Aerospace & Defense

  • September 09, 2024

    SpaceX Urges Arbitration Of Sex Harassment Suit

    Attorneys for SpaceX urged a California state court judge Monday to rethink a tentative ruling that declined to send a sexual harassment claim by an employee to arbitration but found 10 other claims are arbitrable, arguing the harassment claim predates a statute requiring that it be adjudicated in court. 

  • September 09, 2024

    BAE Defeats ERISA Suit Over Abandoned Retirement Funds

    A Virginia federal judge tossed a BAE Systems Inc. employee's suit claiming the company skirted federal benefits law by using forfeited funds in its retirement plan to pay off its contribution responsibilities, stating the plan's own documents required the company to use the funds this way.

  • September 09, 2024

    Army Corps Wants Border Fence Deal Rating Dispute Tossed

    The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has urged the U.S. Court of Federal Claims to dismiss a suit alleging it gave an unfairly low performance rating to a border fence construction contractor on a $789 million deal, arguing the rating was fair and reasonable.

  • September 09, 2024

    SES, Intelsat Tell FCC They Need $3.1B Combo To Compete

    Satellite companies SES and Intelsat told the Federal Communications Commission they need regulators to approve their $3.1 billion merger, which was announced this spring, so they can better compete in a quickly advancing marketplace.

  • September 09, 2024

    House OKs Bill To Bar Contracts With Chinese Biotech Cos.

    Driven by concerns about U.S. genetic data being shared with the Chinese government, House lawmakers passed a bill on Monday to bar federal agencies from buying certain biotechnology linked to the Chinese government or from contracting with firms that use those products.

  • September 09, 2024

    Navigation Co. Defends Plan To Deploy GPS Alternative

    A geolocation company's bid for an exclusive license for a portion of the lower 900 megahertz band to deploy mobile broadband and a navigation system to backstop the Global Positioning System has hit resistance at the Federal Communications Commission.

  • September 09, 2024

    Think Tank Leader Re-Arrested On Foreign Agent Charges

    An Israeli-American professor who was indicted on charges of working as an unregistered agent for the Chinese government and international arms trafficking has been arrested again after he fled the authorities last year in Cyprus, the U.S. government told a federal judge in Manhattan on Monday.

  • September 09, 2024

    DC Circ. Revives Legal Malpractice Suit Over Terrorism Case

    The D.C. Circuit has revived legal malpractice claims brought by the family of a bombing victim who was killed in Jerusalem in 1997 by Hamas militants, after the family claimed their counsel's slow progress deprived them of a chance at a larger recovery in a mass disbursement of Iranian assets to terrorism victims.

  • September 09, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Delaware's Court of Chancery made some expensive decisions last week, ranging from a $130 million stockholder award and a freeze on $450 million in equity financing to a whopping $1 billion bill for fraud and breach of contract damages. New cases aimed at Virgin Galactic, settlements pulled in Hemisphere Media Group Inc. and court hearings involving Apollo Global Management heated up. In case you missed it, here's the roundup of news from Delaware's Court of Chancery.

  • September 06, 2024

    DC Circ. Considers Age Of Ex-Trump Aide's Surveillance Claims

    Even after more than an hour of argument, the D.C. Circuit didn't seem convinced Friday that ex-Trump 2016 campaign adviser Carter Page timely accused the Justice Department, the FBI and several individuals of various violations tied to their surveillance of him as they probed Russian election interference.

  • September 06, 2024

    VA Must Turn LA Campus Into Vets' Housing, Judge Says

    A California federal judge on Friday ruled in favor of a class of disabled homeless military veterans alleging that they're facing disability discrimination due to the lack of permanent supportive housing on a West Los Angeles campus.

  • September 06, 2024

    Gov't Asks Fed. Circ. To Rehear AI Deal Dispute

    The federal government is urging the Federal Circuit to revisit a high-profile decision reviving an artificial intelligence company's protest over its exclusion from a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency procurement, saying the ruling wrongly expanded the Court of Federal Claims' bid protest jurisdiction.

  • September 06, 2024

    Military Borrowers Get Initial Nod On $64M USAA Settlement

    USAA Federal Savings Bank garnered initial approval of a $64.2 million settlement that draws to a close nearly three years of litigation over claims it disregarded federal laws protecting military borrowers, according to an order filed Friday in North Carolina federal court.

  • September 06, 2024

    FDII Covers Overseas Services For US Gov't, Memo Says

    Government contractors that provide services to U.S. operations overseas are allowed to claim the deduction for foreign-derived intangible income, the IRS said in one of two internal memos released Friday that address foreign income issues.

  • September 06, 2024

    Boeing Loses Bid To Toss Investor Suit Over Blowout

    A Virginia federal judge gave the green light to Boeing investors to continue their securities fraud proposed class suit against the company over one of its planes' midair door blowout in January, rejecting the aerospace giant's motion to dismiss and telling Boeing it had a "real problem" on its hands.

  • September 06, 2024

    NLRB Denied Indicative Ruling Bid In SpaceX Dispute

    The National Labor Relations Board can't have an indicative ruling to pause an unfair labor practice case against SpaceX amid a challenge to the constitutionality of the board's structure, a Texas federal judge ruled, saying the agency didn't file a separate motion requesting such relief.

  • September 06, 2024

    As Biden Looks To Block US Steel Deal, Rival Co. Weighs In

    Cleveland-Cliffs is lauding President Joe Biden's reported decision to block U.S. Steel's $14.9 billion planned merger with Nippon Steel and says it is ready to scoop up U.S. Steel's union assets, as the rival steelmaker weighed in on the matter following a flurry of quick developments this week indicating that the Nippon deal is all but dead.

  • September 06, 2024

    Airline Asks 9th Circ. Panel To Reconsider Military Leave Suit

    A Ninth Circuit panel didn't address whether a former Alaska Airlines pilot advanced enough evidence to show the airline denied him accrued vacation and sick time while on military stints, the company said, urging the panel to revisit its decision flipping the airline's earlier win.

  • September 06, 2024

    Judge Newman's Suspension Extended For Another Year

    Federal Circuit Judge Pauline Newman was barred Friday from hearing cases for at least another year due to her refusal to participate in an investigation into her health, with the appeals court's other judges deciding unanimously to extend a suspension that began last year.

  • September 05, 2024

    Navy Justifiably Terminated Deal Over Staffing, Fed. Circ. Told

    The U.S. Navy has urged the Federal Circuit to uphold a lower court ruling finding that it reasonably canceled a deal with a defense contractor to perform work at the naval air station in Jacksonville, Florida, over proper staffing, saying the company didn't follow the agreement's terms to provide a team of 20 professionals.

  • September 05, 2024

    Army Didn't Breach Afghan Fuel Deal Amid Taliban Seizure

    The Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals has mostly rejected a contractor's $11.9 million appeal stemming from the seizure of its fuel and equipment by the Taliban following the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan, saying the U.S. Army didn't breach any contractual duty.

  • September 05, 2024

    Coast Guard Cadets Claim Academy Allowed Assaults

    The U.S. Coast Guard was hit with 13 administrative complaints Thursday alleging it failed to prevent sexual assaults of cadets at its academy in Connecticut, marking what the plaintiffs' attorneys say is the first collective action of its kind.

  • September 05, 2024

    Circor Dodges SEC Fine As Ex-Exec Faces Falsified Docs Suit

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday said industrial valve manufacturer Circor International Inc. has avoided a penalty after it self-reported and remediated an alleged accounting scheme, while the agency sued a former executive accused of falsifying the financial results for one of the company's business units.

  • September 05, 2024

    Lawmakers Seek Better Classified Info Training For Congress

    A bipartisan group of 11 members of lawmakers asked House leadership to provide better training on handling classified information when the new session of Congress begins in January.

  • September 05, 2024

    Biden To Block US Steel-Nippon, And More Deal Rumors

    President Joe Biden is reportedly preparing to block the $14.9 billion merger of U.S. Steel and Nippon Steel, Blackstone and Vista Equity Partners may team up to buy Smartsheet, and Springer Nature is planning an initial public offering. Here, Law360 breaks down these and other notable deal rumors reported over the past week.

Expert Analysis

  • Document Retention Best Practices To Lower Litigation Risks

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    As new technologies emerge and terabytes of data can be within the purview of a single discovery request, businesses small and large should take four document management steps to effectively minimize risks of litigation and discovery sanctions long before litigation ensues, says Kimbrilee Weber at Norris McLaughlin.

  • Series

    Riding My Peloton Bike Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Using the Peloton platform for cycling, running, rowing and more taught me that fostering a mind-body connection will not only benefit you physically and emotionally, but also inspire stamina, focus, discipline and empathy in your legal career, says Christopher Ward at Polsinelli.

  • Compliance Steps After ABA White Collar Crime Conference

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    Senior law enforcement officials’ statements this month at the American Bar Association's white collar crime conference suggest government enforcement efforts this year will increasingly focus on whistleblower incentives, artificial intelligence and data protection, and companies will need to update their compliance programs accordingly, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Spartan Arbitration Tactics Against Well-Funded Opponents

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    Like the ancient Spartans who held off a numerically superior Persian army at the Battle of Thermopylae, trial attorneys and clients faced with arbitration against an opponent with a bigger war chest can take a strategic approach to create a pass to victory, say Kostas Katsiris and Benjamin Argyle at Venable.

  • What 2 Years Of Ukraine-Russia Conflict Can Teach Cos.

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    A few key legal lessons for the global business community since Russia's invasion of Ukraine could help protect global commerce in times of future conflict, including how to respond to disparate trade restrictions and sanctions, navigate war-related contract disputes, and protect against heightened cybersecurity risks, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Risks Of Nonmutual Offensive Collateral Estoppel In MDLs

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    After the Supreme Court declined to review the Sixth Circuit's ruling in the E.I. DuPont de Nemours & Co. personal injury litigation, nonmutual offensive collateral estoppel could show up in more MDLs, and transform the loss of a single MDL bellwether trial into a de facto classwide decision that binds thousands of other MDL cases, say Chantale Fiebig and Luke Sullivan at Weil Gotshal.

  • Wesco Ch. 11 Ruling Marks Shift In Uptier Claim Treatment

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    A Texas bankruptcy court’s recent decision in In re: Wesco Aircraft Holdings leaves nonparticipating creditors with a road map to litigate to judgment non-pro rata liability management transactions, and foreshadows that bankruptcy courts may no longer be a friendly forum for these types of claims, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Takeaways From Groundbreaking Data Transfer Order

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    A recent first-of-its-kind executive order and related proposed rulemaking lay the groundwork for important outbound U.S. data protections, but they may have unintended consequences related to the types of data and the subjects within their scope, say attorneys at Kirkland.

  • FARA Enforcement May Soon Be In The Halls Of Higher Ed

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    Given Congress’ increased attention to rising foreign influence on U.S. college campuses, the U.S. Department of Justice may soon turn the Foreign Agents Registration Act spotlight on educational institutions and groups, which will need to review their possible obligations under the statute, says Tessa Capeloto at Wiley.

  • What Recent Study Shows About AI's Promise For Legal Tasks

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    Amid both skepticism and excitement about the promise of generative artificial intelligence in legal contexts, the first randomized controlled trial studying its impact on basic lawyering tasks shows mixed but promising results, and underscores the need for attorneys to proactively engage with AI, says Daniel Schwarcz at University of Minnesota Law School.

  • How The FAA Is Embracing Simplified Flight Controls

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    The Federal Aviation Administration's openness to approving simplified flight controls as part of its forthcoming refresh of regulations governing light-sport aircraft and sport pilot certificates is valuable and welcome — and the same approach can be brought to general aviation aircraft, says Paul Alp at Adams and Reese.

  • Making The Pitch For A Civil Resolution In A Criminal Case

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    Even without the depth of visibility into prosecutorial decision making offered by special counsel Robert Hur’s recently released report, defense counsel may be able to make the case for civil resolutions of criminal investigations while minimizing a potential negative response from prosecutors to such an argument, says Bill Athanas at Bradley Arant.

  • Litigation Inspiration: A Source Of Untapped Fulfillment

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    As increasing numbers of attorneys struggle with stress and mental health issues, business litigators can find protection against burnout by remembering their important role in society — because fulfillment in one’s work isn’t just reserved for public interest lawyers, say Bennett Rawicki and Peter Bigelow at Hilgers Graben.

  • Series

    Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    A lifetime of skiing has helped me develop important professional skills, and taught me that embracing challenges with a spirit of adventure can allow lawyers to push boundaries, expand their capabilities and ultimately excel in their careers, says Andrea Przybysz at Tucker Ellis.

  • Practical Steps For Navigating New Sanctions On Russia

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    After the latest round of U.S. sanctions against Russia – the largest to date since the Ukraine war began – companies will need to continue to strengthen due diligence and compliance measures to navigate the related complexities, say James Min and Chelsea Ellis at Rimon.

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