Health Co. Wins Initial Toss Of Retirement Forfeiture Suit

By Kellie Mejdrich

An Oregon federal judge agreed Wednesday to toss a proposed class action alleging a health company misspent forfeitures from two employee retirement plans by putting assets toward employer-side contribution obligations instead of lowering administrative costs, holding that allegations failed to state a claim for violating federal benefits law.

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Cognizant Inks $2.8M Deal To End 401(k) Fees Suit

By George Woolston

Information technology company Cognizant Technology Solutions U.S. Corp. will pay $2.8 million to resolve former employees' claims that it saddled its 401(k) plan with poor investment options and high fees, according to a filing in New Jersey federal court.

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Ex-NFL Players Object To Proposed Race-Norming Settlement

By Tom Lotshaw

More than 100 former NFL players spoke against a proposed class action settlement over allegedly discriminatory cognitive disability assessments, telling a federal judge it threatens to release the league's benefit plans from claims raised in other litigation and deliver largely empty rescoring promises.

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Parler Ex-CEO Makes Final Trial Pitch For $100M Damages

By Cara Salvatore

The former CEO of social media site Parler made his final argument Wednesday that he was wrongly stripped of a stake worth up to $100 million, with his lawyer telling a Nevada jury a valuation finding the entire company worth $10.81 was "bunk."

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Ex-BDO Partner Says Board Retaliated With Equity Cut

By Jarek Rutz

A former BDO USA partner urged the Delaware Supreme Court on Wednesday to revive claims that the accounting firm improperly stripped him of equity after he announced plans to retire, arguing that even broad contractual discretion cannot be used in bad faith or retaliation.

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Norfolk Southern Investors Certified In Derailment Suit

By Sydney Price

Norfolk Southern investors can proceed as a class in a suit accusing the company of making misleading statements regarding its safety operations before a fiery train derailment in Ohio in 2023, though a Georgia federal judge did adopt the company's suggestion to narrow the class period.

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Benefits Firm Can't Knock Out Data Breach Suit

By David Aaro

A Georgia federal court on Wednesday narrowed, but refused to dismiss, a proposed class action accusing a human resources services firm of failing to safeguard customer information ahead of a 2024 data breach.

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Mich. School District Defeats Another Race Bias Suit

By Susan Smiley

Eastpointe Community Schools' distribution of COVID-19 relief bonuses was not racially discriminatory, a Michigan federal judge ruled Wednesday, saying a former Eastpointe High School assistant principal provided no evidence to refute the district's explanation for which administrators received bonuses.

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Armstrong Teasdale Builds Chicago M&A Team With 2 Hires

By Tracey Read

Armstrong Teasdale LLP has expanded its corporate services group's Chicago presence with a new partner from Polsinelli PC and a counsel from McDonald Hopkins LLC, the firm announced Wednesday.

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AI Meeting Recaps Pose New Discovery And Privilege Risks

The New York City Bar Association’s recent ethics opinion, cautioning attorneys not to record nonclient conversations with artificial intelligence tools, reflects an emerging view that AI meeting recaps are now a distinct business record category, meaning counsel should set meeting-level controls and apply framework-level updates, says William Wright at Faegre Drinker.

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UCLA Law Is Latest DOJ Target Over Race Bias In Admissions

By Dorothy Atkins

The U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division accused the UCLA School of Law of discriminating against white and Asian students in its admissions process in a letter sent to the school's counsel Thursday, following multiple other similar letters that the DOJ sent to other higher-education institutions.

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DOJ Outlines New Corporate Fraud Enforcement Priorities

By Phillip Bantz

Federal prosecutors "must place great weight" on a new list of factors when considering potential charges in corporate fraud cases, including whether the matters involve government programs, threats to national security or immigration offenses, according to a memo released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Trump Announces Judicial Noms For 5th Circ., NC

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he's nominating Todd Butler, a managing partner at Phelps Dunbar LLP, to serve as a judge on the Fifth Circuit. 

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Blackburn Holds Up White House's Tenn. Judge Pick

By Courtney Bublé

The White House is standing by its nominee for a federal judgeship in the Eastern District of Tennessee amid a holdup from Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., a White House official confirmed to Law360 on Thursday.

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Richards Layton Atty Confirmed To Join Del. Chancery Bench

By Rose Krebs

Delaware's Senate on Thursday confirmed a Richards Layton & Finger PA director to a 12-year term as a vice chancellor on the Chancery Court.

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FBT Gibbons Beats DQ Bid In Suit Over Cigna Payments

By George Woolston

A New Jersey state court judge has rejected a plastic surgery practice's bid to disqualify FBT Gibbons LLP from representing Cigna and a group of employer-sponsored health plans in its suit over the insurer's alleged underpayments, finding the bid appears more of an effort to gain an advantage rather than one to protect the interests of any client.

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Roundup

The Top In-House Hires Of September

By Michele Gorman

Legal department hires during the past month included high-profile appointments at MSG Sports, Nestle and the Associated Press. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from September.

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Judge Reinstates Rogoff As Seattle US Atty After Trump Firing

By Rachel Riley

A Washington federal judge issued an order from the bench on Thursday reinstating Roger Rogoff as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, finding that President Donald Trump exceeded his authority when he fired him in July.

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Trump Says Copyright Chief Can't Stay In Office Amid Appeal

By Adam Lidgett

The Trump administration is urging the D.C. Circuit to let it remove U.S. Copyright Office leader Shira Perlmutter, arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision protecting Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook for now does not entitle Perlmutter to remain in office while her firing challenge proceeds.

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Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

By Matthew Perlman

State enforcers settled their case challenging Paramount Skydance's planned $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, while the U.S. Department of Justice probes Fox's planned $22 billion deal for Roku and regulators review massive deals in the energy and railroad sectors.

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