Justices Say 'Last-Mile' Drivers Can Skip Arbitration

By Max Kutner

An exemption to federal arbitration requirements for workers engaged in interstate commerce can extend to what are known as last-mile drivers who locally deliver goods that travel interstate, the U.S. Supreme Court held Thursday, resolving an issue that lingered after previous high court decisions.

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Tesla Must Face Calif. Agency's Race Bias Fight In July Trial

By Dorothy Atkins

A California state judge has mostly rejected Tesla Inc.'s bid for a summary judgment win in the California Civil Rights Department's lawsuit alleging the electric-auto maker has allowed racism to run rampant at its Fremont factory, sending the high-stakes civil rights dispute to a July 20 jury trial.

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11th Circ. Says Damages Caps Misconstrued In Bias Verdict

By Cara Salvatore

The Eleventh Circuit ruled on Thursday that a discrimination verdict against a Miami car dealership was slashed too far when a judge chose between federal and state damages caps, saying the caps should be added together.

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UConn Escapes Surgeon's ADA Damages Claim In Bias Suit

By Aaron Keller

A Connecticut federal judge Thursday dismissed a surgeon's discrimination lawsuit against the University of Connecticut, saying a bid for money damages was barred by sovereign immunity and that a state employment law claim could only be heard in state court, though the doctor is allowed to retool her case.

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Hospital's $11.5M COVID Tax Credit Suit Clears Dismissal Bid

By Ben Adlin

A Washington federal judge refused to throw out a hospital's lawsuit seeking $11.5 million from the federal government under a COVID-19 relief program, ruling on Thursday that Tri-State Memorial Hospital has plausibly alleged that it partially suspended its operations because of a government order.

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EEOC Urges 11th Circ. To Restore Sex Harassment Verdict

By Patrick Hoff

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said the Eleventh Circuit should reinstate a jury win for a female former host of a Georgia restaurant who claimed that managers failed to stop male coworkers' lewd behavior toward her, faulting the trial court for minimizing the men's conduct.

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Shield AI Worker Alleges Data Fraud, 'Sexual Violence' By Exec

By Spencer Brewer

An employee hit Shield AI Inc. with a suit in Texas federal court Thursday, alleging the defense technology company engaged in data fraud, allowed a company executive to perpetuate "egregious acts of sexual violence," and retaliated against him after he spoke up.

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Ex-VP Accuses Wells Fargo Of Race, Disability Bias

By Hayley Fowler

A former executive hired to help oversee Wells Fargo's compliance with a federal consent order over an unauthorized account scandal has accused the bank of race and disability discrimination, saying he was retaliated against and ultimately fired after lodging internal complaints of disparate treatment of Black employees.

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Ex-Southwest HR Worker Alleges Race Bias, Retaliatory Firing

By Celeste Bott

A former Southwest Airlines employee has sued the airline in Illinois state court, claiming that her supervisor harassed her because of her race and that she was ultimately fired for reporting that disparate treatment, which included departures from standard discipline and various tasks she was expected to perform that her white colleagues were not.

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Athletes Decry Antitrust Immunity In College Sports Bill

By David Steele

College athlete advocacy groups have criticized a proposed bipartisan U.S. Senate bill that provides congressional oversight to college sports and allows athletes to have agents, but also limits player movement and compensation and grants the NCAA antitrust immunity.

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Hospital Network Left Bonuses Out Of OT Pay, Suit Says

By MJ Koo

A dietary worker at a Pennsylvania hospital network accused her employer of shortchanging overtime pay by leaving bonuses out of the calculation, according to a proposed collective action filed in federal court.

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Newmark Executives Say Fellow Leader Pushed Them Aside

By Isaac Monterose

Two capital markets executives at major commercial real estate adviser Newmark claimed in Massachusetts state court that the company and one of its top executives undermined them and cheated them out of commission payments.

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Curaleaf Can't Block NJ Pot Law's Labor Deal Requirement

By Mike Curley

A New Jersey federal judge won't allow Curaleaf to block enforcement of a provision of the state's cannabis law requiring labor peace agreements between cannabis operators and their employers, saying the company's slow movement doomed its motion.

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Energy Drink Co. Ex-Execs Won't Face Limits At New Jobs

By José Luis Martínez

A Texas federal judge will allow executives to continue their jobs without broad restrictions at a relaxation beverage company after leaving the energy drink company behind C4 and Bloom, although the judge approved the executives' stipulations that they will not share or use any confidential information.

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HSBC Defeats Most Claims In First Citizens' Poaching Suit

By Elliot Weld

A California federal judge has dismissed the bulk of First Citizens Bank & Trust Co.'s suit against HSBC alleging the latter induced a mass resignation and misappropriated trade secrets, saying the court still didn't have any jurisdiction over some defendants and that an amended complaint had not cured issues with a previously dismissed complaint.

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Fla. Justices Say Ex-Power Co. Welder Didn't Prove Retaliation

By David Minsky

The Florida Supreme Court rejected a welder's appeal alleging that a power company terminated him in retaliation for blowing the whistle on unsafe work conditions, ruling Thursday he didn't prove beyond a subjective belief that his former employer violated the law. 

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9th Circ. Won't Revisit FCA Ruling Over Drug Price Program

By Ganesh Setty

The Ninth Circuit has said it will not disturb its March ruling allowing a hospital chain to pursue a False Claims Act lawsuit against various pharmaceutical companies for allegedly causing the government to overpay for drugs under a discount program.

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Abbott Labs Settles Ill. Genetic Privacy Suit

By Celeste Bott

Abbott Laboratories has inked a settlement with a proposed class of workers alleging the company's onboarding materials asked for employees' medical history in violation of an Illinois law aimed at protecting residents' genetic information, prompting an Illinois federal judge to dismiss the case Thursday.

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Ex-Perrigo Workers Say Lax Security Led To Cyberattack

By Gina Kim

Perrigo, a company that manufactures branded and private-label over-the-counter healthcare products, was hit with a proposed class action in Michigan federal court Wednesday following a cyberattack linked to a notorious hacking group that claims to have accessed personal data belonging to current and former employees.

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5th Circ. Won't Rehear Deepwater Prostate Cancer Suit

By Mike Curley

The Fifth Circuit has denied an en banc rehearing of a worker's toxic tort suit against BP Exploration & Production over prostate cancer he alleges he developed because of exposure to crude oil during cleanup of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon spill.

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New Connecticut Law On Employers' AI Use Is Inventive

A recently passed Connecticut law regulating the use of artificial intelligence in employment decisions innovates by using third-party risk assessments to vet and certify AI models, and by recognizing a division of responsibility between developers and deployers, potentially influencing pending legislation in other states, say attorneys at Littler.

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Series

Studying Foreign Languages Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Studying Italian and Japanese has shown me that learning a new language can benefit a legal career in several ways, including by demonstrating the importance of approaching problems from a fresh perspective and the value of practicing patience with colleagues and clients, says Anna King at Genworth Financial.

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Florida High Court Adopts AI Policy For Lawyers

By Madison Arnold

The Florida Supreme Court on Thursday amended the state's rules to require those filing court documents to check any artificial intelligence-generated content for accuracy, and allow for sanctions if the content contains errors.

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Goldstein Says Bad Jury Instructions Warrant New Trial

By Jared Foretek

SCOTUSblog founder Tom Goldstein said that the prosecutors who convicted him on 12 tax and mortgage fraud charges in February are now contradicting arguments they made at the end of his trial in their attempt to deny him a bench acquittal or new trial.

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King & Spalding Blocked From Exiting $300M Fraud Lawsuit

By Brian Steele

King & Spalding LLP and Lennon Murphy & Phillips LLC can't withdraw from representing clients in consolidated litigation over an alleged $300 million stock swindle, a Connecticut state court judge has ruled, saying the firms' motions ahead of a June trial lack good cause.

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Fla. Court Refers Atty To Bar Over Bogus Case Citations

By Madison Arnold

A Florida state appeals court has referred an appellant's attorney to the state's bar for disciplinary proceedings after filing a petition that appears to be generated by artificial intelligence and "raises frivolous arguments, misstates the law, and cites non-existent case law."

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Parents Demand 'Bad Faith' Sanctions In Camp Mystic Case

By Lynn LaRowe

Camp Mystic in Texas' Hill Country should be sanctioned over "bad faith" conduct in litigation over flooding deaths last summer, including purported misrepresentations to courts and regulators and an alleged remark by one of its attorneys to a plaintiffs' lawyer that he would "burn in hell," a state court has been told.

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Trump Considers Tech Entrepreneur For DOJ Grants Post

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump appears poised to nominate a real estate attorney turned tech entrepreneur for a top U.S. Department of Justice post that oversees grants and criminal justice programs.

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Dem Sens. Ask DOJ To Preserve Trump-IRS Settlement Docs

By Jack McLoone

Two Democratic Senate leaders asked the U.S. Department of Justice to preserve any records related to the settlement of President Donald Trump's suit against the IRS in a letter published Thursday, signaling that further investigations may be coming.

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Roundup

Injury Law Roundup: Freight Brokers, Uber Lose Key Cases

By Y. Peter Kang

The U.S. Supreme Court's green light of negligent hiring claims against freight brokers in highway crash cases and an adverse verdict against Uber in the sexual assault multidistrict litigation lead Law360's Injury Law Roundup.

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Ex-Fla. Chief Justice Fred Lewis Dies At 78

By Carolina Bolado

Former Florida Chief Justice R. Fred Lewis, who spent two decades on the bench of the Florida Supreme Court, has died at 78, the court announced Thursday.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Gupta Wessler's Deepak Gupta

By Daniel Moritz-Rabson

In the decade and a half since starting his own firm, Deepak Gupta has argued seven cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, has won matters in state high courts from coast to coast, and has become a mainstay in federal appellate courts while building his plaintiff-side litigation boutique into a sought-after juggernaut.

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