Amazon Not Liable For Chemical Used In Suicides, Panel Says

By Greg Lamm

A Washington state appeals court on Monday said Amazon can't be sued for the online sale of a chemical that four people used to kill themselves, in an opinion that said the state's product liability law has not caught up with the "previously unfathomable accessibility to instrumentalities of death."

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Delta's Preemption Stance Flops In Seattle Jet Pollution Suit

By Rachel Riley

A Washington federal judge has declined Delta and Alaska Airlines' bid to dismiss a proposed class action filed by neighbors of Seattle's primary airport over alleged flight-path pollution, saying it's too early to tell whether the claims will be preempted by federal regulations governing air travel or plane emissions.

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Court Asked To Halt DEA's Pot Rescheduling Hearing

By Jonathan Capriel

The Drug Enforcement Administration's plan to hold administrative hearings on a proposal to reclassify marijuana must be stopped, a psychedelics researcher argued, telling a Washington federal judge that the DEA is not giving a voice to small entity researchers and tribal stakeholders.

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Tort Report: Fla. Jury Delivers $141.5M Trucking Crash Verdict

By Y. Peter Kang

A pending Pennsylvania Supreme Court case over Uber's so-called click-through arbitration agreements and a $141.5 million trucking crash verdict out of Florida lead Law360's Tort Report, which compiles recent personal injury and medical malpractice news that may have flown under the radar.

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9th Circ. Reopens Teachers' Retirement Savings Interest Suit

By Patrick Hoff

The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday revived a class action accusing the Washington state pension agency of unlawfully skimming interest earned by thousands of teachers on their retirement accounts, ruling the trial court went too far when it ruled the educators' suit was untimely.

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9th Circ.'s High Bar May Limit Keyword Confusion TM Claims

A recent Ninth Circuit ruling that a law firm did not infringe upon a competitor’s trademarks by paying Google to promote its website when users searched for the rival’s name signals that plaintiffs likely can no longer win infringement suits by claiming competitive keyword advertising confuses internet-savvy consumers, say attorneys at Mitchell Silberberg.

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Series

Flying Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Achieving my childhood dream of flying airplanes made me a better lawyer — and a better person — because it taught me I can conquer difficult goals when I leave my comfort zone, focus on the demands of the moment and commit to honing my skills, says Ivy Cadle at Baker Donelson.

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Bonus Spotlight

Bonus Season Heats Up As More Firms Match Milbank's Scale

By Xiumei Dong

The 2024 associate bonus season is heating up, with more law firms matching Milbank LLP's year-end and special bonuses and U.K. firms extending the same offering to their U.S.-based attorneys, according to firm memos shared with Law360 Pulse and media reports.

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King & Spalding Partner Selected As Trump's Trade Rep

By Hailey Konnath

President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday announced that King & Spalding LLP international trade partner Jamieson L. Greer was his pick for U.S. trade representative, noting that Greer played a "key role" in imposing tariffs on China during Trump's first term.

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Texas Atty Sanctioned For Citing Bogus Cases After Using AI

By Lynn LaRowe

A Texas lawyer pursuing a wrongful termination lawsuit against Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. has been sanctioned for submitting a brief that included citations to nonexistent cases generated by an artificial intelligence tool, a Texas federal judge ordered this week.

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Google Search Judge Says AI Will Affect Remedy Phase

By Matthew Perlman

The judge overseeing the government's search monopolization case against Google suggested Tuesday in D.C. federal court that artificial intelligence is shifting the market and will likely play a role in the remedies the court imposes on Google for allegedly violating antitrust law.

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Affinity Bar Groups Decry Colo. No-Poach Restrictions

By Thy Vo

Several attorney groups told Colorado's justices that barring lawyers from recruiting colleagues before officially leaving a firm would take away professional autonomy and harm lawyers from underrepresented backgrounds the most, filing briefs in support of a lawyer's challenge to her contract with a personal injury firm. 

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Fulton County DA Seeks To Reinstate Trump Election Charges

By Emily Johnson

The Fulton County District Attorney's Office told the Georgia Court of Appeals on Monday that six criminal charges against President-elect Donald Trump and others should be reinstated as they have an "abundance" of information to prepare their defense against allegations of trying to subvert the results of the November 2020 election.

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Giuliani's New Atty Faults Previous Counsel As NY Trial Nears

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal judge declined Tuesday to delay a January trial over whether Rudy Giuliani must turn over his Florida condo and World Series rings to fund a $148 million defamation judgment, after the former New York City mayor's new lawyer criticized outgoing counsel.

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Ex-Faegre Drinker Atty Files Disability Bias Suit

By Andrea Keckley

Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP was hit with a disability discrimination lawsuit on Monday by a Denver attorney who says she was pushed out after seeking accommodations for hip problems.

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NJ Equal Pay Law Date Will Guide Atty's Discrimination Suit

By Irene Spezzamonte

Discovery and damages in a former Reed Smith LLP labor and employment attorney's suit claiming gender discrimination will be limited to the effective date of New Jersey equal pay law, a state judge ruled, saying the law doesn't apply retroactively.

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Fla. Bar Alleges Atty Delayed Trial Over His Broken Tooth

By Dorothy Atkins

The Florida Bar has launched a complaint against a criminal attorney in the Florida Supreme Court, accusing him of violating state bar rules by refusing to proceed with a jury trial because he had a broken tooth.

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