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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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