DOL, HHS Must Face Unions' Claims In DOGE Data Suit

By Emily Brill

The U.S. Departments of Labor and Health and Human Services must continue facing claims that they illegally gave Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency access to employee records, as a D.C. federal judge denied the agencies' bid to escape the union-brought allegations before the trial phase.

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PBM Opioid Crisis Suit Stays In Federal Court, Judge Says

By Susan Smiley

A Michigan federal judge on Tuesday denied a request from the state attorney general to remand to state court a suit accusing two pharmacy benefit managers of fueling the opioid crisis, saying the case will remain in federal court because work performed for federal and nonfederal clients cannot be separated.

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11th Circ. Backs Order To Fix Fla. System For Disabled Kids

By David Minsky

The Eleventh Circuit upheld an injunction finding Florida's institutionalization of children with complex medical conditions violated the Americans with Disabilities Act, ruling in a split opinion that a lower court mostly didn't abuse its discretion with ordering reforms. 

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Monthly Merger Review Snapshot

By Bryan Koenig

The Justice Department allowed Live Nation to keep Ticketmaster while state attorneys general continue to sue, a $14 billion Boston Scientific deal drew Federal Trade Commission scrutiny, state enforcers challenged Nexstar's purchase of Tegna, and a threatened FTC challenge forced the abandonment of a laser eye surgery deal.

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Mass. Cannabis Businesses Say Repeal Bid Misleads Voters

By Sam Reisman

A coalition of Massachusetts cannabis business owners Wednesday challenged the constitutionality of a proposal to repeal retail marijuana legalization at the ballot box this November.

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Trump Announces Texas, Ohio, Florida Judicial Picks

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump on Wednesday announced four judicial nominees for Texas, Ohio and Florida. 

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Mangione's NY Trial Moved Hours After SDNY Schedule Tweak

By Pete Brush

A New York state court judge said Wednesday that Luigi Mangione's trial for the alleged murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson would begin Sept. 8, moving the date hours after a Manhattan federal judge said the federal trial against him would commence in late October.

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Analysis

Wheeling & Appealing: April's Most Notable Oral Arguments

By Jeff Overley

April is the coolest month, at least for appellate aficionados, featuring numerous important arguments with famous litigants, including U.S. senators, delivery apps Grubhub and Uber Eats, impresario Sean "Diddy" Combs, prediction platforms Kalshi and Robinhood, and a political giant known as the Velvet Hammer.

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NJ Hospital Workers Win Collective Cert. In OT, Break Suit

By Irene Spezzamonte

A New Jersey healthcare network must face overtime claims on a collective basis, a federal judge ruled, saying a former employee adequately backed up allegations that the network had companywide policies under which it automatically deducted time for meal breaks that weren't taken and left bonuses out of overtime calculations.

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Sentara Health Strikes $1.5M Deal In Stable Value Fund Suit

By Patrick Hoff

Virginia-based healthcare system Sentara Health will pay $1.5 million to settle a class action claiming it failed to remove an underperforming investment fund from its employee retirement plan, according to federal court filings.

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DC Cannabis Co. Sues Firm Over Botched Grow Facility

By Jonathan Capriel

A cannabis industry-focused engineering firm reneged on a promise to build a fully operational indoor grow facility for a D.C.-based medical dispensary, the company told a D.C. federal court, claiming it is now stuck with the unfinished project and $1 million in specialized equipment that can't be resold.

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9th Circ. Revives Aya Health Arbitrations In Nurses' Wage Suit

By Ben Adlin

A Ninth Circuit panel Wednesday reversed a district court ruling that voided arbitration agreements between Aya Healthcare Services Inc. and more than 250 employees, ruling that the lower court erred when it used the individual findings of two arbitrators to nix the agreements entirely.

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Brief

CFO Scores $867K Win In Health Device Co. Wage Suit

By Benjamin Morse

A wearable health device company must pay its former chief financial officer nearly $867,000 after a Connecticut federal jury determined it stiffed him on his full wages and benefits, according to court filings.

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Informal Announcements Are Reshaping FDA Regulations

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recent shift toward using press releases, podcasts and other informal channels to announce major policy changes reflects a valid desire to modernize and accelerate regulatory efforts, but it could lead to diminished transparency, increased industry burden and reduced policy durability, says Rachel Turow at Skadden.

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Determining When Engineered Biologics May Be Patentable

The Federal Circuit's recent decision in Regenxbio v. Sarepta, concluding that engineered cells with DNA from different organisms are not patent-ineligible natural phenomena, raises questions surrounding what framework courts will use to evaluate the patent eligibility of engineered biologics moving forward, says Robert Frederickson at Goodwin.

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Bondi Out As Attorney General After Contentious Time At DOJ

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump announced on Thursday Attorney General Pam Bondi will be leaving her post. 

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Goldstein Allowed To Move Out After Marriage Falls Apart

By Jared Foretek

A Maryland federal judge on Thursday allowed SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein to relocate for the duration of his home confinement, after Goldstein's attorneys said his marriage had fallen apart and it no longer "makes sense" for Goldstein and his wife to share a residence.

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Raskin Blasts DOJ Bid To Shield Attys From State Bar Probes

By Courtney Bublé

Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, said Thursday the U.S. Department of Justice's endeavor to preempt state bar investigations of department attorneys is a "get out of jail free" card.

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DLA Piper, Vax Refuser Reach Deal To End Religious Bias Suit

By Patrick Hoff

DLA Piper has struck a deal to wrap up a Christian former employee's lawsuit claiming he was fired for refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine because of his religious beliefs, an Illinois federal judge said Thursday.

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Feds Say Habeas Ruling Could Spur More 'Illegal Orders'

By Jared Foretek

The Trump administration has asked the Fourth Circuit to reverse a district ruling that upheld a standing order from Maryland federal judges barring immediate removal or transfer of immigrant detainees, arguing the ruling sets a dangerous precedent for district court standing orders.

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Schneider Wallace Fights Uphill For Bigger Cut Of $75M Fees

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal magistrate judge appeared skeptical Thursday about Schneider Wallace Cottrell Kim LLP's bid to increase its cut of a $75.4 million fee award for representing plaintiffs in a $228.5 million Sutter Health antitrust deal, saying lead counsel Constantine Cannon LLP's allocation of $1.4 million to Schneider Wallace seems fair.

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Puerto Rico Bankruptcy Stymies Paul Weiss, ACLU Fee Bids

By Carolyn Muyskens

American Civil Liberties Union and Paul Weiss attorneys who successfully eased restrictions on voting by mail in Puerto Rico during the COVID-19 pandemic cannot collect fees for their work because they were discharged in Puerto Rico's bankruptcy proceeding, the First Circuit has ruled.

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Process Server ABC Legal Inks $2.5M Deal Over Cyber Breach

By Ben Adlin

Seattle-based ABC Legal Services LLC, which bills itself as the nation's largest network of legal process servers, would pay $2.5 million under a tentative deal to settle workers' putative class action claiming a 2024 cyberattack exposed their personal information, the plaintiffs told a Washington federal court Wednesday.

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Roundup

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

By Laura Stewart Liberty

The past week in London has seen data giant Sportrader face action from software company Altenar over alleged market abuse, Mexican billionaire Ricardo Pliego sue a man who allegedly defrauded him out of $415 million, and Warner Bros. bring a copyright claim against a YouTuber who leaked set footage of the upcoming Harry Potter series. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K. 

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