Analysis

Whitmer's Top Court Pick Helps Secure Her Judicial Legacy

By Carolyn Muyskens

Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer made her second appointment to the state's highest court last week, and experts say the Democrat's latest pick locks in a liberal supermajority that is likely to be sympathetic to criminal defendants' rights.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Mich. Judge Can't Force EEOC To Litigate Trans Bias Suit

By Danielle Ferguson

A Michigan federal judge on Monday said the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission seemed to be abandoning its case on behalf of a group "its mission seeks to protect" by dropping a transgender discrimination suit, but ultimately allowed the organization to dismiss its claims.

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

BCBS Ends Bid To Scrap $13M Vaccine Bias Suit Verdict

By Patrick Hoff

Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan told a federal court Monday it agreed to end its fight to nix a jury's nearly $13 million award to a former employee who claimed she was fired for requesting a religious exemption from the company's COVID-19 vaccine policy.

1 document attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

High Court Won't Hear Michigan Tribe's Land Trust Dispute

By Crystal Owens

The U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear a Michigan tribe's arguments that the federal government must take 73 acres into trust for a casino venture outside Detroit, after it told the justices that without the decision its ability to achieve economic self-sufficiency would be forever impaired.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Brief

Veolia Settles Flint Water Crisis Claims For $53M

By Madeline Lyskawa

A Michigan federal judge entered final judgment Monday in litigation brought by the state of Michigan and about 26,000 individuals against Veolia North America alleging it prolonged the water crisis in Flint, Michigan, after a $53 million settlement was approved earlier this month.

1 document attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Insurer Fights Arbitration Of Legionnaires' Claims Suit

By Caroline Simson

A Michigan healthcare system's insurer is fighting efforts to send its coverage lawsuit over underlying Legionnaires' disease claims to arbitration in Bermuda, arguing that the dispute does not fall within an underlying arbitration clause.

Brief attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Mich. Nurses Quit Claims Of Pay Withheld For Breaks Untaken

By Irene Spezzamonte

Two registered nurses agreed to drop their claims of unpaid wages against the two locations of a Michigan healthcare system they had accused in federal court of requiring them to work through meal breaks without pay, ending the case Monday in federal court.

3 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Judge Weighs Impact Of Top Court Ruling On DOE Grant Cap

By Brian Dowling

A federal judge hearing a challenge to a Department of Energy grant cap on Monday expressed concerns about the case's potential overlap with a U.S. Supreme Court ruling that cast doubt on a bid to revive federal teacher training grants.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

DOJ Wants Live Nation Case Split Between Liability, Damages

By Matthew Perlman

The U.S. Department of Justice asked a New York federal court on Monday to split the case accusing Live Nation of quashing competition in the live entertainment industry by having a jury decide if the company violated antitrust law and the judge decide what remedies to impose.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Class Actions At The Circuit Courts: April Lessons

In this month's review of class action appeals, Mitchell Engel at Shook Hardy discusses four federal appellate court decisions and identifies practice tips from cases involving pretrial detainee bail funds, employment law, product defect allegations and claims of not providing proper pain medication at a jail.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

The 2025 Lawyer Satisfaction Survey

Law firms and the legal profession are facing new uncertainties, shifting the stress levels, economic pressures, and overall contentment of lawyers in private practice, according to the 2025 Law360 Pulse Lawyer Satisfaction Survey.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

'The Court Is Not A Cartoon': Judge Rips Dragon Watermark

By Hailey Konnath

A Michigan federal magistrate judge Monday ordered an East Lansing, Michigan, firm called Dragon Lawyers PC to stop plastering its pleadings with a large, suit-clad purple cartoon dragon watermark on each page, saying it's not only "distracting, it's juvenile and impertinent."

3 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Analysis

Feds Have Strong Hand On Judge Charged With Blocking ICE

By Danielle Ferguson and Carolyn Muyskens

A Wisconsin state judge faces an uphill battle in defending against federal criminal allegations that she helped a man evade immigration officials at a Wisconsin courthouse, but she may be able to stake out a defense in arguing the government can't prove intent, experts told Law360. 

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

California Judge Loses Pay After Conviction For Murdering Wife

By Gina Kim

The California Commission on Judicial Performance formally suspended a California judge without pay after a state jury found him guilty of second-degree murder last week for shooting his wife to death in their Anaheim Hills home on Aug. 3, 2023, following a heated argument. 

Order attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Q&A

Sullivan M&A Chief Sees Opportunities Amid Tariff Turmoil

By Al Barbarino

After a rocky start to 2025, the mergers and acquisitions landscape is grappling with economic volatility, shifting trade policies and a complex regulatory environment. But even in a "choppy" market, there are always deals to be made, says Melissa Sawyer, global head of Sullivan & Cromwell LLP's M&A group and co-head of its corporate governance practice.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

NJ Judge Apologizes Through Waylon Jennings Lyrics

By George Woolston

Clark Township, New Jersey, Municipal Judge Antonio Inacio said Tuesday that he isn't proud of all the things that led him to appear before a Garden State judiciary disciplinary committee, but he can say that he never intentionally hurt anyone by his conduct.

2 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

$10M Brown Rudnick Deal With Guo Trustee Gets Judge's OK

By Aaron Keller

A Connecticut bankruptcy judge on Tuesday approved a $10 million deal between Miles Guo's Chapter 11 trustee and the Chinese exile's onetime attorneys at Brown Rudnick LLP, and greenlighted 10 lesser settlements with other firms and luxury retailer Versace.

3 documents attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Analysis

GOP Plan To Shutter Audit Watchdog Could Strain SEC

By Jessica Corso

Congressional Republicans are renewing the push to get rid of a financial regulator that conservatives have complained is costly and lacks proper oversight, but some former staffers at the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board wonder whether the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has the manpower or expertise to take over the board's duties.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Federal Defenders Of NY Staff Announce Union Drive

By Andrea Keckley

Staff members at the Federal Defenders of New York have announced their plans to join their attorney colleagues as members of the Association of Legal Advocates and Attorneys.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Justices Scoff At Feds' Defenses In Mistaken FBI Raid Case

By Chart Riggall

Supreme Court justices Tuesday appeared flummoxed by the government's "ridiculous" arguments it should be immune to a Georgia resident's lawsuit over a mistaken FBI raid on her house, but seemed unlikely to issue a blanket ruling on when an officer's discretion trumps their liability for injuries caused by their actions.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Alex Jones Wants High Court Look At $1.3B Sandy Hook Case

By Brian Steele

Bankrupt Infowars host Alex Jones will ask the U.S. Supreme Court to invalidate a mammoth libel judgment that families of Sandy Hook shooting victims secured against him and his company over his conspiratorial broadcasts calling the massacre a hoax, he told a Connecticut appellate court in seeking to extend a pause on the payout.

Motion attached | Read full article » | Save to favorites »

Breyer To Talk Pragmatism At NJ Bar Association Convention

By Carla Baranauckas

Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer will bring his pragmatic legal philosophy to center stage when he appears at the New Jersey State Bar Association Convention on May 16 in Atlantic City.

Read full article » | Save to favorites »