10th Circ. Says DEI Training Didn't Harm White Worker

By Grace Elletson

The Tenth Circuit on Monday shut down, for the second time, a white former Colorado corrections officer's suit claiming he faced racist harassment and discrimination through a diversity training, saying he failed to show that the content alone caused him to face any severe mistreatment or abuse.

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Swedish Health $86M Wage Deal Secures Initial OK

By Benjamin Morse

Seattle-area hospital system Swedish Health Services will pay $86 million to settle a proposed class action claiming its alleged meal break violations and rounding practices led to unpaid wages, according to a state judge's preliminary approval of the deal.

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Fed. Circ. Scrutinizes Email Mishap In Decade-Old Wage Fight

By Tom Lotshaw

A Federal Circuit panel questioned Monday whether an email mishap that kept a U.S. Department of Defense employee from timely appealing his furlough was the employee's fault, after the U.S. Supreme Court gave him the green light to continue his 13-year-old fight.

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Grubhub Drivers Allege Wage Theft, Illegal Face Scans

By MJ Koo

Grubhub has misclassified its delivery drivers as independent contractors and unlawfully collected their biometric data without consent, according to a proposed class action filed in Illinois state court.

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NYC Sanctioned For Sluggish Discovery In IVF Sex Bias Suit

By Patrick Hoff

A federal judge sanctioned New York City on Monday for its lethargic discovery responses in a proposed class action claiming a municipal health plan unlawfully blocked gay men from receiving in vitro fertilization coverage, ordering the city to reimburse the couple leading the suit for their efforts to obtain documents.

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Chartwell Law, Ex-Firm Atty Settle Ga. Racial Bias Suit

By Emily Sawicki

A Black Georgia attorney who sued the Chartwell Law Offices LLP in September, alleging she faced "systematic discrimination, harassment and retaliation" at her former firm, has notified the Atlanta federal court that the two sides have entered a tentative settlement to end her claims.

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Quinn Emanuel Founder Exiting Executive Chair Role

By Tracey Read

Four decades after high-stakes litigation firm Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan first opened in Los Angeles, founding partner John B. Quinn is stepping down as executive chairman of the firm effective immediately.

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ADT Seeks Toss Of Remote Worker's Pregnancy Bias Suit

By Kelcey Caulder

A benefits administrator and a security services company asked a Georgia federal judge to toss several claims brought by a remote worker who alleged she was discriminated against, denied benefits she was owed and denied lactation accommodations after returning from maternity leave.

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COVID Hazard Pay Counts Toward OT, 11th Circ. Rules

By Benjamin Morse

An Alabama retirement and assisted living facility unlawfully excluded pandemic-related hazard pay from employees' overtime calculations, the Eleventh Circuit ruled, finding that the pay must be included in workers' regular rate under federal wage law.

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Sanctions On Table In Sushi Chef's Wage Suit Against Eatery

By Aaron Keller

A Connecticut federal judge on Monday appeared poised to order sanctions favoring a sushi chef in a proposed class action accusing a Fairfield restaurant of wage violations, criticizing the eatery's attorney for engaging as a purported consultant a client and manager of another restaurant the same chef is suing in New York.

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Farmworkers Say Atty Absence Won't Justify Sanctions Relief

By MJ Koo

Farmworkers accusing a harvesting company of luring them to the U.S. under false promises urged a Colorado federal court Monday to reject the company's attempt to undo sanctions, arguing its attorney's prolonged absence from the case did not constitute excusable neglect.

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5th Circ. Tosses Another DOL Overtime Rule Appeal

By José Luis Martínez

The U.S. Department of Labor will no longer pursue another appeal seeking to save a Biden-era rule that increased the salary threshold for white-collar overtime exemptions.

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Trump Administration Must Face NAACP, Unions' Ed. Dept. Suit

By Emily Brill

The Trump administration must continue facing claims that it overstepped its authority by attempting to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, with a Maryland federal judge saying a lawsuit brought by the NAACP and three unions is strong enough to survive the administration's dismissal motion.

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NLRB Judge Says Kroger Unit's Parking Lot Policy Is Unlawful

By Katherine Smith

A Kroger grocery delivery service violated federal labor law by preventing off-duty employees in Kentucky from soliciting for a Teamsters affiliate on company property, a National Labor Relations Board judge has ruled.

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Pharma CEO's Role In Ex-Exec's Contract Permits Deposition

By Abigail Harrison

North Carolina's business court has refused to shield the CEO of biopharmaceutical firm United Therapeutics Corp. from being deposed in a trade secrets lawsuit against a former executive and his new employer, finding it reasonable to believe she was an "ultimate decision-maker."

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Counselor Claims Nonprofit Fired Him For Reporting Abuse

By Parker Quinlan

A former counselor at a Pennsylvania juvenile justice facility has filed a lawsuit in state court alleging his ex-employer fired him in retaliation for reporting allegations of physical and sexual abuse against the residents.

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Boston Transit Agency To Pay $1.6M Over Alleged Assault

By Julie Manganis

The public transit agency for Boston and its nearby suburbs will pay $1.6 million to settle a negligent hiring and retention lawsuit by a passenger who was allegedly beaten by a bus driver with a known history of violence, according to a court filing.

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Estate Says Instacart Shares Blame For Pedestrian's Death

By Jonathan Capriel

The mother of a pedestrian killed in a collision is suing Uber Eats and Instacart, claiming both companies are liable for negligently hiring an unqualified 18-year-old driver who was allegedly making deliveries at the time of the crash without a driver's license and using an unregistered vehicle.

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Tech School Fights Fees After Ex-Admin's Firing Case Win

By P.J. D'Annunzio

Upper Bucks County Technical School in Pennsylvania has asked a federal judge not to award a former administrator all requested legal fees and litigation costs or adjust his award for taxes after winning his suit claiming he was fired for criticizing a COVID-19 mask exemption policy.

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Employer Tips After 4th Circ. Rejects Trimmed Suit Deadlines

The Fourth Circuit's recent holding in Thomas v. EOTech that employers cannot use contractual provisions to shorten statutory filing periods for Title VII or Age Discrimination in Employment Act claims offers a warning for employers to review any such documents and reassess their litigation risk, say attorneys at Ogletree.

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Heppner Ruling Left AI Privilege Risk For Lawyers Unresolved

While a New York federal judge’s recent ruling in U.S. v. Heppner resolved a privilege question surrounding client-side artificial intelligence use, it did not address how to mitigate the risks that can arise when confidential information enters the operative context of an AI system used by an attorney, says Jianfei Chen at Quarles & Brady​​​​​​​.

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Analysis

Trading Scheme Is A 'Wake-Up Call' For BigLaw Compliance

By Chris Villani

The breadth of a decade-long insider trading scheme prosecutors say was fueled by stolen BigLaw merger information should jolt firms to reexamine their practices to close gaps in internal security, experts told Law360, even if totally eliminating bad actors is nearly impossible.

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NY Ethics Panel Finds US Attorney Committed Misconduct

By Courtney Bublé

The New York Attorney Grievance Committee has found that President Donald Trump's pick leading the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Northern District of New York engaged in "professional misconduct" last summer, according to a letter released on Monday.

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Trump Taps 6 Judges, Including Picks Needing Blue Slips

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced six judicial nominees on Monday, including picks for the Eighth and Tenth Circuits and two district court picks that needed support from Democrats.

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ChatGPT Suit Points To Ups And Downs Of Pro Se AI Use

By Cara Bayles

A recent lawsuit against OpenAI highlights many of the hopes and anxieties about pro se litigants using generative artificial intelligence to churn out legal arguments. The technology raises concerns about confidentiality, hallucinations and ethical issues, but some access-to-justice advocates worry the lawsuit may hinder technology that might democratize legal services.

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Plaintiffs' Attys Sanctioned In Tylenol MDL, Sparking Appeal

By Gianna Ferrarin

A New York federal court sanctioned a plaintiffs' firm and its co-founder in federal multidistrict litigation by families alleging that prenatal exposure to acetaminophen can cause autism, saying they improperly shared confidential information from the case in related state court actions.

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Senate Confirms 13 US Attorneys In En Bloc Vote

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 46-45, along party lines, to confirm 13 U.S. attorneys on Monday as part of a larger nominations package.

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Pa. Law Firm, Doctors Can't Shake Uber, FedEx RICO Suit

By Linda Chiem

A Pennsylvania federal judge said Monday that Uber and FedEx offered extensive and detailed allegations to press ahead with their racketeering lawsuit accusing a Philadelphia personal injury firm and local healthcare providers of scheming to fabricate medical records to inflate accident claims.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week handled a varied mix of settlement approvals, political office disputes, transaction fights, emergency injunction bids and questions over how far the court can go to preserve records for litigation outside Delaware.

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