Federal Courts To Scale Back Operations Amid Shutdown

By Ryan Boysen

The federal court system has run out of money and will scale back operations beginning Monday as a result of the ongoing government shutdown, possibly leading to case delays.

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California AG Sues Plastic Bag Makers Over Recycling Claims

By Rae Ann Varona

California's attorney general on Friday sued three plastic bag manufacturers in state court for allegedly selling nonrecyclable plastic bags despite claiming to meet the Golden State's recyclability standards, but said four other producers agreed to stop sales in the state as part of a settlement resolving similar allegations.

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Brief

2 Deals Totaling $2.5M Advance In Meat Industry Wage Case

By Irene Spezzamonte

Two settlements can move forward in a suit brought by workers at red meat processing plants who alleged that Agri Beef Co., Indiana Packers Corp. and Washington Beef LLC engaged in a conspiracy to suppress wages, a Colorado federal judge ruled, finding the deals totaling $2.5 million are fair.

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Analysis

11th Circ. Ruling Could Unravel Strict ERISA Exhaustion Rule

By Kellie Mejdrich

A recent Eleventh Circuit decision opens up a route for overturning the appellate court's strictest-in-the-nation precedent requiring administrative exhaustion of all claims brought under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act, attorneys say, given that two judges in a panel concurrence advocated for such action following en banc review.

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Brief

Texas Farm Bureau Suit Alleging USDA Discrimination Stayed

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas federal judge on Thursday opted to stay the Texas Farm Bureau's suit against the USDA over the agency's alleged preferential treatment of minority farmers while a similar case plays out.

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Native Policy Roundup: $128M Protects Tribal, Farm Lands

By Crystal Owens

Despite the U.S. government moving into its third week of a shutdown, state and federal lawmakers continue to introduce — and approve — legislation toward advancing Native American rights and sovereignty. Law360 examines some of the state, federal and tribal legislation and policies introduced in the past week

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Latham To Bring On 3 Restructuring Pros From Ropes & Gray

By Rose Krebs

Latham & Watkins LLP announced Friday that it will be adding three restructuring partners from Ropes & Gray LLP, including one who steered that firm's business restructuring practice.

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Opinion

High Court, Not A Single Justice, Should Decide On Recusal

As public trust in the U.S. Supreme Court continues to decline, the court should adopt a collegial framework in which all justices decide questions of recusal together — a reform that respects both judicial independence and due process for litigants, say Michael Broyde at Emory University and Hayden Hall at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

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Loan Forgiveness Overhaul May Chill Legal Aid Work

By Alison Knezevich

Civil legal services groups and public defenders say the Trump administration's proposed change to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program would politicize the initiative and make it harder to recruit attorneys to jobs that pay less than the private sector.

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Utah Fires Motley Rice From Opioid Case

By Jack Karp

The state of Utah has fired Motley Rice LLC from representing it in long-running litigation over the opioid crisis, a spokesperson for the Utah attorney general's office confirmed to Law360 Pulse on Friday.

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Bolton Pleads Not Guilty To Mishandling Documents

By Jared Foretek

Former National Security Advisor John Bolton pled not guilty to charges that he illegally retained and shared classified national defense information Friday, a day after federal prosecutors unsealed an 18-count indictment against the former appointee of President Donald Trump who has become a critic of his administration since.

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Mintz Says Ex-Client Owes $2M 'Success Fee' For Patent Work

By Julie Manganis

Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC says a former client is refusing to pay a nearly $2.2 million "success fee" for the firm's work on multiple patent infringement matters that generated millions of dollars in recoveries, according to a complaint filed on Friday in Massachusetts federal court.

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Liberty Mutual Attys Face Sanctions Bid Over Citation Errors

By Emily Sawicki

A St. Louis federal court is weighing whether to sanction Liberty Mutual Personal Insurance Company's lawyers after they submitted a motion containing citation errors and then, after a warning, "somehow" submitted a second motion with the same types of mistakes.

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Ga. Judge Resigns After DUI Arrest Outside Fla. Strip Club

By Chart Riggall

A Georgia Superior Court jurist who led the state's Council of Superior Court Judges stepped down from the bench Thursday after his driving under the influence arrest last week outside a Jacksonville, Florida, strip club.

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Atty Quits Ga. Bar's 'Facade' Committee On Client Solicitation

By Chart Riggall

A Georgia attorney resigned Friday as head of the state bar's committee on attorney-client solicitation, accusing the bar of not even "reaching for a garden hose" while unlawful solicitation of accident victims has spread "like wildfire" across the Peach State.

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Roundup

Injury Law Roundup: Uber Wins Bellwether Sex Assault Trial

By Y. Peter Kang

In our inaugural Injury Law Roundup, juries in the Golden State were busy as Uber won a closely watched sexual assault trial and Johnson & Johnson got crushed with a near $1 billion verdict in a talc case, while Boies Schiller Flexner LLP admitted to an artificial intelligence gaffe in a sex-assault-related case. Here, we put Law360 readers on notice of what's been recently trending in personal injury and medical malpractice news.

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UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Max Austin

This past week in London has seen Johnson & Johnson hit with a £1 billion ($1.34 billion) claim for allegedly selling contaminated baby powder, Carter-Ruck bring a claim against the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and Hewlett Packard file a probate claim against the estate of Mike Lynch.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

Exxon was hit with a proposed class action alleging its new program to enable automated proxy voting for retail investors is intended to stifle shareholder dissent. Meanwhile, a new survey found that nearly two-thirds of in-house legal departments think they will rely less on outside legal service providers because of generative artificial intelligence. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Caldwell Cassady & Curry PC and Miller Fair Henry PLLC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a California federal jury found Samsung must pay nearly $445.5 million for infringing four wireless communication patents.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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