Transportation

  • July 12, 2024

    Engineering Firms Ink $26.5M Deals To End 'No-Poach' Claims

    Four engineering firms have agreed to shell out a total of $26.5 million, while a fifth has pledged to cooperate, to settle a proposed class action alleging they conspired to restrict hiring through "no-poach" agreements, leaving RTX Corp. unit Pratt & Whitney as the sole defendant, plaintiffs told a Connecticut federal judge on Friday.

  • July 12, 2024

    Loper Bright Is Shaking Up Dozens Of Regulatory Fights

    In the two weeks since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference, the landmark decision has emerged as a live issue in dozens of administrative challenges, with federal courts already pausing agency regulations expanding LGBTQ+ rights in education and healthcare and with a wave of parties seeking to use the new decision to win their cases.

  • July 12, 2024

    5 Firms Steer Chinese EV Co.'s $1B SPAC Merger

    Chinese electric vehicle maker Huture Ltd. plans to go public at an estimated $1 billion value through a merger with special purpose acquisition company Aquaron Acquisition Corp., both parties announced Friday, in a deal steered by five law firms.

  • July 12, 2024

    BNSF Puts Up $426M To Stay Tribe's Win Pending Appeal

    BNSF Railway Co. on Friday asked a federal judge to approve a $426 million security bond and to stay enforcement of a nearly $400 million judgment for trespassing across a Washington tribe's territory, while the railroad appeals.

  • July 12, 2024

    VW Lawyers Win Fees From 'Sloppy' Texas Patent Atty

    A federal judge in Houston has said a lawyer behind over 700 patent lawsuits over the past three years is personally liable to pay Finnegan Henderson Farabow Garrett & Dunner LLP's fees over his "sloppy" and "offensive" case against Volkswagen.

  • July 12, 2024

    Tire Cos. Can't Pause Fish-Harming Chemical Suit

    A California federal judge rejected a group of tire companies' efforts to stay an Endangered Species Act suit accusing the companies of killing fish on the West Coast with their use of a rubber additive, saying that waiting for a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rulemaking on the additive "makes little sense."

  • July 12, 2024

    Delta Slams Flyers' Facebook Data Sharing Class Action

    Delta Air Lines has asked a California federal judge to dump a proposed class action alleging it unlawfully shared customers' sensitive personal data with Meta's Facebook through online tracking tools embedded in its website, saying its contract of carriage clearly discloses its digital advertising practices.

  • July 12, 2024

    11th Circ. Ends Widow's Crash Suit Against Trucking Broker

    The widow of a man killed in a collision with a tractor trailer won't be able to press her negligent selection claim against the company that hired the trucker and his carrier after the Eleventh Circuit this week backed a district court's ruling that federal transportation law preempts her case.

  • July 12, 2024

    American Airlines Pilot Pushes For $16M Win After ERISA Trial

    An American Airlines pilot urged a Texas federal court to make the airline cough up nearly $16 million following a June bench trial in a retirement savings class action, arguing the company breached its fiduciary duties to its retirement plan by focusing too heavily on environmental and social factors in investments.

  • July 12, 2024

    US Trustee Decries Fisker EV Fleet 'Fire Sale'

    The U.S. Trustee's Office urged a Delaware bankruptcy judge to block electric-vehicle maker Fisker's proposed $46.25 million sale of its inventory, saying the fleet is being sold at "fire sale prices" the debtor can't show are fair.

  • July 12, 2024

    VW Supplier's Antitrust Suit Belongs In Germany, Texas Judge Says

    A Texas federal judge has dismissed an antitrust lawsuit filed by an auto parts maker against Volkswagen after finding that the German judicial system rather than the U.S. district courts would be the best place for these claims to be litigated.

  • July 12, 2024

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen the owner of the Lambretta scooter brand Innocenti SA embroiled in a trademark dispute with a property developer, a clash between two art dealers over a collection of tapestries, Telecom Italia pursue a debt claim against a competing telecommunications company, and performing arts trade union Equity hit a casting directory for charging unfair subscription fees on actors. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • July 11, 2024

    Airport Contractor Looks To Collect $91M Peru Award

    An contractor has asked a D.C. federal court to enforce a $91 million arbitral award that it won against the Republic of Peru over a terminated contract to build and operate an airport in the town of Chinchero.

  • July 11, 2024

    IP Forecast: Napa Winery's Ex-Atty Wants Another Trial

    A Texas lawyer plans to tell an appeals court why he should receive another trial in a trademark case from a Napa Valley winery, a former client that he claims sold off a "wildly successful California cult wine" out from under him.

  • July 11, 2024

    Legal Foundation Urges Justices To Limit RICO's Civil Scope

    The Washington Legal Foundation on Thursday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a Second Circuit decision allowing a trucker to sue three CBD companies under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, saying the circuit court ignored RICO's structure and purpose.

  • July 11, 2024

    Oil Giants Defeat City Of Baltimore's Climate Change Claims

    A Maryland judge has dismissed Baltimore's suit seeking climate change-related damages from oil companies including Chevron, Exxon and BP, ruling that the city's claims stem from a global phenomenon and thus are "beyond the limits of Maryland state law."

  • July 11, 2024

    Judge Grants Tesoro Injunction In Pipeline Fight With Feds

    A North Dakota federal judge has granted a Marathon Petroleum Corp. subsidiary's request for an injunction to block an Interior Department order vacating several decisions related to a pipeline crossing through part of the Fort Berthold Indian Reservation.

  • July 11, 2024

    Celebrity Cruises Settles Suit Over Ship Morgue Failure

    The family of a man who died aboard a Celebrity Cruises ship and whose body decomposed after being stored in an ill-equipped cooler told a Florida federal court Wednesday that they had settled their dispute with the cruise line, just days before the case was set to go to trial.

  • July 11, 2024

    Navy Can't Get Out Of Ex-Marine's PTSD Discrimination Suit

    A Washington federal judge won't let the U.S. Navy out of a suit from a former Marine alleging that he was discriminated against and terminated over his post-traumatic stress disorder, saying there is enough evidence that a fact-finder could determine his boss retaliated against him.

  • July 11, 2024

    Kioti Info Must Be Public In $7.7M Fraud Suit, Court Told

    A financial services business is pushing the North Carolina Business Court to reject an attempt by the parent company of Kioti to seal away financial records, arguing that the company hasn't shown a need for secrecy that overcomes the court's preference to keep information public.

  • July 11, 2024

    Chancery Orders Invictus Fund Sides To Provide Case Update

    Pointing to hints of clarity in a distressed credit and special-situations fund's murky, 9-month-old battle for documents and cash held by its general partner and investment manager, a Delaware vice chancellor on Thursday ordered the two sides to produce a case update by Tuesday.

  • July 11, 2024

    'Bridgegate' Defense Offers Road Map For NJ RICO Case

    Counsel for the powerful New Jersey mogul and Democratic operatives facing explosive racketeering charges are likely to justify their actions as just business, experts told Law360, describing defense tactics similar to the ones that absolved defendants in "Bridgegate," New Jersey's most notorious politics-fueled crime in recent history.

  • July 11, 2024

    Atty's Suit Against Aircraft Cos., Blank Rome Attys Survives

    A federal judge ruled in favor of a lawyer who alleges that aircraft companies and attorneys with Blank Rome LLP brought a baseless lawsuit against her in retaliation for switching from corporate defense to the plaintiffs bar, denying a motion to dismiss and allowing her lawsuit to continue.

  • July 11, 2024

    Cruise Ship Co. Sanctioned With Fees In Sexual Assault Suit

    Carnival Corp. will have to pay fees related to a discovery dispute stemming from a $10.2 million sexual assault personal injury lawsuit, a Florida federal judge has ruled in a sanctions order, finding that the cruise company must pay a portion of the legal bills of a female passenger after "clear" discovery violations occurred.

  • July 11, 2024

    Fiat Chrysler Says Exploding Minivan MDL Still Lacks Detail

    A Stellantis unit has asked a federal judge in Michigan to significantly pare back multidistrict litigation over a risk of spontaneous explosion in certain Chrysler plug-in hybrid minivans, arguing that many drivers' state claims are stale or are otherwise legally flawed.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    Cell Tech Patent Holdup Is Stalling Automaker Innovation

    Author Photo

    Courts and Congress should seek to stem anticompetitive harm caused by standard-essential patent holders squeezing automakers with unfairly high royalties for cellular connectivity technology, says Charles Haake at Alliance for Automotive Innovation.

  • California Adds A Novel Twist To State Suits Against Big Oil

    Author Photo

    California’s suit against Exxon Mobil Corp., one of several state suits that seek to hold oil and gas companies accountable for climate-related harms, is unique both in the magnitude of the alleged claims and its use of a consumer protection statute to seek disgorgement of industry profits, says Julia Stein at UCLA School of Law.

  • Opinion

    States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions

    Author Photo

    Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.

  • Why Justices Should Rule On FAA's Commerce Exception

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Supreme Court should review the Ninth Circuit's Ortiz v. Randstad decision, to clarify whether involvement in interstate commerce exempts workers from the Federal Arbitration Act, a crucial question given employers' and employees' strong competing interests in arbitration and litigation, says Collin Williams at New Era.

  • Series

    Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.

  • Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice

    Author Photo

    The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.

  • Electrifying Transportation With Public-Private Partnerships

    Author Photo

    Many clean energy goals remain public policy abstractions that face a challenging road to realization — but public-private partnership models could be a valuable tool to electrify the transportation sector, says Michael Blackwell at Husch Blackwell.

  • Navigating The New Rise Of Greenwashing Litigation

    Author Photo

    As greenwashing lawsuits continue to gain momentum with a shift in focus to carbon-neutrality claims, businesses must exercise caution and ensure transparency in their environmental marketing practices, taking cues from recent legal challenges in the airline industry, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State

    Author Photo

    On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.

  • How High Court Approached Time Limit On Reg Challenges

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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

    Author Photo

    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.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!