Seattle Hospital Loses Appeal Of Dr.'s $21M Race Bias Verdict

By Rachel Riley

A Washington Court of Appeals panel Tuesday upheld a $21 million verdict against Seattle Children's Hospital in a Black ex-medical director's lawsuit claiming he faced racism in the workplace and retaliation for complaining about systemic inequities, ruling "substantial evidence" justified the jury's findings and damages award.

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Justices Order Redo In Immigration Judges' Free Speech Suit

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed a Fourth Circuit order that had revived the immigration judges union's challenge to restrictions on their ability to speak publicly, finding the lower court abused its discretion by relying on arguments not raised by either party, and ordered further proceedings.

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Justices Sidestep Question On NFL Arbitration Process

By Caroline Simson

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday declined to review a Second Circuit opinion finding the National Football League's arbitration process unenforceable, in a case that sought clarity on whether district courts have authority to decide whether an arbitration process is fair.

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8th Circ. Finds GE Exempt For Liability In $230M Fund Fight

By Rae Ann Varona

General Electric Co. does not owe $230 million in pension obligations to construction employees covered by a boilermaker-blacksmith fund, the Eighth Circuit affirmed Tuesday, finding in a published opinion that GE qualified for a withdrawal liability exemption since "substantially all" of the employees worked in the building and construction industry.

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4th Circ. Shuts Down Suit Against PE Firm Over Plant Closure

By Patrick Hoff

The Fourth Circuit refused Tuesday to reopen a proposed class action claiming a private equity firm violated federal laws by abruptly shutting down a manufacturing plant, ruling decades-old U.S. Supreme Court precedent barred the former workers from suing simply to collect on a judgment against the manufacturer.

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Trump Admin Wants Federal Workers To Sign NDAs, Citing Leaks

By Bonnie Eslinger

President Donald Trump's administration on Tuesday announced that it wishes to require federal employees with access to sensitive government information to sign a nondisclosure agreement, citing recent leaks related to immigration enforcement operations and the release of personal information belonging to approximately 4,500 Immigration and Customs Enforcement employees.

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Justices Deny Bishops' Bid For Church Autonomy Review

By Vin Gurrieri

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a request by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops to consider broadening religious protections under the First Amendment, turning away a case that could have helped religious organizations avoid lawsuits entirely or get quick appeals on constitutional autonomy rulings.

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Judge Says Ex-City Prosecutor's Bias Suit Should Be Tossed

By José Luis Martínez

A Texas federal judge recommended Tuesday that a bias and retaliation suit against the city of Corpus Christi by a former assistant city attorney be tossed because he failed to show that comparable workers were treated better or that the city's performance-based reasons for firing him were false.

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9th Circ. Won't Revive Wash. City Workers' Vax Mandate Suit

By Ben Adlin

A Ninth Circuit panel Tuesday put an end to city workers' lawsuit challenging Bellingham, Washington's COVID-19 vaccine mandate, ruling that a lower court appropriately dismissed the action and barred the workers from amending their claims.

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Ironworkers Union Local Must Face NJ AG's Bias Suit

By Katherine Smith

A New Jersey Superior Court judge refused to dismiss the state's discrimination lawsuit accusing an Ironworkers local of systematically passing over Black union members for job assignments, ruling that the claims are not time-barred or preempted by federal labor law.

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9th Circ. Backs Reinstating DEI Grants Nixed By Trump

By Bonnie Eslinger

The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday partially upheld a lower court's preliminary injunction and class certification orders in litigation from University of California researchers against President Donald Trump, backing the reinstatement of grants terminated due to presidential orders against diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives while reversing the injunction for those grants that were rescinded without explanation.

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Wage Disclosure Suit Doesn't Trigger Coverage, Judge Says

By MJ Koo

A federal judge has sided with a Tokio Marine Holdings Inc. unit in a coverage dispute over a Washington Equal Pay and Opportunities Act class action, finding that an alleged failure to disclose salary ranges in job postings does not qualify as discrimination under the restaurant operator's employment practices liability insurance policy.

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College Athletes Say NIL Oversight Loophole Hurts Women

By Elaine Briseño

A group of female athletes told a California federal judge that attempts to eliminate certain revenue streams from the NCAA's $2.78 billion class action settlement benefits mostly male athletes while diminishing the protections for women in college sports.

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Brief

Event Co. Workers Seek Initial OK For $180K OT, Tip Pool Deal

By MJ Koo

Two former event company workers who alleged their employer shorted them on overtime pay and improperly cut managers into tip pools asked a Georgia federal court to approve a $180,000 settlement, according to a joint motion in the Northern District of Georgia.

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Mitsubishi Workers' Attys Get $180K From Wage Deal

By Benjamin Morse

Mitsubishi Electric Automotive America Inc. will fund approximately $180,000 in attorney fees and costs as part of a $515,000 settlement resolving claims that it used a time-rounding policy that shorted workers at Ohio and Kentucky facilities, after an Ohio federal judge granted the deal final approval Tuesday.

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Kroger Unit Pressured Workers To Forgo Breaks, Suit Says

By MJ Koo

Grocery chain Fred Meyer Stores Inc. and its parent company, Kroger, failed to pay workers minimum and overtime wages, denied them meal and rest breaks and manipulated their time records to systematically underpay them, according to a proposed class action removed to Washington federal court.

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Justices Won't Take Suit Against Teamsters Fund Overseers

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday turned down a Teamsters retiree's bid for review of the dismissal of his proposed class action alleging that union multiemployer plan trustees and advisers allowed risky investments and hefty plan management fees, leaving in place a Second Circuit decision from November.

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Mass. Uber, Lyft Drivers Form Country's First Ride App Union

By Emily Brill

Massachusetts-based drivers for ride-hailing apps such as Uber and Lyft have won union representation, becoming the first crop of app-based drivers in the country with a certified bargaining representative.

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NC Justices Revive Insurance Co.'s Noncompete Suit

By Danielle Ferguson

The Supreme Court of North Carolina has largely revived an insurance company's lawsuit against employees who left for a rival, directing a lower court to better clarify how an adverse inference regarding a "remarkable" spoliation of evidence should impact the renewed trade secret and breach of contract claims.

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Sonrai's $59M Trade Theft Verdict Trimmed To $10.4M

By Elliot Weld

An Illinois federal judge has reduced a $59 million jury verdict won by garbage truck maker Sonrai Systems to $10.4 million in a case over a rival company poaching a Sonrai executive, finding that while the evidence showed the rival's behavior was reprehensible, it didn't merit the amount the jury awarded.

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Trump Admin Looks To Ax Expanded Suit Over Staffing Cuts

By Emily Brill

A union-led coalition should not be allowed to pursue an expanded challenge to the Trump administration's reshaping of the federal workforce, the administration argued, telling a California federal judge that the lawsuit is turning into a "litigation safari."

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Ex-Calif. Federal Prosecutor Joins McDermott From Ogletree

By Adrian Cruz

McDermott Will & Schulte announced Tuesday that the firm has hired a former California assistant U.S. attorney as a Los Angeles-based employment partner following her short stint with Ogletree Deakins Nash Smoak & Stewart PC.

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The Leeway And Limits Of DOL's Joint Employer Proposal

A recent U.S. Department of Labor proposal would make joint employment harder to prove, giving employers more flexibility to add nonemployee labor without triggering shared liability, but businesses should be mindful that it likely won't affect state law tests or the standards that courts use, says Todd Lebowitz at BakerHostetler.

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NIL Contracts Test Limits On College Football Transfers

College football's new legal era of direct payments to players and fewer transfer restrictions has put contractual provisions in play, and stipulations such as termination clauses and repayment obligations require added scrutiny as the name, image and likeness system evolves, says Kevin Paule at Hill Ward Henderson.

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Operational AI Washing: Fortifying The Disclosure Record

The same artificial intelligence-driven workforce narratives that once appeared in earnings calls and Form 8-Ks can easily become raw material for future operational AI washing claims, so companies must be careful when drafting public disclosures because winning a federal motion to dismiss starts months before a lawsuit is ever filed, say attorneys at Akerman.

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How The High Court Expanded Freight Broker Liability

After the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II that freight brokers may be liable for selecting unsafe motor carriers, the key question will be whether brokers used reasonable care in selecting a given motor carrier, with the concurring opinion offering some clues as to what reasonable care might look like, says Marc Blubaugh at Benesch.

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'Anderson Method' Ruling Shows Copyright Limits In Fitness

The Ninth Circuit's ruling in Tracy Anderson Mind and Body v. Megan Roup, finding that sequences of exercises developed and recorded by Tracy Anderson were not copyrightable choreographic works, is a reminder that even highly creative fitness programming can fall outside the scope of copyright protection, says Meredith Bobber Strauss at Michelman & Robinson.

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Wiley Hit With Proposed Class Action Over Data Breach

By Christine DeRosa

Wiley Rein LLP has been hit with a proposed class action accusing the Washington, D.C., firm of negligence after the firm said a group that may be affiliated with the Chinese government accessed emails of firm personnel.

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Quinn Emanuel Sues To Collect $1.5M From Binance's Zhao

By Caroline Simson

Quinn Emanuel has filed suit in Washington, D.C., against former Binance CEO Changpeng Zhao, who was pardoned by President Donald Trump last fall, asking the court to enforce an arbitral award of nearly $1.5 million in unpaid attorney fees and other costs.

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SPLC Says DOJ Indictment Is Baseless 'Retributive Campaign'

By Hailey Konnath

The Southern Poverty Law Center on Tuesday asked an Alabama federal court to throw out the Trump administration's indictment claiming it paid extremist group informants to "stoke racial hatred," arguing that it's a "top-down, retributive campaign" that constitutes vindictive prosecution.

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3rd Circ. Disapproves Of Judge's Quips In Fatal Crash Case

By Y. Peter Kang

The Third Circuit on Tuesday scolded a Pennsylvania federal judge for his "inappropriate attempted witticisms" while presiding over a lawsuit in which a parent blamed transportation companies for the deaths of his two children in a highway collision, saying the judge's "ill-conceived attempts at levity" in a fatal injury case could be misinterpreted by the public.

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Brief

Justices To Consider Taking Judge Newman Case On June 11

By Emily Sawicki

The U.S. Supreme Court is set to decide whether to take up U.S. Circuit Judge Pauline Newman's petition seeking to overturn her suspension from the Federal Circuit on June 11, according to a notice posted Tuesday.

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Comey Case Delayed Due To 'Gravity' Of Charges, Discovery

By Phillip Bantz

A North Carolina federal judge on Tuesday granted former FBI Director James Comey's unopposed request to postpone his arraignment and trial on charges he threatened President Donald Trump with a social media post of seashells, finding that ongoing discovery and the "gravity of the charges" favor an extension and "outweigh" any interests in having a speedy trial.

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By Jared Foretek

Attorneys who represented Jan. 6 defendants will have to face a consultant's claims that they copied her jury-attitude report without permission after a D.C. federal judge rejected their arguments that their conduct fell under fair use and the public's right to access court records.

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Pirro, Blanche Fight DQ Bid In Attempted Assassination Case

By Christine DeRosa

U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro and Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche are fighting a bid from the California man accused of an attempted assassination of President Donald Trump at the White House Correspondents' Association dinner to disqualify them from handling the case.

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Beasley Allen Fails To Overturn J&J Talc Disqualification

By Adrian Cruz

A New Jersey federal judge affirmed the Beasley Allen Law Firm's disqualification from multidistrict litigation over Johnson & Johnson's talcum powder on Tuesday, determining that the firm has failed to provide a valid reason to back its attempt at a stay and temporary reinstatement into the matter.

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DHS Pauses ICE Home Entries Under Administrative Warrants

By Courtney Bublé

Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin told a Democratic senator earlier this month he's paused immigration agents' use of administrative warrants to enter private property, but has not officially revoked the controversial policy issued last year.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court this past week handled a broad mix of cross-border corporate control disputes, merger settlements, startup equity fights, advancement claims and board oversight litigation, while also weighing fallout from high-profile deals involving Microsoft Corp., The Boeing Co. and Nikola Corp.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Cohen Milstein's Brent Johnson

By Matthew Perlman

Brent W. Johnson is helping to pioneer the use of antitrust law to tackle collusion in low-wage labor markets with work that includes representing workers from poultry- and meat-processing plants in a pair of cases that led to more than $600 million in settlements last year.

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