Caterpillar Escapes $100M Contract Breach Verdict

By Matthew Perlman

A Delaware federal court on Monday vacated $100 million in damages awarded to a defunct equipment importer that accused Caterpillar of interfering with a contract, and also refused to order a new trial for antitrust claims against the manufacturer.

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NC Judge Axes Mexican Truck Co.'s $70M Volvo Suit

By Ryan Harroff

A North Carolina federal judge tossed out a Mexican trucking company's $70 million suit against Volvo Group North America LLC in a one-page order adopting a magistrate judge's recommendation that the case be dismissed for leaving out "necessary and indispensable parties" for the contract claims to survive.

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Mich. Judge Dismisses Biz's 'Pump-And-Dump' RICO Suit

By Katryna Perera

A Michigan federal judge on Monday tossed what he called a confusing "power struggle" of a lawsuit from a company accusing its former leaders of conspiring to install a CEO and leading a pump-and-dump scheme, finding that the company was essentially improperly seeking review of a prior state court judgment that it lost.

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Origins Tech Can't Dodge Counterclaims In $4M Dispute

By Mike Curley

Origins Tech Inc. and its officers can't get counterclaims against them tossed in a $4 million suit over losses from a loan and the canceled acquisition of a cannabis license, a Utah federal judge ruled on Monday, giving a shareholder the opportunity to amend his counterclaims.

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Primerica Can't Force Arbitration In $1.4M Theft Suit

By Carla Baranauckas

Primerica cannot force two women who claim they were the victims of theft totaling $1.4 million to go to arbitration because they did not affirmatively sign an account agreement, a New Jersey appellate panel ruled Monday.

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Feds' Race Bias Suit Should Target Appraiser, Rocket Says

By Isaac Monterose

Rocket Mortgage LLC has urged a Colorado federal court to dismiss the federal government's race discrimination suit against the mortgage lender, an appraisal management company and an appraiser, arguing it is not responsible for what the appraiser purportedly did.

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Insurer Denies Coverage For Crushing Death, Alleging Lies

By Elizabeth Daley

A wood company's insurer said it owed nothing in connection with the crushing death of a recycling company worker who was killed by equipment rented from the wood seller, telling a California federal court that its insured misrepresented itself when claiming it didn't lease equipment on its coverage application.

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Insurer Beats Energy Cos.' Settlement Coverage Suit, For Now

By Ganesh Setty

A Texas federal court tossed a lawsuit from a group of energy companies accusing Berkley National Insurance Co. of favoring the settlement of one underlying wrongful death lawsuit over another unrelated injury lawsuit, finding the companies' complaint fails to allege they've incurred damages exceeding their policy limits.

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'American Idol' Singer Wants Early Win In Contract Fight

By Andrea Keckley

Songwriter and former "American Idol" contestant Lauren Spencer-Smith, who rose to fame when her 2022 song "Fingers Crossed" went viral on TikTok, is seeking an early win for her New York federal lawsuit's breach of fiduciary and contractual obligations and faithless servant allegations, saying Saturday that the defendants "took the trust that was reposed in them as Spencer-Smith's attorneys and agents, and used that trust for their own benefit to the detriment of Spencer-Smith."

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Firm Says Ex-Fin. Adviser Can't Arbitrate Trade Secrets Claims

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut financial firm told a state court that an ex-adviser can't arbitrate claims that he swiped trade secrets and formed his own competing company, citing the "plain language" of his employment agreement.

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Costa Rica Dodges Bankrupt Telecom Co.'s $25M Claim

By Joyce Hanson

A bankrupt telecommunications company owner's $25 million arbitration against Costa Rica has been discontinued after the owner failed to show he could deposit and maintain a surety bond to secure the costs of the proceedings, according to the country's counsel.

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Firms Must Embrace Alternative Billing Models Or Fall Behind

As artificial intelligence tools eliminate inefficiencies and the Big Four accounting firms enter the legal market, law firms that pivot from the entrenched billable hour model to outcomes-based pricing will see a distinct competitive advantage, says attorney William Brewer.

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Analysis

DOJ Seeking Steep Costs To Make Challengers Think Twice

By Jeff Overley

The U.S. Department of Justice is quickly implementing President Donald Trump's plan to seek huge sums of money from litigants whose cases impede his agenda but ultimately prove unsuccessful, court records show.

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Trump EOs And Skadden Face Pushback At Law Schools

By Emma Cueto

President Donald Trump's executive orders targeting law firms, and one firm's attempt to avoid a directive, have each received pushback at top law schools, with more than 90 Harvard faculty members objecting to the measures' effect on the rule of law and Georgetown students blasting Skadden's deal with Trump as a second firm associate publicly resigned.

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US DOT Taps Quinn Emanuel To Probe FAA Diversity Hiring

By Linda Chiem

The U.S. Department of Transportation said Monday that it has hired Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP to investigate claims that the Federal Aviation Administration is continuing to prioritize diversity, equity and inclusion when hiring air traffic controllers in defiance of the Trump administration's sweeping anti-DEI policy.

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Ex-Sen. Sinema Joins Hogan Lovells' Regulatory Group

By Jack Rodgers

Former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona, who made headlines by changing her party affiliation from Democrat to independent in 2022, will join Hogan Lovells in Washington, D.C., as a senior adviser in its global regulatory and intellectual property practice groups, the firm announced Monday.

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Cleary Gains 5-Atty Latham Team Known For Big IP Wins

By Andrea Keckley

Cleary Gottlieb Steen & Hamilton LLP has welcomed a bi-coastal team of five intellectual property litigators from Latham & Watkins LLP, lauding their history leading "many of the most high-profile and complex patent and trade secrets cases of the last decade" in a statement Monday.

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Feds Seek 10 Years For Ex-Girardi CFO's 'Brazen' Crimes

By Elliot Weld

Los Angeles federal prosecutors said Girardi Keese's former head of accounting should spend 10 years in prison after pleading guilty to assisting Tom Girardi in siphoning clients' settlement funds and what the government called a "brazen" side fraud to steal from the firm's operating accounts.

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Ex-CFTC Enforcement Chief Joins Sidley As Partner

By Gina Kim

Ian McGinley, who served as the enforcement director for the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, has joined Sidley Austin as a partner at its New York office, where he will be handling regulatory enforcement and white-collar matters with a focus on commodities and securities laws, the firm said Monday.

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Eric Adams Urges Speedy Dismissal As NYC Primaries Loom

By Frank G. Runyeon

New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Monday urged a Manhattan federal judge to promptly throw out his bribery and corruption charges, pointing to an upcoming mayoral election filing deadline and the court's previous vows to rule quickly.

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Shook Hardy Practice Leader To Stand In As Chicago US Atty

By Lauraann Wood

One of Chicago firm Shook Hardy & Bacon LLP's government investigations and white-collar practice chairs is headed back to the U.S. attorney's office, this time as northern Illinois' next top prosecutor, after spending about a decade in private practice serving in leading white collar roles.

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Trump Admin Asks DC Circ. To Stay 'Lawless' CFPB Injunction

By Jon Hill

The Trump administration moved Monday to thwart a Washington, D.C., federal judge's preliminary injunction that bars it from stopping work and firing employees at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, asking the D.C. Circuit for an emergency stay.

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Faegre Drinker Fights Sanctions Bid In Trump IP Song Suit

By Rose Krebs

Conservative group Turning Point Action Inc. is urging a Georgia federal judge not to sanction its Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP counsel in a copyright suit filed by the estate of soul artist Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. over President Donald Trump playing his song "Hold On, I'm Comin'," disputing claims they submitted a "frivolous" dismissal bid.

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House To Vote On Bill To Curb Nationwide Injunctions

By Courtney Bublé

The U.S. House of Representatives is one step closer to voting this week on a bill to curb nationwide injunctions, which Republicans are championing in the wake of federal judges ruling against many of the Trump administration's policies on immigration, government funding, the federal workforce and other areas.

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Law Firm's Blog Post Unwinds $43M Ill. Injury Retrial Verdict

By Lauraann Wood

An Illinois appellate court wiped out a couple's $43 million jury verdict and ordered a third trial in their injury case Monday, saying the trial judge should have done a better job probing their attorney's highly improper blog and social media posts.

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Trump Names 3 US Atty Picks For Idaho, Iowa, South Dakota

By Lauren Berg

President Donald Trump on Monday announced his picks for three U.S. attorney positions, including two familiar faces returning to Idaho and South Dakota.

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