Lyft To Pay $272.5M To Settle California Misclassification Suit

By Benjamin Morse

Lyft has agreed to pay $272.5 million in what California officials called the largest settlement of its kind in state history, resolving claims that the ride-hailing company misclassified drivers as independent contractors and denied them wages and benefits, the state announced Thursday.

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UCLA Law Is Latest DOJ Target Over Race Bias In Admissions

By Dorothy Atkins

The U.S. Justice Department's Civil Rights Division accused the UCLA School of Law of discriminating against white and Asian students in its admissions process in a letter sent to the school's counsel Thursday, following multiple other similar letters that the DOJ sent to other higher-education institutions.

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Hershey Spa Beats Christian's Bias Suit Over Trans Guest

By Grace Elletson

A Pennsylvania federal judge tossed a Christian worker's suit claiming the resort and entertainment arm of Hershey's Chocolate broke the law by asking her to assist a transgender guest, saying there was no evidence the company knew of her religious convictions until after the request.

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Calif. Judge Vacates Trump's $100K H-1B Fee Policies

By Britain Eakin

A California federal judge has vacated the implementing policies underlying President Donald Trump's $100,000 H-1B visa fee, saying the federal agencies charged with implementing the fee ran afoul of rulemaking procedures required by the Administrative Procedure Act.

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Aya Health Tells 9th Circ. It Needn't Seek Suits Against Itself

By Dorothy Atkins

Aya Healthcare urged the Ninth Circuit on Thursday to undo an order pausing its wage-and-hour arbitration bid, arguing that requiring the travel nursing agency to first notify 400,000 workers of the collective action before deciding whether arbitration is appropriate violates the Federal Arbitration Act and essentially forces Aya to solicit lawsuits against itself.

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OpenAI Loses $1M Fee Award After Defeating SpaceXAI Suit

By Hailey Konnath

A California federal judge on Wednesday rejected OpenAI's request for $1 million in attorney fees after the company defeated a trade secrets suit from SpaceXAI, ruling that although Musk's artificial intelligence company's allegations ultimately fell short, they weren't objectively specious.

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Brief

Calif. Gov. Vetoes Expanded Menopause Bias Protections

By Grace Elletson

California's governor rejected legislation passed by lawmakers that would have added menopause to the definition of "sex" under the state's anti-discrimination statute, reasoning that the move would have been redundant and could have triggered unnecessary litigation.

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5th Circ. Rejects Jewish Man's Bias Suit Against Franchise

By Spencer Brewer

The Fifth Circuit ruled Wednesday that a Jewish man cannot become a franchisee of a Christian-only automotive franchise, saying the franchise does not discriminate against Jewish ethnicity and the law at issue does not bar religious discrimination.

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Savannah State Can't Knock Out Asian Ex-Prof's Bias Suit

By Kelcey Caulder

A Georgia federal judge freed Savannah State University's board of regents from several claims in a former business professor's race and national origin discrimination lawsuit, but kept alive her allegations that the school unlawfully failed to renew her contract or hire her for a new professor position. 

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Airlines' Fight Over Colo. Sick Leave Law Heads To Trial

By MJ Koo

A Colorado federal court has sent an airline industry group's challenge to the state's paid sick leave law to trial, finding that competing expert testimony about whether the law increases employee absences and disrupts airline services creates factual disputes that a judge cannot resolve before trial.

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FCC Officially Ditches Race, Ethnicity, Gender Reporting Reqs

By Nadia Dreid

The Federal Communications Commission has officially done away with a rule that required TV and radio broadcasters to disclose data about their employment diversity to the agency after the Fifth Circuit struck the rule down last year.

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Ga. Clients Can't Recoup Deal Funds After Law Firm Hack

By Matt Perez

A Georgia federal judge has ruled that two former plastics plant workers are not entitled to receive a settlement in a discrimination case after a third party hacked their counsel's email system and duped defense counsel into wiring the settlement funds to the wrong bank account.

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Ga. City Fired Worker Who Reported Harassment, Suit Says

By David Aaro

A Georgia city has been sued in federal court by a former employee who said she was smeared in a local newspaper by colleagues before accusing a city manager of sexual harassment and getting fired for speaking up.

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NY Judge Gives Tax Preparers Initial OK For $1M OT Deal

By Zak Kostro

A New York federal magistrate judge gave an initial green light to a $1.05 million class settlement to resolve claims brought by tax preparers who accused a New York tax preparation company of overtime and wage violations, finding the proposed agreement has no obvious deficiencies.

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Food Workers' Gear Pay Suit Against Campbell's Survives

By MJ Koo

Pepperidge Farm food production workers cleared a hurdle in a proposed class action accusing the snack-maker and its parent, Campbell's, of failing to pay for time spent donning and doffing required protective gear, as a New Jersey federal court found they adequately alleged federal and state wage claims.

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Brief

Walmart, Workers Settle Overtime Suit In Colorado

By Benjamin Morse

Walmart entities and a group of sales and training managers urged a Colorado federal court to approve a settlement resolving claims that the retailer misclassified the workers as exempt and denied them overtime pay.

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Justices To Review Ex-Spouse Military Pay Suit

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday agreed to review a woman's attempt to enforce a divorce settlement under which she said she was entitled to a share of her ex-husband's military retirement pay, even if he waived it to receive disability benefits.

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Judge 'Flummoxed' By Forum Claim In IQVIA's Poaching Suit

By Hayley Fowler

A North Carolina Business Court judge said Thursday that he was "flummoxed" by clinical research giant IQVIA Holdings Inc.'s argument for not enforcing its own forum selection clause against four top executives who decamped for a competitor.

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Fla. Doc Says He Opposed Cruise Co.'s Billing, Got Fired

By David Minsky

A doctor has brought a federal whistleblower lawsuit against Norwegian Cruise Lines Holdings Ltd. in Florida federal court, alleging he lost his job after speaking out against what he believed were fraudulent practices to overcharge passengers for medical services that weren't necessary. 

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Trump Announces Judicial Noms For 5th Circ., NC

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced Thursday that he's nominating Todd Butler, a managing partner at Phelps Dunbar LLP, to serve as a judge on the Fifth Circuit. 

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Opinion

CFTC's New Award Policy Punishes Whistleblower Success

The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission recently capped four whistleblower awards because it considered them too large, arguing that it could lead to frivolous reporting, but the move instead penalizes the program for its own success and flies in the face of the framework enacted by Congress, say attorneys at Whistleblower Partners.

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Testing AI's Promise For Large-Scale Document Review

Our document-review comparison of attorneys' responsiveness and issue coding decisions versus predictions generated by artificial intelligence across 1,600 documents suggests that these tools can offer a reasonable and reliable basis for improved discovery workflows, provided lawyers understand where guardrails are needed, say attorneys at Redgrave.

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DOJ Outlines New Corporate Fraud Enforcement Priorities

By Phillip Bantz

Federal prosecutors "must place great weight" on a new list of factors when considering potential charges in corporate fraud cases, including whether the matters involve government programs, threats to national security or immigration offenses, according to a memo released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Blackburn Holds Up White House's Tenn. Judge Pick

By Courtney Bublé

The White House is standing by its nominee for a federal judgeship in the Eastern District of Tennessee amid a holdup from Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., a White House official confirmed to Law360 on Thursday.

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Richards Layton Atty Confirmed To Join Del. Chancery Bench

By Rose Krebs

Delaware's Senate on Thursday confirmed a Richards Layton & Finger PA director to a 12-year term as a vice chancellor on the Chancery Court.

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FBT Gibbons Beats DQ Bid In Suit Over Cigna Payments

By George Woolston

A New Jersey state court judge has rejected a plastic surgery practice's bid to disqualify FBT Gibbons LLP from representing Cigna and a group of employer-sponsored health plans in its suit over the insurer's alleged underpayments, finding the bid appears more of an effort to gain an advantage rather than one to protect the interests of any client.

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Roundup

The Top In-House Hires Of September

By Michele Gorman

Legal department hires during the past month included high-profile appointments at MSG Sports, Nestle and the Associated Press. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from September.

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Judge Reinstates Rogoff As Seattle US Atty After Trump Firing

By Rachel Riley

A Washington federal judge issued an order from the bench on Thursday reinstating Roger Rogoff as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington, finding that President Donald Trump exceeded his authority when he fired him in July.

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Trump Says Copyright Chief Can't Stay In Office Amid Appeal

By Adam Lidgett

The Trump administration is urging the D.C. Circuit to let it remove U.S. Copyright Office leader Shira Perlmutter, arguing that the U.S. Supreme Court's decision protecting Federal Reserve Gov. Lisa Cook for now does not entitle Perlmutter to remain in office while her firing challenge proceeds.

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Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

By Matthew Perlman

State enforcers settled their case challenging Paramount Skydance's planned $110 billion purchase of Warner Bros. Discovery, while the U.S. Department of Justice probes Fox's planned $22 billion deal for Roku and regulators review massive deals in the energy and railroad sectors.

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