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Buckle Up for Self-Driving Car Crash Suits

Here's a new breed of lawsuit that no doubt we'll see more of: a motorcyclist in San Francisco sued General Motors after being struck by one of the company's self-driving cars.

In a suit filed in San Francisco federal court on Monday, Oscar Nilsson said he was hit by a 2016 Chevrolet Bolt operating in self-driving mode. Represented by Trinette Kent of Lemberg Law, Nilsson said the car moved to change lanes when it “suddenly veered back into Mr. Nilsson's lane, striking Mr. Nilsson and knocking him to the ground.”

Notably missing as a named defendant: the person in the Bolt's driver's seat, Manuel DeJesus Salazar. The complaint specified he did not have his hands on the steering wheel.

The case may not shed much light on potentially sticky liability questions though. According to the San Jose Mercury News, the San Francisco Police Department report on the crash found Nilsson was at fault for passing a vehicle on the right when it wasn't safe,

The first suit seeking to hold a carmaker liable for an autopilot crash was filed in 2016 in Beijing, according to Reuters, when Gao Jubin sued Tesla over his 23-year-old son's death.

Bryant Walker Smith, an assistant law professor at the University of South Carolina, wrote an interesting paper last year on automated driving and product liability for the Michigan State Law Review.

His conclusion: “The current product liability regime, while imperfect, is probably compatible with the adoption of automated driving systems. These systems, when introduced, are likely to be substantially safer than human-driven vehicles. Because driving decisions will shift from human drivers to automated systems (and their designers), a larger share of the crashes that nonetheless occur will implicate product liability law.

“This means that, in comparison to the automotive industry today, the automated driving industry will likely bear a bigger slice of a smaller pie of total crash costs. Under conservative assumptions, these costs are large—but not extraordinarily so.”

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Grumpy Cat Wins $710,000 in Copyright Suit

Courthouse News reports that a federal jury this week awarded the owners of internet sensation “Grumpy Cat” $710,000 in a contract dispute with the creators of an iced coffee brand.

Father and son Nick and Paul Sanford struck an agreement to use the cat's grumpy face on packaging for “Grumpy Cat Grumppuccino.” But according to the complaint by the cat's owner, the Sanfords also used it on an unauthorized line of “Grumpy Cat Roasted Coffee.” Also, they allegedly obtained the rights to the domain name grumpycat.com “for the purpose of furthering their unauthorized use and exploitation of the Grumpy Cat Copyrights and Grumpy Cat Trademarks.”

The cat (actual name Tardar Sauce) sits atop an empire.

According to the complaint, she has appeared on television shows including Good Morning America, American Idol, and The Bachelorette; been featured on the front page of The Wall Street Journal and New York Magazine, starred in advertisements for Cheerios and McDonalds, starred in her own a Lifetime Television Christmas movie, and (is it just me, or is this totally depressing?) “authored” three books that debuted on the New York Times bestseller list.

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Faegre Racks up $105M Win for Cargill

Lawyers from Faegre Baker Daniels and Robinson, Bradshaw & Hinson scored a $105 million win for Cargill Inc. after a North Carolina federal judge trebled a jury's $35 million award in a racketeering case.

Cargill and its Meat Solutions division sued distributor WDS for secretly jacking up prices for items such as film, wrap, trays and spices beyond the agreed-upon margins. The suit alleged fraud, unfair and deceptive trade practices, conversion of Cargill's monies and conspiracy.

For years, the defendants “orchestrated a conspiracy of fraud and commercial bribery…ultimately defrauding Plaintiffs out of more than $35 million,” wrote Cargill lawyers Jacob D. Bylund, Dasha Ternavska and Christine R. M. Kain from Faegre and Edward F. Hennessey IV of Robinson, Bradshaw in court papers.

The defendants were represented by Tuggle Duggins & Meschan; Bell, Davis & Pitt and Crumpler Freedman Parker & Witt.

The trial, which began on Jan. 8, was presided over Chief U.S. District Judge Frank D. Whitney of the Western District of North Carolina. He gave the winners two weeks to file for attorneys fees.

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Lateral Watch

Mayer Brown in New York has picked up Glen A. Kopp from Bracewell, where he chaired the firm's white collar practice.

A former federal prosecutor in the Southern District of New York, Kopp joined Bracewell in 2013. He said he was drawn to Mayer Brown for its global platform to assist clients facing “government scrutiny around the world, with confusing and often conflicting regulatory regimes.”

Bracewell will see likely another departure as well. On Tuesday, President Donald Trump nominated Austin-based IP litigation partner Alan Albright to be judge on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas.

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Quote of the day:

“I just signed your death warrant.”

Michigan state court Judge Rosemarie Aquilina to former gymnastics Team USA doctor Larry Nassar, after she sentenced him to 40 to 175 years in prison, on top of the 60 years he already got for child pornography.

A scoop from my colleague Cogan Scheier, who obtained a DOJ memo directing prosecutors to attempt to get “meritless” FCA cases dismissed.

For plaintiffs attorneys, it could mean a lot more work.

Defense lawyers said the judge's partial dismissal ruling calls into question the government's decision to retry the case.

The child, now age 6, will live the rest of her life in a wheelchair, in a diaper and will be unable to feed herself.

There were no airbags, no spotters, and the fall was never rehearsed when the actor who plays Dwight was directed to “shoot” the stuntman and pretend to push him off a balcony.

Everyone said she wanted to be FTC chairwoman, but this is a nice consolation prize.