Transportation

  • February 20, 2025

    Spirit Airlines' Bankruptcy Plan Approved With Opt-Outs Intact

    A New York bankruptcy judge said Thursday he will greenlight budget air carrier Spirit Airlines' Chapter 11 plan to hand control of the business to creditors and approve third-party releases that prompted objections from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and others, setting up Spirit to exit bankruptcy and wipe out almost $800 million of debt.

  • February 20, 2025

    Transportation Group Of The Year: Sullivan & Cromwell

    Sullivan & Cromwell LLP lawyers advised Boeing in an $8.3 billion acquisition of its chief supplier, Spirit AeroSystems, amid corporate tumult and intense regulatory scrutiny of the American aerospace giant, earning the law firm a spot among the 2024 Law360 Transportation Groups of the Year.

  • February 20, 2025

    EV Maker Nikola Aims For Quick Ch. 11 Sale

    Counsel for Nikola Corp., which makes electric and hydrogen-powered trucks, told the Delaware bankruptcy court on Thursday the company hopes to hold a bankruptcy auction by the end of March and find a buyer before its cash runs out in mid-April.

  • February 19, 2025

    Eaton Fire Class Action Blames SoCal Edison Power Lines

    Southern California Edison was hit with a proposed class action Tuesday alleging that its failure to maintain its electrical grid and shut down power lines during fire weather conditions sparked the Eaton Fire that killed 17 people and destroyed more than 9,000 structures in Altadena, California.

  • February 19, 2025

    Contractors' Group Asks DC Judge To Halt Gutting Of USAID

    A group representing U.S. citizen personal services contractors working for the U.S. Agency for International Development is the latest to ask a federal judge to step in and block the Trump administration's push to gut the agency and its operations.

  • February 19, 2025

    FERC Watchers Seek Clarity As Trump Curbs Agency Powers

    Energy industry representatives hope to get some clarity from Federal Energy Regulatory Commission members at the agency's monthly open meeting on Thursday, as uncertainty over the commission's future swells in the wake of President Donald Trump's moves to curb independent agencies' powers.

  • February 19, 2025

    Amazon Drivers Deny Discovery Lapses In Yearslong Pay Suit

    Ten former Amazon Flex delivery drivers are pushing back against the e-commerce giant's bid to disqualify them as plaintiffs in an eight-year-old collective wage action, contending they have "gone above and beyond" in their efforts to comply with the company's document demands.

  • February 19, 2025

    NY Vows To Fight Trump's Bid To Kill Congestion Pricing

    New York officials vowed to continue implementing congestion pricing after the Trump administration moved to kill the program Wednesday, teeing up an intense legal battle by swiftly launching a counterattack in federal court to preserve the tolls on all vehicles entering Manhattan's busiest corridor.

  • February 19, 2025

    Senators Aim To Update Permitting, But Roadblocks Loom

    A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Wednesday appeared united in a desire to address infrastructure project permitting delays and costs, but a top Democrat insisted that legislation can only come after the Trump administration has unfrozen federal funds.

  • February 19, 2025

    Airlines Can Ask 9th Circ. To Consider Airport Pollution Suit

    A Washington judge has cleared Delta Air Lines and Alaska Airlines to ask the Ninth Circuit to weigh in on whether federal regulations governing air travel or jet emissions prevent property owners and residents from suing over alleged flight-path pollution near Seattle's main commercial airport.

  • February 19, 2025

    Cruise Co. Slams Judge's 'Unprecedented' Rec In Crash Suit

    Holland America has cautioned a Washington federal court against adopting a magistrate judge's recent finding that the cruise line could be on the hook in a suit over a deadly 2021 seaplane crash, warning the ruling would "turn vessels into fulltime insurers of their passengers and defy established maritime precedent."

  • February 19, 2025

    Democrats Say DOGE Took 'Trove' Of Musk Rivals' CFPB Data

    U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Adam Schiff, D-Calif. demanded Wednesday that Elon Musk remove Department of Government Efficiency staffers from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, saying Musk's potential conflicts of interest undermine the agency's goals while giving Musk access to a "trove" of confidential corporate data and an unfair advantage against rivals.

  • February 19, 2025

    Transportation Group Of The Year: Dykema

    Dykema Gossett PLLC scored a significant trial victory for Nissan in a Texas product liability suit, and continues to advise leading developers of autonomous and electric vehicles, earning the firm a spot among the 2024 Law360 Transportation Groups of the Year.

  • February 19, 2025

    Peanut Truck Co. Exempt From Excise Tax, Justices Told

    A Georgia maker of special trucks for peanut farming was denied an excise tax exemption for off-road highway vehicles because the IRS interpreted the law too narrowly, the company argued while urging the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the Eleventh Circuit on the question.

  • February 19, 2025

    EV Maker Nikola Hits Bankruptcy After Battery Recall

    Nikola Corp., maker of electric and hydrogen-powered trucks, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection Wednesday in Delaware, listing about $98 million of funded debt and blaming a sprawling battery pack recall for its financial troubles.

  • February 18, 2025

    Delta Crash In Toronto, FAA Firings Upend Aviation Industry

    The harrowing crash of a Delta Air Lines passenger jet in Toronto on Monday, during which the plane caught fire, skidded across the runway with its wings broken off and flipped upside down, has upended an industry already rocked by a string of U.S. aviation accidents in the past month.

  • February 18, 2025

    Pandemic No Excuse To Alter $150M Notes, Alter Domus Says

    An auto parts magnate and his manufacturing company should not get away with using the COVID-19 pandemic as an excuse for changing promissory notes worth $150 million in ways that deflated their value, lending agent Alter Domus LLC asserted in Michigan federal court Tuesday.

  • February 18, 2025

    Trump Exec Order Expands Control Over Independent Agencies

    President Donald Trump signed an executive order Tuesday to limit the autonomy of independent agencies such as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and Federal Communications Commission by requiring them to submit draft regulations for presidential review.

  • February 18, 2025

    Bath & Body Works Sues Over 'Abysmal' Fulfillment Service

    Bath & Body Works filed suit Tuesday against a commercial fulfillment vendor that allegedly provided "abysmal service" for years at its Atlanta-area fulfillment center before rejecting Bath & Body Works' attempts to terminate its service contract, refusing to cooperate on a transition and rushing to forum shop in a related lawsuit.

  • February 18, 2025

    Limited FERC Pipeline Review Makes No Sense, DC Circ. Told

    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission had no evidence to support its finding that the pipeline it chose to review only a 1,000-foot section of would transport only Texas-produced gas, the environmentalists trying to force a review of the full pipeline project told the D.C. Circuit.

  • February 18, 2025

    EPA Gives Congress A Chance To Sink Calif. Auto Waivers

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has offered Congress a chance to revoke Biden-era authorizations that allow California to issue its own vehicle emissions standards, something the Golden State said hasn't been done before and has unclear chances of success.

  • February 18, 2025

    Exxon, Koch Lose Bid To End Minn. Climate Change Suit

    A Minnesota state judge on Friday largely preserved the state's lawsuit alleging Exxon Mobil Corp., Koch Industries Inc. and the American Petroleum Institute concealed the climate change risks of fossil fuels, rejecting arguments that the case was a matter of federal, not state, law.

  • February 18, 2025

    Engine Co. Says Plane Crash Appeal Is Matter For NC Panel

    Aviation companies Avco Corp. and its subsidiary Lycoming Engines are urging a North Carolina appeals court to take up their bid seeking immunity from a civil lawsuit filed by families of victims killed in a 2015 plane crash, arguing that allowing a trial to go forward would cause "irreparable harm."

  • February 18, 2025

    Car Dealer Can't Depose Government In 'Deceptive' Price Suit

    A Nissan dealer cannot depose the Federal Trade Commission or the state of Connecticut in a dual enforcement action alleging that it charged consumers "deceptive" price add-ons, a federal magistrate judge has ruled, agreeing that the government had already provided all relevant discovery or was planning to do so.

  • February 18, 2025

    DC Midair Collision Family Brings $250M Claims Against Gov't

    The family of a passenger killed in last month's midair collision between an American Airlines regional jet and a military helicopter put the federal government on notice that they're pursuing $250 million in personal injury and wrongful death claims over the accident, attorneys for the family said Tuesday.

Expert Analysis

  • Considering Possible PR Risks Of Certain Legal Tactics

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    Disney and American Airlines recently abandoned certain litigation tactics in two lawsuits after fierce public backlash, illustrating why corporate counsel should consider the reputational implications of any legal strategy and partner with their communications teams to preempt public relations concerns, says Chris Gidez at G7 Reputation Advisory.

  • It's No Longer Enough For Firms To Be Trusted Advisers

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    Amid fierce competition for business, the transactional “trusted adviser” paradigm from which most firms operate is no longer sufficient — they should instead aim to become trusted partners with their most valuable clients, says Stuart Maister at Strategic Narrative.

  • Decoding Arbitral Disputes: Spanish Assets At Risk Abroad

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    The recent seizure of a portion of London Luton Airport after an English High Court ruling is the latest installment in a long-running saga over Spain’s failure to honor arbitration awards, highlighting the complexities involved when state-owned enterprises become entangled in disputes stemming from their government's actions, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray's Inn Square Chambers.

  • Rise Of Transpo Contractors Brings Insurance Disputes

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    As more independent contractors are contracted and subcontracted in the delivery industry, companies must be prepared to defend claims from drivers who are injured on the job as they are often seeking to establish an employment relationship with one of the entities in the chain, says Nathan Milner at Goldberg Segalla.

  • Mich. Whistleblower Ruling Expands Retaliation Remedies

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    The Michigan Supreme Court's recent Occupational Health and Safety Act decision in Stegall v. Resource Technology is important because it increases the potential exposure for defendants in public policy retaliation cases, providing plaintiffs with additional claims, say Aaron Burrell and Timothy Howlett at Dickinson Wright.

  • Assessing Algorithmic Versus Generative AI Pricing Tools

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    A comparison of traditional algorithmic pricing models and those powered by generative artificial intelligence can help regulators and practitioners weigh the pros and cons of relying on large language models to price products or services, say Maxime Cohen at McGill University, and Tim Spittle and Jimmy Royer at Analysis Group.

  • New Employer Liability Risks In Old Ill. Genetic Privacy Law

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    Illinois’ Genetic Information Privacy Act has been litigated very sparsely, but two recent federal court decisions — Taylor v. Union Pacific and McKnight v. United Airlines — holding that preemployment family medical history questions violated the 1998 law may encourage more lawsuits, say Peter Berk and Madison Shepley at Clark Hill.

  • Nuclear Waste Storage Questions Justices May Soon Address

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    The petition for the U.S. Supreme Court to review U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission v. Texas stands out for a number of reasons — including a deepening circuit split regarding the NRC's nuclear waste storage authority under the Atomic Energy Act, and broader administrative law implications, say attorneys at MoloLamken.

  • 3 Patent Considerations For America's New Quantum Hub

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    Recent developments signal an incredibly bright future for Chicago as the new home of quantum computing, and it is crucial that these innovators — whose technology has the potential to transform many industries — prioritize intellectual property strategy, says Andrew Velzen at McDonnell Boehnen.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Conservation Rule Already Faces Challenges

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    The Bureau of Land Management's interpretation of land "use" in its Conservation and Landscape Health Rule is contrary to the agency's past practice and other Federal Land Policy and Management Act provisions, leaving the rule exposed in four legal challenges that may carry greater force in the wake of Loper Bright, say Stacey Bosshardt and Stephanie Regenold at Perkins Coie.

  • A Preview Of AI Priorities Under The Next President

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    For the first time in a presidential election, both of the leading candidates and their parties have been vocal about artificial intelligence policy, offering clues on the future of regulation as AI continues to advance and congressional action continues to stall, say attorneys at Mintz.

  • Opinion

    Big Oil Climate Ruling Sets Dangerous Liability Precedent

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    The recent Maryland court dismissal of Baltimore's case seeking to hold BP responsible for climate damage mischaracterized the city's injuries as divorced from the conduct that caused them, and could allow companies that conceal the dangers of their products to escape liability, says Randall Abate at George Washington University Law School.

  • How Companies Are Approaching Insider Trading Policies

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    An analysis of insider trading policies recently disclosed by 49 S&P 500 companies under a new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule reveals that while specific provisions vary from company to company, certain common themes are emerging, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

  • How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations

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    Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.

  • 5 Ways To Confront Courtroom Technology Challenges

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    Recent cybersecurity incidents highlight the vulnerabilities of our reliance on digital infrastructure, meaning attorneys must be prepared to navigate technological obstacles inside the courtroom, including those related to data security, presentation hardware, video playback and more, says Adam Bloomberg at IMS Legal Strategies.

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