White Worker Gets 2nd Chance In Race Training Bias Suit

By Grace Elletson

The Ninth Circuit reinstated Monday a white worker's claims that the City of Seattle subjected him to harassment by pushing race bias trainings that caused his colleagues to villainize white people, ruling that negative comments he received about his race were enough to keep the case in court.

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Split 7th Circ. Backs Ill. County's Win In COVID Vax Bias Suit

By Celeste Bott

The Seventh Circuit in a split decision Monday affirmed a summary judgment win for Cook County, Illinois, in a former hospital pharmacist's suit alleging she was unlawfully fired after she refused a COVID-19 vaccine, with the majority holding the county proved a religious exemption would've posed undue hardship and one dissenting judge saying the case should go to a jury.

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Black Tesla Workers In Calif. Fired At Higher Rates, Judge Told

By Dorothy Atkins

An economics professor testified in a California state bench trial Monday over the California Civil Rights Department's claims Tesla fostered racism at its Fremont factory that he found Tesla's Black workers in California are paid 4.37% less, and involuntarily terminated at a 75% higher rate, than their white counterparts.

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Parler Wasn't Worth Much When CEO Was Fired, Jury Told

By Cara Salvatore

A company valuation expert testified Monday in the trial over Parler's 2021 ouster of its CEO that the company had little value at the time and that insider estimates in the hundreds of millions of dollars were "speculation."

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Car Dealer Settles EEOC Suit Over Medical Restrictions Rule

By Anne Cullen

A Florida auto dealership chain agreed to pay $112,500 to settle U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission claims that it unlawfully required employees returning from medical leave to have no physical restrictions, according to documents filed in court Monday.

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EEOC Telework Claim Survives In ADA Suit Against Utility

By Vin Gurrieri

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission can ask a jury to decide whether a former utility services employee was illegally denied a telework accommodation following a stroke, a Georgia federal judge ruled while also paring certain other claims from the agency's disability discrimination suit.

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Trump Admin Reinstates Former Title IX Regs

By Tom Lotshaw

The U.S. Department of Education on Monday said it's formally repealing a vacated Biden-era rule that attempted to expand Title IX discrimination protections to include sexual orientation and gender identity and reinstating a rule the Trump administration enacted in 2020.

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11th Circ. Backs Sheriff In Ex-Deputy's Sex Bias Suit

By David Aaro

The Eleventh Circuit has affirmed a win for a Florida county sheriff in a lawsuit brought by a former deputy who claimed she was forced to resign because of her race, ruling she hadn't offered evidence from which a reasonable jury could conclude she'd endured sex discrimination.

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Faith-Based Rehab Program Can't Exit Wage Suit, Court Rules

By MJ Koo

A Texas federal court allowed a man who was ordered into a faith-based addiction recovery program to pursue wage claims against the program's operators, finding he plausibly alleged participants were treated as employees who performed substantial commercial labor without lawful pay.

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Mich. Recovery Center Worker's OT Claim Headed To Trial

By MJ Koo

A Michigan federal court sent a revenue cycle manager's overtime lawsuit to trial Monday, finding factual disputes about whether her employer improperly docked her pay and whether she had enough independence on the job to qualify as an exempt administrative employee under federal wage law.

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Cushman Workers Win Class Cert. On Second Meal Breaks

By Benjamin Morse

A California federal judge certified a class of Cushman & Wakefield workers who alleged that the real estate services company failed to provide required second meal breaks, finding that time records showed missing second meals on nearly 80% of eligible shifts.

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Golden Nugget Wants Dealer's Wage Suit Tossed Again

By MJ Koo

Atlantic City's Golden Nugget casino again moved to dismiss a table game dealer's wage lawsuit, adding new arguments against two tip credit notice claims while renewing its bid to send state law claims to New Jersey's casino regulators and toss a federal overtime claim.

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Creamery Blocked From Cutting Off Workers' Healthcare

By Emily Brill

A billion-dollar dairy cooperative that is trying to shutter a century-old creamery in Vermont cannot revoke the staff's health insurance until it resolves a dispute with a Teamsters local over whether the shutdown is lawful, a state federal judge ruled Monday, partially granting the union's request for an injunction.

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Calif. Expands Reproductive Care, Abortion Access

By Hailey Konnath

A series of new laws in California aim to expand access to medication abortion on community college campuses, bolster veterans' access to reproductive care including abortions, and make it easier for nursing parents to access lactation support, according to an announcement made Sunday.

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Goya Gets Former CEO's Pay Suit Shipped To NJ

By Patrick Hoff

Goya Foods got a green light to move a compensation dispute with a fired executive from Texas to New Jersey, with a federal judge in the Lone Star State saying it's best to litigate the case where the company is headquartered.

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First Steps For Companies Facing AI-Assisted Pro Se Suits

As the volume of filings by pro se litigants assisted by artificial intelligence tools continues to increase, companies should adopt a consistent early assessment process to control costs while responding fairly and effectively to such claims, say attorneys at Stradley Ronon.

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3rd Circ. Affirms Thomson Reuters' Westlaw AI Copyright Win

By Ivan Moreno

The Third Circuit on Tuesday upheld Thomson Reuters' victory against Ross Intelligence Inc. in the first U.S. appellate ruling to address whether artificial intelligence training can be fair use of copyrighted material, upholding a Delaware federal court's decision that the startup infringed Westlaw headnotes by using material derived from them to develop an AI-powered legal search tool.

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11th Circ. Won't Pause Sanctions Against Trump In IRS Case

By Jack McLoone

An Eleventh Circuit panel refused Tuesday to pause a district court's sanctions order barring President Donald Trump and others from citing the agreement he made to settle his $10 billion suit against the Internal Revenue Service while they appeal the order.

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DC Circ. Weighs Limits On Boasberg's Contempt Inquiry

By Jared Foretek

A top Justice Department official told an en banc D.C. Circuit panel that a district judge should refer former Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem for contempt over the 2025 deportation flights to El Salvador and move on, saying the judge had no authority to wrap others into his inquiry.

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Jack Smith Says He Won't Be Intimidated By Trump Threats

By Courtney Bublé

Former special counsel Jack Smith testified on Tuesday he "will not be silenced" by threats of prosecution by the president or others.

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Baker Botts Atty Disputes Inventor's Claim Of Defamation Deal

By Madison Arnold

A Baker Botts LLP patent attorney is pushing back on an inventor's claim that they reached a settlement agreement in the inventor's defamation suit in Florida federal court.

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Richards Layton Atty's Chancery Nomination Advanced

By Rose Krebs

A Delaware senate committee Tuesday advanced the nomination for a Richards Layton & Finger PA director to serve as a vice chancellor on the nationally important Chancery Court, with him vowing to continue the court's esteemed legacy for corporate law jurisprudence.

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