NTSB Flags Vessel's Loose Wire In Key Bridge Collapse Probe

By Linda Chiem

A single loose wire triggered a power failure aboard the container carrier that slammed into Baltimore's Francis Scott Key Bridge last year, and the absence of an effective warning system didn't give construction workers enough time to clear the collapsing bridge, the National Transportation Safety Board determined Tuesday.

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Reed Smith Can't Represent Eletson By 'Repeated Incantation'

By Dorothy Atkins

A New York federal judge on Tuesday rejected Reed Smith LLP's latest effort to intervene on behalf of the purported former owners of international shipping company Eletson Holdings in Eletson's $102 million breach-of-contract litigation with rival Levona, saying the firm can't represent the holding company post-bankruptcy "by repeated incantation."

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Car Services Co.'s $851M Write-Down Sparks Del. Suit

By Jarek Rutz

A car services conglomerate's board and senior leadership face a stockholder derivative suit filed Tuesday in the Delaware Chancery Court alleging they ignored clear signs of operational deterioration, concealed significant deficiencies in the company's internal controls and allowed public misstatements that preceded an $851 million write-down.

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Air Canada Can't Get $25M Award From Venezuela, Court Told

By Caroline Simson

U.S.-recognized members of Venezuela's National Assembly are pressing a D.C. federal court to throw out Air Canada's lawsuit seeking to enforce a more than $25 million arbitral award against the country, arguing that the arbitrators erroneously allowed the administration of President Nicolás Maduro to defend the case.

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Medical Jet Co. Sued Over Fatal Crash In Philadelphia

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A medical air transportation company has been sued in Philadelphia over a deadly plane crash in January that occurred in the Northeast section of the city, killing eight and injuring more than 20 people.

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11th Circ. Won't Weigh Labor Arbitration Bid Until Case Wraps

By Emily Brill

A longshoremen's union must continue resolving a labor dispute with a cargo unloader in Alabama federal court, an Eleventh Circuit panel said, tossing the union's request for the appellate court to kick the case to arbitration.

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Analysis

Trump Admin May Be Overpromising WOTUS Clarity

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

The Trump administration says its proposal to shrink the Clean Water Act's reach would reduce regulatory burdens and provide clarity to farmers, homebuilders and other businesses, but it could face court challenges and potential reworking by future administrations.

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New York Disputes Magistrate's Report In Tribal Thruway Row

By Crystal Owens

New York is opposing a recommendation that would give a win to the Seneca Nation and force negotiations over a portion of a thruway that runs through the tribe's reservation, arguing that the report relies on a narrow interpretation of Sherrill laches in contrast to Second Circuit characterization.

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IBM, Qualcomm Lead Public Cos. In Patented Inventions

By Dani Kass

IBM Corp. holds the most patent families of all S&P 100 companies, followed by Qualcomm Inc. and Microsoft Corp., according to an IFI Claims Patent Services report released Tuesday.

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Greenberg Traurig Adds CSX Tax Legal Leader In Atlanta

By Emily Johnson

Greenberg Traurig LLP announced it has brought on the former assistant general tax counsel of CSX Transportation Inc. as a shareholder in its Atlanta office, strengthening its state and local tax practice.

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Litigation Funding Could Create Ethics Issues For Attorneys

A litigation investor’s recent complaint claiming a New York mass torts lawyer effectively ran a Ponzi scheme illustrates how litigation funding arrangements can subject attorneys to legal ethics dilemmas and potential liability, so engagement letters must have very clear terms, says Matthew Feinberg at Goldberg Segalla.

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Bonus Spotlight

Cravath Unveils Associate Bonuses, Multiple Firms Follow

By Aebra Coe

Multiple firms swiftly fell in line Tuesday evening just hours after Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP announced associate bonuses in line with those offered last year, continuing a long tradition of BigLaw firms following Cravath's lead on compensation.

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Pillsbury Winthrop Latest Firm Targeted By Data Breach Suit

By Hailey Konnath

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP on Tuesday was hit with a proposed class action stemming from a data breach the firm says happened in April, adding to the growing litigation firms are facing in the aftermath of cyberattacks.

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Analysis

Perkins Coie's Trump Fight Doesn't Scare Off UK Suitor

By Chris Villani

Perkins Coie LLP's ongoing fight with the Trump administration did not deter a proposed combination with British law firm Ashurst, signaling that the legal community is not worried about fallout from the president's suspension of the firm's security clearances.

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Republican Senators Seek Judge Boasberg's Suspension

By Courtney Bublé

Six Republican senators, three of whom sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, are asking that Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg of the District of Columbia be administratively suspended while Congress considers his impeachment.

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Sanctioned Atty Convinces Mo. Court Errors Not Caused By AI

By Emily Sawicki

A Missouri federal judge sanctioned former counsel for Liberty Mutual Personal Insurance Co. Monday for including citation errors in a motion this fall, finding that, although the attorney likely inserted the errors herself without the use of AI software, "such carelessness, exacerbated by a lack of internal guardrails, is entirely unacceptable."

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Brief

Conn. Atty Fined $500 For AI-Generated Errors In Wage Suit

By Emily Sawicki

In an order that noted an attorney's remorse, a Connecticut federal judge sanctioned a solo practitioner $500 this week for submitting a brief packed with false, AI-generated case citations, finding the fake authorities wasted court resources, risked misleading a pro se litigant and undermined trust in the judicial system.

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Disbarred NC Atty Must Pay $5.2M For Escrow Fund Misuse

By Abigail Harrison

A disbarred attorney was ordered to pay $5.2 million in restitution and serve four years of probation during a Tuesday sentencing hearing in North Carolina federal court, after he pled guilty to a criminal wire fraud charge related to the misuse of escrow funds.

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Judge Upholds NY Law Blocking ICE Courthouse Arrests

By Andrea Keckley

New York beat back a federal lawsuit challenging the state's policy barring immigration officials from arresting people near its courthouses, after a federal judge rejected the U.S. Department of Justice's preemption claims.

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NY AG James Blasts 'Outrageous Conduct' Behind Indictment

By Adrian Cruz

New York Attorney General Letitia A. James has told a Virginia federal court to dismiss the U.S. government's indictment of her, calling it "patently unconstitutional" and "outrageous conduct."

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McGuireWoods Is Delaying Defamation Case, NC Justices Told

By Hayley Fowler

The former CEO of a managed care organization who alleges McGuireWoods and one of its ex-partners defamed him during a press conference more than seven years ago has told North Carolina's top court not to take up the case, panning their petition as yet another stalling tactic.

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Brief

Missouri Federal Judge To Take Senior Status

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. District Judge Douglas Harpool of the Western District of Missouri has given notice he will take senior status upon the confirmation of state Judge Megan Benton, whose nomination to the federal bench President Donald Trump announced Friday.

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CFPB's Gradler Takes Deputy Post Amid Agency Uncertainty

By Jon Hill

Geof Gradler, a former industry lobbyist who recently joined the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's front office, said that he is taking over as the agency's deputy director, a job that positions him as a potential successor to acting director Russell Vought.

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