2nd Circ. Spikes Yale Health Workers' Vax Mandate Challenge

By Grace Elletson

The Second Circuit shut down a suit Thursday from workers who claimed Yale New Haven Health violated their rights by subjecting them to a COVID-19 vaccine mandate, saying their constitutional claims were doomed by a lack of state involvement.

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Sheppard Mullin Hit With Class Action Over Data Breach

By Jake Maher

A former Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP paralegal launched a proposed class action against the firm in California federal court on Wednesday over a cyberattack it had in August, in which she says at least 1,000 people's names and Social Security numbers were stolen.

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Mich. Justices Mull Bias Claim Of Same-Sex Wedding Officiant

By Melanie Dorsey

The Michigan Supreme Court on Thursday questioned whether the state's civil rights law protects employees from discrimination based on their association with people in protected classes, as a former Calvin University professor argued that the school unlawfully fired him for officiating a same-sex wedding.

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FedEx Inks $30M Deal In Wash. Breaks, Noncompete Suit

By MJ Koo

FedEx has agreed to pay up to nearly $31 million to settle claims in a Washington federal court that it failed to provide required meal and rest breaks, manipulated employee time records and barred lower-earning workers from holding outside jobs.

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Feds Bar Microsoft, Adobe, Others From Visa Program

By Britain Eakin

Vice President JD Vance said Thursday that the Trump administration has suspended Microsoft, Adobe and other technology companies from utilizing a program that allows H-1B visa holders to apply for green cards, saying Microsoft in particular has "abused" the system.

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Pasadena Worker Accuses 9th Circ. Of 'Lies' In COVID Ruling

By Craig Clough

A Pasadena police employee on Thursday failed to convince the Ninth Circuit to give him a second shot at suing the city over its COVID-19 vaccination policy, rejecting his argument that a panel decision in the matter was "rife with lies, misstatements, material omissions and total fabrications."

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Lawmakers Push For Protections In $10M Spirit Data Sale

By Kelcey Caulder

More than 120 mostly Democratic lawmakers raised concerns Thursday about the proposed $10 million sale of Spirit Airlines' internal data to Google for artificial intelligence training, saying the sale would involve an "extraordinary volume" of internal records containing individuals' sensitive information.

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Starbucks Says NLRB Ignored Repeat Dress Code Violations

By Lauren Berg

Starbucks asked the Fifth Circuit on Thursday to vacate a National Labor Relations Board decision that the coffee chain flouted federal labor law by stepping up dress code policy enforcement without bargaining beforehand, arguing management at a unionized Oregon store followed the company's established corrective action policy.

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Ex-Thermo Fisher Manager Blames Age, Sex Bias For Ouster

By Julie Manganis

A former senior director of research and development at Thermo Fisher Scientific alleged that he was sidelined and then forced out as part of an effort by the Massachusetts-based company to weed out older workers and promote a more "youthful" and "progressive" image.

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Televangelist Tells Mich. Jury Network Owner Was 'Obnoxious'

By Susan Smiley

A Black televangelist suing his former network testified to a Michigan federal jury on Thursday that he was drawn in and wooed by white religious network owner Kevin Adell, only to be blindsided by his boss' racially charged jokes and erratic behavior.

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Pa. Co. Pulled Job Offer After Failed Pot Test, Suit Says

By Jonathan Capriel

A former employee is suing a trucking and logistics company in Pennsylvania federal court, claiming it illegally rescinded a job offer after he tested positive for marijuana, despite him telling the company about his state-issued medical cannabis card.

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Flint Hospital Accused Of Race Bias In Nurse Promotion

By Melanie Dorsey

A Black registered nurse has sued a Flint, Michigan, hospital and one of its administrators alleging she was passed over for a promotion in favor of a less-qualified white candidate after an administrator manipulated the interview process and predetermined who would receive the position.

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Amazon Sued Over Late Final Paychecks In Mass.

By Carolyn Muyskens

A former worker at an Amazon distribution center in Massachusetts said the e-commerce company fails to give terminated employees their final paychecks on their last day, violating a state wage law.

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ESPN Graphics Producer Says He Was Denied Overtime Pay

By Benjamin Morse

ESPN misclassified a graphics producer as exempt from overtime for years despite his routine job duties, then failed to provide back pay after reclassifying his position in June, according to a Connecticut state court lawsuit.

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Brief

Airlines, Colo. Propose Trial Dates In Sick Leave Law Case

By MJ Koo

An airline industry trade group and a Colorado labor official told a federal judge they see virtually no chance of settling the group's lawsuit over whether a state paid sick leave law applies to airline workers, proposing trial dates for early 2027 and offering competing lengths for the proceeding.

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2 More Sentenced In $11M Amtrak Health Fraud Scheme

By George Woolston

A former Amtrak employee and a New York podiatrist have been sentenced to prison for their roles in a scheme that prosecutors claim defrauded the rail carrier out of $11 million in health benefits, the U.S. attorney's office in New Jersey said.

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NASCAR Rivals Must Yield Race Setups In Trade Secrets Suit

By Hayley Fowler

Joe Gibbs Racing LLC and rival NASCAR team Spire Motorsports must produce their race-car setups for the 2025 and 2026 seasons in their contested trade secrets battle, a North Carolina magistrate judge has ruled, but not without first lamenting the onslaught of discovery disputes he's been saddled with resolving.

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Series

Mentalism Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Convincing strangers I can read their minds may seem like an unusual second career for a legal practitioner, but both disciplines share several important requirements, including trust and preparation, says Warren Biro at Manatt.

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Squire Patton, Holland & Knight Report Data Breaches

By Jake Maher

Squire Patton Boggs LLP and Holland & Knight LLP were hit with cyberattacks exposing sensitive information, according to disclosures filed this week.

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Up Next At High Court: Criminal Sentences & Video Privacy

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court will close out its October sitting by hearing oral arguments in two cases that ask what level of deference federal district courts should give to commentary interpreting the federal sentencing guidelines, and what purchases are protected under a video consumer privacy statute.

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DOJ Aims To 'Attack Fraud From All Angles' Via New Division

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Department of Justice's new fraud division has issued fresh guidance on its prosecution methodology, with the division's head directing prosecutors to seize assets before indictments and pursue upward variances in sentencing guidelines in some cases as part of a stated push to use the division's "full arsenal of criminal statutes" in combating fraud.

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Ill. Judge Lays Out Doc Demands For DOJ Misconduct Probe

By Lauraann Wood

An Illinois federal judge asked the government Friday to turn over six months of communications and certain other records as she investigates in-court inaccuracies Chicago prosecutors offered while prosecuting six anti-immigration protesters, rejecting its request to seal a filing in the process.

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Atty With False AI Citation Filings Ordered To Pay $39K

By Bonnie Eslinger

A New York federal judge who imposed case-terminating sanctions on an attorney who submitted filings with false citations generated by artificial intelligence ordered him on Friday to pay nearly $39,000 to lawyers who uncovered the problematic AI use, noting he had given them the "runaround" when they tried to collect directly.

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Grassley Attacks Dems' Claims Of Rule-Breaking Over Hearing

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, clapped back at Democrats for their accusations that Republicans broke Senate rules during a hearing last week at which former special counsel Jack Smith appeared.

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Calif. Jurists' Atty Tips: 'Emulate Lincoln,' 'Don't Be Boring'

By Bonnie Eslinger

Three current and former Northern California federal judges and one Morrison Foerster LLP partner during a Federal Bar Association panel discussion Thursday gave attorneys tips on "courtroom persuasion," including knowing the judges, keeping things interesting and, like the nation's 16th president, getting quickly to the winning point.

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Brief

Legal Services NYC Gets $2.5M To Build Novel Resource Hub

By Tracey Read

Legal Services NYC announced Friday that it has been awarded a $2.5 million grant from the New York State Interest on Lawyer Account Fund to create a first-of-its-kind statewide knowledge-sharing platform to help legal advocates spend more time seeking justice for low-income clients.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

The new federal fraud division is threatening faster action and broader targets under a new enforcement policy announced recently. And the SEC warned shareholder advocacy groups that join forces could face legal scrutiny in the future. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.​

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP, Sullivan & Cromwell LLP and Alston & Bird LLP lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the Sixth Circuit overturned a pivotal decision in multidistrict opioid litigation that had dramatically expanded claims against the nation's largest pharmacy benefit managers.

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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 PrivatBank sue its former oligarch owner, building materials provider Kingspan face a €100 million ($112 million) claim over Grenfell Tower cladding and energy giants VaroPreem and Viaro Energy become embroiled in an intellectual property row.

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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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