Analysis

4 Big ERISA Litigation Developments From 2025's 2nd Half

By Kellie Mejdrich

The Eleventh Circuit signaled it may be willing to change its precedent to make it easier for federal benefits lawsuits to get to the courthouse door, while the Second Circuit shut down a challenge to a union pension plan's private equity investment emphasis. Here's a look back at these and two other significant Employee Retirement Income Security Act litigation developments from the latter half of 2025 that benefits attorneys should have on their radar.

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Sherwin-Williams Flicks Tobacco Fee Suit To Arbitration

By Kellie Mejdrich

An Ohio federal judge refused Friday to toss a proposed class action from two Sherwin-Williams ex-workers who alleged an employee health plan tobacco surcharge violated nondiscrimination provisions in federal benefits law, finding while one claim could proceed in court, the dispute should first head to arbitration.

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Printing Co. Defends Trial Win In $265M ESOP Sale Dispute

By Lauraann Wood

A printing company's directors and employee stock ownership plan trustee say the Seventh Circuit should back their win over accusations they illegally undersold the company into private equity for $265 million, arguing the trial court correctly decided their interests were "perfectly aligned" with plan participants' interests.

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Caterpillar Dealer Ex-Worker Files 401(k) Fee Suit In Fla.

By Kellie Mejdrich

An ex-worker for a dealer of Caterpillar construction equipment in Florida hit his former employer with a proposed class action in federal court alleging his employee 401(k) plan paid excessive fees, breaching fiduciary duties under federal benefits law.

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Mich. High Court Backs Rejection Of Farmwork Comp Suit

By Bonnie Eslinger

A closely divided Michigan Supreme Court on Friday let stand a lower appellate court holding that a nonprofit's legal challenge to a state policy denying workers' compensation pay to unauthorized immigrants was filed too late.

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Fired MSPB Member Urges Full DC Circ. To Rehear Case

By Emily Brill

A D.C. Circuit panel based its decision to uphold Merit Systems Protection Board member Cathy Harris' firing on a mischaracterization of the agency, Harris argued Friday to the full D.C. Circuit, asking the en banc court to override the decision, bring her back to work and preserve MSPB members' job protections.

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Brief

Delta Retirees' Pension Dispute Paused For Mediation Efforts

By Kelcey Caulder

A Nevada federal judge Thursday froze a proposed class action accusing Delta Air Lines Inc. of shorting married pensioners on retirement benefits by miscalculating lump-sum payouts, giving the airline and the former workers behind the suit a chance to try and reach a deal. 

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Opinion

Supreme Court Term Limits Would Carry Hidden Risk

While proposals for limiting the terms of U.S. Supreme Court justices are popular, a steady stream of relatively young, highly marketable ex-justices with unique knowledge and influence entering the marketplace of law and politics could create new problems, say Michael Broyde at Emory University and Hayden Hall at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

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Bonus Spotlight

Axinn Veltrop's Bonuses Reach Up To $240K

By Andrea Keckley

Axinn Veltrop & Harkrider LLP is giving out bonuses of up to $240,000 for its associates, according to an in-house memo seen by Law360 Pulse.

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Watchdog Sues White House For Records On Law Firm Deals

By Emily Sawicki

A Washington-based nonprofit watchdog has sued the Trump administration, seeking records related to deals BigLaw firms struck to provide an estimated nearly $1 billion worth of pro bono legal services to further the administration's priorities, following the president's executive orders to withhold security clearances and investigate the firms.

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Analysis

2025 Sees State Courts Diverge From Federal Criminal Norms

By Brandon Lowrey

Some of this year's most notable criminal appellate rulings homed in on differences between state and federal constitutional protections against the most serious punishments, with movement in Michigan, bucking the trend in Wyoming, and an ambiguous but potentially earthshaking decision out of Texas.

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US Atty Nominee For Wyo. Was Outside Capitol On Jan. 6

By Courtney Bublé

One of President Donald Trump's U.S. attorney nominees, who was on the U.S. Capitol grounds on Jan. 6, 2021, and recently told senators he still thinks "there were imperfections" in the 2020 election process, has been advanced toward Senate confirmation.

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Del. US Atty Resigns Citing 'Politics,' Successor Appointed

By Rose Krebs

The acting U.S. Attorney for Delaware said Friday that she is resigning, citing "a highly politicized, flawed blue-slip tradition" for nominees and saying she "fully" supports her first assistant, who has been appointed by a federal judge to succeed her.

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Dems Demand Release Of 2nd Jack Smith Report

By Courtney Bublé

Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee wrote to Attorney General Pam Bondi on Friday demanding she release the second volume of former special counsel Jack Smith's report on President Donald Trump's retention of classified documents after he left office the first time.

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Alex Jones Atty's Pared-Down Suspension Upheld On Appeal

By Aaron Keller

A Connecticut appeals court on Friday upheld the two-week suspension of former Alex Jones lawyer Norm Pattis, agreeing that a trial court judge was within her discretion to bench the attorney over his law firm's handling of Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre victims' medical records.

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DOJ Shake-Up Keeps Criminal Tax Meetings, Ex-Official Says

By Kat Lucero

The U.S. Department of Justice — despite recently eliminating its Tax Division as part of a broad restructuring — continues to meet with practitioners representing clients who may face federal criminal tax charges, the former division chief said Friday.

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Wash. Justices Retroactively Lower Bar Exam's Passing Score

By Ben Adlin

As Washington state is preparing to transition to a new bar exam, its Supreme Court has ordered a retroactive adjustment to the current exam's minimum passing score, making an estimated hundred-plus law school graduates who narrowly failed in recent years newly eligible for admission to practice law.

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Roundup

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

This past week in London has seen Shell hit with a climate change claim from 100 survivors of a typhoon in the Philippines, London Stock Exchange-listed Oxford Nanopore bring legal action against its co-founder, and the editors of Pink News sue the BBC for defamation following its investigation into alleged sexual misconduct at the news site.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

President Donald Trump issued an executive order to review the influence that proxy adviser firms have, and law firms saw a 9.8% increase in compensation expenses along with a similar increase in billable rates. ​These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP and Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Ninth Circuit handed Epic Games Inc. a partial win by mostly affirming an injunction blocking Apple Inc. from charging developers "prohibitive" commissions on iPhone app purchases made outside its systems.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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