DLA Piper Can't Rep Itself At Bias Trial, Fired Atty Says

By Pete Brush

DLA Piper should not be permitted to represent itself at trial in a pregnancy discrimination case brought by a senior associate who was fired in 2022, lawyers for the plaintiff told a Manhattan federal judge.

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Judge Nixed Over MAGA Op-Ed Seeks Reinstatement

By Emily Sawicki

A retired Illinois state trial court judge pursuing First Amendment claims against the state Supreme Court after his right-wing opinion column resulted in his removal from a temporary judgeship has moved for immediate reinstatement to the Cook County Circuit Court.

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NFLPA Leaders Align To Sink Ex-Lawyer's Retaliation Suit

By Alex Lawson

NFL Players Association officials are firing back against a former attorney's retaliation suit, hoping to dismiss her claims that union leaders intimidated her against testifying in a federal probe into its finances.

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6th Circ. Says Waiver Sinks Laid Off Dow Worker's Bias Suit

By Nadia Dreid

The Sixth Circuit has waved away an argument that a woman who was laid off by a Dow Chemical unit could still bring race and gender discrimination claims against the company because she didn't know what the release she signed in order to get her severance meant.

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NC Judge Rebuffs Perdue's DOL Whistleblower Challenge

By Hayley Fowler

Perdue Farms Inc. lost its case challenging the constitutionality of the U.S. Department of Labor's administrative proceedings for whistleblower complaints after a North Carolina federal judge found such proceedings don't flout Perdue's Seventh Amendment right to a jury trial.

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Judge Seems Open To Giving EEOC Penn's Jewish Staff Info

By P.J. D'Annunzio

A Pennsylvania federal judge seemed inclined Tuesday to enforce the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's subpoena for the University of Pennsylvania's Jewish employees' contact information, a request that has alarmed the school and several advocacy groups, expressing doubt that the information would be used for nefarious purposes.

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Boston Exam Schools Case May Hinge On 1st Circ. Ruling

By Carolyn Muyskens

A Massachusetts federal judge weighed arguments Tuesday on whether to dismiss a challenge to the admissions system for Boston's three selective "exam schools" in light of a First Circuit ruling backing a previous plan that increased racial diversity.

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Postal Delay Unfair Grounds For Tossing Suit, 11th Circ. Says

By Chart Riggall

A Georgia federal judge should have cut a break to a construction worker whose race bias suit barely missed its statutory filing deadline thanks to hurricane-induced postal delays, an Eleventh Circuit panel said Tuesday.

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Ex-Program Head Says Rutgers Fired Him For Whistleblowing

By George Woolston

A former assistant dean and director of the Minority Student Program at Rutgers Law School is alleging in New Jersey federal court that he was fired after he complained about unlawful discrimination and financial misappropriation in the workplace.

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Recycling Co. Can't Rope Staffing Firms Into EEOC Bias Suit

By Grace Elletson

An Alabama federal judge on Tuesday shut down a recycling plant's bid to drag three staffing companies into a sex bias case from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claiming the company refused to hire women, ruling that doing so would allow the business to improperly escape liability.

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EEOC, Comedy Club Ink $373K Deal To End Harassment Probe

By Vin Gurrieri

A comedy club in Louisville, Kentucky, will pay nearly $373,000 to close the book on a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission investigation into whether a manager sexually harassed female employees, the agency said Tuesday.

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5th Circ. Revives J&J Sales Rep's Wage Dispute

By Irene Spezzamonte

A Texas federal court did not take into consideration relevant factors to determine whether a former Johnson & Johnson sales representative's failure to retain local counsel in his wage and hour suit represented excusable neglect, the Fifth Circuit ruled on Tuesday.

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Wash. Adopts New Labor Standards For Domestic Workers

By Rachel Riley

Nannies, housekeepers and other domestic workers in Washington state will soon have many of the same labor protections as employees in traditional workplace settings thanks to a bill that Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson signed into law on Monday.

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AFSCME Sues Trump Admin Over $600M Health Funding Cuts

By Katherine Smith

The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees is seeking to block a federal government directive to cancel more than $600 million in public health grants administered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, alleging that the directive was issued to target Democratic-led states.

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4th Circ. Backs W.Va.'s Trans Care Coverage Exclusion

By Grace Elletson

The Fourth Circuit said Tuesday that West Virginia's Medicaid coverage exclusion for gender-affirming care passes constitutional muster and does not discriminate based on sex, basing its conclusion on a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that upheld Tennessee's ban on gender-affirming care for minors.

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Panel Blocks Pension Atty Fee Deduction By Wash. Agency

By Ben Adlin

Washington's Department of Retirement Systems can't pay down a $12.6 million legal bill related to a $32 million class settlement over pensions by deducting from a class member's withdrawal of their state retirement contributions, a three-judge state appellate panel ruled Tuesday, partially affirming a trial court's ruling in the worker's favor.

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CVS Can't 'Relitigate' Price-Gouging Class Cert.

By Bryan Koenig

A Rhode Island federal judge refused to narrow the certified classes of health plans alleging CVS schemed with pharmacy benefit managers to overcharge insured health plans for generic drugs, finding that PBM Express Scripts' refusal to produce its contracts changes nothing about how the classes will be assessed.

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How NY Stay-Or-Pay Law Shifts Leverage Dynamics

The recent passage of New York's Trapped at Work Act reflects increasing scrutiny of stay-or-pay arrangements, but its lack of a private right of action represents a meaningful departure from other employment laws, dramatically shifting leverage from the courtroom to a state agency, says James Valentino at Clayman Rosenberg.

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H-1B Registration Tips For New Wage-Weighted Selection

Practitioners participating in this year’s H-1B visa registration, currently underway, must understand that under the new wage-weighted selection process that replaced the random lottery, the crucial first step is choosing the correct standard occupational classification, says Jimmy Lai at Lai & Turner.

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Ex-DOJ Atty Who Said 'This Job Sucks' Running For Congress

By Courtney Bublé

The former federal government lawyer detailed to Minnesota to help with immigration cases who last month told a federal judge "this job sucks" says she is running for Congress in the state.

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$600M IP Award, Quinn Emanuel Contempt Faulted On Appeal

By Ryan Davis

The Federal Circuit on Wednesday vacated a verdict against the maker of Norton antivirus software for infringing Columbia University patents and reversed a contempt ruling against Norton's former law firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP that had caused the judgment to grow to just over $600 million.

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Feature

Exxon Cements Texas As Delaware's Emerging Rival

By Spencer Brewer

Last year, Vinson & Elkins partner Katherine Frank fielded about one call a week from companies thinking about redomiciling in Texas. Speaking to Law360 the day after ExxonMobil announced its plan to reincorporate in the Lone Star State due to its business-forward courts and policies, Frank said the callers fell into three categories.

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Firm Probed In $4B LA Sex Abuse Deal Hit With UPL Charges

By Rachel Rippetoe

A co-founder of the Los Angeles personal injury firm facing investigation for its involvement in a record $4 billion sex abuse settlement against Los Angeles County was hit with disciplinary charges by the California State Bar, alleging the firm illegally practiced law outside the state.

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Analysis

Trump Cybercrime Order Creates New Compliance To-Do List

By Phillip Bantz

President Donald Trump's recent executive order calling for a coalition of government agencies to combat cybercrime is far more forceful than efforts under prior administrations, according to white collar lawyers, who tentatively applaud the proposal while warning it could raise new compliance risks.

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3 Attys Escape Ford's 'Retaliatory' Lemon Law RICO Suit

By Linda Chiem

A California federal judge has shut down Ford Motor Co.'s revised racketeering lawsuit accusing three attorneys affiliated with Knight Law Group LLP of orchestrating a massive fraudulent legal billing scheme, saying the attorneys' underlying conduct in pursuing lemon law litigation is shielded by First Amendment protections.

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Judges, Lawmakers Urge 4th Circ. To Affirm Halligan Ruling

By Ryan Boysen

Members of Congress and former federal judges have urged the Fourth Circuit to affirm that Lindsey Halligan was not properly appointed as the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, saying the episode exemplifies why there are guardrails against installing political loyalists as federal prosecutors.

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VA, DOJ Cut Deal To Make Attys Mental Health Guardians

By Mark Payne

Under a new initiative, attorneys at the U.S. Department of Justice will serve as legal guardians for some homeless veterans, the Trump administration announced on Wednesday, though some veterans advocates expressed concern that the new program could involuntarily coerce veterans experiencing mental health issues into institutional care.

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