4th Circ. Restores Trade Secrets Suit Against Insurance Execs

By Elliot Weld

The Fourth Circuit on Tuesday revived insurer Sherbrooke Corp.'s claims of trade secrets theft against three former executives, disagreeing with a district judge who found that the company had not made enough of an effort to guard the software in question.

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Asst. Gets New Try At Religious Bias Suit Over Wash. Vax Rule

By Ben Adlin

A divided Washington state appeals court panel said Tuesday a lower court was wrong to dismiss a legal assistant's lawsuit accusing the Washington State Attorney General's Office of wrongfully refusing her request for a religious accommodation to the state's COVID-19 vaccine mandate, reopening the suit.

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Skaggs' Contract Worth Over $124M Had He Lived, Jury Told

By Gina Kim

Los Angeles Angels pitcher Tyler Skaggs' contract through the 2027 MLB season would've been worth up to $124 million had he lived and continued to improve in his professional career, an expert for the plaintiffs told California state jurors considering his family's wrongful death claims against the ball club on Tuesday. 

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1st Circ. May Nix Trump Funding Freeze In 'Weird' Case

By Chris Villani

The First Circuit on Tuesday hinted that a federal judge may have been in bounds when blocking the Trump administration from withholding certain funds for states, expressing skepticism that the judge's order was improper or overly broad.

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Arbitration Pact Can't Stop Busser's Harassment, Wage Suit

By Grace Elletson

A restaurant worker who claimed he was sexually harassed on the job and underpaid can keep his suit in New York federal court after a judge found that a law barring mandatory arbitration for sexual harassment disputes also shields his wage claims.

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Brief

Conn. Atty Fined $500 For AI-Generated Errors In Wage Suit

By Emily Sawicki

In an order that noted an attorney's remorse, a Connecticut federal judge sanctioned a solo practitioner $500 this week for submitting a brief packed with false, AI-generated case citations, finding the fake authorities wasted court resources, risked misleading a pro se litigant and undermined trust in the judicial system.

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MVP: Wigdor's David E. Gottlieb

By Irene Spezzamonte

David E. Gottlieb of Wigdor LLP tested the reach of the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act, securing a significant win in a discrimination case that reached the Second Circuit and earning him a spot among the 2025 Law360 Employment MVPs.

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3rd Circ. Backs Burger King's Win In Miscarriage Bias Suit

By Grace Elletson

The Third Circuit upheld an arbitrator's ruling that Burger King didn't discriminate against an ex-employee's pregnancy when her superiors wouldn't relieve her when she miscarried during a shift, finding the arbitrator rationally determined that bias did not infect company decision-making.

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Noem Says US Security Behind Job Denial, Not Religious Tea

By Elaine Briseño

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem countered a job applicant's lawsuit alleging religious discrimination, telling a Florida federal court that the judiciary system lacks the authority to scrutinize the department's national security decisions.

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Latino Atty Drops Bias, Retaliation Suit Against Va. Law Firm

By Irene Spezzamonte

A Latino former managing partner for an employee-side law firm told a Maryland federal court Tuesday that he agreed to end his lawsuit claiming he was fired for flagging bias and advocating to raise a Black attorney's pay.

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San Francisco Nurses Can't Challenge FLSA OT Exemption

By Irene Spezzamonte

Nurses who claim that the city of San Francisco failed to pay them the proper overtime rates fall under a Fair Labor Standards Act exemption, a California federal judge ruled, finding summary judgment necessary following a sanctions order limiting the nurses' evidence.

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Cognizant Accused Of Retaliation Over Ex-Worker's Claims

By Zach Dupont

A former employee of Cognizant Technology Solutions US Corp. claimed in Colorado state court Monday that the company retaliated against him for reporting a "make good" arrangement the company had with a client that he described as potentially illegal.

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Geico Flouted Mass. Wage Laws For Adjusters, Suit Alleges

By Julie Manganis

Geico required field claims adjusters to work up to 10 hours a day without overtime pay and improperly dinged them for "personal use" of company-issued vehicles, according to a proposed class action filed in Massachusetts state court.

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11th Circ. Won't Weigh Labor Arbitration Bid Until Case Wraps

By Emily Brill

A longshoremen's union must continue resolving a labor dispute with a cargo unloader in Alabama federal court, an Eleventh Circuit panel said, tossing the union's request for the appellate court to kick the case to arbitration.

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Texas Court Wipes Out $700K Verdict Against Security Firm

By Y. Peter Kang

A Texas appellate court on Tuesday tossed a $700,000 jury verdict against a security company found liable for injuries suffered by a security guard who was stabbed by another employee, finding insufficient evidence to support claims that the security firm's alleged negligence caused the incident.

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Ogletree Lands Ex-Delta Exec To Bolster Aviation Group

By Patrick Hoff

Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC announced Tuesday that it had brought on a former Delta Air Lines Inc. executive as a shareholder in its Atlanta office, adding a new co-chair to its aviation industry practice group.

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What Shutdown's End Means For Worker Safety Enforcement

The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and Mine Safety and Health Administration may emerge from the government shutdown struggling to juggle complaint backlogs, litigation delays and newly enacted policies with a reduced and demoralized workforce, so employers should stay alert, say attorneys at Conn Maciel.

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Litigation Funding Could Create Ethics Issues For Attorneys

A litigation investor’s recent complaint claiming a New York mass torts lawyer effectively ran a Ponzi scheme illustrates how litigation funding arrangements can subject attorneys to legal ethics dilemmas and potential liability, so engagement letters must have very clear terms, says Matthew Feinberg at Goldberg Segalla.

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Bonus Spotlight

Cravath Unveils Associate Bonuses, Multiple Firms Follow

By Aebra Coe

Multiple firms swiftly fell in line Tuesday evening just hours after Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP announced associate bonuses in line with those offered last year, continuing a long tradition of BigLaw firms following Cravath's lead on compensation.

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Pillsbury Winthrop Latest Firm Targeted By Data Breach Suit

By Hailey Konnath

Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP on Tuesday was hit with a proposed class action stemming from a data breach the firm says happened in April, adding to the growing litigation firms are facing in the aftermath of cyberattacks.

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Analysis

Perkins Coie's Trump Fight Doesn't Scare Off UK Suitor

By Chris Villani

Perkins Coie LLP's ongoing fight with the Trump administration did not deter a proposed combination with British law firm Ashurst, signaling that the legal community is not worried about fallout from the president's suspension of the firm's security clearances.

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Republican Senators Seek Judge Boasberg's Suspension

By Courtney Bublé

Six Republican senators, three of whom sit on the Senate Judiciary Committee, are asking that Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Boasberg of the District of Columbia be administratively suspended while Congress considers his impeachment.

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Sanctioned Atty Convinces Mo. Court Errors Not Caused By AI

By Emily Sawicki

A Missouri federal judge sanctioned former counsel for Liberty Mutual Personal Insurance Co. Monday for including citation errors in a motion this fall, finding that, although the attorney likely inserted the errors herself without the use of AI software, "such carelessness, exacerbated by a lack of internal guardrails, is entirely unacceptable."

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Disbarred NC Atty Must Pay $5.2M For Escrow Fund Misuse

By Abigail Harrison

A disbarred attorney was ordered to pay $5.2 million in restitution and serve four years of probation during a Tuesday sentencing hearing in North Carolina federal court, after he pled guilty to a criminal wire fraud charge related to the misuse of escrow funds.

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Judge Upholds NY Law Blocking ICE Courthouse Arrests

By Andrea Keckley

New York beat back a federal lawsuit challenging the state's policy barring immigration officials from arresting people near its courthouses, after a federal judge rejected the U.S. Department of Justice's preemption claims.

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NY AG James Blasts 'Outrageous Conduct' Behind Indictment

By Adrian Cruz

New York Attorney General Letitia A. James has told a Virginia federal court to dismiss the U.S. government's indictment of her, calling it "patently unconstitutional" and "outrageous conduct."

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McGuireWoods Is Delaying Defamation Case, NC Justices Told

By Hayley Fowler

The former CEO of a managed care organization who alleges McGuireWoods and one of its ex-partners defamed him during a press conference more than seven years ago has told North Carolina's top court not to take up the case, panning their petition as yet another stalling tactic.

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Brief

Missouri Federal Judge To Take Senior Status

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. District Judge Douglas Harpool of the Western District of Missouri has given notice he will take senior status upon the confirmation of state Judge Megan Benton, whose nomination to the federal bench President Donald Trump announced Friday.

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CFPB's Gradler Takes Deputy Post Amid Agency Uncertainty

By Jon Hill

Geof Gradler, a former industry lobbyist who recently joined the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's front office, said that he is taking over as the agency's deputy director, a job that positions him as a potential successor to acting director Russell Vought.

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