Gun companies aim to avoid Mexico's lawsuit at SCOTUS, lawsuit challenges Trump's end to Haitian and Venezuelan deportation protections and more ??
Reuters Legal
From the courts to law firms, we bring you the latest legal news. Subscribe to our newsletters: https://bit.ly/3nhgllA
?? Good morning from The Legal File! Here is the rundown of today's top legal news:
?? At US Supreme Court, gun companies aim to avoid Mexico's lawsuit
The U.S. Supreme Court was set on March 4 to hear a bid by two American gun companies to throw out the Mexican government's lawsuit accusing them of aiding illegal firearms trafficking to drug cartels and fueling gun violence in the southern neighbor of the United States.
U.S. firearms maker Smith & Wesson and distributor Interstate Arms have appealed a lower court's ruling that the lawsuit could proceed on the grounds that Mexico has plausibly alleged that the companies aided and abetted illegal gun sales, harming the Mexican government.
The arguments before the justices come at a fraught time for U.S.-Mexican relations as President Donald Trump pursues tariffs on Mexican goods and accuses Mexico of doing too little to stop the flow of synthetic drugs such as fentanyl and migrant arrivals at the border.
At issue is whether Mexico's suit should be dismissed under a 2005 federal law called the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act that broadly shields gun companies from liability for crimes committed with their products — or whether the alleged conduct of the companies falls outside these protections, as the lower court found.
?? American Airlines asks US Supreme Court to reverse ruling barring JetBlue alliance
American Airlines has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reverse a lower-court decision that found its now-scrapped U.S. Northeast partnership with JetBlue Airways violated federal antitrust law.
American Airlines in a petition made public on March 3, asked the justices to review a decision in November by a Boston-based federal appeals court that upheld a trial judge's ruling blocking the airlines' "Northeast Alliance," which had allowed the two carriers to coordinate flights and pool revenue.
The company argued that the joint venture was designed to increase market-wide competition among all airlines and that the lower court's ruling, by invalidating the alliance, "threatens to wreak havoc on productive collaborations of all shapes and sizes."
The ruling by the Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals came in a lawsuit the U.S. Department of Justice filed in 2021 along with six states during the Democratic administration of former President Joe Biden.
"The Northeast Alliance was designed to increase competition and expand customer options in the Northeast, which it clearly did during the time it was allowed to operate," the company said in a statement.
Related read:
?? Lawsuit challenges Trump's end to Haitian, Venezuelan deportation protections
Immigrant rights groups filed a lawsuit on March 3 challenging the Trump administration's decision to end temporary protections against deportation for thousands of Haitian and Venezuelan migrants living in the United States.
The lawsuit in Boston federal court is the first legal challenge to U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem's Feb. 20 decision to speed up the expiration of deportation protections and work permits for 521,000 Haitians covered by the temporary program so that they will end in August.
The decision reversed a move by Democratic former President Joe Biden's administration last year to extend Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for Haiti through February 2026. TPS was first granted to Haiti in 2010 following a devastating earthquake and has been renewed several times since.
Earlier in February, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security had similarly moved to accelerate the end date for TPS for Venezuela from October 2026 to as early as April 2, an action that is already being challenged in two other lawsuits.
Related stories:
?? ITG owes Reynolds American $251.5 million for Florida tobacco settlement, judge rules
A Delaware judge on March 3 ordered ITG Brands to pay rival cigarette maker Reynolds American $251.5 million in connection with a Florida tobacco settlement, following ITG's purchase of four cigarette brands from Reynolds a decade ago.
Vice Chancellor Lori Will of the Delaware Chancery Court rejected ITG's argument that the $251.5 million, the full amount Reynolds sought, be reduced by money Reynolds saved because ITG did not join the Florida settlement.
Reynolds is a unit of British American Tobacco while ITG is a unit of Britain's Imperial Brands. ITG said it plans to appeal.
The case arose from Reynolds' June 2015 sale of the Kool, Maverick, Salem and Winston brands to ITG, so Reynolds could win regulatory approval for its $25.8 billion purchase of smaller rival Lorillard.
?? That's all for today, thank you for reading The Legal File, and have a wonderful day!
For more legal industry news, read and subscribe to The Daily Docket.