Whole Foods' $1M Asbestos Suit Survives Dismissal Bid

By Abigail Harrison

Whole Foods can proceed with its $1 million lawsuit over construction work that freed asbestos and forced a store to close temporarily, after a North Carolina Business Court judge ruled the grocer alleged enough to support contract breach claims against a plaza owner and sublessor.

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Widener U. To Pay $800K To End COVID Refund Lawsuit

By Carla Baranauckas

Widener University has agreed to pay $800,000 to settle a proposed class action accusing the school of failing to provide the in-person education and campus services students paid for during the spring 2020 semester, when the COVID-19 pandemic forced classes online.

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Food-Ingredients Sellers Say Buyer Sabotaged $72M Earnout

By Jarek Rutz

A holding company and two members of the family that built its subsidiary food business have accused the company's buyer in the Delaware Chancery Court of deliberately stripping them of promised operational autonomy and sabotaging its performance to avoid paying an earnout of up to $72 million.

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NJ Construction Co. Sues Over Hudson Tunnel Union Limits

By Matthew Santoni

A New Jersey construction company wants to delay bidding for part of the $16 billion Hudson Tunnel Project, claiming in a federal lawsuit that the multistate commission overseeing the project unlawfully barred employing the United Steelworkers union currently representing the company's workers.

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Colo. Justices Question Public Works Act Interpretation

By Zach Dupont

The Colorado Supreme Court appeared skeptical Wednesday of an appellate court's Public Works Act interpretation, which vacated a subcontractor's $12.7 million claim against the general contractor that employed it to help build a new Denver rail line.

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Green Groups Sue To Block Gulf Oil And Gas Lease Sale

By Keith Goldberg

Environmental groups have asked a federal court to block the first in a series of offshore oil and gas lease sales mandated by July's budget reconciliation bill, claiming the government shirked a required environmental review of the lease sale.

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Contractor Not Covered In Pa. Hotel Construction Dispute

By Hope Patti

A pair of Zurich insurers have no duty to defend or indemnify a contractor accused of mismanaging the construction of a dual-brand hotel in Pennsylvania, a California federal court ruled, saying coverage for the alleged property damage is barred by a "course of construction" exclusion.

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Mass. Court Says Waiver Valid In Adventure Park Injury Suit

By Y. Peter Kang

A Massachusetts appellate court on Wednesday upheld the dismissal of a suit seeking to hold an adventure park liable for a woman's injuries, saying the liability waiver she signed is valid and enforceable.

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NJ Panel Revives Fraud Claim Against Towing Company

By Carla Baranauckas

A New Jersey appeals panel partly revived a consumer fraud claim Wednesday against a towing company, ruling that the trial court failed to make required factual findings before rejecting allegations that the business misled a Newark man about the price of his junk car.

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Kalshi Says Sports 'Swaps' Not Bets In Bid To End Mass. Suit

By Julie Manganis

Prediction market KalshiEX asked a Massachusetts state court to throw out a suit by state regulators alleging that its sports "event contracts" are illegal gambling, saying the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission has already given its imprimatur to the products.

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First Financial Says Medical Device Maker Owes $13.6M

By Abigail Harrison

Ohio-based First Financial Bank asked a Connecticut federal court for a judgment saying it is owed at least $13.6 million after a medical and aerospace device manufacturer breached multiple loan agreements before telling the bank it was insolvent.

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Med Co. Sellers Urge Del. Justices To Revive Suit

By Jeff Montgomery

An attorney for former investors in urgent care provider CityMD urged Delaware's Supreme Court on Wednesday to reverse a lower court's dismissal of claims they were coerced into giving up purported rights to the same consideration a private equity controller received in a 2021 merger.

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Judge Allows Peru To Probe Brookfield In Toll Road Dispute

By Caroline Simson

A New York federal judge has agreed to allow Peru to seek documents from Brookfield and others as it pursues domestic criminal proceedings in a feud stemming from an allegedly corrupt toll highway project involving an entity now majority-owned by the asset manager.

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Dallas Stars Ask Bankruptcy Court To Stop Mavericks Suit

By Ben Zigterman

The owner of the Dallas Stars hockey team asked a Texas bankruptcy judge to reopen the club's 2011 bankruptcy case to enforce its confirmation order and stop a suit from the NBA's Dallas Mavericks seeking to remove the NHL team from their American Airlines Center arena lease.

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Bonus Spotlight

Law Firms Begin Upping The Ante For Associate Bonuses

By Tracey Read

Trial boutique Wilkinson Stekloff LLP is exceeding the year-end associate bonus scale set by Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP, announcing bonuses late Wednesday that are 150% of market.

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Comey Says DOJ's Conduct 'Shocks The Conscience'

By Hailey Konnath

James Comey on Thursday reiterated his request that the U.S. Department of Justice be forced to disclose all grand jury materials related to his indictment, noting the government has conceded that the grand jury never saw the operative indictment and saying the purported misconduct "shocks the conscience."

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NJ Panel Expands Scope Of Ex-Reed Smith Atty's Bias Claims

By Rose Krebs

A New Jersey appellate panel on Thursday ruled that a former Reed Smith LLP attorney is entitled to pursue more damages and obtain expanded wage data in her gender discrimination suit against the firm, saying a trial court incorrectly applied certain statutes when it limited the damages and data she could seek.

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X Corp. Ends $90M Fee Suit Against Wachtell

By James Mills

X Corp. has ended its California state lawsuit against Wachtell Lipton Rosen & Katz over $90 million in legal fees tied to the fight over Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter, according to a court filing.

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Senate Panel OKs Miss. Judge, US Atty Nominees After Delay

By Courtney Bublé

After weeks of holdup, nominees for Mississippi federal courts and U.S. attorneys were voted out of committee on Thursday, following an impasse between Republican senators.

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Brief

Senate Passes Bill To Protect State Judges From Threats

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate on Thursday unanimously passed a bipartisan bill to beef up security for state and local judges.

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Analysis

Trump's Epstein Directive Puts SDNY Prosecutor In A 'Pickle'

By Phillip Bantz

Manhattan chief federal prosecutor Jay Clayton appears to have been backed into a "horrible" corner with a "no-win" outcome as a result of a directive from President Donald Trump and U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate Jeffrey Epstein's ties to prominent Democrats, experts say.

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DOJ Antitrust Chief Says Agriculture A 'Top Priority'

By Matthew Perlman

The U.S. Department of Justice's top antitrust official said enforcers have already opened several investigations in the agriculture sector, including into meatpackers at the direction of President Donald Trump, and called the industry a "top priority" for the agency.

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Analysis

Meta Loss Shows Time Not On Enforcers' Side In Tech Cases

By Bryan Koenig

Meta's triumph over a Federal Trade Commission antitrust case Tuesday hinged on a D.C. federal judge's finding that the company lacks a monopoly in the present day, highlighting some of the challenges of using slow-moving litigation to challenge fast-moving markets.

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