DOL Urges 11th Circ. To Scrap ERISA Exhaustion Rule

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Department of Labor urged the full Eleventh Circuit to overturn precedent making it the only appellate court requiring workers to exhaust administrative remedies before bringing any statutory claims under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. arguing that the standard is unfair and in conflict with ERISA.

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Pest Co. Can't Eradicate Workers' Suit Over Tobacco Fees

By Patrick Hoff

Pest control company Rentokil can't escape a proposed class action alleging it unlawfully charged tobacco users more for health benefits without providing a reasonable way to avoid the fee, with a Pennsylvania federal judge rejecting the company's argument that decade-old regulations were invalid.

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Intel Dodges Class Action Over Pension Benefit Methodology

By Grace Elletson

Intel workers misinterpreted federal benefits law when they accused the company of shorting them on pension benefits by using outdated mortality data to convert payments for single workers to payments for married workers, a California federal judge ruled as he threw out their class action.

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Cigna 401(k) Suit Won't Wait For Intel Supreme Court Decision

By Kellie Mejdrich

A Pennsylvania federal court turned down Cigna's bid to stay a proposed class action alleging the insurance company misspent forfeitures from its employee 401(k) plan and offered an underperforming investment fund while the U.S. Supreme Court considers a 401(k) suit against Intel, finding the request unjustified.

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Deloitte Punishes Parents For Taking Leave, Ex-Worker Says

By Hailey Konnath

A former Deloitte employee filed a proposed class action in California federal court on Thursday claiming the consulting giant's performance metrics ultimately shortchange parents who've taken leave, and that that's a problem because compensation is based on those performance metrics.

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6th Circ. Backs NLRB In Fight Over Paving Co. Lockout

By Emily Brill

A Midwest paving and road construction company violated federal labor law by blocking a group of Michigan employees from working for three weeks in an attempt to force their union's hand in a bargaining dispute, the Sixth Circuit has ruled, upholding a National Labor Relations Board decision.

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Ecolab Says Personal Injury Law Firm Holding Back $148K

By Abigail Harrison

Ecolab and its self-funded employee benefit plan have accused a North Carolina personal injury firm of withholding around $148,000 in settlement funds the food safety company says it's owed for covering a worker's medical bills after a car accident.

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IRS Urges Toss Of Revamped Stock Plan Rule Dispute

By Anna Scott Farrell

A Wisconsin federal court should toss a company's remounted suit claiming the Internal Revenue Service secretly passed a rule targeting its stock ownership plan, the government argued, saying the company still has not presented any evidence that the rule exists.

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Brief

US Again Urges High Court To Back Drug Price Program

By Mark Payne

The administration of President Donald Trump again urged the Supreme Court not to hear a challenge to the Medicare drug price negotiation program, arguing against a constitutional challenge brought by Boehringer Ingelheim that drug companies aren't forced to accept lower prices because they can choose not to participate. 

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Driven Brands Hit With Investor Suit Over Financial Controls

By Sydney Price

Auto services holding company Driven Brands is facing a proposed class action from a shareholder accusing it of misleading the public about the firm's internal controls over financial reporting, leading to a 30% single-day share price drop when investors learned that results of several quarters were inaccurately reported.

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Brief

Elevance Nurses' Federal OT Suit Sent From NC To Va.

By MJ Koo

A class and collective action accusing insurer Elevance Health of misclassifying its nurses as overtime-exempt has been transferred from North Carolina to Virginia federal court, where the company faces related claims.

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Series

Alpine Skiing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Skiing has shaped habits I rely on daily as an attorney — focus, resilience and the ability to remain steady when circumstances shift rapidly — and influences the way I approach legal strategy, client counseling and teamwork, says Isaku Begert at Marshall Gerstein.

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DLA Piper Partner Rejects Pregnant Atty's Account Of Firing

By Pete Brush

The DLA Piper partner who fired a pregnant associate said she did so lawfully, telling a Manhattan federal jury her former employee was "in over her head" and disputing that the associate raised pregnancy bias concerns on a termination call.

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6th Circ. Won't Revisit EFAA Ruling Against Adams & Reese

By Patrick Hoff

The Sixth Circuit said it won't reconsider its ruling that a law barring mandatory arbitration of sexual harassment cases kept a former Adams & Reese LLP paralegal's sex harassment and disability bias suit in court, concluding that the firm's objections were already considered.

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Roundup

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen the owner of an oil tanker stuck in the Strait of Hormuz sued by an energy company and an insurer, law firm Boodle Hatfield LLP and two Serle Court barristers sued by a group of Winston Churchill's great-grandchildren, and Welsh Water hit with a fresh class action over polluted rivers.

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Calif. Atty Avoids Sanctions For Filing Bogus Citations With AI

By Matt Perez

A California attorney has avoided sanctions over his use of artificial intelligence for a filing in a civil rights case, which resulted in false citations.

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Another Gov't Atty From Vt. Joins Stris & Maher's Team

By Jack Rodgers

A former civil chief of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of Vermont has joined Stris & Maher LLP's practice as a partner, the firm announced Friday.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Other states might follow the lead of California and break with President Donald Trump's policies in implementing guardrails for state agencies to contract with AI companies. And after three individual indictments last month for selling banned tech to China, Supermicro has hired Munger Tolles & Olson LLP to conduct an independent investigation, assigned its general counsel to lead an internal compliance review, and shaken up its compliance leadership.

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NJ Justices Won't Review Beasley Allen's DQ From Talc Cases

By George Woolston

The New Jersey Supreme Court has declined to review a lower court's order booting the Beasley Allen Law Firm from multicounty litigation in the Garden State over Johnson & Johnson's talcum powder, according to an order made public Friday.

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Conn. Justices Block Agency's Bias Probe Into Atty Licensing

By Brian Steele

Because citizens blocked the legislature from reviewing court decisions when ratifying the state's 1818 constitution, a Connecticut human rights agency has no power to investigate alleged bias in attorney licensing decisions, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled Friday in a unanimous opinion.

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Airline Worker Asks To Expand Sanctions Row In Bias Case

By Emily Brill

A Southwest Airlines flight attendant who was fired after sending her union's president pictures of aborted fetuses is pushing for additional remedies in a sanctions dispute stemming from her long-running religious discrimination lawsuit against the airline, from which she received $800,000 after winning a jury trial in 2022.

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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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Trump Taps Personal Atty For 2nd Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced on Friday evening he's tapping Matthew Schwartz, his attorney in the New York hush money case, for the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. 

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