NFL Found To Fumble Arbitration Over Bias, Must Go To Court

By Emily Sawicki

A class of National Football League coaches will have their day in court after a New York federal judge on Friday denied the NFL its bid to force the coaches' discrimination claims into arbitration because it did not provide a fair and neutral arbitration forum.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

'Bikini Barista' Owner Can't Nix Wash. AG's Wage, Bias Suit

By Ben Adlin

The owner of four Washington kiosks known as bikini barista coffee stands can't dodge the state attorney general's action accusing him of underpaying and discriminating against female workers, a King County Superior Court judge ruled Friday, rejecting the defendant's argument that the women themselves would have to sue.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

DOJ Suit Alleges Harvard Withholding Admissions Data

By Chris Villani

The Trump administration hit Harvard University with a suit Friday claiming that the college has illegally withheld data necessary to determine whether it is following the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark ruling outlawing affirmative action in admissions.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Bisexual Worker Can't Revive Harassment Suit At 6th Circ.

By Grace Elletson

The Sixth Circuit declined to reinstate a bisexual construction worker's harassment suit alleging that his coworkers called him homophobic slurs on the job, ruling the company can't be held liable because it responded swiftly when he took his complaints to human resources.

Decision attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

7th Circ. Wary To Infer American Airlines Uniforms Were Toxic

By Celeste Bott

A Seventh Circuit panel on Friday appeared skeptical of American Airlines workers' argument that it had provided sufficient evidence to infer toxic employee uniforms caused their skin rashes and other symptoms, with one judge suggesting such a broad reading of Illinois law and federal tort doctrine would allow plaintiffs to say "to heck with the experts."

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Roundup

Employment Authority: The EEOC's Law Firm DEI Probe Pivot

By Grace Elletson

Law360 Employment Authority covers the biggest employment cases and trends. Catch up this week with coverage on what experts make of the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's admission that its requests for law firm diversity data were not mandatory, how a recent union contract with Volkswagen impacts a southern auto plant organizing push, and why confusion is plaguing federal contract workers' minimum wage rates.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Employment Group Of The Year: Gibson Dunn

By Irene Spezzamonte

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP snagged substantial management-side wins last year, including a decision from the Maryland Supreme Court ruling that the de minimis doctrine for federal wage and hours cases applies to state claims, earning the firm a spot among the 2025 Law360 Employment Groups of the Year.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

AARP Backs Disparate Impact Theory In AI Hiring Bias Suit

By Grace Elletson

The philanthropic arm of retiree advocacy group AARP wants a California federal judge to reject software provider Workday's bid to toss a suit claiming its artificial intelligence tools discriminated against job applicants, arguing that disparate impact claims are fair game under federal age bias law.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Single Use Of Slur Not Enough To Revisit Ex-Clerk's Bias Suit

By Matthew Santoni

A former clerk in the Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, prosecutor's office failed to revive a suit claiming she was fired for reporting a coworker's use of a racial slur when a federal judge said Thursday she'd presented no evidence the slur was used more than once.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

CSX Wants Quick 11th Circ. Appeal In Workers' FMLA Fight

By Carolina Bolado

CSX Transportation Inc. is asking a Florida federal court to allow for an immediate appeal to the Eleventh Circuit of the denial of its bid to dismiss a former employee's medical leave claims, arguing that the ruling runs counter to what other appellate courts have said on this statute of limitations issue.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Ex-Sysco Technician's Religious Bias, OT Suit Trimmed

By Irene Spezzamonte

A former Sysco diesel technician and Christian preacher failed to support constructive discharge and overtime time claims in his suit alleging he was treated differently because of his religion and denied overtime, a North Carolina federal judge ruled, trimming those claims while also cutting certain claims for retaliation.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Brief

Indiana AG Declines To Intervene In Posner Wage Suit

By Emily Sawicki

Indiana's attorney general has declined to intervene in a pro se plaintiff's suit seeking to revive $170,000 in wage claims against retired Seventh Circuit Judge Richard A. Posner, finding the case did not pose a "substantial" constitutional challenge to a state statute mandating that delayed contracts must be written and signed to be enforced.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Insurance Call Center Misclassifies Workers, Suit Says

By Irene Spezzamonte

An insurance call-center business misclassified its sales representatives as independent contractors and flouted "the most basic payroll" requirements by paying them through a cash app, a worker said in a proposed collective action in Florida federal court.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Food Distributor To Take Arb. Pacts Ruling To Supreme Court

By Irene Spezzamonte

A food service business told a Connecticut district court it plans to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to take up two distributors' misclassification case, asking the lower court to pause litigation after the Second Circuit ruled that the workers could dodge arbitration.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Conn. Judge Won't Nix State's Captive Meeting Ban For Now

By Katherine Smith

A federal judge handed the state of Connecticut a narrow win Friday in a lawsuit challenging a state law barring employers from forcing workers to attend mandatory anti-union meetings, finding that one of the business associations in the coalition challenging the measure lacks standing.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Native American Casino, Union On Track To Settle Strike Suit

By Emily Brill

A Native American casino and a UNITE HERE local are on track to settle a dispute over whether a 2025 strike violated two tribal ordinances, their attorneys told a California federal judge, asking him to keep the litigation paused for another two weeks while they finalize the deal.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Olympus Slips Whistleblower Suit Over Testing Practices

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A Pennsylvania federal judge has dismissed a whistleblower lawsuit brought by the former head of product development for Olympus Corp. of the Americas, ruling that the ex-executive failed to show he was fired in retaliation for speaking out about what he alleged were company violations of the National Defense Authorization Act.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Health Exec Says He Was Fired For Opposing 'Enron-Style' Plot

By Gina Kim

Jefferson Health System terminated its former vice president of facilities management over "his refusal to participate in" what he described as "an Enron-style financial engineering scheme" related to a proposed energy-as-a-service transaction that he believed posed serious regulatory risks, according to a suit filed in Pennsylvania.

Complaint attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Mass. Ruling Raises Questions About Whistleblower Status

In Galvin v. Roxbury Community College, Massachusetts' top appellate court held that an individual was protected from retaliation as a whistleblower, even though he engaged in illegal activity, raising questions about whether whistleblowers who commit illegal acts are protected and whether trusted employees are doing their job or whistleblowing, say attorneys at Littler.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Wage-Based H-1B Rule Amplifies Lottery Risks For Law Firms

Under the wage-based H-1B lottery rule taking effect Feb. 27, law firms planning to hire noncitizen law graduates awaiting bar admission should consider their options, as the work performed by such candidates may sit at the intersection of multiple occupational classifications with differing chances of success, says Jun Li at Reid & Wise.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Series

Judges On AI: Practical Use Cases In Chambers

U.S. Magistrate Judge Allison Goddard in the Southern District of California discusses how she uses generative artificial intelligence tools in chambers to make work more efficient and effective — from editing jury instructions for clarity to summarizing key documents.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Talc MDL Law Firm Accuses Litigation Funders Of Case Piracy

By Ryan Boysen

A leading plaintiffs law firm in the multibillion-dollar litigation over Johnson & Johnson's tainted talcum powder has alleged in Mississippi federal court three investment firms loaned it "tens of millions" of dollars under false pretenses in a "loan-to-own" scheme.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Bogus Citations Show 'Lack Of Respect' For Legal Profession

By Lynn LaRowe

In recommending $10,000 in sanctions for a lawyer who submitted multiple briefs with nonexistent or misrepresented citations, a federal judge in Indiana lamented that the blunders show a "lack of respect for the profession."

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Analysis

How Attorneys Are Handling A Patent Review 'Sea Change'

By Ryan Davis

Major changes to the America Invents Act patent review system over the past year have put limits on challenges, requiring patent challengers and owners to rethink their strategies. Here's how attorneys on both sides are calibrating their arguments to have the best chance of success in the new landscape.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

6th Circ. Says Ch. 13 Motion Came 84 Minutes Too Late

By Vince Sullivan

A 2-1 split panel of the Sixth Circuit affirmed two lower court rulings from Michigan federal judges denying a Chapter 13 debtor's motion to dismiss his bankruptcy case because the request came 84 minutes after a bankruptcy court converted the case to a Chapter 7.

Opinion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

RFK Jr. Taps Ex-Jones Day Atty For FDA Senior Counselor

By Hailey Konnath

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has named a former Jones Day partner as one of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's senior counselors, according to an announcement.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Louisiana Atty Takes Responsibility For AI Usage Snafu

By Christine DeRosa

After facing the threat of sanctions alongside three of his co-counsel, a Louisiana attorney told a federal judge that he was solely responsible for an error-riddled brief written with the assistance of artificial intelligence. 

3 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Roundup

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

This past week in London has seen a former U.S. defense contractor convicted of tax evasion face legal action, French football club Olympique Lyonnais sued following a $97 million ruling against its owner John Textor, consulting giant Kroll targeted by a South African airline, and H&M hit with a claim alleging it copied protected sunglasses designs. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Taking heat from Republican senators over not notifying members of Congress about subpoenas for their phone records, Verizon's general counsel has pledged that in the future, the company will fight gag orders requiring it to keep silent. And taking heat from shareholders and colleagues over her ties to Jeffrey Epstein, Goldman Sachs' chief legal officer has agreed to leave the firm in June.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

WilmerHale and Gillam & Smith LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a Texas federal jury cleared Apple of infringement claims over patents covering 4G wireless technology, in a case that previously led to jury verdicts of $506 million and $300 million.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

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.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »