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Hospitality
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January 18, 2024
NJ Judge Consolidates Atlantic City Casino Room-Rate Suits
A New Jersey federal judge has ordered three proposed class actions accusing Caesar's Entertainment, MGM Resorts International, Hard Rock International Inc. and other casino owners operating in Atlantic City of conspiring to hike up their hotel room rates to be consolidated after some plaintiffs called the cases "nearly identical."
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January 17, 2024
'Chaos' Warning Resonates As Justices Mull Chevron's Fate
A conservative-led campaign against the 40-year-old doctrine of judicial deference to federal regulators appeared vulnerable at U.S. Supreme Court arguments Wednesday to predictions of a litigation tsunami, as justices fretted about an onslaught of suits and politicization of the federal judiciary.
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January 17, 2024
Airbnb Contests Pa. Ruling On 'Click-Through' Service Terms
Airbnb is challenging a Pennsylvania appellate court's ruling that "click-through" agreements to terms of service are unenforceable in a suit by the mother of a boy fatally shot at a party, arguing that the Federal Arbitration Act preempts a decision in a similar case.
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January 17, 2024
5 Key Takeaways From Supreme Court's Chevron Arguments
U.S. Supreme Court justices questioned Wednesday whether overturning a decades-old precedent instructing courts to defer to federal agencies' interpretations of ambiguous statutes would lead judges to legislate from the bench or diminish the value of Supreme Court precedent — and pondered whether they could "Kisorize" the doctrine rather than doing away with it altogether.
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January 17, 2024
SeaWorld Backs Summary Judgment To End Sesame Place Bias Suit
Philadelphia-based theme park Sesame Place's parent company, SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment Inc., has told a Pennsylvania federal judge that summary judgment is the only option for a putative class action alleging the park's performers ignored minority children who tried to get their attention.
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January 17, 2024
Papa John's Trims But Can't Toss Calif. Web Tracking Suit
Papa John's must face a trimmed putative class action alleging it illegally tracked users' online activity via its website, but the pizza chain successfully fended off a bid for injunctive relief and allegations it intercepted telephone communication, according to an order in California federal court.
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January 17, 2024
Trump Org. Pushes Back On Emoluments Allegations
The Trump Organization repudiated claims by Democrats on the House Oversight Committee that former President Donald Trump's business received at least $7.8 million in foreign payments from at least 20 countries while he was in office.
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January 17, 2024
NM Justices Find No Authority Over Tribal Casino Injury Suits
The New Mexico Supreme Court has ruled that a man's personal injury suit against the Pueblo of Pojoaque belongs in tribal court because shifting the jurisdiction to state court, as authorized under a gambling compact, was outlawed by a finding in another case that the federal Indian Gaming Regulatory Act does not allow such a jurisdictional change.
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January 17, 2024
Qdoba Strikes Deal To End Washington Pay Transparency Suit
Qdoba has agreed to resolve a proposed class action in Washington federal court from a job applicant who alleged the fast casual Mexican restaurant chain violated Washington state's pay transparency law by failing to disclose salary information in its job postings.
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January 17, 2024
Atlanta Strip Club Sued Again Over Alleged Wage Theft
An Atlanta strip club has been hit with another putative class suit alleging it stole waitresses' tips, paid servers an illegal subminimum wage and evaded recordkeeping mandates.
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January 17, 2024
High Court Majority Shows No Eagerness To Overturn Chevron
U.S. Supreme Court justices on Wednesday appeared split about whether decades-old precedent that favors federal agencies' legal interpretations in rulemaking infringes on judges' rightful authority to decide questions of law.
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January 16, 2024
Calif. Mall Beats Suit Over Man Injured By Falling Person
A Glendale shopping center can't be held liable for injuries a pedestrian suffered when a teenager who leaped from the mall's multistory parking garage landed on him, a California state appeals court has ruled, saying the trial judge was correct in calling the event unforeseeable due to the lack of recorded suicide attempts.
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January 16, 2024
6 Opinions To Read Before High Court's Chevron Arguments
The U.S. Supreme Court will consider Wednesday whether to overturn a decades-old doctrine that instructs courts to defer to federal agencies' interpretations of ambiguous statutes, arguments in which nearly two dozen of the justices' prior writings may be used to persuade them to toss the controversial court precedent.
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January 16, 2024
Embattled Burger Chain Not Paying Property Taxes, Suit Says
A beleaguered burger chain grappling with frozen assets stemming from healthcare fraud charges against a businessman is now facing a civil suit by a landlord claiming it hasn't paid property taxes on or properly maintained a few locations in Michigan.
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January 16, 2024
Wyndham Earns Default Win In Timeshare Suit, Judge Says
Wyndham Vacation Ownership Inc. should be granted a default win in its suit accusing multiple companies of charging unnecessary fees to help customers exit their timeshares, a Florida federal magistrate judge said, noting that one company failed to respond.
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January 16, 2024
Conn. Judge Doubts Common Law Allows Wine Tasting Death Suit
A Connecticut state court judge on Tuesday appeared skeptical of a lawsuit by the estate of a restaurant employee who died in a car crash after a "mandatory" wine tasting, questioning whether exceptions in workers' compensation and dram shop statutes made it impossible for common-law claims to move forward.
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January 16, 2024
Marriott Says Former Foreign Intern Can't Prove Forced Labor
Marriott International Inc. has urged a Colorado federal judge to toss a Mexican citizen's proposed class action accusing the company of exploiting foreign interns for cheap labor at its St. Regis Hotel in Aspen, saying he lodged nothing but "bald accusations."
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January 16, 2024
Judge Nixes Six Flags Suit After Finding No Skadden Conflict
A Texas federal judge has dismissed with prejudice a shareholder derivative suit against Six Flags' board of directors over the company's failed attempt to expand amusement parks into China, saying the shareholder's argument that conflicted counsel advised the board is without merit.
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January 16, 2024
Panda Restaurant Group Atty Rejoins Fisher Phillips In LA
An in-house attorney for Panda Restaurant Group Inc. has returned to international labor and employment firm Fisher Phillips after two years, the firm said Tuesday.
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January 16, 2024
Trump Gag Order Not Constitutional Issue, NY Top Court Says
New York's top appellate court on Tuesday rejected Donald Trump's initial challenge to gag orders issued during the state attorney general's civil fraud case that limited his ability to comment on court staff, ruling that the former president failed to raise a "substantial constitutional question."
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January 16, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Delaware's Court of Chancery tuned in to several music-related disputes last week, with two settlements involving Sirius XM and a new case over the late musician Prince's estate. Other litigation related to various ventures focused on house-flipping, house-cleaning, home-building, funerals and hospital workers' scrubs.
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January 16, 2024
Travel-Focused PE Shop Clinches $1.26B Private Credit Fund
Travel- and leisure-focused private equity firm KSL Capital Partners LLC, advised by Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP, on Tuesday announced that it has completed fundraising for its latest private equity fund after securing $1.26 billion of commitments from partners.
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January 16, 2024
High Court Won't Review Rabobank Chicken Price-Fixing Win
The U.S. Supreme Court refused on Tuesday to review contentions from chicken buyers that a lower court was wrong to toss their claims that Rabobank helped orchestrate an industrywide price-fixing scheme.
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January 12, 2024
Reality Star Lisa Vanderpump Faces Fired Bartenders' Suit
Reality TV star and former "The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" cast member Lisa Vanderpump has been sued in California court by a couple of bartenders who worked for her and her husband at one of their posh West Hollywood eateries — until the duo complained about substandard work conditions.
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January 12, 2024
NLRB Wants Starbucks To Rehire Fired Union Supporters
A regional director of the National Labor Relations Board called on a Michigan federal judge Friday to order the immediate rehiring of two fired Starbucks workers, arguing there was cause to believe that the firings were retaliatory and would chill workers' willingness to organize.
Expert Analysis
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Procedure Rule 7.1 Can Simplify Litigators' Diversity Analysis
A recent amendment to Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 7.1 will help trial courts determine whether the parties to a case are diverse, and may also allow litigators to more quickly determine whether they can remove certain cases to federal court, says Steve Shapiro at Schnader Harrison.
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How Companies Could Define 'Social' In ESG Metrics
While the "social" prong of environmental, social and governance criteria is still hard to evaluate, a three-tiered approach similar to the framework for tracking greenhouse gas emissions could serve as a good basis for companies to develop goals and measure progress in a uniform way, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.
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The Wide Oversight Implications Of Del. McDonald's Ruling
The Delaware Chancery Court's recent ruling that a McDonald's officer had oversight obligations on par with directors has wide-reaching implications for Delaware corporate law, including precedent for the court to hear sexual harassment claims, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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Reviewing Exec Separation Filings After McDonald's SEC Deal
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently charged McDonald's and its former CEO Stephen Easterbrook with disclosure violations related to his separation from the company in 2019, offering a cautionary tale for public issuers making disclosures regarding internal investigations and executive separations, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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Southwest Debacle May Spur Traveler Protection Legislation
The recent stranding of countless Southwest Airlines passengers due to canceled flights could finally move Congress to advance "bill of rights" legislation for airline passengers, which has faced stiff opposition from the commercial aviation industry when previously introduced in Congress, says Roger Clark at Signature Resolution.
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Atty Conflict Discussions In Idaho Murder Case And Beyond
A public defender's representation of the accused University of Idaho murderer after prior representation of a victim's parent doesn't constitute a violation of conflict of interest rules, but the case prompts ethical questions about navigating client conflicts in small-town criminal defense and big-city corporate law alike, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Charles Loeser at HWG.
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Why The Original 'Rocket Docket' Will Likely Resume Its Pace
Though the Eastern District of Virginia, for decades the fastest federal trial court in the country, experienced significant pandemic-related slowdowns, several factors unique to the district suggest that it will soon return to its speedy pace, say Dabney Carr and Robert Angle at Troutman Pepper.
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False Ad Takeaways From Toss Of Suit Against Giants, Jets
The recent dismissal of a proposed false advertising class action against the NFL, the New York Giants and Jets, and MetLife Stadium shows how federal courts often bring a fair degree of skepticism to these types of suits, and that advertising claims shouldn't be judged in isolation, says Jeffrey Greenbaum at Frankfurt Kurnit.
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The Discipline George Santos Would Face If He Were A Lawyer
Rep. George Santos, who has become a national punchline for his alleged lies, hasn't faced many consequences yet, but if he were a lawyer, even his nonwork behavior would be regulated by the American Bar Association's Model Rules of Professional Conduct, and violations in the past have led to sanctions and even disbarment, says Mark Hinderks at Stinson.
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A Litigation Move That Could Conserve Discovery Resources
Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben proposes the preliminary legal opinion procedure — seeking a court's opinion on a disputed legal standard at the outset, rather than the close, of discovery — as a useful resource-preservation tool for legally complex, discovery-intensive litigation.
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Litigators Should Approach AI Tools With Caution
Artificial intelligence tools like ChatGPT hold potential to streamline various aspects of the litigation process, resulting in improved efficiency and outcomes, but should be carefully double-checked for confidentiality, plagiarism and accuracy concerns, say Zachary Foster and Melanie Kalmanson at Quarles & Brady.
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Recession Or Not, Elevated Restructuring Activity Is Coming
2023 is set up to be a strong year for corporate distress and reorganization, recession withstanding, but it may not be the blowout year that some are expecting — depending on whether the Fed continues its inflation fight and whether sponsors can go all out to defend investments, says Michael Eisenband at FTI Consulting.
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5th Circ. Confidential Witness Ruling Is A Big Change
The Fifth Circuit's recent ruling in Oklahoma Firefighters Pension and Retirement System v. Six Flags that confidential witness claims can be sufficient to establish scienter is a significant message that anonymous witness allegations should be credited, and plaintiffs should feel more confident including these claims in their securities fraud complaints, say James Christie and David Saldamando at Labaton Sucharow.
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5 Ways Attorneys Can Use Emotion In Client Pitches
Lawyers are skilled at using their high emotional intelligence to build rapport with clients, so when planning your next pitch, consider how you can create some emotional peaks, personal connections and moments of magic that might help you stick in prospective clients' minds and seal the deal, says consultant Diana Kander.
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5 Keys To A Productive Mediation
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Cortney Young at ADR Partners discusses factors that can help to foster success in mediation, including scheduling, preparation, managing client expectations and more.