Pennsylvania

TUESDAY, MAY 21, 2024

TOP NEWS

Pa. Federal District Judge Gene Pratter Dead At 75

By James Boyle

U.S. District Judge Gene E.K. Pratter, who joined the bench in the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 2004 and presided over several landmark cases, died Friday at the age of 75, according to a statement from the court.

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Lab Says GSK Hid Zantac Cancer Risk From Feds For Decades

By Matthew Santoni

A Connecticut laboratory claims that GlaxoSmithKline defrauded federal health insurance programs for billions by hiding for 40 years that Zantac decomposes into a carcinogen even when just sitting on the shelf, in a lawsuit filed Monday in Pennsylvania federal court.

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Wyndham Wants Out Of Pa. Hotel's Labor Trafficking Case

By Matthew Santoni

Wyndham Hotels & Resorts argued to a federal court Monday it could not be plausibly alleged the chain knew or could have known that its former franchisee at a New Stanton, Pennsylvania, Days Inn was exploiting laborers in a room-for-hire scheme, and so it should be dismissed from the laborers' lawsuit.

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Domino's Franchisee Gets Year In Prison In $2.5M Tax Case

By Anna Scott Farrell

The owner of dozens of Domino's Pizza restaurants was sentenced to a year in prison Monday and ordered to pay $2.5 million to the Internal Revenue Service after having admitted he filed false tax returns, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

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EPA Touts Brownfield Grants In Visit To Polluted Philly Site

By Nate Beck

Biden administration officials visited a riverfront site in Philadelphia where the city is using federal support to clean up contamination and add amenities, as they promoted $3 million in U.S. Environmental Protection Agency support to four New Jersey communities.

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LITIGATION

Rite Aid Settles Trademark Suit Over New Logo

By Yun Park

Rite Aid has reached an agreement with Brand Design Co. to end a lawsuit claiming that the drugstore chain misused the design firm's font for a new logo, the parties have told a Pennsylvania federal court.

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Pa. Rehab Center Worker's Firing Suit Filed Too Late

By Mike Curley

A Pennsylvania appeals panel won't reinstate a wrongful termination suit by a former rehabilitation center worker who says she was wrongly fired for using medical cannabis, rejecting her argument that her claims should be subject to a six-year statute of limitations instead of two years.

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BANKRUPTCY

J&J Says Beasley Allen Looking To 'Bias' Vote On $6.5B Plan

By George Woolston

Johnson & Johnson's bankrupt talc unit accused the Beasley Allen Law Firm of attempting to intentionally "bias" the vote against its recently announced proposal to pay out $6.5 billion in a prepackaged reorganization plan to resolve claims that its talc-based baby powder causes ovarian cancer.

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LEGAL INDUSTRY

The Law360 400: Tracking The Largest US Law Firms

By Sam Bell and Pamela Wilkinson

The legal market expanded more tentatively in 2023 than in previous years amid a slowdown in demand for legal services, especially in transactions, an area that has been sluggish but is expected to quicken in the latter half of the coming year.

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Strategic Hiring Was The New Normal For BigLaw In 2023

By Emma Cueto

The 400 largest law firms by headcount in the U.S. grew more slowly in 2023 than in the previous two years, while Kirkland & Ellis LLP surpassed the 3,000-attorney threshold, according to the latest Law360 ranking.

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Attys With AI Skills Command Pay Bumps In The US, UK

By Steven Lerner

Lawyer job listings that require artificial intelligence skills carry a wage premium of up to 49% higher in some markets, according to a report released Tuesday.

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ABA Faces Racial Bias Complaint Over Diversity Programs

By Ryan Boysen

A conservative nonprofit on Tuesday hit the American Bar Association with a Title VI complaint, claiming a handful of "nefarious" ABA-led programs meant to connect minority law school students with judges are "racially discriminatory."

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Trump Rests In NY Hush Money Trial, Declining To Testify

By Frank Runyeon and Stewart Bishop

Donald Trump rested his defense Tuesday in the Manhattan district attorney's criminal hush money case, closing out the testimony and setting the stage for deliberations next week after the former president opted not to take the witness stand.

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Coverage Recap: Day 16 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 Tuesday, day 16 of the trial.

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More Classified Docs Were Found After Mar-A-Lago Raid

By Carolina Bolado

Additional classified documents were found at former President Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate, including in Trump's bedroom, after the FBI's August 2022 search of the Florida property, according to a filing unsealed Tuesday in the criminal case accusing him of mishandling classified documents.

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Senate Backs Federal Prosecutor For Ariz. District Judgeship

By Courtney Bublé

The Senate voted 66-26 on Tuesday to confirm Assistant U.S. Attorney Krissa M. Lanham to the District of Arizona.

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High Court Ethics Bill In 'High Consideration,' Schumer Says

By Courtney Bublé

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said on Tuesday that a bill to institute an ethics code for the U.S. Supreme Court was in "high consideration" to come before the full Senate for a vote, following the report last week that an upside-down flag, which has become a symbol for former President Donald Trump's claims that the 2020 election was stolen, was flown outside Justice Samuel Alito's house after the attack on the U.S. Capitol a month later.

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$93M Lipitor Antitrust Deal Sparks Dispute Over Fee Division

By Carla Baranauckas

Attorneys representing a class of buyers in antitrust litigation against Pfizer over the cholesterol medication Lipitor are squabbling over how to divide up to $31 million in attorney fees before a New Jersey federal judge even approves the total, according to court documents.

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Ex-LA DA Sues State Farm Over Gun Incident Legal Fees

By Elizabeth Daley

Former Los Angeles County District Attorney Jackie Lacey sued her insurer in California state court Tuesday, alleging State Farm cost her more than $2.1 million by failing to cover legal fees when she and her late husband were sued because he brandished a gun against protesters at their home.

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Barrier-Breaking Conn. Chief Justice To Retire In September

By Aaron Keller

Saying it's "time for a change" after a career in government service, Connecticut Supreme Court Chief Justice Richard A. Robinson, the first Black chief justice in state history, announced he will retire from the bench effective Sept. 6, according to statements from the Connecticut Judicial Branch and Gov. Ned Lamont.

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