Target Beats ERISA Suit Over Tobacco Health Surcharge

By Bonnie Eslinger

A Minnesota federal judge on Wednesday tossed a proposed class action alleging that a tobacco fee on Target workers' health plan violated nondiscrimination provisions in federal benefits law, agreeing with the retail giant that the suit failed to state a claim.

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DOL Proposes E-Delivery Rule For Employer Health Plans

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits arm unveiled a proposal Wednesday that would provide more opportunities for electronic delivery of employer-provided health plans' mandatory disclosures.

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DOL IG Says Info-Sharing Pacts Lacked Safeguards

By Irene Spezzamonte

U.S. Department of Labor Inspector General Anthony P. D'Esposito testified Wednesday before a U.S. House subcommittee that during the Biden administration, the department shared confidential information with plaintiffs' attorneys without notifying the Wage and Hour Division or the Employee Benefits Security Administration.

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DOL Takes Swipe At Derisking Cases In Bristol-Myers Brief

By Grace Elletson

The U.S. Department of Labor urged the Second Circuit to shut down a suit claiming drugmaker Bristol-Myers Squibb violated federal benefits law by offloading $2.6 billion in pension liabilities to a risky annuity provider, saying benefit plans stand to suffer if courts greenlight flimsy claims of injury.

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DOL Asset Manager Exemption Proposal Sent To White House

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits subagency transmitted a proposal affecting a popular exemption to strict prohibitions on many types of transactions involving federally regulated benefit plans to a White House office for review, teeing up the regulation for release.

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Ex-Players Seek $4M In Legal Fees In NFL Race-Norming Fight

By Alex Lawson

Ex-NFL players who settled a suit over racially discriminatory assessments made by the league's disability and retirement plans are asking a Maryland federal judge for over $4 million in legal fees.

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Analysis

SpaceX May Not Escape Shareholder Suits' Orbit So Easily

By Sarah Jarvis

SpaceX's recent blockbuster initial public offering includes a novel and untested framework to steer shareholder disputes to Texas' Business Court and arbitration while prohibiting investor class actions, in a move attorneys said will certainly be challenged in court and could lead to the company facing an impractical number of arbitration proceedings.

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Late Emails Undercut BCBS Pricing Suit, Walgreens Says

By Lauraann Wood

Walgreen Co. is urging an Illinois federal judge to again sanction a Blue Cross Blue Shield insurer and its subsidiary for allegedly failing to produce key email evidence the pharmacy retailer says "upends" the insurers' 6-year-old claim that it intentionally overcharged them for prescription drugs.

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TransMedics Sheds Some Claims In Organ Transfer Biz Suit

By Katryna Perera

A Massachusetts federal judge on Tuesday significantly trimmed a proposed shareholder class action alleging that medical technology company TransMedics Inc. and its top brass made misleading statements about the success and cost-effectiveness of its organ donation products and services.

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Does Your Pay Measure Up? Take The Law360 Pulse Survey

How do in-house salaries vary across industries, roles, and organizational revenue? What compensation tools are companies using to lure top talent? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's In-House Compensation Survey.

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Simpson Thacher Warned Co. About Deal Terms, Jury Told

By Cara Salvatore

A retired Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP partner who handled the fundraising vehicle alleged to have destroyed Patriot National Inc. told a Florida jury Thursday that he flagged deal terms that later became detrimental to the insurance services company.

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ABA Rips DOJ's 'Absurd' Firm Subpoenas In Documents Fight

By Emily Sawicki

The American Bar Association has blasted as "absurd" the government's move to subpoena law firms as an attempt to avoid a documents request from the organization amid allegations the Trump administration worked to intimidate law firms into conforming with his policy goals through executive orders last year.

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Judge's Deportation Probe 'Off The Rails,' DOJ Tells DC Circ.

By Britain Eakin

The Trump administration urged the full D.C. Circuit to either order U.S. District Judge James Boasberg to terminate his criminal contempt inquiry into the administration's Alien Enemies Act removals last year, or order him to forgo live testimony in the probe.

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Jack Smith's Lawyers Say Criminal Referral Twists Testimony

By Courtney Bublé

Former special counsel Jack Smith's legal team has said the criminal referral a U.S. Congress member sent the Department of Justice to investigate Smith is based on a "spurious claim."

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500-Member NYC Public Defender Union Ends Strike

By Andrea Keckley

The first and so far only New York City public defender union to go on strike this year announced on Wednesday that its approximately 500 members are returning to work after reaching a tentative agreement with their managers.

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Patent Atty Sues USPTO Over 'Flawed' Disciplinary Procedure

By Hailey Konnath

An Ohio patent lawyer Thursday accused the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office of using an unlawful "pay for play" system for its disciplinary proceedings against attorneys, claiming the disciplinary proceedings are "inherently biased" and rigged against him and others facing discipline.

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Senate Confirms 2 Judges, Advances Ohio And Colo. Picks

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate on Thursday voted 48-47 to confirm Judge Daniel Traynor of the District of North Dakota to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit and 49-44 to confirm Antonio M. Pozos, a partner at Faegre Drinker Biddle & Reath LLP, as a judge for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

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