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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Brief

Davis Polk Adds A&O Shearman Antitrust Partner In NY

By Andrea Keckley

Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP has hired a former A&O Shearman partner, who joined its antitrust and competition practice in New York.

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Bonus Spotlight

Selendy Gay Doles Out Spring Associate Bonuses

By Aebra Coe

New York litigation boutique Selendy Gay PLLC paid its associates spring bonuses of as much as $25,000 this week, according to the firm.

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Ex-Calif. Appellate Judge To Take Over As Law School Dean

By Rose Krebs

A former California appellate justice, who was the first Muslim to serve as a Court of Appeal justice in the U.S., has been named Western State College of Law at Westcliff University's next dean.

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Dems Say DOJ Blocked Bondi On Trump Questions

By Courtney Bublé

Democrats were incensed on Friday that the U.S. Department of Justice attorneys who accompanied former Attorney General Pam Bondi to her committee interview stopped her from answering questions about President Donald Trump.

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Civil Rights Icon Clarence B. Jones Dies At 95

By Andrea Keckley

Civil rights icon Clarence B. Jones, a speechwriter and personal attorney to Martin Luther King Jr., died May 22 at an assisted living facility in the Santa Clara County city of Cupertino, California, his family confirmed earlier this week. He was 95.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Megan Norcott

The past week in London has seen the billionaire who donated £5 million ($6.7 million) to Nigel Farage sue Ben Habib, the leader of far-right party Advance UK, for defamation; Mashreqbank bring claims against three subsidiaries of dissolved private equity giant Abraaj Group for commercial fraud; and the property and investment vehicle of the State of Kuwait be targeted by four real estate figures who filed a miscellaneous claim. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Boies Schiller's Matthew Schwartz

By Sarah Jarvis

Matthew L. Schwartz oscillated among many career aspirations as a kid, from astronaut to mayor of New York. When it was time to head off to college, the man who would go on to handle the prosecution of employees tied to Bernie Madoff and become chair of Boies Schiller Flexner LLP set his sights on science, earning an undergraduate degree in physics.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Phillips Black Inc., Hogan Lovells and Watkins & Eager PLLC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a Black Mississippi death row prisoner who argued racial discrimination tainted his jury selection is entitled to habeas corpus relief.

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DLA Piper Hires Real Estate, Construction Partner In Seattle

By Nate Beck

DLA Piper said it has added a Seattle-based real estate partner with experience advising a range of construction projects including data centers, mixed-use projects, schools and renewable energy facilities.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Kirkland & Ellis says it's investing a half billion dollars into developing its own artificial intelligence platform to better serve clients. And Law360 looks at the general counsel who is guiding BP through its latest leadership crisis after the company abruptly dismissed its board chair.

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Baker McKenzie Asks Judge Not To Toss Suit Against Ex-Atty

By Alison Knezevich

A lawyer for Baker McKenzie on Friday urged a Washington, D.C., judge not to dismiss the BigLaw firm's defamation suit against a former tax associate who accused a firm office leader of sexual assault, telling the court the accusations were false and made with "malice."

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Fla. Panel Revives Firm's Suit Over Tobacco Case Referrals

By David Minsky

A Florida state appellate court revived a law firm's complaint alleging tortious interference against a widow over a contingency fee agreement involving tobacco injury case referrals, finding that the lower court wrongly tossed the lawsuit based on extraneous information even though there was sufficient evidence to support a claim.

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NY Judge Doubts Nussbaum-Linked Firms Belong In Ch. 11

By Emily Lever

A New York bankruptcy judge on Friday questioned whether his court was the proper venue to wind down two commercial real estate law firms headed by Mark J. Nussbaum as the debtors sought to ditch an assignment for the benefit of creditors process in New York state court.

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Trump Urges 3rd Circ. To Reverse 'Bizarre' Anti-SLAPP Loss

By Dorothy Atkins

President Donald Trump urged the Third Circuit on Thursday to find a Pennsylvania anti-SLAPP statute shields him from the Central Park Five's defamation claims, slamming the lower court's "truly bizarre" ruling in an opening brief filed the same day a DLA Piper partner and others joined Trump's defense team.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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Akin Gump Owes Fees For Winebow's 'Self-Indulgent' Appeal

By Dorothy Atkins

The Ninth Circuit on Thursday ordered an importer's Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP attorneys to pay a European winemaker fees for having to defend against the importer's "spurious objections" to the winemaker's valid arbitral award, ruling that the importer's "self-indulgent" appeal warrants sanctions in the form of fees.

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Colo. Appeals Court Bars One-Way Fees In Eviction Cures

By Zach Dupont

A Colorado Court of Appeals panel on Thursday reversed the dismissal of a proposed class action against a group of landlords, Tschetter Sulzer PC and the Colorado Apartment Association accusing the collective of illegally extracting attorney fees from tenants during eviction proceedings.

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Double Shooting Renews Courthouse Safety Fears In NC

By Hayley Fowler

The shooting of two Fox Rothschild LLP attorneys outside a courthouse in Raleigh, North Carolina, ahead of Memorial Day weekend has renewed calls to protect the safety of judges and lawyers in an increasingly volatile justice system.

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Calif. Panel Reverses Order For Citing Atty's Bogus Case Law

By Dorothy Atkins

A California appellate panel on Thursday reversed a judgment in favor of a man accused of abusing his son, finding that "without doubt" the trial judge abused her discretion by incorporating the man's bogus legal citations into her ruling, despite being alerted to the mistakes in advance.

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