Slapping Groping Patient Isn't Protected Action, 4th Circ. Says

By Irene Spezzamonte

A former certified nursing assistant at a nursing home operator didn't show that smacking the hand of a patient whom she alleged groped her constituted protected activity under West Virginia law, a Fourth Circuit panel ruled Thursday, affirming the company's win in a lower court.

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Ex-Fox Rothschild Corporate Chief Accuses Firm Of Age Bias

By Jake Maher

The former head of Fox Rothschild LLP's corporate department sued the firm for age discrimination Wednesday in New Jersey state court, saying it slashed his pay to below that of a first-year associate and then forced him out after nearly 30 years of employment there.

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Ex-Penn State Football Team Doc Wins $5.25M Retaliation Suit

By Matthew Santoni

A Pennsylvania jury awarded $5.25 million to a former doctor for the Pennsylvania State University football team who claimed he was fired for reporting that head coach James Franklin pressured him to push student-athletes back onto the field before they were ready, according to a verdict sheet made public Friday.

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'South Park'-Quoting Judge Says CEO Can't 'Blame Canada'

By P.J. D'Annunzio

In a ruling drawing on the show about four foul-mouthed boys from Colorado, a Pennsylvania federal judge said a CEO who sued his former company could not blame Canada for an unfavorable arbitration ruling in a case where he claimed he was wrongly fired from his post.

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Ex-WWE Worker Pauses Trafficking Claims For DOJ Probe

By Brian Steele

A former World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. paralegal has agreed to put her sexual assault and trafficking lawsuit against the company, founder Vince McMahon and a former executive on hold while the U.S. Department of Justice conducts a "nonpublic investigation," the plaintiff's counsel said Thursday.

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NYU Law Review Beats Bias Claims Over Diversity Efforts

By Matt Perez

A New York federal court on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit from a self-described straight white male, first-year law student at New York University claiming the NYU Law Review is discriminatory.

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Ballard Spahr Faces Claim It Fired Worker Over Sick Husband

By James Boyle

A former legal assistant at Ballard Spahr LLP claims the firm fired her in retaliation for using the Family and Medical Leave Act to take time away from work to care for her cancer-stricken husband, according to a complaint filed in Pennsylvania federal court.

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6th Circ. Nixes Bias Suit From Bus Driver Fired After Fight

By Grace Elletson

The Sixth Circuit refused Thursday to revive a race and disability bias suit from a Black bus driver who fought a passenger and left him on train tracks, ruling that he failed to show prejudice cost him his job rather than the violent incident.

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Morgan & Morgan Settles Ex-Paralegal's FMLA Suit

By Abby Wargo

Morgan & Morgan PA reached a deal with a former paralegal ending her suit accusing the firm of interference and retaliation when she was unlawfully fired, she said, after requesting time off afforded by the Family and Medical Leave Act, the firm told a Florida federal judge Thursday.

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Army Vet Again Files Retaliation Suit Against Casino Owners

By Crystal Owens

A disabled U.S. Army veteran and former table games dealer has again filed suit against Harrah's Casino and its parent company, Caesar's Entertainment, claiming his employment was wrongfully terminated after he requested time off to deal with the aftermath of a fire alarm that triggered his post-traumatic stress disorder.

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Mich. Supreme Court To Hear Town Benefits Breach Case

By MJ Koo

The Michigan Supreme Court has said it will consider whether a village was entitled to coverage for damages it incurred in lawsuits from former employees who sued after the village decided to stop providing lifetime healthcare benefits, ordering oral arguments on an insurer's challenge to a state court's ruling.

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Brief

11th Circ. Backs Navy Win In National Origin Harassment Case

By Madeline Lyskawa

An Eleventh Circuit panel refused to revive a former Naval employee's lawsuit alleging he faced harassment as a result of his Nigerian descent, holding a Florida federal judge did not err in finding he failed to establish harassment that was sufficiently severe or pervasive. 

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Brief

DOJ Says Okla. School District Violated Military Leave Law

By Benjamin Morse

A school district in Oklahoma violated federal law by failing to reinstate a music teacher after he returned from military deployment in the Air Force Reserve, the U.S. Department of Justice alleged in a lawsuit. 

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New 3-On-3 Women's Hoops League Eyes Historic Salaries

By Jade Martinez-Pogue

A new three-on-three basketball league co-founded by current WNBA players Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier on Thursday unveiled its "groundbreaking" women's sports compensation and ownership model that will give players equity and vested interest in the league's success while also providing the "highest average salary" in women's professional sports history, according to its announcement.

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DOL Says Challenged Provision In DBA Rule Is Lawful

By Irene Spezzamonte

The U.S. Department of Labor pressed a Texas federal court not to halt its final rule regulating prevailing wages under the Davis-Bacon Act, saying that one of the provisions several construction groups are challenging is completely lawful.

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Chauffeur Co. Agrees To Pay $2.5M In Wage Settlement

By Abby Wargo

A chauffeur company agreed to give $2.5 million to settle over 600 drivers' claims that it failed to pay them hourly or for overtime or maintain records as required by federal and state labor law, according to a bid to approve the deal filed in Arizona federal court.

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9th Circ. Reopens Mandatory Security Check Wage Fight

By Gina Kim

The Ninth Circuit on Thursday largely revived a proposed wage class action by a subcontractor who sought to be paid for undergoing mandatory security checks and vehicle inspections at a solar project site, following the California Supreme Court's ruling that found the time to be compensable as "hours worked."

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DOL Says Hyundai Hired 13-Year-Old To Work Assembly Line

By Irene Spezzamonte

Car companies SMART and Hyundai and a staffing agency employed a 13-year-old to work up to 60-hour weeks in an assembly line, the U.S. Department of Labor told an Alabama federal court Thursday, saying the labor "shocks the conscience."

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Brief

Ford Settles Union Worker's Retirement Credit Suit

By Kellie Mejdrich

Ford Motor Co. and a union retirement plan have agreed to settle an employee's proposed class action claiming the company improperly calculated retirement benefits owed to workers who were injured on the job, according to a filing Thursday in Michigan federal court.

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UPenn Retools Fight Against Defamation Suit Over Email

By Katherine Smith

An email addressing how an anthropology professor handled the remains of the 1985 MOVE house bombing victims cannot be considered defamatory because it was rooted in personal perspectives and not facts, the University of Pennsylvania told a federal court Wednesday.

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Ex-Chicago Mayor Dodges Atty's Lawsuit Over Zoom Tirade

By Lauren Berg

An Illinois judge tossed a lawsuit brought by a former in-house attorney for the Chicago Park District accusing former Mayor Lori Lightfoot of unleashing a profane tirade laced with crude, insulting and defamatory comments during a Zoom call.

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NCAA Loses Bid To Sink Reggie Bush Defamation Suit

By Elaine Briseño

The NCAA has failed in its bid to get an early toss of the defamation suit filed by 2005 Heisman Trophy winner Reggie Bush, with an Indiana court ruling a dismissal is premature at this point because the former running back has met the pleading standards.

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Politics Not Behind Radio Host's Firing, Broadcaster Argues

By Elaine Briseño

The broadcaster accused of wrongfully terminating radio host Grant Napear after he tweeted "All lives matter" told a California federal court in its bid for summary judgment that Napear's firing had nothing to do with politics, and everything to do with the disrespectful tone and timing of the post.

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Gunster Bolsters Employment And Immigration Teams In Florida

By Jack Rodgers

Gunster has hired two attorneys in two separate Florida offices who will continue their practices focused on labor and employment and immigration issues, the firm announced this week.

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How Employers, Attorneys Can Respond To Noncompete Ban

As the Federal Trade Commission's recently issued noncompete ban faces ongoing legal challenges, now is a good time for employers to consider whether they want to take a wait-and-see approach before halting use of noncompetes and for practitioners to gain insight into other tools available to protect their clients' business interests, says Jennifer Platzkere Snyder at Dilworth Paxson.

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12 Keys To Successful Post-Trial Juror Interviews

Post-trial interviews offer attorneys an avenue to gain valuable insights into juror decision making and get feedback that can inform future litigation strategies, but certain best practices must be followed to get the most out of this research tool, say Alexa Hiley and Brianna Smith at IMS Legal.

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Perspectives

Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys

As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.

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Orrick Leads List Of Top Law Firms For Women, Diversity

By Aebra Coe

Talent strategies firm Seramount released its latest list of the 45 best law firms for women and diversity this week, with the 2024 cohort of winners showing strides over previous years in representation, advancement and benefits for lawyers who are women or from other underrepresented groups.

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Houston Judge's Vast Display Reflects 25 Years On Bench

By Catherine Marfin

Along the hallways leading to U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison's Houston courtroom hang hundreds of notes, photos, thank-you cards and other correspondence, serving as a kind of interactive scrapbook of Judge Ellison's 25 years on the bench.

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Analysis

In Rarity, 1 Party's Judges Gain 100% Control Of Circuit Bench

By Jeff Overley

At the First Circuit, the judges' robes are all black, but the judges are all blue. It's a new and unusual instance of one political party's judicial picks controlling each active seat on a federal appeals court, and the Democratic dominance could prove magnetic for ideologically charged litigation.

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Orrick's $8M Deal To End Data Breach Claims Nears Prelim OK

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge indicated Friday that she'll preliminarily approve Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe LLP's $8 million deal to end putative class claims over a 2023 data breach that purportedly exposed personal information for 638,000 individuals, but said the "very broad" scope of the settlement's release "raised my eyebrows."

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Smith Gambrell Faces Slimmed Data Breach Suit

By Emily Sawicki

A California federal judge has trimmed the claims a proposed class of data breach victims brought against international law firm Smith Gambrell & Russell LLP, leaving the firm to face claims of negligence, invasion of privacy and violation of the California Unfair Competition Law.

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Analysis

Blockbuster Summer: 10 Big Issues Justices Still Must Decide

By Katie Buehler

As the calendar flips over to June, the U.S. Supreme Court still has heaps of cases to decide on issues ranging from trademark registration rules to judicial deference and presidential immunity. Here, Law360 looks at 10 of the most important topics the court has yet to decide.

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Analysis

Del. Chancellor Questions 'Rush' To Amend Corporation Law

By Jeff Montgomery

Weeks before the Delaware State Bar Association sent state lawmakers a draft bill explicitly allowing corporations to broadly cede some governance rights to chosen stockholders, Chancellor Kathaleen St. J. McCormick of Delaware Chancery Court made an unprecedented, direct appeal to think twice.

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Trump Condemns NY Trial As Verdict Echoes In DC

By Rachel Scharf

A day after his conviction on 34 felony counts, former president Donald Trump on Friday attacked the Manhattan jury's verdict in a lengthy speech that mischaracterized multiple elements of the case as the decision reverberated through Washington, D.C.

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Trump's New York Prosecutors Called To House Hearing

By Courtney Bublé

Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chair of the House Judiciary Committee and its Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, demanded on Friday that Manhattan prosecutors appear for a hearing on June 13 on the prosecution of former President Donald Trump, who was convicted on Thursday of 34 felonies.

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Disbarring Giuliani Would 'Protect The Public,' DC Panel Says

By Alison Knezevich

A Washington, D.C., attorney ethics panel agreed Friday that Rudy Giuliani's role in former President Donald Trump's attempt to overturn Pennsylvania's presidential election in 2020 amounted to misconduct "of the utmost seriousness," and that disbarring him would "protect the public, the courts, and the integrity of the legal profession."

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Texas Judge Opts Not To Recuse And Tosses Chamber Suit

By Emily Sawicki

A Texas federal judge has thrown out the U.S. Chamber of Commerce's suit seeking to block the Federal Trade Commission from implementing a ban on noncompete clauses because a different plaintiff was first to file, adding he declined to recuse himself because no companies in his stock portfolio were parties in the case.

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Illinois Strengthens Atty Ethics Rules For Harassment, Bias

By Celeste Bott

The Illinois Supreme Court has announced that the state's professional conduct rules for attorneys have been amended to deem the act of engaging in harassment or discrimination as professional misconduct, and not just in the event a court or administrative agency finds that a lawyer violated a law prohibiting such actions.

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DOJ Looks To End A Legacy Of Bias In Sex Assault Cases

By Hannah Albarazi

The U.S. Department of Justice says that legal fallacies and misogynistic stereotypes often lead prosecutors to decline to charge alleged perpetrators of sexual violence, but new guidance from the department is pushing prosecutors to give more credence to victims and see that their claims are more thoroughly investigated.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Brewer Attorneys & Counselors, the American Civil Liberties Union Foundation and attorneys Eugene Volokh and Alan Morrison lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the National Rifle Association can proceed with certain claims in the gun rights group's lawsuit against a former New York state official.

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The Top In-House Hires Of May

By Michele Gorman

Legal department hires during the last full month of spring included high-profile appointments at Southwest, Hormel and UnitedHealth. Here, Law360 Pulse looks at some of the top in-house announcements from May.

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Off The Bench: NCAA Transfers Freed, Atty Plays Cards Right

By David Steele

In this week's Off the Bench, the NCAA agrees to more historic rule changes while experts examine its post-House settlement future, and a patent lawyer looks back at his transformation into a poker champion.

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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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