Administrative Procedure Act. In the meantime, some attorneys think the sanctions that judges are issuing to lawyers over AI-generated errors won't be enough to stop the problem. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Baron & Budd PC, Walden Macht Haran & Williams LLP and Powers Pyles Sutter & Verville PC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Ninth Circuit revived a major hospital chain's False Claims Act suit accusing large pharmaceutical companies of massive overcharges in a prominent drug discount program.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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