DOL Official Says Expect Pension De-Risking Report Soon

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Department of Labor's employee benefits chief said Tuesday the agency expects to submit a report to Congress shortly on so-called pension risk transfers, which involve the exchange of defined benefit pension plan liabilities for annuity insurance contracts.

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Cigna Escapes Post-Judgment Accounting Bid In ERISA Row

By Brian Steele

A federal judge in Connecticut has denied a bid by a class of 25,000 Cigna Corp. workers for post-judgment discovery in an ERISA feud that has stretched on for 23 years, shutting down claims that the insurer violated court orders by improperly calculating award payments to class members.

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Hartford Settles Long-COVID Patient's Benefits Suit

By Emmy Freedman

Hartford Life and Accident Insurance Co. reached a deal to end a lawsuit accusing it of unlawfully refusing to pay out long-term disability benefits for a patient suffering lasting effects from a COVID-19 infection, according to filing Tuesday in Michigan federal court.

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Organic Grocery Chain Settles COBRA Notice Suit For $400K

By Grace Elletson

An organic grocery store chain will pay $400,000 to close a proposed class action claiming it regularly failed to alert workers that they could extend their health insurance benefits if their coverage ended after losing their jobs, according to a Pennsylvania federal court filing.

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Santos Says Feds Overstepped With ID Theft Charge

By Elliot Weld

Former U.S. Rep. George Santos told a Brooklyn federal court that prosecutors used an unconstitutionally vague identity theft statute to charge him with reporting fake fundraising numbers to the Federal Election Commission.

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Amazon Worker Wants Class Cert. In Military Leave Suit

By Emmy Freedman

A former Amazon worker urged a New York federal court to greenlight a more than 9,000-member class of military reservists in her lawsuit accusing the e-commerce giant of failing to provide paid leave for employees on active duty, saying the dispute is best suited for class treatment.

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Apple's $490M Investor Deal Needs 'A Little Bit More Work'

By Bonnie Eslinger

A California federal judge refused Tuesday to preliminarily approve Apple's $490 million deal to end investors' class action alleging they were misled about iPhone sales in China, saying that while key terms are "satisfactory," the plan needs "a little bit more work," like fixing a "convoluted" notice to investors.

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Astec Inks $13.7M Investor Deal Over Wood Pellet Plant Woes

By Emilie Ruscoe

An investor in manufacturer Astec Industries Inc. has asked a Tennessee federal judge for an initial green light on a $13.7 million deal to end claims the company misrepresented business prospects for its wood pellet plants.

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Paycom Brass Face Investor Suit Over Future Revenue Woes

By Donald Morrison

The top brass of human resources technology company Paycom Software Inc. have been hit with a shareholder derivative suit alleging that executives failed to disclose that a new product to streamline payroll processes was threatening its future revenue by helping companies avoid errors they would otherwise pay to fix.

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Analysis

In Story Of Sex And Lies, Can Cohen Write Final Chapter?

By Phillip Bantz

The Manhattan District Attorney's Office has told a story of scandal and scheming to the jury in Donald Trump's criminal hush money trial, setting the stage for the prosecution's star witness to take the stand and wrap up the narrative.

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Ex-McElroy Deutsch CFO Cops To $1.5M Theft From Firm

By George Woolston

McElroy Deutsch Mulvaney & Carpenter LLP's former chief financial officer admitted Wednesday to embezzling more than $1.5 million from the firm and failing to pay income tax, New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin announced.

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Lewis Brisbois Atty Fatally Shot In McDonald's Altercation

By Ryan Boysen

A Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP attorney was fatally shot at a McDonald's in Houston after reportedly stepping in as a good Samaritan and attempting to calm down an irate customer who'd been arguing with staff at the fast food restaurant.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Lieff Cabraser's Kelly Dermody

By Irene Spezzamonte

A semester off from Harvard University in the late 1980s meant for reflection instead turned into a pivotal moment in Kelly Dermody's life, settling the roots for her successful career during which she has become a lighthouse for employment and discrimination cases.

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ABA Will Study Rape Questions' Necessity For Bar Applicants

By Cara Bayles

An American Bar Association commission will issue a report and recommendations by August on the practice of requiring would-be lawyers to disclose and discuss their experiences of sexual violence during the attorney licensure process.

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ABA Directs Attys To Avoid Sharing Client Info On Listservs

By Emily Sawicki

It is in the best interest of clients for their legal counsel to avoid sharing information related to representation while seeking advice in an online listserv forum, if the comments or questions could be connected to a client's identity, according to American Bar Association guidance published Wednesday.

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Ga. Appeals Court Will Review Trump DQ Bid In Election Case

By Kelcey Caulder

The Georgia Court of Appeals on Wednesday agreed to review a judge's ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis to continue prosecuting the election interference case she brought against former President Donald Trump.

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Fani Willis Is Outraising Primary Challenger More Than 5 To 1

By Chart Riggall

Less than two weeks from the first hurdle in her bid for reelection, Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis is boasting a​​ campaign war chest more than five times heftier than her Democratic challenger's, according to campaign finance disclosures filed this week.

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Biden Picks US Magistrate Judge In Fla. For 11th Circ.

By Courtney Bublé

President Joe Biden announced Wednesday his intent to nominate U.S. Magistrate Judge Embry J. Kidd to the Eleventh Circuit.

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Robins Kaplan File Flub Bad Look For Both Sides, Panel Says

By Rachel Scharf

A Manhattan appeals panel expressed concern Wednesday that Robins Kaplan LLP had poked through an opposing party's Dropbox database that was accidentally shared in investor litigation, while also criticizing the other side for failing to catch the error.

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NJ Justices Approve Measures For Helping Atty Well-Being

By Emily Johnson

The New Jersey Supreme Court has accepted several recommendations from its committee focused on attorney well-being, paving the way for the committee to examine how attorneys can briefly postpone court dates or possibly receive an extension to meet deadlines so they can handle pressing wellness needs.

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Legal Access Program Being Set Up For Separated Families

By Alyssa Aquino

The Biden administration tapped the Acacia Center for Justice to manage a court-ordered legal access program to help migrant families stay in the U.S. after they were separated under a Trump-era policy to prosecute anybody caught entering the country unlawfully.

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Colo. Judges Urge Attys To Take On More Pro Se Cases

By Thy Vo

A group of Colorado federal judges tried Wednesday to recruit more lawyers to help pro se litigants, who file about a third of the district's cases each year, with the judges recounting tactical mistakes and case delays that attorneys could have prevented.

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Series

Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

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