Transportation

July 01, 2025
Amazon Beats Cert. Bid By 150K Flex Drivers In Tip Dispute

A Washington federal judge refused to certify a proposed class of 150,000 Amazon Flex drivers who said Amazon pocketed their tips, ruling on Tuesday that Amazon's earlier $61.7 million settlement with the Federal Trade Commission already provided relief, and litigating the case as a class action would be costly and duplicative.
July 01, 2025
GM Can't Escape Obviousness Challenge To Fender Design IP

A company that got the Federal Circuit to set more flexible standards for assessing whether a design patent is obvious might have a shot at proving that two General Motors Co. design patents are indeed obvious under that new test, an Illinois federal judge ruled Monday.
July 01, 2025
Stockton Rush Estate Seeks To Exit OceanGate Death Suit

The estate of OceanGate founder Stockton Rush has urged a Washington state court to throw out wrongful death claims brought against the late billionaire on behalf of a French explorer, who also died aboard the Titan submersible during a June 2023 exploration of the Titanic wreckage, contending the lawsuit was filed in the wrong venue.
July 01, 2025
DC Circ. Says NLRB Rightly Axed Claim Of Union Betrayal

A split D.C. Circuit has upheld the National Labor Relations Board's dismissal of allegations that a transportation union betrayed a member by suggesting that he be fired after a spat with a co-worker, with the majority saying Tuesday that the NLRB properly determined that the suggestion wasn't serious.
July 01, 2025
The Sharpest Dissents From The Supreme Court Term

The term's sharpest dissents often looked beyond perceived flaws in majority reasoning to raise existential concerns about the role and future of the court, with the justices accusing one another of rewarding executive branch lawlessness, harming faith in the judiciary and threatening democracy, sometimes on an emergency basis with little briefing or explanation.
July 01, 2025
Justices Face Busy Summer After Nixing Universal Injunctions

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision to limit nationwide injunctions was one of its biggest rulings of the term — a finding the court is likely going to be dealing with all summer. Here, Law360 takes a look at the decision, how it and other cases on the emergency docket overshadowed much of the court's other work, and what it all means for the months to come.
July 01, 2025
Chancery Sharply Refuses To Toss Colo. Bank Air Fleet Suit

In an often sharp-edged ruling, a Delaware vice chancellor on Tuesday sent toward discovery and trial stockholder claims that Solera National Bancorp's executive chairman and others wasted corporate assets in assembling an 11-aircraft fleet for a one-site bank in Colorado.
July 01, 2025
Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

The U.S. Department of Justice reached the agency's first three merger settlements of the second Trump administration, clearing deals in the technology and aerospace sectors after divestitures, while the Federal Trade Commission put conditions on an advertising merger. Here, Law360 looks at the major merger review developments from June.
July 01, 2025
State Of 2025 Energy Dealmaking: Midyear Report

Energy dealmaking has been roiled by drastic policy shifts under President Donald Trump and his Republican allies in Congress. Here, Law360 looks at factors that are causing investors to be cautious in some instances and rush to finalize projects in others.
July 01, 2025
Ga. Justices To Review $33M Verdict In Student Crash Death

The Supreme Court of Georgia has agreed to review a state appellate court's decision that a metro Atlanta city must pay a $33 million verdict awarded to the parents of a college student who died after crashing into a roadside planter.
July 01, 2025
Mich. Judge Halts Mackinac Island Ferry Rate Ordinance

A Michigan federal judge has temporarily blocked Mackinac Island city officials from regulating ferry prices, a move the judge said preserves both the status quo and the availability of ferry service to the tourist destination.
July 01, 2025
Top Personal Injury, Med Mal News: 2025 Midyear Report

A U.S. Supreme Court ruling over whether personal injury claims can be brought under a RICO statute and a $7.4 billion settlement reached with the Sackler family and Purdue Pharma are among Law360's top personal injury and medical malpractice cases from the first six months of 2025.
July 01, 2025
Gilstrap Slams Carmakers And Patent Owner But Allows Stay

U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap chided two automakers and a company suing over alleged patent infringement for what he said was strategic wasting of the court's resources in the timing of a request to pause the case, but still granted the motion.
July 01, 2025
Groups Urge Fed. Circ. To Stop USPTO Retroactive Denials

Advocacy groups in the communications, automotive and technology fields have thrown their support behind Motorola's challenge of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's decision to retroactively apply a decision withdrawing earlier guidance on when the Patent Trial and Appeal Board should not review patent challenges.
July 01, 2025
Nationwide Launches Coverage Bid For Fatal Crash Suit

Nationwide Agribusiness Insurance Co. wants an Ohio federal court to order that a Connecticut-based insurer and a transportation company must cover wrongful death claims stemming from a tractor-trailer crash that ultimately killed a pregnant mother's unborn baby.
July 01, 2025
Arrival Investors Seek Approval For $13.3M Partial Settlement

Investors in bankrupt electric vehicle company Arrival are seeking the OK for a nearly $13.3 million deal to end claims the company presented a flashy, profitable business plan when it went public through a special purpose acquisition company only to scale back its ambitions a year later.
June 30, 2025
Battery-Maker Says Award Against Tesla Must Be Enforced

Matthews International Corp. has asked a California federal court to enforce an arbitral award against Tesla Inc. that guarantees the global battery maker's right to sell its dry battery electrode equipment to parties other than the electric car giant.
June 30, 2025
RTX Expands Contract Fight With New Breach Claim

RTX Corp. said the consulting firm Delaware North America LLC missed deadlines and failed to deliver on an information technology services contract, in a breach of contract counterclaim filed in litigation that Delaware initiated.
June 30, 2025
Conn. Expects Corporate Tax Changes To Raise Almost $350M

Connecticut will make changes to corporate taxes that are projected to raise nearly $350 million over two years — largely from repealing the state's $2.5 million cap on tax increases for some combined unitary taxpayers — under the 2026-27 budget signed Monday by the governor.
June 30, 2025
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

Delaware's Supreme Court was kept busy this past week with litigants' attempts to challenge its previous decisions, as well as those of Delaware's Court of Chancery, which included an argument that the state's high court incorrectly ruled in favor of energy company Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP by rejecting the Chancery's decision upholding class claims branding the call-in of public shares unfair. In case you missed it, here's the latest from the Delaware Chancery Court.
June 30, 2025
Feds Defend Authority To End NY Congestion Pricing Deal

The U.S. Department of Transportation has told a Manhattan federal judge that courts cannot handcuff it to now-disfavored policies of earlier administrations, while New York transportation agencies maintain that the federal government is grasping at illusory legal arguments to justify trying to shut down congestion pricing.
June 30, 2025
6th Circ. Says Venue Unclear In $28M Ford Supplier Dispute

The Sixth Circuit on Monday ordered a Michigan federal court to reconsider whether a $28 million auto parts supplier dispute over the halting of orders for electric vehicle parts belongs in the U.S. or Mexico, finding the companies' evolving documents and conflicting venue clauses create too much ambiguity.
June 30, 2025
Texas Justices Scrap New-Trial Order For 3 SpaceX Contractors

Comments to a jury alleging attorneys planned a "shakedown" do not warrant a new trial for three men awarded less in damages than they hoped after their truck was hit in a crash caused by a commuting SpaceX engineer, the Texas Supreme Court said Friday, saying the men's counsel did not seek redress at the time.
June 30, 2025
Pa. Judges Reduce $4.65M Bus Death Verdict To $500K

A panel of the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court on Monday reduced a $4.65 million verdict in favor of the family of a woman killed when she was hit by a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority bus down to $500,000, saying the verdict is subject to a statutory limit in the state's sovereign immunity law.
June 30, 2025
Justices Decline To Hear Ex-Tesla Worker's Whistleblower Suit

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to take up a petition filed by a former Tesla employee who claimed he was retaliated against for reporting various forms of alleged misconduct at a Nevada factory to both company management and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission.

Expert Analysis

Series

Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients

Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.
Trending At The PTAB: Shifts In Parallel Proceedings Strategy

Dynamics are changing between the Patent Trial and Appeal Board and federal courts, with two recent discretionary denials and one Federal Circuit decision offering takeaways for both patent owners and challengers navigating parallel proceedings, say attorneys at Finnegan.
How State AG Consumer Finance Enforcement Is Expanding

As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau becomes less active, state attorneys general are increasingly shaping the enforcement landscape for consumer financial services — and several areas of focus have recently emerged, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
Series

Adapting To Private Practice: From US Rep. To Boutique Firm

My transition from serving as a member of Congress to becoming a partner at a boutique firm has been remarkably smooth, in part because I never stopped exercising my legal muscles, maintained relationships with my former colleagues and set the right tone at the outset, says Mondaire Jones at Friedman Kaplan.
Opinion

Senate's 41% Litigation Finance Tax Would Hurt Legal System

The Senate’s latest version of the Big Beautiful Bill Act would impose a 41% tax on the litigation finance industry, but the tax is totally disconnected from the concerns it purports to address, and it would set the country back to a time when small plaintiffs had little recourse against big defendants, says Anthony Sebok at Cardozo School of Law.
Tips For Litigating Apex Doctrine Disputes Amid Controversy

Litigants once took for granted that deposition requests of high-ranking corporate officers required a greater showing of need than for lower-level witnesses, but the apex doctrine has proven controversial in recent years, and fights over such depositions will be won by creative lawyers adapting their arguments to this particular moment, say attorneys at Hangley Aronchick.
Series

Performing As A Clown Makes Me A Better Lawyer

To say that being a clown in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has changed my legal career would truly be an understatement — by creating an opening to converse on a unique topic, it has allowed me to connect with clients, counsel and even judges on a deeper level, says Charles Tatelbaum at Tripp Scott.
Series

Law School's Missed Lessons: Rejecting Biz Dev Myths

Law schools don’t spend sufficient time dispelling certain myths that prevent young lawyers from exploring new business opportunities, but by dismissing these misguided beliefs, even an introverted first-year associate with a small network of contacts can find long-term success, says Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein.
Move Beyond Surface-Level Edits To Master Legal Writing

Recent instances in which attorneys filed briefs containing artificial intelligence hallucinations offer a stark reminder that effective revision isn’t just about superficial details like grammar — it requires attorneys to critically engage with their writing and analyze their rhetorical choices, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.
3 Rulings May Reveal Next Frontier Of Gov't Contract Cases

Several U.S. Supreme Court decisions over the past year — involving wire fraud, gratuities and obstruction — offer wide-ranging and arguably conflicting takeaways for government contractors that are especially relevant given the Trump administration’s focus on diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, say attorneys at Rogers Joseph.
9th Circ. Has Muddied Waters Of Article III Pleading Standard

District courts in the Ninth Circuit continue to apply a defunct and especially forgiving pleading standard to questions of Article III standing, and the circuit court itself has only perpetuated this confusion — making it an attractive forum for disputes that have no rightful place in federal court, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.
Future Of Enviro Crimes Under Trump's Federal Regs Order

President Donald Trump's recent executive order about fighting overcriminalization in federal regulations creates new advocacy opportunities for defense counsel to argue that particular environmental crime investigations and matters ought to be limited or declined based on the policy priorities reflected in the order, say attorneys at Sidley.
Series

Competing In Modern Pentathlon Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Opening myself up to new experiences through competing in modern Olympic pentathlon has shrunk the appearance of my daily work annoyances and helps me improve my patience, manage crises better and remember that acquiring new skills requires working through your early mistakes, says attorney Mary Zoldak.
Series

Law School's Missed Lessons: Teaching Yourself Legal Tech

New graduates often enter practice unfamiliar with even basic professional software, but budding lawyers can use on-the-job opportunities to both catch up on technological skills and explore the advanced legal and artificial intelligence tools that will open doors, says Alyssa Sones at Sheppard Mullin.
Navigating Potential Sources Of Tariff-Related Contract Risk

As the tariff landscape continues to shift, companies must anticipate potential friction points arising out of certain common contractual provisions, prepare to defend against breach claims, and respond to changing circumstances in contractual and treaty-based relationships, say attorneys at Debevoise.