3rd Circ. Nixes DOL's $35.8M Nursing Home Wage Win

By Benjamin Morse

Federal wage law doesn't allow workers to recover pay for nonovertime hours during weeks when they logged more than 40 hours, the Third Circuit held Wednesday as a matter of first impression, partially undoing a $35.8 million win for the U.S. Department of Labor against bankrupt nursing homes.

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11th Circ. Revives Cop's Military Service Bias Suit

By Patrick Hoff

The Eleventh Circuit reopened a lawsuit alleging that a Florida city police officer was harassed and demoted because he took time off for military service, holding that the trial court needed to take a closer look at whether the back pay he received was enough to remedy the situation.

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6th Circ. Probes $450K Award In Farmworker Trafficking Case

By Melanie Dorsey

A Sixth Circuit panel on Wednesday examined whether a $450,000 punitive damages award in a farmworker trafficking case can stand when the jury awarded only economic damages, and whether a trial judge properly handled an unusual incident involving a spectator whose presence allegedly affected a plaintiff's testimony.

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Fla. Public Employers Can Close Arb. Hearings, Court Says

By Emily Brill

Public-sector employers in Florida don't have to let people observe arbitration hearings in labor-management disputes, a Florida appeals court ruled Wednesday, reversing a trial court's finding that state law requires these hearings to be open to the public.

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Trump Signs Order Stripping 'Policy' Employee Protections

By Braden Campbell

President Donald Trump on Wednesday signed an executive order stripping certain federal employees of their job protections in the culmination of a project he began in his first term.

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Analysis

The Plaintiffs Atty Now 5-0 At Supreme Court With No Dissents

By Jeff Overley

It's true that Jennifer Bennett is undefeated at the U.S. Supreme Court, but it's also an understatement. Bennett's five wins, including two recent ones, were all unanimous decisions. They showed that the plaintiffs bar can still persuade a conservative supermajority. And they turned the tide after a spree of decisions keeping workers and consumers out of court.

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Amazon Denied Medical Accomodation, Ex-In House Atty Says

By Ben Adlin

A former in-house attorney for Amazon Web Services Inc. is accusing the company of failing to accommodate unpredictable flare-ups of her autoimmune disorder, claiming in a Washington state lawsuit that managers subjected her to a burdensome leave process that failed to respond to her medical needs.

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Education Advocacy Groups Settle Ex-Director's Bias Suit

By Julie Manganis

A group of Democratic educational advocacy organizations settled claims that they fired their former Massachusetts director after she complained about a new CEO's treatment of women and outreach to conservative groups.

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Treatment Providers Can't DQ Participants' Atty In Wage Suit

By MJ Koo

Several Texas-based addiction recovery program operators cannot remove a worker's attorney from a proposed wage class action over his prior involvement with the programs, a federal judge found, saying the operators failed to show the attorney had a conflict of interest or was a necessary witness.

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Supplier Can't Force Arbitration Of Worker's Wage Suit

By MJ Koo

A proposed wage class action against a medical and industrial gas supplier can proceed in court, a Washington federal judge ruled, finding that a former worker's arbitration agreement with a staffing agency did not apply.

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NC Corrections Dept. Loses Bid For Immediate Pay Appeal

By MJ Koo

North Carolina's corrections department cannot skip ahead to an appellate court to challenge a ruling that found correctional officers must be paid for all time spent inside prison facilities, a federal judge found, saying the yearslong case is nearly ready for a final resolution.

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KeyBank, Investment Advisers Settle Suit Alleging Client Theft

By Adam Lidgett

KeyBank affiliate Key Investment Services LLC has agreed to settle its suit accusing two former investment advisers of stealing trade secrets and violating their employment agreements by soliciting customers.

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Bojangles Workers Didn't Plead Data Hack Harm, Court Told

By Abigail Harrison

Counsel for national fried chicken fast food chain Bojangles told a North Carolina Business Court Wednesday that a putative data breach class action against it can't survive, as a group of employees didn't allege how the cyber-theft caused them harm.

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Brief

OPM Relaxes Remote Work Guidance For World Cup

By Patrick Hoff

The Trump administration told federal agencies that employees based in 11 cities hosting World Cup matches should be allowed to work remotely during the international soccer tournament, easing restrictive guidelines issued late last year.

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5 Things Associates Must Ask About Their Firm's Merger Plan

The associates who navigate law firm mergers best ask the right questions early, such as inquiring about partners' plans, to assess how the merger could affect their workflow and career path, says Jackie Bokser-LeFebvre at Major Lindsey.

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BigLaw Insider Trading Defendants Have Big-Name Legal Help

By Chris Villani

An insider trading case involving nonpublic information prosecutors say was stolen from some of the largest law firms in the U.S. has ensnared more than two dozen defendants, many of whom have turned to lawyers with notable clients including Donald Trump, Harvey Weinstein and Luigi Mangione.

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Hueston Hennigan Follows Milbank's Lead In Associate Pay

By Tracey Read

The race to match Milbank LLP's attorney pay hikes is officially on, with trial firm Hueston Hennigan the latest to announce it will increase associate pay by $10,000 to $20,000 annually.

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Goldstein Cites Addiction To Avoid Time, DOJ Seeks 8 Years

By Jared Foretek

Federal prosecutors recommended a 97-month prison sentence for convicted SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein, telling a Maryland federal court he has bilked the government out of more than $9.5 million in unpaid taxes. Goldstein, meanwhile, asked for a suspended sentence and supervised release, citing a "severe and longstanding gambling addiction."

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Rocade Capital Buys LFG To Create Combined $2B Lit Funder

By Ryan Boysen

Rocade Capital LLC has acquired fellow litigation funder Law Finance Group LLC, creating a combined platform that has deployed more than $2.3 billion and specializes in $10 million to $50 million deals, including post-judgment financing, portfolio deals and lending to plaintiff's firms.

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Court Reporter Shortage A 'Crisis,' Calif. Supreme Court Told

By Bonnie Eslinger

Two legal nonprofits urged the California Supreme Court to issue an order entitling low-income civil litigants to electronic recording if a live court reporter is not available, saying at a hearing Wednesday that a court reporter shortage in the Golden State has created a "crisis."

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9th Circ. Suspends 2 Attys For 6 Months Over AI Hallucinations

By Rae Ann Varona

The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday temporarily suspended two California immigration attorneys from practicing before the appellate court for filing briefs in a deportation relief case containing artificial intelligence-generated hallucinations, finding no excuse for their "extraordinary confession" of not vetting citations used by unlicensed brief writers.

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Tenn. Firm Sanctioned For AI Misuse In Baker Donelson Suit

By Emily Sawicki

A Tennessee federal judge has sanctioned a Memphis, Tennessee, law firm over its misuse of artificial intelligence amid a malpractice suit against Baker Donelson Bearman Caldwell & Berkowitz PC, ordering the regional firm to reimburse costs associated with the matter and report the misconduct to the state's disciplinary counsel.

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Feature

'Read The Cases': Conn. Judge Offers AI Advice To Attys

By Brian Steele

A Connecticut federal judge told a gathering of attorneys Tuesday that his law clerks are not allowed to use generative artificial intelligence for any purpose involving legal research, his interns are barred from using it at all, and lawyers must be careful when relying on the material that the tools produce.

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Atty Can't Shake $120M Verdict In RICO, Defamation Dispute

By Carolina Bolado

An Alabama federal judge refused to disturb a $120 million verdict against a former Conrad & Scherer LLP managing partner, ruling there was enough evidence at trial for a jury to find the attorney liable on Drummond Co.'s racketeering and defamation claims.

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Graham Pushes Federal Tort Path After DOJ Drops $1.8B Fund

By Courtney Bublé

The U.S. Department of Justice seemed, at least briefly, to support a Republican senator's alternative solution to the "anti-weaponization" $1.8 billion fund that acting Attorney General Todd Blanche said Tuesday the department is abandoning.

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DOJ Sets New Healthcare Fraud Convictions Record

By Phillip Bantz

The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday announced that its Health Care Fraud Unit secured six jury trial convictions across the country in less than three weeks, with the cases involving more than $1.1 billion in fraud losses.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Dardarian Ho's Linda Dardarian

By Lynn LaRowe

Despite being on the other side of a disability rights case that will cost his municipality at least $150 million, Kevin McLaughlin, city attorney for Oakland, California, believes that if more lawyers were like Linda Dardarian, there would be far less lamenting about civility in the legal profession.

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