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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NJ Hospital Loses Bid To Narrow Ex-Executive's Bias Suit

By Carla Baranauckas

A New Jersey state judge has allowed a former University Hospital diversity and inclusion executive's discrimination and retaliation suit to proceed, denying the Newark hospital's bid to dismiss parts of the case and rejecting the executive's separate motion for partial summary judgment.

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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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Goldstein Calls Gov't's Attack On Text Messages 'Hypocrisy'

By Jared Foretek

Lawyers for convicted SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein have rejected prosecutors' claims that the famed U.S. Supreme Court lawyer may have deleted messages between himself and his poker backers, calling the government "hypocritical" after it had previously argued that Goldstein could authenticate the messages if he took the stand at trial.

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Judiciary Dems Seek DOJ Replies Before Blanche Hearing

By Courtney Bublé

Ahead of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's confirmation hearing for the permanent position, Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee are demanding he provide answers to their outstanding oversight inquiries.

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Brief

Texas Federal Judge Requires Confirmation Of AI Checks

By Emily Sawicki

Attorneys and self-represented parties appearing before U.S. District Judge Ernest Gonzalez of the Western District of Texas are now required to certify that they have independently verified the contents of any filings created or edited using artificial intelligence.

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'Do Your Part,' Mass. Judge Chides Read Case Attys Post-Leak

By Cara Salvatore

A Massachusetts judge on Wednesday lectured counsel in the high-profile civil case against Karen Read, the Massachusetts woman acquitted of murdering her Boston police officer boyfriend, to honor their ethical obligations after sensitive information leaked on social media.

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U Of Ky. Appoints Controversial Dean Pick For Law School

By Courtney Bublé

U.S. District Judge Gregory Van Tatenhove of the Eastern District of Kentucky will retire from the bench later this month to become dean of the University of Kentucky's J. David Rosenberg College of Law, a move that sparked controversy in the state.

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Wash. Atty Loses Bid For Jury In Dispute Over Bar Sanctions

By Emily Sawicki

A Washington lawyer sanctioned and disciplined for bringing a "frivolous" election suit in 2021 against then-Gov. Jay Inslee has lost her bid to have her ethics charges heard by a jury, with a state appeals panel finding no error in a trial court's ruling that it lacked jurisdiction to take on the disciplinary matter.

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Analysis

High Court's Guardrails Won't Ease Fight Over Trans Athletes

By Alex Lawson

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision permitting states to ban transgender athletes from girls' sports was written in simple terms, but attorneys tracking the issue see the ruling as a flashpoint for further litigation.

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Analysis

Plea Deals Get Scrutiny In 'Hunter,' But Justices Stay Cautious

By Brandon Lowrey

The shock for Mary Fan came almost immediately after she began her career as a federal prosecutor in Southern California in the mid-2000s.

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Roundup

The Top In-House Hires Of June

By Michele Gorman

Legal department hires during the past month included high-profile appointments at Bayer, Harley-Davidson and PBS. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from June.

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