Judge Wants Action On FEMA Disaster Mitigation Funds Delay

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge Friday ordered the Trump administration to step up its pace in restoring a disaster mitigation funding program, nearly three months after he ordered it to do so.

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Boston Beats Cop's Religious Bias Suit Over Vax Mandate

By Grace Elletson

A Black Jehovah's Witness can't pursue his lawsuit claiming that Boston's COVID-19 vaccination mandate violated his religious beliefs and cost him his job as a cop, a Massachusetts federal judge ruled, finding his case lacked evidence that the city treated him differently because of his beliefs.

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Feds Ask 1st Circ. To Stay Third-Country Removal Ruling

By Tom Lotshaw

The Trump administration told the First Circuit it should be able to keep deporting people to countries they do not have ties to while it appeals a ruling that its policy for doing so is unlawful.

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Brief

Massachusetts Governor Presses Feds For ICE Arrest Data

By Carolyn Muyskens

Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey on Friday demanded a comprehensive accounting of federal immigration arrests in the state, saying the available data undermines the government's claim that the sweeps were aimed at violent criminal offenders.

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Mass. Judge Told Vax Committee Must Be Fairly Balanced

By Gianna Ferrarin

A key federal vaccine committee remains subject to statutory requirements that its membership be fairly balanced, a Massachusetts federal judge heard from both U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and medical organizations challenging his overhaul of the group.

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ExThera Exec Hid Patient Deaths To Keep $10M Deal, DOJ Says

By Jonathan Capriel

Medical device company ExThera concealed the deaths of two U.S. patients treated with its unapproved blood filtration device at a clinic in Antigua, according to federal prosecutors, with the company agreeing to forfeit nearly $5.7 million and one executive facing up to three years in prison.

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Mass. Court Vacates Firearm Convictions In Murder Case

By Parker Quinlan

Massachusetts' highest court on Friday cut a burglary charge and ordered a new trial to determine whether a man convicted of murder in a botched robbery scheme should also be convicted on gun charges following changes in U.S. Supreme Court precedent.

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Brief

Eateries Settle Service Charge Dispute With Mass. AG

By Julie Manganis

Two downtown Boston restaurants will pay a total of around $422,000 to resolve administrative complaints that alleged they failed to distribute proceeds from a service fee to employees as required by the Massachusetts Wage Act, the state attorney general's office announced Friday.

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Mass. High Court Upholds Ex-Atty Pot Robbery Murder Charge

By Parker Quinlan

A disbarred Massachusetts attorney will not be given a third trial for a felony murder case after the state's highest court ruled Friday that evidence presented at trial was sufficient to convict him and that he should not be given a lesser involuntary manslaughter charge.

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Boston Scientific Investor Sues Over Growth Projections

By Katryna Perera

A Boston Scientific Corp. investor has filed a proposed class action against the medical device manufacturer and its top brass, claiming they misled shareholders about the sustainability and growth trajectory of the company's electrophysiology segment while failing to disclose competitive pressures and regulatory headwinds.

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Health Groups Back Bid To Bar Noncitizen Benefit Restrictions

By Gianna Ferrarin

A group of public health organizations and scholars Friday urged a Rhode Island federal court to make permanent its order blocking the Trump administration from enacting a policy change basing access to a host of federally funded services on immigration status.

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Grocery Chain Strikes Deal In 401(k) Suit Revived By 2nd Circ.

By Patrick Hoff

A supermarket chain told a New York federal court it has agreed to settle a proposed class action claiming the company allowed its 401(k) plan to be saddled with excessive fees, about six months after the Second Circuit partially revived the case.

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Roundup

Real Estate Recap: Big Data, C-PACE, Mamdani's Planners

By Real Estate Authority Staff

Catch up on this past week's key developments by state from Law360 Real Estate Authority — including a look at the evolution of big data in real estate transactions, C-PACE financing growth according to Nuveen's head counsel, and New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani's recent picks to lead the city's planning department.

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9th Circ. Ruling Evinces Tightening Of Nonmedical Hardship

The Ninth Circuit’s recent ruling in Vilchis-Gomez v. Bondi illustrates how a series of immigration decisions are transforming the extreme hardship defense to removal into a de facto medical necessity requirement, but practitioners can push back by continuing to assert long-standing precedents and building comprehensive records, says Abdoul Konare at Konare Law.

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Kavanaugh, Jackson Debate High Court Emergency Orders

By Katie Buehler

U.S. Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh pushed back Monday against critiques that the high court is ruling in favor of President Donald Trump in emergency appeals more often than it did for prior presidents, saying people who believe those allegations have "short" memories. 

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Ex-DLA Piper Atty Alleging Rape Can't Remain Anonymous

By Lauren Berg

A former Boston-based DLA Piper associate cannot use a pseudonym to pursue a lawsuit alleging she was raped by one of the firm's former partners, a Massachusetts judge ruled, noting that she already publicly revealed her identity in a related suit against the accused attorney.

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Employment Law Cases Have Rebounded Except For FLSA

By Max Kutner

Employment law cases overall have bounced back from pandemic-era lows, especially discrimination and disability accommodation suits, though a slump has continued for Fair Labor Standards Act claims, according to a report by legal analytics provider Lex Machina.

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NJ US Atty Trio Booted In 2nd Leadership Ouster

By George Woolston

A federal judge on Monday disqualified the three assistant attorneys overseeing the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey, finding the "byzantine" leadership structure is unconstitutional.

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Brief

SCOTUSblog Founder Goldstein To Be Sentenced In June

By Emily Sawicki

SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein, currently under home confinement in Washington, D.C., after a Maryland jury convicted him on tax evasion and mortgage fraud charges, will face sentencing in June.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Jarek Rutz

The Delaware Chancery Court's docket last week featured disputes spanning alleged forged board approvals at a telecom startup, evidence-destruction claims tied to WWE's blockbuster merger with UFC and investor scrutiny of a multibillion-dollar deal between Intel and the U.S. government.

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McGuireWoods Beats Sun Pharma's DQ Bid In NJ Suit

By George Woolston

A New Jersey federal court has denied Sun Pharmaceutical's bid to disqualify McGuireWoods LLP from representing pharmaceutical company Biofrontera in litigation over the alleged breach of a settlement agreement, ruling the firm's continued representation won't harm Sun Pharmaceutical and will avoid significant harm to Biofrontera.

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Lewis Brisbois Renews Bid To Force Paralegal To Arbitrate

By Adrian Cruz

Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP asked a Florida state judge on Friday to have a former paralegal arbitrate her defamation claims that its actions tarnished her reputation and cost her a job at another firm.

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K&L Gates IP Atty Tapped For Wash. Supreme Court Seat

By Rachel Riley

A K&L Gates intellectual property litigator will become the Washington State Supreme Court's first justice of Middle Eastern descent, Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson said Monday, announcing his pick to replace veteran retiring Justice Barbara Madsen.

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