Transportation

  • August 23, 2024

    The Biggest Texas Trial Rulings Of 2024: Midyear Report

    Trial courts in Texas saw a series of high-dollar verdicts for plaintiffs in suits over patent infringement and personal injuries, but appellate courts tempered some plaintiffs' successes, backing a large retail employer in a harassment suit and tossing a verdict based on a lawyer's remarks. Here's a look at some of the biggest trial decisions in Texas in the first half of 2024.

  • August 23, 2024

    Creditors Can't Dig Up Eletson's Ch. 11 Plan Negotiation Info

    Bankrupt Greek fuel shipping group Eletson doesn't have to turn over communications with a group of shareholders who are supporting its Chapter 11 plan, a New York bankruptcy judge ruled Friday, finding the common interest doctrine shielded their negotiation talks from the official committee of unsecured creditors' discovery request.

  • August 23, 2024

    SPAC Investors Ask Full 9th Circ. To Rethink Lucid Merger

    Investors have urged the full Ninth Circuit to rethink a panel's refusal to revive their proposed class action alleging that Lucid duped them into buying stock in a special purpose acquisition company ahead of the electric vehicle maker's $11.75 billion merger, arguing that the panel's holding misconstrues U.S. Supreme Court precedent, among other issues.

  • August 23, 2024

    The Biggest Enviro Policy Moves Of 2024: Midyear Report

    As the Biden administration hurtles toward the end of its term, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been hustling important final rules out its doors, including regulations for power plant greenhouse gas emissions, chemicals and automobiles.

  • August 22, 2024

    Calif. Justices OK Argentine Atty's Uber Fraud Fight

    California justices gave an Argentinian lawyer a green light Thursday to pursue allegations that Uber fraudulently hid crucial information as he represented Uber before its Buenos Aires launch, clarifying that his tort fraudulent-concealment claim is not necessarily barred by the so-called economic loss doctrine if his employment contract never contemplated the alleged fraud.

  • August 22, 2024

    9th Circ. Revives Military Bias Claims Against Alaska Airlines

    The Ninth Circuit on Thursday revived a class action alleging Alaska Airlines illegally denied accrued vacation and sick time to pilots on military assignments, saying the case now has the benefit of a decision from the court in a similar case involving the airline.

  • August 22, 2024

    9th Circ. Won't Force Yellow Corp. Bias Suit Into Arbitration

    The Ninth Circuit refused Thursday to kick a former Yellow Corp. employee's disability discrimination lawsuit to arbitration, ruling the agreement the worker signed was improperly lopsided in favor of his employer and had to be scrapped.

  • August 22, 2024

    11th Circ. Nixes Hyundai's Appeal Of $16M Dealership Verdict

    The Eleventh Circuit on Wednesday rejected Hyundai Motor America's attempt to void a $16 million verdict awarded to a Florida dealership in a contract dispute over Hyundai's efforts to launch a separate dealer network for its luxury Genesis line of vehicles.

  • August 22, 2024

    Takata Airbag Victim's Family Sues Dealer, Victims' Trust Fund

    The family of a woman killed by an exploding airbag made by the now-defunct Takata Corp. is suing the Honda dealership that sold the car and a trust fund formed to compensate people injured or killed by the defective airbags.

  • August 22, 2024

    Tech Firm Says DOD Was Ad-Hoc With Chinese Military Label

    Lidar technology firm Hesai argued Wednesday that the U.S. Department of Defense has not proved Hesai has connections to the Chinese military as the firm strives to get taken off a list denoting them as such.

  • August 22, 2024

    NC Hot Rod Shop Owner Admits To Not Paying $2M In Taxes

    A North Carolina automotive business owner has pled guilty to failing to pay more than $2 million in employment taxes and not filing employment tax returns, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Thursday.

  • August 22, 2024

    HVAC Co. Can't Upend $3.4M Verdict In Tire Crash Suit

    A New Jersey appeals court on Thursday upheld a $3.4 million verdict for a driver who was injured when a tire came loose from an HVAC company's truck and struck his car, saying the trial court wasn't wrong to instruct the jury that the company had the burden of showing the driver's injuries stemmed from another, later accident.

  • August 22, 2024

    Smuggling Suspect Arrested Over '22 Migrant Deaths In Texas

    A Guatemalan national was arrested Wednesday in his home country at U.S. officials' request for his alleged role in a human smuggling operation blamed for the deaths of 53 migrants who were found in a tractor-trailer in Texas in 2022, federal prosecutors announced Thursday.

  • August 22, 2024

    State Farm Can't Slash Fraud Suit, Even On The Merits

    An Illinois federal judge has stuck to her decision not to let State Farm significantly cut down a proposed class action targeting an allegedly unlawful totaled-vehicle valuation formula, even while acknowledging she should have considered the merits of State Farm's arguments.

  • August 22, 2024

    California Fires Back At Red State Attacks On Climate Torts

    California and a contingent of blue states told the U.S. Supreme Court that their climate change torts against fossil fuel companies are on solid legal ground and that an effort by Alabama and other red states to undercut them must be rejected.

  • August 22, 2024

    Flyers Chided For Late Bid To Block Alaska-Hawaiian Deal

    A Hawaii federal judge refused to pause the planned $1.9 billion tie-up between Alaska Airlines and Hawaiian Airlines on Wednesday, telling attorneys for the passengers and travel agents bringing a merger challenge that they appear to have "forgotten" the case was tossed.

  • August 22, 2024

    Ex-Delta Attendant Can't Revive Rape Suit, Split 1st Circ. Says

    A divided panel of the First Circuit has affirmed a summary judgment win for Delta Air Lines in a suit brought in Massachusetts by a former flight attendant who claimed the airline botched its investigation into her allegations that she was raped by a pilot.

  • August 22, 2024

    Deals Rumor Mill: Saudi Fund, Disney-Reliance, Repligen

    Saudi Arabia’s sovereign wealth fund wants to launch a new cargo airline, India’s antitrust regulators worry about power over cricket rights if the $8.5 billion merger of Walt Disney’s Indian business with Reliance Entertainment is allowed, and drug manufacturing provider Repligen is eyeing Maravai LifeSciences. Here, Law360 breaks down these and other notable deal rumors from the past week.

  • August 22, 2024

    Latham-Led Carlyle Scooping Auto Parts Distributor For $1.5B

    Advance Auto Parts said Thursday it has struck an agreement to sell Worldpac Inc., an automotive parts wholesale distribution business, to private equity firm Carlyle for $1.5 billion, as the company looks to streamline operations amid declining profits. 

  • August 21, 2024

    Lion Air Families Want Full 7th Circ. To Hear Boeing Case

    The last two estates pursuing claims over 2018's Lion Air crash argued Wednesday that the full Seventh Circuit should rehear their bid for jury trial damages relating to injuries the victims experienced over land because their initial panel applied the governing law in a way that was never intended.

  • August 21, 2024

    9th Circ. Upholds Toss Of Suit Over Car Insurer's Data Breach

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday refused to revive a proposed class action accusing auto insurance provider Noblr Reciprocal Exchange of failing to safeguard driver's license numbers exposed in a 2021 data breach, finding that the plaintiffs had failed to credibly allege that their data had actually been stolen. 

  • August 21, 2024

    Northern Trust's $2.5M Deal Approved In AutoZone 401(k) Suit

    A Tennessee federal judge on Wednesday granted preliminary approval to a $2.5 million deal to end class claims from participants in AutoZone's 401(k) employee plan who alleged Northern Trust shirked its duties as their 401(k)'s investment adviser.

  • August 21, 2024

    Alaska Air Seeks Clarification In Rogue Pilot Case

    Alaska Airlines has urged a Washington state judge to clear up his decision to partially dismiss a lawsuit alleging an off-duty crew member tried to crash a flight in October, saying the ruling doesn't clearly state the passengers suing the company can no longer pursue claims rooted in federal aviation safety regulations.

  • August 21, 2024

    Split 6th Circ. Partly Revives GM Drivers' Truck Emissions Suits

    A divided Sixth Circuit panel on Wednesday revived drivers' state-law claims in consolidated litigation alleging General Motors deceptively marketed Chevrolet Silverado and Sierra vehicles as being more environmentally friendly than they actually were, rejecting a district court's finding that the claims conflicted with federal law.

  • August 21, 2024

    NC Biz Court Bulletin: Wrinkle In Textile Family's $17M Fight

    The fate of a $17 million trust battled over by its trustees and Atrium Health, as well as attorney fees in a $1.1 million data breach settlement were cemented by the North Carolina Business Court in the first half of August. In case you missed those and others, here are the highlights.

Expert Analysis

  • How High Court Approached Time Limit On Reg Challenges

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve Board effectively gives new entities their own personal statute of limitations to challenge rules and regulations, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh's concurrence may portend the court's view that those entities do not need to be directly regulated, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.

  • Series

    Florida Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2

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    The second quarter of 2024 brought two notable bills that will affect Florida's banking and finance community across many issues, including virtual currency abandonment, cancellation of financial services on the basis of political opinions, and the exemption amount of motor vehicles, say Joshua Prever and Andrew Balthazor at Holland & Knight.

  • First-Of-Its-Kind Chancery Ruling Will Aid SPAC Defendants

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    The Delaware Chancery Court's first full dismissal of claims challenging a special purpose acquisition company transaction under the entire fairness doctrine in the recent Hennessy Capital Acquisition Stockholder Litigation establishes useful precedent to abate the flood of SPAC litigation, say Lisa Bugni and Benjamin Lee at King & Spalding.

  • Expect The Unexpected: Contracts For Underground Projects

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    Recent challenges encountered by the Mountain Valley Pipeline project underscore the importance of drafting contracts for underground construction to account for unexpected site conditions, associated risks and compliance with applicable laws, say Jill Jaffe and Brenda Lin at Nossaman.

  • How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts

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    As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.

  • Series

    Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.

  • Opinion

    Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.

  • Justices' Bribery Ruling: A Corrupt Act Isn't Necessarily Illegal

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    In its Snyder v. U.S. decision last week, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a bribery law does not criminalize gratuities, continuing a trend of narrowing federal anti-corruption laws and scrutinizing public corruption prosecutions that go beyond obvious quid pro quo schemes, say Carrie Cohen and Christine Wong at MoFo.

  • 3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Roundup

    After Chevron

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    In the month since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference standard, this Expert Analysis series has featured attorneys discussing the potential impact across 26 different rulemaking and litigation areas.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Expect Few Changes In ITC Rulemaking

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's opinion overruling the Chevron doctrine will have less impact on the U.S. International Trade Commission than other agencies administering trade statutes, given that the commission exercises its congressionally granted authority in a manner that allows for consistent decision making at both agency and judicial levels, say attorneys at Polsinelli.

  • Opinion

    Reform NEPA To Speed Mining Permits, Clean Energy Shift

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    It is essential to balance responsible regulatory oversight with permit approvals for mining projects that are needed for the transition to renewable energy — and with the National Environmental Policy Act being one of the leading causes of permit delays, reform is urgently needed, say Ana Maria Gutierrez and Michael Miller at Womble Bond.

  • 6 PTAB Events To Know From The Last 6 Months

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    The first half of 2024 brought a flurry of Patent Trial and Appeal Board developments that should be considered in post-grant strategies, including proposed rules on discretionary denial and director review, and the first decisions of the Delegated Rehearing Panel, say attorneys at Fish & Richardson.

  • Opinion

    Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem

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    The legal industry is engaged in a critical conversation about lawyers' mental health, but current attorney well-being programs primarily focus on helping lawyers cope with the stress of excessive workloads, instead of examining whether this work culture is even fundamentally compatible with lawyer well-being, says Jonathan Baum at Avenir Guild.

  • Calif. Long-Tail Ruling Continues Policyholder-Friendly Trend

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    The California Supreme Court's recent ruling in Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Cement & Gypsum, rejecting horizontal policy exhaustion, was the latest in a string of its decisions involving insurance coverage for continuous or progressive injury claims that favor policyholders, say Billie Mandelbaum and David Goodwin at Covington.

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