6th Circ. Sets Standard For NLRB Injunctions In Hospital Case

By Emily Brill

Federal judges shouldn't issue injunctions in failure-to-bargain cases unless concrete evidence shows that the employer's snub of the union will cause harm, a split Sixth Circuit panel has decided, dissolving an injunction against a Michigan hospital and creating a circuit split on the question of when such injunctions are appropriate.

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2nd Circ. Bars Out-Of-State Drivers In Bimbo Bakeries OT Suit

By Benjamin Morse

Out-of-state delivery drivers can't pursue their wage claims against Bimbo Bakeries in a Vermont federal court, the Second Circuit ruled Monday, finding their claims aren't tied closely enough to the company's activities in the state.

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6th Circ. Nixes Ex-FBI Worker's Sex Harassment Suit

By Susan Smiley

A female former FBI worker's suit claiming harassment and assault by her male boss will not get a second bite at the apple, the Sixth Circuit said Monday, finding her firing wasn't connected to her sex.

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Justices Rebuff BNSF Bid To Curb Post-Mallory Forum Shopping

By Linda Chiem

The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday declined to hear BNSF Railway Co.'s challenge to a Minnesota business-registration law that the rail giant contends was improperly invoked to haul it into state court by an out-of-state plaintiff over alleged out-of-state harms.

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Blake Lively And Justin Baldoni Settle Dispute Ahead Of Trial

By Lauren Berg

Blake Lively has settled her claims accusing Justin Baldoni's production company of orchestrating a smear campaign after she accused her "It Ends With Us" co-star of sexually harassing her, the actors announced in a joint statement Monday, just two weeks before the case was set to go to trial in New York federal court.

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Kroger, EEOC Strike Deal To End Disability Bias Suit

By Grace Elletson

The Kroger Co. told a Georgia federal court Monday that it has settled a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission suit claiming the grocery chain ignored an employee's requests to sit on a chair at work to accommodate nerve damage caused by cancer treatments.

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Lewis Brisbois Gets Ex-Paralegal's Claims Sent To Arbitration

By Adrian Cruz

A Florida state judge determined that a former Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP paralegal has to arbitrate her claims accusing the firm of defamation and costing her a job at another firm.

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EEOC Urged To Investigate Teachers' Union For Antisemitism

By Anne Cullen

An advocacy nonprofit focused on the rights of Jewish people announced Monday that it has filed a charge of discrimination with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging the National Education Association has let antisemitism pervade its ranks.

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Sony Pictures Biased Against Older Women, Fired Exec Says

By Gina Kim

A Sony Pictures Television programming executive with decades of experience overseeing productions and adaptations of popular shows like "Everybody Loves Raymond" and "The Nanny" claims she was fired months before her 60th birthday after voicing concerns over the studio's alleged pattern of pushing out women in leadership roles who are older than 60.

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Google Says Jewish Ex-Worker's Race Claims Don't Add Up

By Grace Elletson

Google LLC urged an Illinois federal judge to cut race bias claims from a former salesperson's suit alleging he was discriminated against due to his Jewish identity, arguing that he failed to connect his religious practices to his race or ethnicity.

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No 'Smoking Gun' In FBI Agent's Race Bias Suit, Ga. Jury Told

By Chart Riggall

Lawyers for the U.S. Department of Justice urged a Georgia federal jury Monday to reject the race bias allegations of a former longtime FBI agent, telling it that in the coming days, it would never see "any smoking gun or direct evidence" that he was fired because he is Black.

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Ex-Google Worker Says Co. Can't Dodge Cancer Firing Suit

By MJ Koo

A former Google Cloud salesman who claims the company fired him during cancer treatment to avoid a nearly $4 million life insurance payout told a Connecticut federal court that Google's latest bid to dismiss his suit should be denied.

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Atty Seeks Docs To Back Ogletree DQ Bid In Bias Suit

By Adrian Cruz

A Georgia attorney on Monday asked a federal judge to allow discovery related to her bid to have Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC disqualified from defending ADT LLC against discrimination claims while concurrently defending Microsoft Corp. in the attorney's own pregnancy bias suit.

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Denver Airport GC Disclosed Confidential Info, Judge Rules

By Rachel Konieczny

A Colorado federal judge granted Monday the city of Denver's request for the Denver International Airport's general counsel to redact certain parts of his discrimination and retaliation lawsuit against the city, finding the attorney publicly disclosed confidential attorney-client information.

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DTE Energy Hit With Overtime Collective Action

By Melanie Dorsey

A DTE Energy employee filed a proposed collective action in Michigan federal court, alleging the utility systematically underpaid overtime wages by failing to properly calculate workers' regular rate under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

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Cloud Co. Denied Sales Workers OT Pay For Years, Suit Says

By MJ Koo

Three former sales workers have sued a cloud software company in North Carolina federal court, alleging the company wrongly classified them as overtime-exempt and denied them time and a half pay for years.

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Aviation Staffing Co. Used Per Diem To Dodge OT, Suit Says

By MJ Koo

An aviation staffing company paid its avionics technicians the same hourly rate for all hours worked, including overtime, and disguised the scheme using fake per diem payments, a proposed collective and class action filed in Georgia federal court alleges.

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Carpenters Trustees Reach Deal In Allianz Loss Suit

By Corey Rothauser

A group of union carpenters and the trustees of their retirement plans have reached a proposed settlement in a class action accusing the fiduciaries of mismanaging pension assets by investing in risky hedge funds that lost more than $250 million.

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Justices Urged Not To Take Up Macy's Thryv Challenge

By Braden Campbell

Macy's Inc.'s challenge to a Ninth Circuit ruling upholding a National Labor Relations Board order to reinstate strikers misstates the controlling precedent and mounts an "academic" attack on the board's heightened remedies, the operating engineers said Monday in a brief opposing U.S. Supreme Court review.

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Ill. Builder Says Union Forum Had No Power To Issue Award

By Corey Rothauser

Newberg Construction Co. Inc. has asked an Illinois federal court to vacate an arbitration award issued in favor of the International Union of Operating Engineers, Local 150, arguing the decision was issued without any valid agreement binding the company to the union.

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Brief

Ohio Labeling Co., Ex-Manager Settle Noncompete Suit

By Brian Steele

A former manager at an Ohio labeling and packaging facility and his ex-employer have settled a federal lawsuit alleging he took a job with a competitor and then poached another employee, in violation of his noncompetition and nonsolicitation agreements.

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Mich. Pot Regulators Ask Judge To Toss Whistleblower Suit

By Susan Smiley

Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency officials have asked a federal judge to toss a whistleblower suit filed by a former dispensary employee, arguing they have qualified immunity through the Eleventh Amendment.

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Vrdolyak Firm Loses Bid To End Ex-Staff's Wiretapping Claims

By Matt Perez

A Chicago federal judge on Friday said former Vrdolyak Law Group LLC employees can keep pursuing most of their claims that the firm secretly recorded workers' phone calls.

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Roush NASCAR Team Seeks Final OK For Data Breach Deal

By Abigail Harrison

Roush Fenway Keselowski Racing LLC, a professional stock car racing team, asked a North Carolina federal court Friday for final approval of a settlement in a data breach class action that will offer protection for fraud and identity theft.

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NY Opioid Antagonist Mandate Leaves Employers Guessing

A recently enacted New York law will require employers that are federally mandated to maintain first-aid supplies to now include an opioid antagonist, but being that it is subject to a complicated Occupational Safety and Health Administration analysis, employers face several unanswered compliance questions, say attorneys at Conn Maciel.

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2 AI Snafus Show Why Attys Can't Outsource Judgment

The recent incident involving Sullivan & Cromwell where citations in a filed motion were fabricated by artificial intelligence, as well as a punitive ruling from the Sixth Circuit in U.S. v. Farris, demonstrate that the obligation to supervise AI has belonged and always will belong to lawyers, says John Powell at the Kentucky School Boards Association.

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Bondi Spurs Ethics Doubts By Using DOJ Official As Counsel

By Courtney Bublé

Harmeet Dhillon, an official with the U.S. Department of Justice, is representing former Attorney General Pam Bondi in proceedings before the House oversight committee, which Democrats on the panel say raises ethical quandaries.

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Attys Defend $85M Fee Bid Blasted By Judge In Google Deal

By Bonnie Eslinger

Consumers who pursued an antitrust class action against Google urged the California federal judge who criticized their 98,000 hours billed as "grotesquely bloated" to approve their $85 million fee request, emphasizing Friday that they filed suit a year before state attorneys general joined the case and maintained a leading role in the litigation.

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Military Atty Can Prosecute Minn. Civilian Despite Regulations

By Jack Karp

A Minnesota federal judge won't stop a military attorney from being appointed to prosecute a civilian accused of assaulting federal immigration officers, despite finding that the appointment violates binding U.S. Department of Defense regulations.

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DOJ Apology For Hidden Warrant Not Satisfying For Judge

By Tom Lotshaw

A Rhode Island federal judge, whom the U.S. Department of Homeland Security criticized for releasing a noncitizen with an alleged overseas warrant for homicide, was dissatisfied with an assistant U.S. attorney's apology for not disclosing the warrant to the court beforehand.

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Wash. Bar Task Force Spotlights Atty Mental Health Issues

By Rachel Riley

A Washington State Bar Association wellness survey of roughly 900 members found that nearly 10% said they experienced suicidal thoughts or self-harm in the past year, and about 20% expressed concerns about their alcohol consumption, a task force reported to bar leadership on Saturday.

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Sinema Pans 'Gross Distortion' By Ex-Guard's Wife In Tryst Suit

By Abigail Harrison

Former Arizona U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema on Friday doubled down on her contention that a North Carolina federal court lacks jurisdiction over a lawsuit alleging she destroyed a marriage by sending lascivious texts to her ex-security guard.

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Analysis

DOJ's In-House Detention Legal Aid Plan Is MIA

By Courtney Bublé

A year ago, U.S. Department of Justice officials said the government would be taking over a program historically run by nonprofits to provide legal orientations and referrals for pro bono representation for adults in immigration detention facilities. But those involved in the program say the Trump administration hasn't taken any steps to run the program.

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2nd Circ. Raises Concern Over Challenge To NY US Atty's DQ

By Stewart Bishop

A Second Circuit panel on Monday voiced concern over the U.S. Department of Justice's argument that a now-former acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York was serving lawfully when he subpoenaed the New York Attorney General's office over a pair of cases disfavored by President Donald Trump.

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Maduro Gets June Court Date After US Relents On Atty Fees

By Pete Brush

A Manhattan federal judge on Monday directed former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro to return to court in June, after he and his wife, Cilia Flores, reached an apparent agreement with the Trump administration to access Venezuela government funds for their legal fees.

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Mass. Justices Uneasy Over Judge's Handling Of ICE Incident

By Julie Manganis

Massachusetts' top court on Monday appeared concerned that a state district court judge in 2018 offered to detain a defendant sought by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, as the justices considered a public reprimand.

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Longtime South Fla. Federal Judge James King Dies At 98

By Carolina Bolado

U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King, a Nixon appointee who spent more than half a century on the federal bench and helped shape the Southern District of Florida, died Saturday at the age of 98.

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Calif. District OKs Civil Court Audio Feeds Including Musk Trial

By Dorothy Atkins

The Northern District of California modified local court rules late Friday to allow judges to stream audio for civil jury trials in the district, accompanying its announcement with a separate notice that the high-profile Elon Musk v. Sam Altman trial over OpenAI's for-profit conversion is available to access via audio stream.

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