Federal Judge Narrows Ex-DaVita Worker's Retaliation Suit

By Melanie Dorsey

A former dialysis worker lost her whistleblower claim against a DaVita Inc. unit on Wednesday, yet a Michigan federal judge allowed part of her wrongful discharge case to proceed, finding a jury could weigh whether she was fired after refusing to take part in conduct she believed was illegal. 

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Watchdog Says DOL Needs Better Info Sharing Controls

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Department of Labor's lack of controls over information sharing between subagencies and nongovernmental entities, including law firms and legal advocacy organizations, may have unfairly advantaged those parties with privileged investigative information, an agency watchdog reported, though use of the practice has dropped off. 

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District, Teacher End Suit Over Suspension For Kirk Post

By Kelcey Caulder

A Georgia school district and a teacher told a federal court Wednesday that they have resolved the teacher's suit alleging she was suspended for calling conservative activist Charlie Kirk a "fascist" on her private Facebook page after he was killed.

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CORRECTED: NJ Judge Keeps Ex-Executive's Bias Suit Alive

By Carla Baranauckas

A New Jersey state judge denied without prejudice the State Ethics Commission's bid to dismiss a former University Hospital executive's discrimination suit and rejected her cross‑motion for partial summary judgment, but reserved decision on the hospital's motion to toss portions of the case.

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5 NYC Legal Service Provider Union Contracts Have Expired

By Andrea Keckley

The collective bargaining agreements for five New York City-based indigent defense and civil legal aid providers expired at the end of the day Tuesday as multiple unions reported outstanding points of contention in their negotiations.

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Brief

EEOC Says Safelite Rejected Women For Technician Jobs

By Kelcey Caulder

Auto glass repair company Safelite violated federal law by refusing to hire women as technicians even when they scored higher than their male counterparts on required job assessments, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission said in a suit.

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Mich. Judge Calls Ex-GM Worker Vexatious, Tosses Bias Suit

By Susan Smiley

A Michigan federal judge labeled a former General Motors employee a "vexatious litigator" in an opinion issued Tuesday after she filed "five separate lawsuits raising the same claims" against the same defendants and dismissed her workplace bias and harassment suit against General Motors Flint Assembly and UAW Local 598.

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EV Battery Workers Say Ford Is Joint Employer

By MJ Koo

Battery plant workers have told a Michigan federal court that Ford Motor Co. is their joint employer and bears responsibility for unpaid wage claims at an electric vehicle battery plant, pushing back against the automaker's bid to escape the lawsuit.

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Cleaning Co. Agrees To $500K Deal Over OT, Sick Leave Claim

By MJ Koo

A Texas commercial cleaning company agreed to pay $500,000 to settle claims that it failed to pay overtime wages and provide paid sick leave to Colorado workers it employed through subcontractors, according to a motion for preliminary settlement approval filed Wednesday in Colorado federal court.

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House Bill To Regulate Earned Wage Advances Clears Panel

By Aislinn Keely

The House Financial Services Committee has advanced a federal framework for fintechs offering paycheck advances despite pushback from some Democrats that the proposal hamstrings states by blocking them from applying their lending laws to the services and imposing stronger consumer protections.

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Unions Sue HHS Over Rollback Of Childcare Rule

By Katherine Smith

Several unions have challenged a new rule from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that rescinded changes made to a federal grant program that helps low-income families pay for childcare, according to a complaint filed in Washington federal court.

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Union Local Can't Join Suit Over NASA Library Closure

By Emily Brill

The union local representing workers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center can't join its parent union's lawsuit against the Trump administration to save a NASA library, a D.C. federal judge ruled, denying the local's bid to intervene to obtain an injunction protecting the Goddard Information and Collaboration Center.

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Brief

IT Firm Seeks To Enforce Noncompete Against Ex-Sales Chief

By Julie Manganis

Massachusetts IT management company Coretelligent has asked a state judge to block its former chief revenue officer from starting a new, nearly identical job with a rival firm, saying the move violates a noncompete.

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Whistleblower's Ex-Atty Must Pay $111K For Fighting DQ

By Carla Baranauckas

A New Jersey magistrate judge on Wednesday refused to revisit sanctions against an attorney removed from a business dispute for mishandling privileged documents, ordering him to pay nearly $111,000 in legal fees to a South Korean company for the costs of litigating his disqualification and failed appeal.

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Ga. Justices Pass On Co.'s Challenge To Workers' RICO Suit

By Kelcey Caulder

The Georgia Supreme Court has declined to hear a construction company's challenge to an appellate ruling that revived a lawsuit from two former human resources directors who claimed they were fired for raising concerns about fraudulent work authorization records.

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Big Pharma Cos. Want 340B Drug Price FCA Suit Tossed

By Craig Clough

Four major pharmaceutical companies Wednesday urged a California federal court to toss False Claims Act allegations revived by the Ninth Circuit claiming they filed false ceiling prices for drugs and overcharged entities covered by a federal discount program, saying the suit is precluded by the FCA's public disclosure bar.

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NC Panel Says Worker Shooting Suit Belongs In Commission

By Mike Curley

A North Carolina appellate panel on Wednesday sent a widower's suit over the shooting death of his wife by a coworker to the state's Industrial Commission, saying that new evidence produced after a previous appeal shows that the shooting was work-related and therefore falls under the state's Workers' Compensation Act.

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Bojangles Can't Duck Workers' Data Breach Class Action

By Hayley Fowler

Bojangles cannot free itself from a proposed data breach class action alleging the fried chicken fast food chain left employees' personal information vulnerable to Russian hackers, a North Carolina Business Court judge ruled in largely denying the company's bid for an early exit.

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Littler Adds Ex-Morgan Lewis Labor Litigator In California

By Matt Perez

Littler Mendelson PC, which primarily deals in employment and labor law practice representing management, announced on Tuesday the hiring of a former Morgan Lewis & Bockius LLP attorney as a shareholder in its Walnut Creek, California, office.

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WilmerHale Trade Secrets Litigation Co-Lead Joins Debevoise

By Aebra Coe

San Francisco-based litigator Joshua H. Lerner has left his job as co-chair of WilmerHale's trade secrets litigation practice to join Debevoise & Plimpton LLP as a partner, the firm announced Wednesday.

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Latham Grows Exec Comp Team With Skadden Practice Head

By Andrea Keckley

Latham & Watkins LLP announced on Wednesday that it has hired the head of Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP's executive compensation and benefits practice, marking the third executive compensation attorney to join the firm since May.

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3 Litigation Strategies To Stay Ahead Of Bad Facts

A case with damaging facts can still be won if, instead of avoiding the facts, attorneys proactively address them by carefully selecting a strategy of confronting, containing or reframing, says Allison Rocker at Baker McKenzie.

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Attorney Mental Health Is An Ethical Obligation In The AI Era

As attorneys cope with the increasing unpredictability that artificial intelligence and constant policy changes have created, particularly in practice areas where they carry the emotional weight of clients’ most consequential life events, otherwise soft discussions about self-care are a matter of professional competence, says attorney Jack Jrada.

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Legal Sector Jobs Spike With Work 'Churning Right Along'

By Aebra Coe

The legal sector added 5,100 jobs in June, the largest increase the industry has seen in more than two years, according to preliminary, seasonally adjusted data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Thursday.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

The American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, the Asian Law Caucus and the Democracy Defenders Fund lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court rejected President Donald Trump's bid to limit birthright citizenship.

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Feds Seek Up To 21 Months For Ex-Judge On ICE Obstruction

By Elizabeth Daley

A former Wisconsin judge who was convicted of obstructing ICE officers' courthouse arrest of a man facing misdemeanor charges by pointing him to a side door should spend up to 21 months in prison, the government said in a sentencing memo, recommending she be made an example.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week 

By Sue Reisinger

Amid the changes coming for general counsel, the policies and enforcement priorities of federal regulators may fluctuate more rapidly after a U.S. Supreme Court ruling this week that could dramatically remake independent government agencies. And the EEOC rescinded affirmative action documents that have guided employers for decades.

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Georgia Atty Can't Revive Defamation Suit Over Ethics Case

By Emily Johnson

The Georgia Court of Appeals has upheld the dismissal of a Georgia attorney's defamation suit against two people involved in an unsuccessful disciplinary action against her, saying her rambling appeal failed to prove that the trial court erred in dismissing her claims.

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When Does A Firm's 'Breakup' Fee-Split Contract Go Too Far?

By Rachel Rippetoe

It looked like a win for plaintiffs' firms when the Kentucky Supreme Court recently upheld a firm's 75% claim on fees from cases an attorney took with him when he launched his own practice, but the narrow ruling may leave room for lawyers to challenge similar agreements as penalties for leaving their firms.

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Judges To Tour Rust Belt To Build Trust In Courts

By James Boyle

Days after the Fourth of July celebration of America's 250th birthday, a group of current and retired judges will lead a four-day bus tour through three states to promote one of the bedrock principles of the country's independence: the rule of law.

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Analysis

Breaking Down The Vote: The High Court Term In Review

By Jack Karp

The U.S. Supreme Court's stark ideological divisions were on full display this term, particularly as it issued long-awaited rulings in the last few days of June. Here, Law360 dives into the numbers behind this court term.

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Mass Tort Titan Paul J. Napoli Dies

By Daniel Moritz-Rabson

Paul J. Napoli, an influential plaintiffs attorney who worked on some of the nation's highest-profile mass tort matters in recent decades, died on Tuesday at the age of 58.

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Skadden Adds Mass Torts Litigator As Partner In Chicago

By Christine DeRosa

Skadden Arps Slate Meagher & Flom LLP has grown its mass torts litigation offerings in Chicago with the addition of a Goldman Ismail Tomaselli Brennan & Baum LLP attorney, the firm said.

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'Embarrassed' Conn. Atty Details ChatGPT Briefing Errors

By Aaron Keller

With a sanctions hearing on the horizon, a Connecticut attorney has told the state's highest court he is "extremely embarrassed" by artificial intelligence errors in briefs filed in two recently decided cases, explaining he used ChatGPT to edit his research without knowing it could make "unprompted changes to the content."

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Del. Magistrate Orders JPMorgan To Advance Javice Fees

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court ruled Thursday that JPMorgan Chase & Co. must advance millions more in disputed legal fees to cover the appeal of the convicted founder of college financial aid startup Frank, concluding the bank failed to meet Delaware's demanding standard for withholding advancement by showing the billing requests reflected "clear abuse."

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Ex-DOJ Fraud Section Chief Joins Fried Frank

By Nadia Dreid

Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson LLP has added a veteran litigator from the U.S. Department of Justice who also brings more than a decade of experience representing financial institutions in white collar, enforcement and complex litigation spaces.

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Reed Smith Adds Ex-Norton Rose Partner, RE Atty In Munich

By Nate Beck

Reed Smith LLP has bolstered its private equity practice with the hire of a former Norton Rose Fulbright group leader in Munich.

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McCarter Atty Knew 'Magic Words' For $20M Deals, Court Told

By Brian Steele

If a onetime McCarter & English LLP partner had raised a single red flag about a Long Island town's legally flimsy agreement to repay $20 million worth of a businessman's loans, the ill-fated deals never would have gone forward, a Connecticut court heard Thursday.

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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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