President Donald Trump announced his choices Thursday of an in-house counsel at Boeing and a longtime National Labor Relations Board official to fill two long-standing vacancies on the board, setting up confirmations that would restore a quorum on the NLRB.
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FRIDAY, JULY 18, 2025 Law360 iOS App Law360 Android App Follow Law360 on Facebook Follow Law360 on LinkedIn Follow Law360 on Twitter

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Trump Picks Two For NLRB, Setting Up Return Of Quorum

By Tim Ryan

President Donald Trump announced his choices Thursday of an in-house counsel at Boeing and a longtime National Labor Relations Board official to fill two long-standing vacancies on the board, setting up confirmations that would restore a quorum on the NLRB.

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FedEx Must Face Drivers' OT Suit After Sanctions Bid Fails

By Bonnie Eslinger

A Massachusetts federal judge on Thursday denied FedEx's motion for sanctions seeking to dismiss one of several overtime lawsuits filed on behalf of drivers who worked for the shipping giant through intermediary employers, rejecting the company's assertion that the litigation seeks to "harass FedEx into settlement."

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Justices' 'Tea Leaves' Don't OK Illegal FTC Firing, Court Says

By Bryan Koenig and Lauren Berg

A D.C. federal judge ordered the restoration of a fired Federal Trade Commission Democrat's job Thursday, setting up a D.C. Circuit clash that could go to the U.S. Supreme Court on her conclusion that President Donald Trump violated a law permitting the termination of FTC members only for cause.

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9th Circ. Panel Appears Split On Trump Order Curbing Unions

By Craig Clough

A three-judge Ninth Circuit panel appeared divided Thursday on a lower court's ruling that halted enforcement of President Donald Trump's executive order axing labor contracts covering agencies that have "national security" aims, with one judge expressing concern over the order's implications while two questioned if they can second-guess the president's determination.

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CFTC Restructures Enforcement Division Amid Layoffs

By Jessica Corso

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission plans to lay off around two dozen staff members and has restructured its enforcement division by eliminating some management positions, a person familiar with the matter told Law360 Thursday.

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Calif. Supreme Court Won't Look At Meal-Break Waivers

By Irene Spezzamonte

The California Supreme Court declined to weigh in on a case in which veterinarians claimed that the prospective waivers from state meal-break requirements that an operator of veterinary hospitals rolled out were illegal, leaving undisturbed a panel's decision in favor of the hospitals.

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6th Circ. Says VA Nurse's Firing Wasn't Motivated By Age

By Danielle Ferguson

The Sixth Circuit on Thursday upheld the dismissal of a former Veterans Affairs nurse's age discrimination suit, finding that the worker was fired for repeatedly flouting her supervisor's instructions rather than because of age discrimination.

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Trump Creates 'Schedule G' For 'Non-Career' Federal Workers

By Hailey Konnath

President Donald Trump announced Thursday a new "non-career, policy oriented" classification for federal workers called "Schedule G," a group of workers the White House said would help "faithfully implement the president's policy agenda."

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DISCRIMINATION

Tax Auditor's Disability Bias Suit Dismissed For Late Filing

By Grace Elletson

A federal judge tossed a tax auditor's suit claiming a North Carolina county yanked her intermittent leave disability accommodation for health flare-ups that made it hard to drive to work, rejecting her bid to toll the statute of limitations due to a lawyer's bad advice.

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5th Circ. Won't Reinstate Fired Officer's Age Bias Fight

By Patrick Hoff

The Fifth Circuit refused to reopen a former deputy constable's lawsuit alleging that a Texas county fired him because he was a middle-aged man, ruling Thursday that it found no reason to disturb a lower court's dismissal of the case.

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Seminary Can't Fight Ministerial Exemption Order At 3rd Circ.

By Vin Gurrieri

A Pennsylvania federal judge rejected a Pittsburgh Presbyterian seminary's request to immediately appeal a ruling that the so-called ministerial exception doesn't bar a former interim director's sex discrimination suit, though the judge expanded upon her rationale for reaching that conclusion.

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Paralegal Fights Saltz Mongeluzzi's Bid To Dismiss Bias Suit

By Patrick Hoff

Personal injury firm Saltz Mongeluzzi & Bendesky PC shouldn't escape an Afro-Latina former paralegal employee's lawsuit claiming she was forced to put up with colleagues' racist remarks and sexual advances, the worker told a Pennsylvania federal court Wednesday, arguing her allegations are detailed enough for the suit to advance.

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WAGE & HOUR

Colo. Judge Tosses Fertilizer Workers' 'Vague' Wage Suit

By Katherine Smith

A composting company and its owner can exit an overtime suit brought by two former employees, a Colorado federal magistrate judge has ruled, finding that the ex-workers didn't bring enough evidence to back their claims.

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Healthcare Co.'s Revised $120K Wage Deal Gets Green Light

By Katherine Smith

A Connecticut-based healthcare company and its workers can move forward with their second attempt at a wage and hour settlement agreement, a Connecticut federal judge has ruled, finding that the new terms fix concerns he raised over the release of claims when rejecting the initial deal.

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Mortgage Cos.' Wage Deal OK'd Without Waiver Language

By Irene Spezzamonte

A settlement resolving an overtime suit by former mortgage company workers will move forward, but without language saying the company's owners and its successor waived certain defenses against a former co-owner in his separate New Jersey state court case, a federal judge ruled.

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LABOR

Brief

Mass. Cities Seek Order Forcing Trash Hauler To Honor Pacts

By Julie Manganis

Nearly three weeks after Republic Services workers went on strike, six Massachusetts communities went to court Thursday seeking an order compelling the trash hauler to immediately address what they say is a public health nuisance.

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BENEFITS

Firm Seeks NC Top Court's Take On Ex-Partner's Benefits Fight

By Hayley Fowler

Cranfill Sumner LLP asked North Carolina's top court on Thursday to take up its case challenging a former partner's workers' compensation award, saying a lower court made a mistake in ruling his equity stake in the firm doesn't offset the amount he's owed.

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COVID Fraudster Says State Can't Rescind Firefighter Pension

By Aaron Keller

A former Connecticut firefighter who pled guilty in relation to a West Haven COVID-19 relief fund scam says he should keep the pension he earned through 26 years of service in a neighboring city, arguing his crime bore no connection to his onetime employment and did not breach his union contract.

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TRADE SECRETS

Stanford Trims Roche IP Suit, But Others Face Most Claims

By Elliot Weld

Stanford University was let out of all but one claim brought by subsidiaries of F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG over alleged trade secret theft, but a California federal judge allowed most claims to move forward against several Stanford professors and a startup they founded.

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WHISTLEBLOWER

11th Circ. Says Ex-Quest Diagnostics Worker's FCA Suit Fails

By Chart Riggall

The Eleventh Circuit declined to revive a former Quest Diagnostics Inc. compliance officer's False Claims Act suit against the lab testing company, ruling she had failed to allege a specific claim of medical billing fraud after some 15 years of litigation.

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PRIVACY

Brief

Dementia Society Settles 'Spying' Lawsuit By Ex-Workers

By P.J. D'Annunzio

The Dementia Society has settled a privacy lawsuit by former employees who claimed the organization spied on them by putting listening devices in their workspaces, according to a court order.

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EXPERT ANALYSIS

What 9th Circ. Cracker Barrel Ruling Means For FLSA Cert.

The Ninth Circuit's decision in Harrington v. Cracker Barrel suggests a settling of two procedural trends in Fair Labor Standards Act jurisprudence — when to issue notice and where nationwide collectives can be filed — rather than deepening circuit splits, says Rebecca Ojserkis at Cohen Milstein.

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Series

Playing Mah-Jongg Makes Me A Better Mediator

Mah-jongg rewards patience, pattern recognition, adaptability and keen observation, all skills that are invaluable to my role as a mediator, and to all mediating parties, says Marina Corodemus.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

5 Things To Know As California Courts Decide On AI Rule

By Emily Sawicki

Fourteen months after California Supreme Court Chief Justice Patricia Guerrero first convened a task force to study potential benefits and risks of using artificial intelligence in the court system, the Judicial Council of California is poised Friday to consider the proposed rules and standards the task force developed.

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Watchdog Raises Concerns On 9th Circ. Nominee's Crypto Work

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump's nominee for the Ninth Circuit has a long record of representing cryptocurrency companies, which a watchdog group fears could aid what it calls the president's "self-enrichment" with digital currency.

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Dems Walk Out On Vote Of Emil Bove For 3rd Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

The Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee walked out of the vote on Emil Bove's Third Circuit nomination on Thursday morning after Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., accused committee chair Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, of subverting committee rules by not acknowledging his request to speak and rushing through the nomination.

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US Trustee Says Constitution Bars Jackson Walker Jury Trial

By Adrian Cruz

The federal government's bankruptcy watchdog told a Texas federal judge that under the Seventh Amendment, Jackson Walker LLP isn't entitled to a jury trial in its fee dispute stemming from a former bankruptcy judge's secret relationship with a onetime partner.

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Wis. Senators Send List Of Bipartisan 7th Circ. Picks To Trump

By Courtney Bublé

The senators from Wisconsin, one Republican and one Democrat, have sent President Donald Trump a list of five candidates for the seat of the Seventh Circuit that is slated to open in October.

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Israel Criticism Isn't Antisemitism, Judge Tells DOJ Lawyers

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge overseeing a free speech trial over deportation actions targeting pro-Palestinian students and faculty said Thursday that "criticism of the state of Israel is not antisemitism," and that even the most "vile" statements, absent threats or violence, are protected by the First Amendment.

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J&J Loses Bid To DQ Beasley Allen From Talc MDL Committee

By George Woolston

A New Jersey federal judge on Thursday denied Johnson & Johnson's bid to remove the Beasley Allen Law Firm from the plaintiffs steering committee in the multidistrict talc litigation but said that changes would be made to the committee's structure.

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Former Microsoft GC Remembered As Rule Of Law Champion

By Andrea Keckley

Former American Bar Association President William H. "Bill" Neukom, the first head lawyer for Microsoft and a longtime partner at a predecessor firm to K&L Gates LLP, has died at age 83, the bar said Wednesday.

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Wisconsin Bar Settles Atty's Legal Challenge Over DEI Efforts

By Madison Arnold

The State Bar of Wisconsin has settled a lawsuit from a lawyer challenging its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts, with the agency agreeing to apply a tweaked definition of diversity to two leadership programs.

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Fla. Law Firm Zumpano Patricios Hit With Data Breach Suit

By Sarah Martinson

Miami-headquartered national law firm Zumpano Patricios is facing a proposed class action in Florida federal court accusing the firm of failing to protect sensitive information, including dates of birth and healthcare payments, that was compromised in a May data breach.

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LA Ex-Judge Admonished For 'Discourteous,' 'Demeaning' Talk

By Hailey Konnath

California's Commission on Judicial Performance has publicly admonished a retired Los Angeles state judge for a pattern of "discourteous, undignified and impatient" behavior that also involved "demeaning" remarks toward women, findings that the judge said don't reflect "the full complexity of the circumstances."

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SEC Atty Exits After Hiding Revoked License, OIG Says

By Jessica Corso

A longstanding employee of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission resigned after it was discovered that they had falsely reported being in good standing with a state bar association, according to the regulator's inspector general.

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Analysis

6 Cases For Patent Attys To Watch In The Second Half Of 2025

By Dani Kass

The Federal Circuit is considering major questions about when delays in prosecuting patents become bad faith and whether the acting U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director is legally allowed to apply new rules retroactively. Here's what you need to know about these cases and others that attorneys are keeping an eye on for the rest of the year.

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LAW FIRMS IN TODAY'S NEWS

Ashcraft & Gerel

Baker Botts

Bathgate Wegener

Beasley Allen

Berman Fink

Blank Rome

Bredhoff & Kaiser

Brooks & DeRensis

Capstone Law APC

Clarick Gueron

Cohen Milstein

Cohen Placitella

Cole & Van Note

Cole Schotz

Connor Morneau

Corodemus & Corodemus

Cotchett Pitre

Cozen O'Connor

Cranfill Sumner

Crowell & Moring

Davis Law Group PC

Faegre Drinker

Falcone Law Firm LLC

Fink & Hayes

Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani

Haynes Boone

Hedrick Gardner

Honigman LLP

Hurley Burish

Irell & Manella

Jackson Walker LLP

Jones Day

K&L Gates

King & Spalding

Law Offices of Mitchell Schley

Lichten & Liss Riordan

Lieber Hammer

Marks O'Neill

Maynard Nexsen

McDermott Will & Emery

Mitchell Silberberg

Morgan Lewis

Murphy Hesse

Murray Law LLC

Nelson Mullins

Norton Rose

O'Melveny & Myers

Ogletree Deakins

OnderLaw

Phillips & Associates Attorneys at Law

Pillsbury Winthrop

Quinn Emanuel

Rusty Hardin

Saltz Mongeluzzi

Sanford Law (Little Rock, AR)

Saul Ewing

Sher Tremonte

Sherrard German

Skadden Arps

Sommers Schwartz

Wheeler Trigg

Williams & Ray

WilmerHale

Zimmer Citron

Zumpano Patricios

COMPANIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

American Association of University Professors

American Bar Association

American Federation of Government Employees

American Federation of Labor & Congress of Industrial Organizations

American Federation of State County & Municipal Employees

American Neighborhood Mortgage Acceptance Company LLC

Apple Inc.

Aramark

Bimbo Bakeries USA Inc.

Binance Holdings Ltd.

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co.

CareCentrix Inc.

Coinbase Global Inc.

Compass Minerals International, Inc.

Cracker Barrel Old Country Store Inc.

Day & Zimmermann

Dell Technologies Inc.

Elevance Health Inc.

Eli Lilly & Co.

F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.

Family First Funding LLC

FedEx Corp.

Five Rivers Cattle Feeding LLC

Getty Images Holdings Inc.

Google LLC

HR Policy Association

Harvard University

Hikma Pharmaceuticals PLC

InterContinental Hotels Group PLC

Johnson & Johnson

LKQ Corp.

Lazer Spot Inc.

LinkedIn Corp.

MGM Resorts International

Microsoft Corp.

Mohegan Sun

Motorola Mobility LLC

Motorola Solutions Inc.

National Association of Government Employees

National Nurses United

National Treasury Employees Union

New York University

Protect Democracy Project Inc.

Quest Diagnostics Inc.

Republic Services Inc.

SAP AG

San Francisco Giants

Service Employees International Union

Sonos Inc.

Stanford University

State Bar of California

State Bar of Wisconsin

Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

UCLA School of Law

Unum Group

World Justice Project

Xerox Holdings Corp.

GOVERNMENT AGENCIES IN TODAY'S NEWS

California Supreme Court

City and County of San Francisco, California

Commodity Futures Trading Commission

Commonwealth of Massachusetts

Connecticut Attorney General's Office

Equal Employment Opportunity Commission

Executive Office of the President

Federal Bureau of Investigation

Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

Federal Reserve System

Federal Trade Commission

Food and Drug Administration

Harris County Attorney's Office

Homeland Security Investigations

Illinois Supreme Court

Internal Revenue Service

National Labor Relations Board

Office of Foreign Assets Control

Patent Trial and Appeal Board

U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal 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. Department of Health and Human Services

U.S. Department of Justice

U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

U.S. Department of the Treasury

U.S. District & Bankruptcy Courts of Southern District of Texas

U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona

U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia

U.S. District Court for the District of Connecticut

U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts

U.S. District Court for the District of Nebraska

U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey

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

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 Middle District of Louisiana

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

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

U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement

U.S. Office of Personnel Management

U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

U.S. Senate

U.S. Supreme Court

United States District Court for the District of Colorado

United States District Court for the District of Montana