Hospitality

  • December 17, 2025

    Chancery OKs $10M Fat Brands Settlement, Defers Fees

    A judge in the Delaware Chancery Court on Wednesday approved a proposed settlement resolving two long-running shareholder derivative suits against Fat Brands Inc. and its controlling stockholder, finding that the deal delivers immediate cash, targeted governance reforms and a realistic recovery in light of substantial litigation and collectibility risks, while reserving judgment on a disputed request for attorney fees.

  • December 16, 2025

    American Bridge Hit With $4.8M Sanction For Discovery Abuse

    A Washington state judge has slapped American Bridge Co. with $4.8 million in monetary sanctions and found the steel subcontractor and its counsel at Smith Currie Oles LLP on the hook for additional legal fees for "widespread discovery abuses" throughout a court battle with a general contractor over delays in a Seattle convention center project.

  • December 16, 2025

    Six Flags Can't Escape Privacy Suit Over Website Tracking

    A California federal judge has refused to release Six Flags Entertainment Corp. from a proposed class action accusing it of illegally allowing third parties to track the browsing activities of visitors to its Cedar Point amusement park website, finding that the plaintiff had sufficiently asserted an array of claims for invasion of privacy, wiretap, fraud and unjust enrichment.

  • December 16, 2025

    Insurer Needn't Cover Casino Assault Dispute, NJ Panel Says

    A home insurer had no duty to defend or indemnify a man accused of injuring another man during an altercation at an Atlantic City casino, a New Jersey state appeals court affirmed Tuesday, finding that the incident did not constitute an occurrence.

  • December 12, 2025

    National Trust Sues To Halt Trump's Ballroom Construction

    The National Trust for Historic Preservation asked a D.C. federal judge to stop construction on a White House ballroom until Trump administration officials complete mandatory review processes that they blew off before unilaterally razing the East Wing to make room for the structure.

  • December 12, 2025

    Mass. Restaurants Settle OT Claims For $225K

    Two Massachusetts eateries have agreed to pay a total of $225,000 to resolve the government's allegations that they failed to pay workers for overtime hours and tried to prevent them from speaking with U.S. Department of Labor representatives investigating possible labor violations, according to a consent judgment entered Friday in federal court.

  • December 12, 2025

    2nd Circ. Remands $100K Award To Fired Atty In Bias Case

    A Second Circuit panel vacated a $100,000 charging lien awarded to an attorney who represented a man who sued Marriott International Inc. for race-based harassment, agreeing that the lawyer was fired without cause but finding that the lower court appeared not to address several arguments in favor of a lower amount.

  • December 12, 2025

    Goldberg Segalla Adds Hospitality Pro In Orlando

    Goldberg Segalla LLP picked up a new special counsel for its retail and hospitality group in Orlando from Pozo-Diaz & Pozo PA.

  • December 11, 2025

    9th Circ. Won't Rethink Vegas Hotels' Win In Price-Fixing Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Dec. 11 rejected Las Vegas hotel guests' request for the full appeals court to reconsider a panel's August ruling that threw out their proposed class action accusing the casino-hotel operators of using software to illegally inflate room rates.

  • December 11, 2025

    Split Pa. Panel Blocks Police Reports On Liquor Licensee

    A trial court was wrong to deny a Philadelphia establishment's appeal for renewal of its liquor license, since nearly a dozen police reports the court considered should have been excluded as hearsay, a split appellate panel said Thursday.

  • December 11, 2025

    Marriott's $175K Deal Wraps Up EEOC Religious Bias Suit

    A Florida federal judge has approved a $175,000 deal to end a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit claiming hotel giant Marriott unlawfully required a Seventh-day Adventist employee to work on her Sabbath, the agency said Thursday.

  • December 10, 2025

    Starbucks DEI Goals Are 'Race-Based Quotas,' Fla. AG Claims

    Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is accusing coffee giant Starbucks Corp. of violating state civil rights protections in its efforts to promote an inclusive workforce, claiming in a state lawsuit Wednesday that the company's diversity, equity and inclusion policies "cross the line into illegal, race-based quotas."

  • December 10, 2025

    Boardwalk Pipeline Case Sees Partial Reversal

    The Delaware Supreme Court on Wednesday partially revived long-running challenges to Loews Corp.'s 2018, $1.5 billion cash-out of Boardwalk Pipeline Partners LP, ruling that the Chancery Court misread the high court's 2022 guidance and prematurely shut down minority unitholder claims attacking the legal opinion that triggered the buyout.

  • December 10, 2025

    Tribal Casino Must Face 401(k) Fee Suit Over High Costs

    A tribal hospitality and casino company must face a suit claiming its 401(k) retirement plan was bogged down by exorbitant costs and underperforming investment options, following a New York federal judge's refusal to toss the proposed class action.

  • December 10, 2025

    Denial Of Benefits Clause Key In Nixing $214M Ecuador Claim

    An international tribunal concluded that Ecuador was entitled to deny treaty protections to a Nevada company that initiated a $214 million investor-state claim over a gambling ban enacted in 2011 because the company did not have substantial business activities in the U.S., according to the now-public award.

  • December 10, 2025

    Trans Woman Sues Hilton Over Security Guard Sex Assault

    A transgender woman is suing Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. and its affiliates in Texas state court, alleging she was sexually assaulted by a security guard who later used hotel records to find her phone number and send unwanted, sexually explicit videos.

  • December 09, 2025

    McDonald's Narrows Fired Worker's Sex Harassment Suit

    An ex-McDonald's worker failed to show she was fired for complaining that a co-worker sexually harassed her, an Illinois federal judge ruled, cutting claims from a proposed class action that the fast food giant often retaliated against workers who reported on-the-job sexual harassment.

  • December 08, 2025

    Royal Caribbean Negligent In Passenger Death, Family Says

    Royal Caribbean crewmembers negligently overserved a man alcohol and later used excessive force to restrain him, the family of the man who died on board one of the company's cruise ships told a Florida federal court.

  • December 08, 2025

    Trump Admin Backs Exxon In Cuba Property Seizure Case

    The Trump administration is pressing the U.S. Supreme Court to rule in favor of Exxon Mobil Corp. and find that a federal law allowing U.S. victims of property seizures by the Cuban government to seek damages from entities that subsequently used the property abrogates the sovereign immunity of Cuban agencies and instrumentalities.

  • December 08, 2025

    Calif. Tribe Looks To Nix Suits Against $700M Casino Approval

    A California tribe is asking a D.C. federal court to dismiss three challenges to a U.S. Department of the Interior decision to place 160 acres into trust for its $700 million hotel and casino project, arguing that the consequences of denying its intervention in the litigation would be "grave and severe."

  • December 08, 2025

    NY Hotel Ordered To Pay $4.1M In Union Benefits Dispute

    A Manhattan hotel operator must hand over $4.1 million to a hotel and hospital workers union, a New York federal judge ruled, finding that the operator has failed to respond to accusations that it owes money to multiple health benefit funds.

  • December 08, 2025

    Hilton Retirees Push DC Circ. To Reopen Pension Case

    A panel of D.C. Circuit judges appeared to agree Monday that a class of over 20,000 Hilton employees hadn't justified its request for detailed discovery on the hotel chain's compliance with a 14-year-old injunction requiring it to pay additional retirement benefits.

  • December 08, 2025

    KKR Secures $348.9M For European Budget Hotel Acquisition

    Investment firm KKR said Monday that it has provided $348.9 million to support Tristan Capital Partners' acquisition of easyHotel, a budget hotel operator across Europe, in a transaction advised by Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner LLP and Linklaters LLP.

  • December 05, 2025

    NC Restaurants Hit With DOL Suit Over Pooled Tips

    Two North Carolina restaurants have, for four years, kept and pooled tips from front-of-house employees, while unlawfully distributing them to tip-ineligible, back-of-house employees in order to offset labor costs, the U.S. Department of Labor told a North Carolina federal court.

  • December 05, 2025

    High Court To Weigh Courts' Power Over Arbitration Awards

    The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Dec. 5 to consider whether federal courts have the authority to confirm or overturn arbitration awards arising out of cases they previously exercised authority over, taking up a tricky legal question stemming from a laid-off security guard's discrimination case.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Educating Your Community

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    Nearly two decades prosecuting scammers and elder fraud taught me that proactively educating the public about the risks they face and the rights they possess is essential to building trust within our communities, empowering otherwise vulnerable citizens and preventing wrongdoers from gaining a foothold, says Roger Handberg at GrayRobinson.

  • 5 Crisis Lawyering Skills For An Age Of Uncertainty

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    As attorneys increasingly face unprecedented and pervasive situations — from prosecutions of law enforcement officials to executive orders targeting law firms — they must develop several essential competencies of effective crisis lawyering, says Ray Brescia at Albany Law School.

  • Opinion

    It's Time For The Judiciary To Fix Its Cybersecurity Problem

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    After recent reports that hackers have once again infiltrated federal courts’ electronic case management systems, the judiciary should strengthen its cybersecurity practices in line with executive branch standards, outlining clear roles and responsibilities for execution, says Ilona Cohen at HackerOne.

  • Series

    Writing Novels Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Writing my debut novel taught me to appreciate the value of critique and to never give up, no matter how long or tedious the journey, providing me with valuable skills that I now emphasize in my practice, says Daniel Buzzetta at BakerHostetler.

  • SDNY OpenAI Order Clarifies Preservation Standards For AI

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    The Southern District of New York’s recent order in the OpenAI copyright infringement litigation, denying discovery of The New York Times' artificial intelligence technology use, clarifies that traditional preservation benchmarks apply to AI content, relieving organizations from using a “keep everything” approach, says Philip Favro at Favro Law.

  • How Calif. Law Cracks Down On Algorithmic Price-Fixing

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    Gov. Gavin Newsom signed two laws this month significantly expanding state antitrust enforcement and civil and criminal penalties for the use or distribution of shared pricing algorithms, as the U.S. Department of Justice has recently wielded the Sherman Act to challenge algorithmic pricing, say attorneys at Pillsbury.

  • Opinion

    High Court, Not A Single Justice, Should Decide On Recusal

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    As public trust in the U.S. Supreme Court continues to decline, the court should adopt a collegial framework in which all justices decide questions of recusal together — a reform that respects both judicial independence and due process for litigants, say Michael Broyde at Emory University and Hayden Hall at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

  • Series

    Traveling Solo Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Traveling by myself has taught me to assess risk, understand tone and stay calm in high-pressure situations, which are not only useful life skills, but the foundation of how I support my clients, says Lacey Gutierrez at Group Five Legal.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Client Service

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    Law school teaches you how to interpret the law, but it doesn't teach you some of the key ways to keeping clients satisfied, lessons that I've learned in the most unexpected of places: a book on how to be a butler, says Gregory Ramos at Armstrong Teasdale.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: 3 Tips On Finding The Right Job

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    After 23 years as a state and federal prosecutor, when I contemplated moving to a law firm, practicing solo or going in-house, I found there's a critical first step — deep self-reflection on what you truly want to do and where your strengths lie, says Rachael Jones at McKool Smith.

  • What 2 Recent Rulings Mean For Trafficking Liability Coverage

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    Two recent federal district court decisions add to a growing number of courts concluding that Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act claims may trigger coverage under commercial general liability policies, rejecting insurer arguments regarding public policy and exclusion defenses, says Joe Cole at Shumaker.

  • Series

    Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Painting trains me to see both the fine detail and the whole composition at once, enabling me to identify friction points while keeping sight of a client's bigger vision, but the most significant lesson I've brought to my legal work has been the value of originality, says Jana Gouchev at Gouchev Law.

  • Protecting Sensitive Court Filings After Recent Cyber Breach

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    In the wake of a recent cyberattack on federal courts' Case Management/Electronic Case Files system, civil litigants should consider seeking enhanced protections for sensitive materials filed under seal to mitigate the risk of unauthorized exposure, say attorneys at Redgrave.

  • Series

    Judging Figure Skating Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Judging figure skating competitions helps me hone the focus, decisiveness and ability to process complex real-time information I need in court, but more importantly, it makes me reengage with a community and my identity outside of law, which, paradoxically, always brings me back to work feeling restored, says Megan Raymond at Groombridge Wu.

  • $100K H-1B Fee May Disrupt Rural Healthcare Needs

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    The Trump administration's newly imposed $100,000 supplemental fee on new H-1B petitions may disproportionately affect healthcare employers' ability to recruit international medical graduates, and the fee's national interest exceptions will not adequately solve ensuing problems for healthcare employers or medically underserved areas, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

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