10th Circ. Sides With Early Retirees In Union Pension Fight

By Kellie Mejdrich

The Tenth Circuit on Tuesday backed a group of union retirees who alleged they were wrongly denied early retirement benefits from a multiemployer pension plan after they withdrew from work that was covered by a collective bargaining agreement, reviving one of their claims while rejecting an appeal from the plan's trustees.

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Aviation Co. Gets Pretrial Win In Remote Workers' Layoff Suit

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida federal judge said Tuesday that a proposed class of remote employees did not have to be noticed under the WARN Act, handing an aviation company an early win in a suit by terminated employees who claimed they were abruptly fired in violation of the federal law.

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Ga. Hospital Escapes LGBTQ+ Bias Suit Over Fertility Benefits

By Patrick Hoff

An Atlanta-area hospital and health system defeated a lesbian nurse's lawsuit alleging she wasn't given the same access to fertility benefits as heterosexual employees, with a Georgia federal judge concluding that a magistrate misapplied the U.S. Supreme Court's blockbuster Bostock ruling when he recommended keeping the case in court.

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Cancer Patients Can't Get Class Status In Proton Beam Suit

By Grace Elletson

A Tennessee federal judge shot down a BlueCross BlueShield health plan member's bid for class certification in his suit claiming the insurer wrongfully denied coverage for a proton beam cancer treatment it deemed investigatory, stating the case would require too much individual math to assess each patient's potential damages.

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Texas Biz Court Pares Southwest Union's Boeing Suit

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas Business Court judge pared back the scope of claims brought by the pilots union for Southwest Airlines against The Boeing Co. after regulators grounded the 737 Max aircraft, saying Monday that the pilots can recover only direct damages, not damages from secondary injuries.

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Worker Says Pilgrim's Pride Should Face 401(k) Fund Suit

By Zach Dupont

A Pilgrim's Pride Corp. employee has told a Colorado federal judge that the comparators used to allege the company kept a riskier and worse performing contract within its retirement savings plan are sufficient to survive the company's dismissal bid, according to a response brief.

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What Comes Next For Digital Asset Regs After Clarity Act Flop

After the U.S. Senate recently blocked the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, agency rulemaking could still offer a near-term remedy, and companies meanwhile should monitor the existing framework assembled from enforcement precedent and case law in the absence of a purpose-built statute, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

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Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: September Lessons

In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses six recent rulings involving pecuniary loss in false price comparison advertising, privity in an insurance fee class, antitrust standing, immigration class representatives, retirement beneficiary class commonality, and Rule 23(f) appeals in Fair Labor Standards Act claims.

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3rd Circ. Affirms Thomson Reuters' Westlaw AI Copyright Win

By Ivan Moreno

The Third Circuit on Tuesday upheld Thomson Reuters' victory against Ross Intelligence Inc. in the first U.S. appellate ruling to address whether artificial intelligence training can be fair use of copyrighted material, upholding a Delaware federal court's decision that the startup infringed Westlaw headnotes by using material derived from them to develop an AI-powered legal search tool.

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11th Circ. Won't Pause Sanctions Against Trump In IRS Case

By Jack McLoone

An Eleventh Circuit panel refused Tuesday to pause a district court's sanctions order barring President Donald Trump and others from citing the agreement he made to settle his $10 billion suit against the Internal Revenue Service while they appeal the order.

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DC Circ. Weighs Limits On Boasberg's Contempt Inquiry

By Jared Foretek

A top Justice Department official told an en banc D.C. Circuit panel that a district judge should refer former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for contempt over the 2025 deportation flights to El Salvador and move on, saying the judge had no authority to wrap others into his inquiry.

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Jack Smith Says He Won't Be Intimidated By Trump Threats

By Courtney Bublé

Former special counsel Jack Smith testified on Tuesday he "will not be silenced" by threats of prosecution by the president or others.

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Baker Botts Atty Disputes Inventor's Claim Of Defamation Deal

By Madison Arnold

A Baker Botts LLP patent attorney is pushing back on an inventor's claim that they reached a settlement agreement in the inventor's defamation suit in Florida federal court.

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Richards Layton Atty's Chancery Nomination Advanced

By Rose Krebs

A Delaware senate committee Tuesday advanced the nomination for a Richards Layton & Finger PA director to serve as a vice chancellor on the nationally important Chancery Court, with him vowing to continue the court's esteemed legacy for corporate law jurisprudence.

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