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Employment
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May 02, 2024
Colo. Panel Says COVID Can Trigger Workers' Compensation
A Colorado appellate court panel on Thursday ruled for the first time that COVID-19 can be considered an "occupational disease" under the state's workers' compensation law and affirmed the award of benefits to a woman whose husband died of the novel coronavirus while working at a skilled nursing facility.
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May 02, 2024
Morehouse Says Degree Issue, Not Bias, Led To Prof's Firing
Morehouse College asked a Georgia federal judge on Wednesday to free it from all claims brought against it by a former professor who alleged he was fired for taking part in an HIV-positive student's discrimination lawsuit against the school and members of the cinema, television and emerging studies program faculty.
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May 02, 2024
4th Circ. Revives Workers' Suit Over SC Plant Explosion
The Fourth Circuit on Thursday revived claims from three workers burned in an explosion at a plastic recycling plant, saying the South Carolina Workers' Compensation Law can't deprive the federal courts of diversity jurisdiction in a case where they would otherwise have it.
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May 02, 2024
4th Circ. Finds Judge Appointment Legit In Black Lung Case
The Fourth Circuit ruled that an administrative law judge who presided over a black lung benefits case was properly reappointed by the U.S. Department of Labor, rejecting Dominion Coal Corp.'s contention that his seating violated the Constitution's appointments clause.
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May 02, 2024
Securities Firm Must Face Ex-Worker's Age Bias Suit
A Colorado federal judge refused to throw out a lawsuit a former securities sales representative lodged against a firm accusing it of firing him and replacing him with two younger workers, saying he put forward enough detail to keep his suit afloat.
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May 02, 2024
Moses & Singer, Ex-Partner Settle Pregnancy Bias Suit
A New York federal judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit filed against litigation firm Moses & Singer LLP by a former partner who accused it of wrongfully firing her after she requested workplace accommodations for her pregnancy, saying the parties have reached "a settlement in principle."
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May 02, 2024
Feds Want Prison For Ex-Public Defender For Tax Fraud
A former chief public defender in Minneapolis who in seeking leniency said he resigned in disgrace amid accusations that he failed to pay taxes for years on his private law firm should nonetheless spend eight months in prison after pleading guilty, prosecutors told a Minnesota federal court.
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May 02, 2024
Davis Wright Brings On MoFo Appellate Litigator In San Fran
Davis Wright Tremaine LLP has brought on a former Morrison Foerster LLP partner in San Francisco, strengthening its appellate practice with an experienced appellate litigator who clerked for a U.S. Supreme Court justice, a California Supreme Court justice and other judges, the firm announced Thursday.
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May 02, 2024
NC Dems Propose Axing At-Will Work In Workers Rights Bill
North Carolina Democrats have proposed broad legislation to bolster protections for employees in the Tar Heel State — from abolishing at-will employment to repealing the ban on collective bargaining for public employees and shoring up safeguards for contract workers.
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May 02, 2024
Chicago Transit Sued Again Over Medical History Probes
Chicago's public transit system has been hit again with a genetic information privacy lawsuit by an employee who says the agency illegally probes applicants' medical histories as part of its hiring considerations.
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May 02, 2024
Atlanta Braves Deny Deaf Job Candidate's Discrimination Suit
The Atlanta Braves denied that it refused to hire a deaf man for a top job at the organization because of his disability and said a lawsuit against the team was filed too late to be valid, according to a filing in Georgia federal court.
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May 02, 2024
DOL Fights Bid To Halt Prevailing Wage Rule
A group of construction groups didn't show how a final rule regulating prevailing wages hurts them, and halting the rule wouldn't be in the public's interest, the U.S. Department of Labor told a Texas federal court.
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May 02, 2024
GRSM50 Adds Employment Litigator From Calif. Solo Shop
Gordon Rees Scully Mansukhani LLP, which is now going by the name GRSM50, is expanding its employment team, announcing Wednesday it is bringing on an employment litigator who previously ran his own firm to be a partner in the firm's San Diego office.
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May 01, 2024
NLRB Dings Amazon CEO Over 'Better Off Not' Unionizing Talk
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy violated federal labor law by making public predictions that workers looking to unionize would be "better off not doing so," a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled Wednesday, but determined Jassy's comments that unionization would change workers' relationship with the company were lawful.
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May 01, 2024
NJ, NY Law Firms Dominate Class Action Filings Since 2021
Class actions have been steadily increasing over the past decade, with two firms from New Jersey and New York filing the most suits over the past three years, according to a new Lex Machina report surveying the class action field.
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May 01, 2024
Trader Joe's Must Pay Fees To Union After 'Meritless' TM Suit
A California federal judge ordered Trader Joe's to pay $112,622 in attorney fees to a union of its employees in a suit alleging the union's logo infringes the grocer's name and trademarks, saying Trader Joe's claim that the suit is unrelated to a labor dispute "cannot be taken seriously."
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May 01, 2024
5th Circ. Nixes Use Of US Law In Maritime Malaria Dispute
The Fifth Circuit on Wednesday overturned an order permitting an Indian man to invoke U.S. law in his lawsuit accusing a Singaporean ship management company of negligence after he contracted malaria during a trip to Gabon while working aboard a Liberian-flagged cargo ship.
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May 01, 2024
Pa. Justices Asked To Determine If Workers' Comp Covers CBD
An attorney representing himself — and, in a way, suing himself — will get an opportunity to convince the Pennsylvania Supreme Court that CBD oil and other nonprescription medicine should be covered by workers' compensation, according to a Tuesday order from the justices.
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May 01, 2024
Trump's Firm Can't Yet Withdraw After Atty-Client 'Breakdown'
A Manhattan federal judge won't yet allow the attorneys representing Donald Trump's campaign to withdraw from a pregnancy retaliation suit brought by a former campaign aide over what they called an "irreparable breakdown in the attorney-client relationship," but on Wednesday set a conference to review the request behind closed doors.
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May 01, 2024
Chamber Must Name Cos. It Reps In Noncompete Suit, FTC Says
The Federal Trade Commission has asked a Texas federal judge to limit the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to representing only named members in its challenge to the agency's pending noncompetes ban, arguing the trade group can't hide behind the First Amendment to represent "millions of undisclosed members."
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May 01, 2024
Ala., Fla. Trans Patients Urge 11th Circ. To Heed Bias Ruling
Attorneys representing transgender clients in Florida and Alabama have urged the Eleventh Circuit to heed a recent Fourth Circuit ruling striking down bans on state-funded coverage for gender-affirming medical care, saying the court ruled that the state policies violate federal law because their exclusions were based on gender identity and sex.
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May 01, 2024
Judge Mulls New Trial For Uber Drivers' Misclassification Suit
A Pennsylvania federal judge on Wednesday seemed poised to start a second trial to determine whether drivers of Uber's high-end ride-share option are independent contractors or employees after a jury deadlocked on the issue in March.
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May 01, 2024
Senate Dems Reintroduce Bill To Tax And Regulate Cannabis
Senate Democrats on Wednesday reintroduced a cannabis legalization bill that would remove the drug entirely from the ambit of the Controlled Substances Act and impose a tax-and-regulate scheme akin to what is currently in place for alcohol and tobacco.
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May 01, 2024
Judge Finds Engineering Co. Had No Duty In Goya Death Case
A Texas federal judge has thrown out claims against Zachry Engineering Inc. in a suit by the family of a Goya Foods Inc. worker who died when his forklift hit a pipe and caused him to be sprayed with nearly boiling beans, saying the engineering company had no say in the height of the pipe and was not responsible for making sure it wasn't a hazard.
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May 01, 2024
Weinstein On Track For Fall Trial Redo On NY Rape Charges
A New York judge said Wednesday that disgraced movie mogul Harvey Weinstein will be retried sometime after September, following last week's decision by the state's highest court to overturn his rape conviction due to the admission of overly broad evidence at trial.
Expert Analysis
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Think Like A Lawyer: Forget Everything You Know About IRAC
The mode of legal reasoning most students learn in law school, often called “Issue, Rule, Application, Conclusion,” or IRAC, erroneously frames analysis as a separate, discrete step, resulting in disorganized briefs and untold obfuscation — but the fix is pretty simple, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.
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Opinion
There Is No NCAA Supremacy Clause, Especially For NIL
A recent Tennessee federal court ruling illustrates the NCAA's problematic position that its member schools should violate state law rather than its rules — and the organization's legal history with the dormant commerce clause raises a fundamental constitutional issue that will have to be resolved before attorneys can navigate NIL with confidence, says Patrick O’Donnell at HWG.
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Employer Pointers As Wage And Hour AI Risks Emerge
Following the Biden administration's executive order on artificial intelligence, employers using or considering artificial intelligence tools should carefully assess whether such use could increase their exposure to liability under federal and state wage and hour laws, and be wary of algorithmic discrimination, bias and inaccurate or incomplete reporting, say attorneys at ArentFox Schiff.
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The Pros And Cons Of Protecting AI As Trade Secrets
Despite regulatory trends toward greater transparency of artificial intelligence models, federal policy acknowledges, and perhaps endorses, trade secret protection for AI information, but there are still hurdles in keeping AI information a secret, say Jennifer Maisel and Andrew Stewart at Rothwell Figg.
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Complying With Enforcers' Ephemeral Messaging Guidance
Given federal antitrust enforcers’ recently issued guidance on ephemeral messaging applications, organizations must take a proactive approach to preserving short-lived communications — or risk criminal obstruction charges and civil discovery sanctions, say attorneys at Manatt.
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Race Bias Defense Considerations After 11th Circ. Ruling
In Tynes v. Florida Department of Juvenile Justice, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed that the McDonnell Douglas test for employment discrimination cases is merely an evidentiary framework, so employers relying on it as a substantive standard of liability may need to rethink their litigation strategy, says Helen Jay at Phelps Dunbar.
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How Firms Can Ensure Associate Gender Parity Lasts
Among associates, women now outnumber men for the first time, but progress toward gender equality at the top of the legal profession remains glacially slow, and firms must implement time-tested solutions to ensure associates’ gender parity lasts throughout their careers, say Kelly Culhane and Nicole Joseph at Culhane Meadows.
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How Echoing Techniques Can Derail Witnesses At Deposition
Before depositions, defense attorneys must prepare witnesses to recognize covert echoing techniques that may be used by opposing counsel to lower their defenses and elicit sensitive information — potentially leading to nuclear settlements and verdicts, say Bill Kanasky and Steve Wood at Courtroom Sciences.
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6 Ways To Minimize Risk, Remain Respectful During Layoffs
With a recent Resume Builder survey finding that 38% of companies expect to lay off employees this year, now is a good time for employers to review several strategies that can help mitigate legal risks and maintain compassion in the reduction-in-force process, says Sahara Pynes at Fox Rothschild.
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7 Common Myths About Lateral Partner Moves
As lateral recruiting remains a key factor for law firm growth, partners considering a lateral move should be aware of a few commonly held myths — some of which contain a kernel of truth, and some of which are flat out wrong, says Dave Maurer at Major Lindsey.
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NYC Workplace AI Regulation Has Been Largely Insignificant
Though a Cornell University study suggests that a New York City law intended to regulate artificial intelligence in the workplace has had an underwhelming impact, the law may still help shape the city's future AI regulation efforts, say Reid Skibell and Nathan Ades at Glenn Agre.
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Series
Cheering In The NFL Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Balancing my time between a BigLaw career and my role as an NFL cheerleader has taught me that pursuing your passions outside of work is not a distraction, but rather an opportunity to harness important skills that can positively affect how you approach work and view success in your career, says Rachel Schuster at Sheppard Mullin.
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Args In APA Case Amplify Justices' Focus On Agency Power
In arguments last week in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve, the U.S. Supreme Court justices paid particular importance to the possible ripple effects of their decision, which will address when a facial challenge to long-standing federal rules under the Administrative Procedure Act first accrues and could thus unleash a flood of new lawsuits, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.
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Mitigating Whistleblower Risks After High Court UBS Ruling
While it is always good practice for companies to periodically review whistleblower trainings, policies and procedures, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent whistleblower-friendly ruling in Murray v. UBS Securities helps demonstrate their importance in reducing litigation risk, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
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Using Arbitration And Class Waivers As Privacy Suit Tools
Amid a surge in data breach class actions over the last few years, several federal court decisions indicate that arbitration clauses and class action waiver provisions can be possible alternatives to public court battles and potentially reduce the costs of privacy litigation, say Mark Olthoff and Courtney Klaus at Polsinelli.