Tire Co. Can't Break Free From Ex-Worker's 401(k) Suit

By Kellie Mejdrich

An Arizona federal judge refused to dismiss a proposed class action against a tire and wheel retailer alleging mismanagement of a $1.2 billion employee 401(k) plan, holding that an ex-worker sufficiently backed up claims that an underperforming suite of target-date fund investments violated federal benefits law.

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Atty's Scheduling Error Dooms Appeal In AT&T Forfeiture Suit

By Patrick Hoff

An AT&T worker can't ask the Ninth Circuit to review the dismissal of his proposed class action claiming the telecommunications company misused forfeited 401(k) funds, with a California federal judge saying his attorney's busy schedule was "one of the least compelling excuses" for filing a late appeal.

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OpenAI Practices Law Without A License, Insurer Alleges

By Lauren Berg

OpenAI is practicing law without a license, according to an insurer's lawsuit filed in Illinois federal court that alleges artificial intelligence platform ChatGPT provided faulty legal advice to a woman seeking disability benefits that led to a breached settlement and a flurry of frivolous court filings.

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Boeing Doesn't Owe Fees For Hauling Bias Suit To Fed. Court

By Grace Elletson

Boeing won't have to pay attorney fees for a worker who got a discrimination case over bonuses sent back to Washington state court after the company yanked it into a federal venue, as a judge ruled Thursday that the aerospace giant's removal of the case wasn't egregious.

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Roundup

ERISA Recap: 6 Developments To Remember From Feb.

By Kellie Mejdrich

The Second Circuit refused to boot a former Luxottica worker's proposed class claims into solo arbitration, a Texas federal judge declined to snuff out a tobacco fee suit against 7-Eleven and a healthcare company inked a $43 million deal to wrap a case over how it handled 401(k) plan forfeitures. Here's a look back at six noteworthy moves in Employee Retirement Income Security Act cases from last month.

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Minn. Man Gets 5 Years For Jury Rigging In Fraud Case

By Parker Quinlan

A Minneapolis man has been sentenced to almost five years in prison for his role in a scheme to bribe a juror during the trial of Minnesota nonprofit Feeding Our Future, which was accused of stealing $250 million in COVID-19 relief funds earmarked to provide lunches to schoolchildren.

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9th Circ. Judge 'Frustrated' At DOJ Position On Anti-Trans EOs

By Rachel Riley

A Ninth Circuit judge said Thursday he's "very frustrated" with the Trump administration's argument that a district court judge acted prematurely by partly blocking executive orders to end funding for gender-affirming care, saying it's "pretty clear" the government was poised to do exactly that.

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Call Center Settles Worker Misclassification Suit

By Irene Spezzamonte

A call center company has agreed to settle a proposed class and collective action accusing it of misclassifying workers as independent contractors rather than employees, the call center workers and the company told a Florida federal court.

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BCBS Can't Nix NC Plan Member From Cancer Treatment Row

By Gianna Ferrarin

A North Carolina federal judge ruled a Blue Cross Blue Shield unit must face proposed class action claims over its administration of a state employee health plan from a participant alleging it arbitrarily characterized a proton beam cancer radiation treatment as experimental to deny coverage.

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Ex-Conn. Hospital Worker Drops Suit Over Post-Assault Firing

By Brian Steele

A former hospital maintenance worker injured in a workplace attack has ended his federal lawsuit against Stamford Health Inc. after the parties told a Connecticut federal judge they had reached an "agreement in principle" that needed approval from the state Workers' Compensation Commission.

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Series

Volunteering With Scouts Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Serving as an assistant scoutmaster for my son’s troop reaffirmed several skills and principles crucial to lawyering — from the importance of disconnecting to the value of morality, says Michael Warren at McManis Faulkner.

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DOJ Forges Ahead With Law Firm EO Appeals At DC Circ.

By Lauren Berg

The U.S. Department of Justice on Friday moved ahead with filing appeals at the D.C. Circuit to defend executive orders issued by President Donald Trump targeting four law firms, just three days after the agency backtracked on its decision to drop the fight.

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Legal Jobs Up 19th Straight Month In 'Goldilocks' Economy

By Tracey Read

The legal sector continued its lengthy upward streak in February, with 2,600 more people employed in lawyer, paralegal and other law-related professional roles last month than in January, according to seasonally adjusted data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Ex-Girardi Keese Atty Pleads Guilty For Role In Client Scandal

By Dorothy Atkins

Former Girardi Keese attorney Keith Griffin pled guilty to criminal contempt in Illinois federal court on Thursday for his role in the firm's failure to pay millions ​in client settlement funds to relatives of victims killed in the crash of Lion Air Flight 610.

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Louisiana Atty Sanctioned Over AI Hallucinations In Filing

By Matt Perez

A Louisiana attorney was fined $1,000 Thursday for his use of artificial intelligence in drafting an error-riddled brief, while three co-counsel were spared penalty.

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Investors Accuse Alston & Bird Of Aiding $328M Crypto Fraud

By David Minsky

Several investors have brought a Florida federal proposed class action alleging legal malpractice against Alston & Bird LLP, accusing the law firm of drafting joint venture agreements that were used to aid a $328 million cryptocurrency scam. 

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Constantine Cannon Defends Handling Of Sutter $75M Fee

By Dorothy Atkins

Constantine Cannon LLP pushed back Thursday against Schneider Wallace Cottrell Kim LLP's allegations it unfairly reduced Schneider Wallace's share of a $75.4 million fee award in Sutter Health's $228.5 million antitrust deal, arguing in California federal court that the firm "sat on the sidelines" for most of the decadelong fight and isn't entitled to a bigger cut.

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NJ Talc Suit Will Proceed Amid Beasley Allen DQ Appeal

By Emily Sawicki

The New Jersey Supreme Court has declined to stay multicounty litigation over Johnson & Johnson's talc-based baby powder brought by hundreds of women who allege their ovarian cancer was linked to the product, while Beasley Allen appeals its removal as plaintiff's counsel over a firm partner's collaboration with the pharmaceutical giant's former outside counsel.

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Florida Bar Rescinds Claim Agency Is Investigating Halligan

By Jack Karp

The Florida Bar said Friday that it is not investigating controversial former interim U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia Lindsey Halligan, walking back a previous assertion it had made in a letter to a nonprofit that it was probing Halligan's actions.

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Courts Aren't Ignoring Justices' TPS Orders, Ex-Judges Say

By Ganesh Setty

Over 175 former federal and state judges have slammed the Trump administration's claim that lower courts "flouted" interim orders from the U.S. Supreme Court in litigation involving the administration's revocation of foreign nationals' temporary protected status, saying they weren't binding.

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Dems Again Push For Independent Immigration Courts

By Courtney Bublé

Democrats have again introduced a bill that would shift the immigration courts from the executive branch to an independent judiciary, following concerns that the Trump administration has "weaponized" the system.

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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 British American Tobacco sued by more than 100 investors, the government bring a claim against a COVID-19 supplier of personal protective equipment, Annington Funding sue its new corporate trustees on the Financial List, and Piers Morgan hit with a defamation claim from a pro-Israel barrister he interviewed on his YouTube channel. 

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Anthropic, the developer of Claude AI, says it will take the Pentagon to court over being designated a national security risk because it wants to impose ethical guardrails on Claude's use. And the Mideast war is making in-house legal teams across the country work long hours to protect employees trapped by the violence and to keep businesses running despite broken supply chains. These are some of 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

Winston & Strawn LLP, Sullivan Papain Block McManus Coffinas & Cannavo PC, Stanford's Supreme Court Litigation Clinic and attorney Olivia Gabriel lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that New Jersey cannot shield its public transit system from personal injury lawsuits by out-of-state plaintiffs under sovereign immunity.

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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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