Justices Back Courts' Power Over Cases Sent To Arbitration

By Caroline Simson

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Thursday that federal courts that have sent a dispute to arbitration have jurisdiction to confirm or vacate a subsequent award, affirming a Second Circuit decision enforcing an award issued in a discrimination case involving a former hotel employee.

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DOL Walks Back Biden-Era Overtime Exemption Rule

By Max Kutner

The U.S. Department of Labor moved Thursday to undo a rule from former President Joe Biden's administration that raised the salary threshold for overtime exemptions under the Fair Labor Standards Act, returning to the standard from President Donald Trump's first term.

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Ogletree Fights Atty's Discovery Bid For DQ Push In Bias Suit

By Lynn LaRowe

A Georgia federal court should deny a bid for discovery aimed at disqualifying Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC from defending a security company against discrimination claims because the request stems from the plaintiff's lawyer's "personal grievances," the company said Thursday.

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FCA Can't Shut Down EEOC Sex Harassment Suit

By Grace Elletson

A Michigan federal judge declined to toss a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission sex harassment suit against automaker FCA, finding enough details supported the agency's claims that male workers inappropriately touched and sexualized female colleagues at a Detroit plant.

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Ex-Immigration Judge Says DOJ Targeted Dissenters, Others

By Julie Manganis

A former immigration judge in Massachusetts said in a lawsuit brought Thursday that he was fired in a purge of those with "political ideologies contrary to those held" by the Trump administration in violation of his First Amendment rights.

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Florida AG Subpoenas NFL Over Diversity Hiring Rules

By David Minsky

Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier expanded his inquest into the NFL and subpoenaed league officials after they pushed back against the threat of a lawsuit for allegedly using discriminatory hiring practices in violation of state law. 

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DOJ Asserts Broad Power In BigLaw Executive Order Appeal

By Jared Foretek

A Trump administration attorney told the D.C. Circuit on Thursday that the courts have no authority to review the president's decision to revoke someone's security clearance for any reason, including race, religion, or even refusal to pay a $1 million bribe.

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Google Workers' Attys Get $12.5M In Race Bias Deal Final OK

By Lauren Berg

A California federal judge gave her final approval Thursday to a $50 million settlement that Google reached to resolve claims that it paid thousands of Black workers less than their white colleagues, and awarded the workers' attorneys their fee request of $12.5 million.

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Black Ex-Transit Cop Commander Accuses Agency Of Bias

By Rachel Konieczny

Denver's Regional Transportation District racially discriminated against its former transit police department commander because he is Black and employs a practice of discriminating against other Black officers, the former commander alleged in Colorado federal court.

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Chick-fil-A Worker Fired For Sabbath Observance, EEOC Says

By Patrick Hoff

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission told a Texas federal court Thursday that a Chick-fil-A franchisee unlawfully fired a delivery manager because she needed Saturdays off to observe the Sabbath.

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DOJ Says Yale's Medical School Discriminates Based On Race

By Hailey Konnath

The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday accused the Yale School of Medicine of discriminating against white and Asian applicants, saying an investigation revealed Black and Latino students have a much higher chance of getting into the school.

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Farmworkers Lose Early Bid To Halt DOL H-2A Wage Rule

By Britain Eakin

A California federal judge declined Thursday to block a U.S. Department of Labor regulation reducing wages for H-2A seasonal farmworkers, ruling that United Farm Workers failed to show there is an immediate injury that warrants court intervention now.

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Judge Recommends Cert. In United Airlines Unit OT Suit

By Benjamin Morse

Current and former employees of a United Airlines subsidiary providing cleaning services on planes can proceed as a class in their lawsuit alleging overtime pay violations tied to shift trades, a Colorado federal magistrate judge has recommended, finding the claims stem from a uniform pay policy.

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Seton Hall Hit With Wage Suit Over Dorm Monitor Pay

By Carla Baranauckas

Seton Hall University illegally failed to pay resident assistants minimum wage and overtime compensation despite requiring them to perform extensive supervisory, security and administrative duties in campus dormitories, a former resident assistant claimed in a proposed class and collective action in New Jersey state court.

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NC Healthcare Workers Get Final Nod On $1.5M Wage Deal

By Hayley Fowler

A federal judge has given final approval to a $1.56 million settlement with the owners of several North Carolina hospitals and healthcare facilities accused of manipulating workers' time sheets to skirt overtime requirements.

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7th Circ. Presses Trans CTA Driver On Bias Evidence

By Celeste Bott

A Seventh Circuit panel Thursday pressed counsel for a former Chicago Transit Authority bus driver on whether the record showed he was fired because he is transgender, rather than because he failed to follow procedures for taking leave, as he seeks to revive discrimination claims against the agency and union.

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Tennis Group Says Grand Slams Are Retaliating For Lawsuit

By Matthew Perlman

Tennis players told a New York federal court their professional association is being denied access to the French Open and Wimbledon in retaliation for suing several tournament operators and the sports' governing bodies for allegedly acting like a cartel to control their wages and working conditions.

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Investment Co. Settles Carpenters' $250M Pension Loss Suit

By Grace Elletson

Callan LLC has reached a deal in a class action from a group of union carpenters who claimed the investment consulting firm and their pension funds' trustees lost them $250 million in assets by investing in Allianz index funds, according to a Washington federal court filing.

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Pension Fund Seeks To Enforce $16.2M BAE Systems Bill

By Ganesh Setty

The Machinists union's pension fund asked a D.C. federal court to approve an arbitrator's rejection of BAE Systems Inc.'s claims that the fund improperly calculated its roughly $16.2 million withdrawal liability.

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United Rentals, Ex-Worker Strike Deal In Noncompete Suit

By Aaron Keller

United Rentals Inc. on Thursday asked a Connecticut federal judge to approve a permanent injunction blocking a former North Carolina salesperson from working for a competitor within 100 miles of United's Raleigh branch office through mid-January 2027, ending a 4-month-old noncompete suit.

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BeiGene Must Face AbbVie's Chemical Trade Secret Claims

By Elliot Weld

An Illinois federal judge has denied oncological research company BeiGene's request to escape claims from AbbVie Inc. that it poached a retired scientist to obtain trade secrets related to a certain chemical compound, saying BeiGene failed to back up its arguments.

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Apple Drops Bid To Transfer Fintiv Suit Due To Albright Exit

By Adam Lidgett

Apple Inc. has abandoned its request to transfer Fintiv Inc.'s trade secret theft and racketeering lawsuit from Georgia to Texas, citing U.S. District Judge Alan Albright's decision to leave the bench in the Western District of Texas.

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Justices Say Freight Brokers Can Face Negligence Suits

By Linda Chiem

The U.S. Supreme Court said Thursday that freight brokers might also be liable under state law for selecting unsafe motor carriers that then get into highway crashes that kill or injure people, offering long-sought clarity on liability standards in a commercial trucking industry unnerved by supersized verdicts against carriers and drivers.

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'People Could Die': Wash. Justice Dings Appeal Of COVID Fine

By Rachel Riley

A Washington State Supreme Court justice pushed back Thursday after a restaurant argued state regulators improperly fined it nearly $1 million for offering indoor dining during the COVID-19 pandemic, spurning the eatery's claim that regulators failed to cite any harm by noting "people could die" from the disease's spread.

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Fortive, Subsidiary Seek Early Win In Wrongful Firing Suit

By Rachel Konieczny

Technology company Fortive and a medical equipment subsidiary asked a Colorado federal judge for an early win in a former regional sales director's lawsuit alleging she was fired for raising concerns about compliance with anti-kickback rules, contending the subsidiary terminated her due to a restructuring and that Fortive wasn't her employer.

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Mindful Severance Clause Tips Before NLRB Rethinks Limits

The National Labor Relations Board's recent decision in Prime Communications hinted that it may reconsider the legality of nondisparagement and confidentiality provisions in severance agreements, but with McLaren Macomb in effect for now, employers should consider whether such protections are necessary in every agreement, says Daniel Johns at Cozen O'Connor.

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Series

Playing Basketball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

My grandfather used to say "I wear your jersey" as shorthand for wholly committing to support someone with loyalty and integrity — ideals that have shaped my life on the basketball court and in legal practice, says Tracy Schimelfenig at Schimelfenig Legal.

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Analysis

Insider Trading Case Shows BigLaw Associate Vetting Gaps

By Chris Villani

A BigLaw attorney who was able to move through three major firms while allegedly orchestrating a massive insider trading scheme may have been aided by relatively loose hiring practices for associates that firms may consider strengthening moving forward, recruiting experts told Law360.

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Trump's 8th Circ. Pick Clears Senate Panel Vote

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump's nominee for the Eighth Circuit, who represented the president in the cases brought by writer E. Jean Carroll, advanced to the full Senate on Thursday.

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Thomas Urges Defense Of Constitution At Judicial Conference

By Carolina Bolado

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas urged attendees at the Eleventh Circuit Judicial Conference on Thursday to "stand up" for the U.S. Constitution and to see the positives in the country, despite its flaws, on its 250th birthday.

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Fenwick Hit With FTX Suit In DC Over $525M Losses

By Emily Lever

A group of former FTX customers has sued Fenwick & West LLP in federal court in Washington over its work representing FTX from 2018 to 2022, seeking to recover more than $525 million for losses stemming from the cryptocurrency exchange's collapse.

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NYC Bar Endorses Random Audits For Law Firm Accounts

By Emily Sawicki

The New York City Bar Association's Professional Discipline Committee on Thursday threw its support behind a statewide bill to institute a random audit program for law firm financial accounts.

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Lover's Ex-Wife Fights Sinema's Request For Therapy Notes

By Abigail Harrison

A bid by former U.S. Sen. Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona to unearth notes and communications from a therapist working with her lover's ex-wife should be summarily denied, as the ex-wife, Heather Ammel, told a North Carolina federal court Thursday that the request is a clear overreach.

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8th Circ. Backs Dismissal Of Horse Breeder's Malpractice Suit

By Tom Lotshaw

The Eighth Circuit said a federal judge was right to dismiss a malpractice suit a Minnesota horse breeder brought against Porter Wright Morris & Arthur LLP and one of its former attorneys for mishandling malpractice cases against three other firms.

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