9th Circ. Revives Northrop Retirees' Putative Class Action

By Hailey Konnath

The Ninth Circuit on Thursday once again resurrected a proposed class action accusing Northrop Grumman of misinforming retirees about their pension benefits, ruling that the retirees have plausibly alleged that they received inaccurate benefit statements.

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Google Slams Maps Antitrust Suit As 'Cut-And-Paste Job'

By Bonnie Eslinger

Google's counsel urged a California federal judge Thursday to permanently toss a proposed antitrust class action over its Maps product, calling the complaint a "cut-and-paste job" from a 2020 House report and accusing plaintiffs of "trying to gin up an antitrust claim" where one doesn't exist.

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6th Circ. Judge Doubts GM Drivers Can Revive Emissions Suit

By Carolyn Muyskens

A Sixth Circuit judge suggested Thursday that drivers are second-guessing a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency stamp of approval with their claims that General Motors marketed its Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra vehicles as more eco-friendly than they really were.

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Amazon Shakes Wash. Suit Premised On Calif. Wiretap Claims

By Allison Grande

A Washington federal judge has tossed a putative class action accusing Amazon.com Inc. of unlawfully recording chat conversations with consumers, finding that the plaintiff couldn't sustain a suit containing only California claims because the e-commerce giant's usage agreement makes clear that Washington law governs such disputes. 

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NYC Denies IVF Coverage To Gay Male Workers, Court Told

By Patrick Hoff

New York City unlawfully discriminates against gay male employees by refusing to cover in vitro fertilization under its healthcare plan while providing heterosexual and lesbian workers with those benefits, according to a proposed class action filed Thursday in federal court.

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Designer, Hotelier Sued For Allegedly Duping EB-5 Investors

By Rae Ann Varona

Chinese investors in a luxury California hotel for green cards lodged a potential class action Thursday against a prominent interior designer and her hotelier husband for allegedly duping backers into believing Marriott would manage the hotel.

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Judge 'Tempted' To Transfer MLB Scouts' Colo. Age Bias Suit

By Thy Vo

A Colorado federal judge said Thursday he was "somewhat tempted" to transfer an age discrimination lawsuit brought by former MLB scouts if he ultimately decides the court doesn't have jurisdiction over out-of-state teams, despite believing they may have a "fairly strong" argument that he can oversee the case against the league itself.

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US Bank Sees Unauthorized Account Suit Tossed For Good

By Katryna Perera

A New York federal judge has permanently thrown out a proposed class action against U.S. Bancorp alleging shareholders were harmed after the bank paid a $37.5 million fine to the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in connection with allegations its bankers secretly opened accounts in customers' names.

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Chancery Tosses Qualcomm Investor's Diversity Suit

By Leslie A. Pappas

A shareholder who sued Qualcomm Inc. for allegedly misleading the public and investors about its efforts to diversify its board has failed to show that the company didn't consider diverse candidates, Delaware's Court of Chancery said Thursday, dismissing the shareholder's case.

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Attys Want $102M In Fees In Stock Loan Antitrust Deal

By Sydney Price

Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan LLP and Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll PLLC attorneys asked for $102 million in fees for settling claims from investors that major banks colluded to avoid modernizing the stock loan market, saying the long and complex nature of the case warrants the payout.

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Hermes Seeks Exit From Antitrust Suit Over Birkin Bag Sales

By Henrik Nilsson

Hermès urged a California federal judge on Thursday to toss an antitrust class action accusing the luxury fashion retailer of tying the sale of its iconic Birkin and Kelly handbags to other items, saying the plaintiffs' assertion that the handbags constitute their own market minimizes the "fierce competition" across the luxury goods industry.

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Chicken Farmers Win Cert. Of 24K Class In No-Poach Suit

By Gina Kim

An Oklahoma federal judge has certified a class of more than 24,000 broiler chicken farmers accusing Pilgrim's Pride of conspiring with others to suppress grower compensation through no-poach agreements, noting the plaintiffs provided direct and circumstantial evidence to show the existence of an antitrust conspiracy affecting all farmers.

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FICO Blasts Discovery 'Sideshows' In VantageScore Suit

By Lauraann Wood

An Illinois federal judge handling antitrust claims targeting the credit-scoring market should disregard the "sideshows" customers lodged by requesting confidential settlement records and other documents that are too far removed from the case's core issues, Fair Isaac Corp. argued on Wednesday.

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SeaWorld Workers Nab Class Cert. In 401(k) Fees Suit

By Sydney Price

A California federal judge agreed to certify a class of 10,000 current and former workers suing SeaWorld for keeping high-cost funds in their retirement accounts and retaining expensive record-keepers.

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Rail Co. Accused Of Retaliation Over FMLA Use

By David Minsky

CSX Transportation Inc. has been hit with a Florida federal lawsuit brought by its workers, who allege in their proposed class action that the rail company discouraged them from lawfully using the Family and Medical Leave Act, including by punishing them for taking advantage of the law.

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GE Dropped From Louisiana Factory Contamination Suit

By Grace Dixon

A Louisiana federal judge has dropped General Electric from property owners' suit alleging widespread contamination caused by a now-closed manufacturing facility, finding an earlier merger by a subsidiary did not make the company a liable successor.

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Gov't Says It's Already Yielded Camp Lejeune Muster Rolls

By Emily Field

The federal government on Wednesday told the North Carolina federal court overseeing litigation over water contamination at the Camp Lejeune base that it has already produced muster rolls and that the court should deny the service members' request to produce more records.

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REIT Says Insurers Must Cover Antitrust Conspiracy Claims

By Jennifer Mandato

A real estate investment trust accused its insurers of wrongfully denying coverage for an underlying multidistrict litigation alleging that the company was part of an antitrust conspiracy to inflate rents for multifamily housing, telling a Colorado federal court that the MDL falls plainly within multiple coverage parts of its policies.

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Driver Class Certified In Progressive Total Loss Value Suit

By Ryan Harroff

A South Carolina federal judge has granted class certification to a group of drivers who suffered "total loss" accidents and allegedly had the value of their totaled cars lowballed by Progressive Direct Insurance Co., rejecting the insurer's arguments that the proposed class representative was unfit.

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Armstrong Teasdale Litigator Joins Dentons In St. Louis

By Adrian Cruz

A longtime Armstrong Teasdale litigator who's spent over a decade working on insurance coverage disputes has joined Dentons' St. Louis office as a partner.

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Keeping Up With Class Actions: A New Era Of Higher Stakes

Corporate defendants saw unprecedented settlement numbers across all areas of class action litigation in 2022 and 2023, and this year has kept pace so far, with three settlements that stand out for the nature of the claims and for their high dollar amounts, says Gerald Maatman at Duane Morris.

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What's Notable In JAMS' New Mass Arbitration Rules

The Judicial Arbitration and Mediation Services’ recently released guidelines, coming on the heels of similar American Arbitration Association amendments, suggests that mass arbitrations will remain an efficient means for consumers to vindicate their rights against companies, say Jonathan Waisnor and Brandon Heitmann at Labaton Keller. 

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King & Spalding Accused Of Anti-White, Pro-LGBTQ Bias

By Ryan Boysen

A straight white woman is suing King & Spalding LLP alleging discrimination after getting a rare green light from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, claiming she incurred "significant damages" when she was dissuaded from applying to a summer associate program open only to "diverse" applicants.

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Former Akin Chairman R. Bruce McLean Dies At 77

By Tracey Read

Former Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP Chairman R. Bruce McLean — who helped transform Akin into an international powerhouse — died Thursday, the firm said. He was 77.

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Fox Rothschild Hires Ex-Seed IP Trio On The West Coast

By Andrea Keckley

Fox Rothschild is bringing on more intellectual property talent on the West Coast, announcing Friday that it had added three former Seed IP attorneys to its Seattle offices.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Pomerantz's Murielle Steven Walsh

By Adrian Cruz

For Murielle Steven Walsh, the concept of standing up for the underdog came early in her life, as the longtime Pomerantz LLP partner described her constant battles with Catholic school teachers as some of the first motivating factors that led her to pursue a legal career that involves representing shareholders suing some of the world's biggest corporations.

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Cohen Urged To Stop Trashing Trump As Testimony Nears

By Rachel Scharf, Frank G. Runyeon and Stewart Bishop

The Manhattan judge overseeing Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial made clear Friday that he wants star witness Michael Cohen to stop talking publicly about the charges as the former president's erstwhile attorney prepares to take the stand as soon as Monday.

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Coverage Recap: Day 11 Of Trump's NY Hush Money Trial

By Stewart Bishop

Law360 reporters are providing live updates from the Manhattan criminal courthouse as Donald Trump goes on trial for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments ahead of the 2016 election. Here's a recap from Friday, day 11 of the trial.

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The Week In Trump: All Eyes On NY As Other Cases Lag

By Phillip Bantz

Donald Trump's Manhattan hush money trial took center stage with dramatic testimony from adult film actress Stormy Daniels, while the former president's criminal cases in Georgia and Florida ran into delays that could last through Election Day.

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Dem Lawmakers Call For 5th Circ. Judge To Exit CFPB Case

By Jack Rodgers

Six Democratic lawmakers sent a letter admonishing the Judicial Conference, saying Friday it was "undermining the integrity of the judiciary" by allowing a Fifth Circuit judge to participate in a matter in which he has a significant conflict of interest.

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Now Hiring: Michigan AG Seeks Attys For Climate Change Suits

By Madeline Lyskawa

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel is looking for attorneys and law firms to serve as assistant attorneys general to pursue litigation related to climate change on behalf of the state of Michigan.

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SEC Asks For Win Following Ex-Apple Atty's Guilty Plea

By Sydney Price

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission moved for summary judgment Friday on insider trading claims against a former senior attorney at Apple Inc., arguing there is no need to relitigate claims since the lawyer already pled guilty to criminal charges related to a lucrative insider trading scheme.

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Feds Seek 20 Mos. For Ex-Baltimore State's Atty

By Elliot Weld

Prosecutors asked a Maryland federal court to sentence former state's attorney Marilyn Mosby to 20 months in prison after she was convicted of lying to obtain money from a retirement fund and conning a lender to obtain a vacation home, saying she "could not be trusted to tell the truth" despite her position of public trust.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Cravath Swaine & Moore LLP, Lewis Law Firm PLLC and Kleppin Firm PA lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court determined that plaintiffs in copyright ownership disputes can recover damages beyond the three-year statute of limitations for bringing a claim.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Help for lawyers in dealing with legal data challenges has come, thanks to corporate and law firm leaders who founded a new industry framework called Legal Data Intelligence. And at least one U.S. senator is questioning Amazon and Walmart's use of new tech to create "dynamic pricing" that may harm consumers.

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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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E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data

Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

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