The Eleventh Circuit scrapped an $800,000 verdict in favor of a Black worker who claimed she was let go after complaining that she'd been racially targeted for wearing dreadlocks, ruling faulty jury instructions meant the security company she worked for should get a new trial.
Law360
Employment
MONDAY, AUGUST 10, 2026 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

TOP NEWS

11th Circ. Erases Worker's $800K Win In Dreadlock Bias Suit

By Patrick Hoff

The Eleventh Circuit scrapped an $800,000 verdict in favor of a Black worker who claimed she was let go after complaining that she'd been racially targeted for wearing dreadlocks, ruling faulty jury instructions meant the security company she worked for should get a new trial.

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Fired Immigration Judge Sues DOJ Over Bias Claims

By Elaine Briseño

A Democratic immigration judge fired days before her position became permanent has sued the U.S. Department of Justice, saying the Constitution does not give the president authority to discriminate against civil service employees.

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Ex-GC Hijacked Accounts And Posted Klan Imagery, Suit Says

By Ben Adlin

A Washington state court granted a temporary restraining order Wednesday in a school fundraising company's lawsuit accusing its former general counsel of taking control of its social media accounts and allegedly replacing its LinkedIn photo with a manipulated image of its president in a Ku Klux Klan robe.

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DOJ Says Duke Law Favors Black, Hispanic Applicants

By Lauren Berg

Duke University School of Law intentionally discriminated against prospective white and Asian students in its efforts to pursue racial diversity in its incoming classes, the U.S. Department of Justice asserted Thursday.

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RISING STAR

Rising Star: Phillips & Associates' Melissa Berouty

By Tim Ryan

Melissa Berouty of Phillips & Associates helped secure a $5.25 million settlement for a BigLaw partner who claimed that she faced sexual harassment and assault and a $2.1 million settlement for a worker who claimed whistleblower retaliation, earning her a spot among the employment law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.

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DISCRIMINATION

Mark Zuckerberg's Foundation Can Arbitrate Gender Bias Suit

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge on Thursday sent to arbitration claims that the foundation run by Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan discriminated against women, saying the suit's sexual harassment claims weren't sufficiently severe or pervasive to invalidate the plaintiff's arbitration agreement.

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Rowan University Vet School Hit With 3 Discrimination Suits

By Carla Baranauckas

Rowan University's new veterinary school was hit with three separate discrimination suits in New Jersey state court from a professor, a technician and an ophthalmologist who each claim the fledgling institution retaliated against them and mishandled disability‑related concerns during the animal hospital's launch.

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Mich. Contractor, Teamsters Defeat Driver's Race Bias Claim

By Melanie Dorsey

A former truck driver has lost his race discrimination lawsuit against Doan Construction Co. and a Teamsters local after a Michigan federal judge found the company reasonably believed it fired him for punching a co-worker and the union properly declined to take his grievance to arbitration. 

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WAGE & HOUR

Judge Tosses Nuclear Power Wage-Fixing Case, For Now

By Matthew Perlman

A Maryland federal court tossed a proposed class action accusing nuclear energy producers including Constellation Energy, DTE Energy and Duke Energy of fixing wages, after finding the claims came too late.

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Mich. Contractor Faces Class Claims For Unpaid Work Time

By Melanie Dorsey

A former commercial service technician has accused a Michigan-based industrial maintenance contractor in federal court of systematically removing hours from field employees' time records and failing to pay them for on-call duty, travel, missed meal breaks and other work.

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BENEFITS

John Deere Says Severance Program Isn't ERISA Plan

By MJ Koo

John Deere has moved in Illinois federal court to dismiss former employees' claims that its severance program is governed by federal retirement law, arguing that the program's one-time lump sum payments require no ongoing administration. 

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TRADE SECRETS

OpenAI Fights To Toss Apple's 'Rotten' Trade Secret Theft Suit

By Dorothy Atkins

OpenAI urged a California federal judge on Wednesday to toss Apple Inc.'s high-stakes trade secret theft lawsuit, arguing that the claims are premised on false characterizations and speculation, and "Apple's complaint is — to borrow its own phrase — 'rotten to its core.'"

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NO-POACH

Va. Judge Sinks General Dynamics' Fee Bid For No-Poach Suit

By Tom Lotshaw

A Virginia federal judge denied General Dynamics Corp.'s attempt to recoup millions in costs and attorney fees from engineers who dropped claims against the company from a larger suit accusing U.S. shipbuilders of conspiring to suppress wages through no-poach agreements.

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BANKRUPTCY

Suit Against Ex-Lumio Execs Will Stay In Delaware

By Rick Archer

A Delaware bankruptcy judge Thursday denied a request by former executives of solar panel provider Lumio Holdings to transfer a suit against them by the company's liquidating trustee to a Utah court.

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PEOPLE

Fisher Phillips Grows With Pair Of NJ Employment Litigators

By Jake Maher

Management-side labor law firm Fisher Phillips has brought aboard a pair of new partners in New Jersey who bring deep experience in employment litigation from Carmagnola & Ritardi LLC and Kaufman Dolowich LLP, the firm said Wednesday.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

Justices' FTC Ruling Weakens Qui Tam's Constitutional Base

The U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Trump v. Slaughter, expanding presidential control over those exercising executive power, suggests that courts may be receptive to arguments challenging the constitutional foundations of the False Claims Act’s qui tam mechanism, says Daniel Passeser at Wiggin.

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Series

Being A Sommelier Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Being a sommelier has quietly shaped how I practice law by changing the way I think, communicate and connect with people, and offers a constant reminder that expertise is about making your knowledge useful and accessible to others, says Kara Du at Sheppard.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

How Does In-House Pay Compare? Take The Law360 Survey

How do in-house salaries vary across industries, roles, and organizational revenue? What compensation tools are companies using to lure top talent? Help Law360 Pulse answer these questions and more in this year's In-House Compensation Survey.

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HSF Kramer, Taft Hit By Data Breaches

By Craig Clough

Herbert ‌Smith Freehills Kramer LLP and Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP recently reported data breaches to state regulators, adding to the dozens of breaches law firms in the U.S. have suffered in 2026. 

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Legal Services Hiring Is 'Firing On All Cylinders,' Recruiter Says

By Tracey Read

The legal sector saw job gains for the fourth month in a row, adding 1,000 positions in July, according to seasonally adjusted data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Financial Market Bolsters ABA Budget Amid Member Decline

By Emily Sawicki

A booming stock market has buoyed the overall net assets for the American Bar Association, keeping the organization's balance sheet in the black following the Trump administration's cancellation last year of millions of dollars in grants. 

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New AI Policy At Columbia Law Permits Use Within Guardrails

By Andrea Keckley

Columbia Law School has issued a new policy on the use of artificial intelligence, permitting its use to "support learning" and "perform specific functions" while restricting its role in generating written work or coming up with original arguments and legal analyses.

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Senate Confirms Todd Blanche To Be AG

By Courtney Bublé

The U.S. Senate voted 50-49 in the early hours of Saturday to confirm Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to the permanent position.

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CoStar Fights CREXi Bid To Stay Suit Over Quinn Emanuel DQ

By Rose Krebs

CoStar is urging a California federal court to reject a bid by Commercial Real Estate Exchange Inc., or CREXi, to pause a copyright suit while CREXi asks the Ninth Circuit to undo the disqualification of its Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP attorneys, arguing the stay request is "unsupported by law."

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Nat'l Science Org. To Review Judiciary's Nixed Climate Chapter

By Jack Karp

The National Academy of Sciences will review the process used to develop a controversial chapter on climate science that has been removed from the federal judiciary's guide to scientific evidence, according to a Friday announcement.

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Summer's Last NYC Public Defender Strike Ends With Deal

By Andrea Keckley

The Bronx Defenders union said it has struck a deal with the organization's management, ending the last public defender strike in New York City this summer.

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Trump Picks FCC Lawyer As Agency's 3rd Republican

By Christopher Cole

President Donald Trump on Friday picked Danielle Thumann Severs, an in-house lawyer at the Federal Communications Commission, to fill an open seat on the regulatory board.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said businesses with at least 50 employees, at least half of whom are H-1B or L-1 visa holders, must pay a biometric screening fee anytime they file an application to extend the workers' visas. In the meantime, a federal judge found that the former CEO of RTI Surgical Holdings misled investors by failing to disclose that the surgical implant company regularly shipped orders early to artificially inflate its quarterly revenues. These are among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Roundup

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

By Megan Norcott

The past week in London has seen Cleary Gottlieb sued by a former client it advised on the proposed sale of a holding company and the continuation of litigation between pharma giants Merck Sharp & Dohme and Merck KGaA over rights to the Merck name in the U.K.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Motley Rice LLC leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a New Mexico judge ordered Meta Platforms to create a $567 million abatement fund and take additional measures to protect its youngest users.

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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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dark blue promo that reads 2026 Rising Stars gray blue promo that reads Law360 Pulse Lawyer Satisfaction Survey

LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Arnold & Itkin

Arnold & Porter

Ashby & Geddes

Baker McKenzie

Ballard Spahr

Banner Witcoff

Benesch

Berger Montague

Bird & Bird

Blanchard & Walker

Bradley Arant

Brodies LLP

Burges Salmon

CMS Cameron McKenna

Cahill Gordon

Cairncross & Hempelmann

Carmagnola & Ritardi

Cleary Gottlieb

Clyde & Co

Cohen Milstein

Cooley LLP

Correia & Puth

Covington & Burling

DAC Beachcroft

DLA Piper

DNL Zito

DWF LLP

DeCotiis FitzPatrick

Desmarais LLP

Dickinson Wright

Faegre Drinker

Fieldfisher

Fish & Richardson

Fisher & Phillips

Fountain Court Chambers

Fried Frank

GBG LLP

Garteiser Honea

Gibson Dunn

Gillam Smith

Goodwin Procter

Greenberg Traurig

Gressley Kaplin

HSF Kramer

Hagens Berman

Handley Farah

Heather Leonard PC

Hecker Fink

Herschman Levison

Holland & Knight

Hunton Andrews

Jenner & Block

Jones Day

Kator Parks

Kaufman Dolowich

Kennedys Law LLP

King & Spalding

Kingsley Napley

Kirkland & Ellis

Kirton McConkie

Knobbe Martens

Kramer LLP

Kwun Bhansali

Latham & Watkins

Law Offices of Casey D. Conklin

Lehr Middlebrooks

Levin Papantonio

Lewis Rice

Lewis Silkin

Lockridge Grindal

MSB Solicitors

McGuireWoods

Michelman & Robinson

Mishcon de Reya

Morgan Lewis

Morris Nichols

Morrison Cohen

Motley Rice

Nabarro LLP

Napthens Solicitors

Norton Rose

O'Brien & Marquard

O'Melveny & Myers

Palmer Law LLC

Pillsbury Winthrop

Pitmans LLP

Potter Anderson

Quinn Emanuel

Rabicoff Law

Ramey LLP

Reynolds Porter

Ropes & Gray

Rowdy Meeks Legal Group LLC

Seila Law

Shakespeare Martineau

Shoosmiths LLP

Sidley Austin

Skadden Arps

Soble Rowe

Soldon McCoy

Spencer Fane

Sullivan & Cromwell

TLT LLP

Taft Stettinius

Troutman

Watson Farley

Weil Gotshal

Wiggin & Dana

Wilkin Chapman Rollits

Wilkinson Barker

WilmerHale

Wilshire Law Firm

Womble Bond

gunnercooke LLP

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

AB Volvo

Accelerant

Amazon.com Inc.

Ameren Corp.

American Bar Association

Apple Inc.

Arizona Public Service Co.

Authentic Brands Group LLC

Barclays PLC

Bayer AG

Blue Shield of California

Bollinger Shipyards Inc.

British Broadcasting Corp.

Brooklyn Defender Services

C.H. Robinson Worldwide Inc.

CACI International Inc.

CTIA

Center for Family Representation Inc.

Chan Zuckerberg Initiative LLC

Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC

CoStar Group Inc.

Constellation Energy Corp.

Covidien PLC

DTE Energy Co.

DaVita Inc.

Deere & Co.

Dominion Energy Inc.

DoorDash Inc.

Duke Energy Corp.

Duke University

Entergy Corp.

Euler Hermes Group SA

Executive Health Resources Inc.

Financial Times Group Ltd.

FirstEnergy Corp.

Flex Ltd.

General Dynamics Corp.

George Washington University

Google LLC

GrubHub Inc.

Hatch Henderson Fivel LLC

Huntington Ingalls Industries Inc.

Hyundai Motor Co.

ICICI Bank Ltd.

Instagram Inc.

International Brotherhood of Teamsters

Jack Daniel's Properties Inc.

Lantheus Holdings Inc.

Lex Machina Inc.

LinkedIn Corp.

Luminant Generation Co. LLC

Lumio HX Inc.

MS Amlin PLC

Mediterranean Shipping Co. SA

Medtronic PLC

Merck KGaA

Meta Platforms Inc.

Nasdaq Inc.

National Academy of Sciences

National Association for Law Placement Inc.

National Association of Broadcasters

Neighborhood Defender Service of Harlem

Network Rail Ltd.

NextEra Energy Inc.

OpenAI OpCo LLC

PG&E Corp.

Pfizer Inc.

Public Co. Accounting Oversight Board

Public Service Enterprise Group Inc.

RSM US LLP

RTI Surgical

Reebok International Ltd.

Regeneron Pharmaceuticals Inc.

Rowan University

STP Nuclear Operating Co.

Serco Group PLC

Solicitors Regulation Authority Ltd.

Southern California Edison Co.

Surgalign Holdings Inc.

The Boeing Co.

The Bronx Defenders

The Catholic University of America

The Goldman Sachs Group Inc.

The Southern Co. Inc.

Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

Trader Joe's Co.

Uber Eats

United Auto Workers

Vimeo Inc.

Vistra Corp.

Volvo Car Corp.

Walmart Inc.

Willis Lease Finance Corporation

Xcel Energy Inc.

Yelp Inc.

YouTube Inc.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

Bureau of Labor Statistics

California Privacy Protection Agency

California Supreme Court

Companies House

Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

Delaware Court of Chancery

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Executive Office for Immigration Review

Executive Office of the President

Federal Communications Commission

Federal Judicial Center

Federal Trade Commission

Financial Conduct Authority

Internal Revenue Service

New Jersey Court

New Mexico Department of Justice

Tennessee Valley Authority

U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit

U.S. Department of Defense

U.S. Department of Homeland Security

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. District Court for the Central District of California

U.S. District Court for the Central District of Illinois

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan

U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia

U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida

U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California

U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York

U.S. House of Representatives

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

UK High Court