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Massachusetts
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March 29, 2024
Tenant Screener To Pay $2.2M Over Race Bias Claims
A tenant screening company has reached a settlement in Massachusetts federal court to end claims brought by a class of housing applicants who alleged its practices disproportionately exclude Black and Hispanic renters.
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March 29, 2024
Off The Bench: Ohtani Woes, Va. Ends Arena Plan, Pac-12 Deal
In this week’s Off The Bench, MLB superstar Shohei Ohtani tries to untangle himself from a gambling scandal, Virginia’s rejection sends two D.C. pro franchises back home, and the Pac-12 pays up to two schools that were left behind. If you were sidelined this week, Law360 will catch you up with the sports and betting stories that had our readers talking.
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March 28, 2024
Red Roof Inns Must Face Ohio Sex Trafficking Suits
Red Roof Inns Inc. can't escape nine lawsuits over its purported role in sex trafficking, an Ohio federal judge ruled Thursday, saying the anonymous victims met pleading standards to allege the hotel chain knowingly made money through their victimization.
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March 28, 2024
Pfizer Wants Moderna Vax IP Case Paused For PTAB Review
Pfizer Inc. and BioNTech SE have asked a Massachusetts federal court to put on hold a COVID-19 vaccine patent case brought by rival biotechnology giant Moderna Inc. while they await a decision from the Patent Trial and Appeal Board on the validity of two of the three patents at issue.
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March 28, 2024
Meta Says Speech Immunity Dooms Instagram Addiction Case
Meta on Thursday asked a Massachusetts judge to toss a lawsuit alleging it has intentionally misled users about Instagram features purportedly designed to addict children and teens, saying it is shielded both by federal law and the First Amendment.
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March 28, 2024
MLS, Trade Group Say DOJ Deal Fix Itself Anti-Competitive
The U.S. Department of Justice drew fire Wednesday for pushing what a real estate trade group argued would itself be an anti-competitive rule, as the DOJ and other outside groups vie to influence a proposed $3 million settlement over house broker commissions in Massachusetts federal court.
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March 28, 2024
Implant Maker's Bribe Case Ripe For Trimming, Judge Says
A money laundering charge levied against implant manufacturer SpineFrontier Inc. and its executives may be dropped from the broader bribery and kickback prosecution as a Boston federal judge Thursday struggled to square up how the company could have allegedly concealed the unlawful transfers to surgeons while also disclosing them publicly.
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March 28, 2024
Mass. Justices Say 2019 Sunday-Wage Ruling Is Retroactive
Massachusetts' highest court on Thursday affirmed a finding that a furniture retailer violated the state's wage laws by paying salespeople overtime and a Sunday premium out of their own earned commissions, keeping intact a nearly $10 million damages award.
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March 28, 2024
The Home Depot Buying PE-Backed SRS For $18.25B
The Home Depot said Thursday it has agreed to acquire SRS Distribution Inc., a private equity-backed distributor of roofing and building supplies, for $18.25 billion, inclusive of debt.
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March 27, 2024
Fed. Circ. Says Faulty Jury Directions Warrant New IP Trial
The Federal Circuit on Wednesday granted Inline Plastics Corp. another chance to convince a Massachusetts federal jury that its tamper-resistant plastic containers were too successful for the underlying patents to be invalidated as obvious.
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March 27, 2024
Boston Strikes Novel Deal To Contract For Offshore Wind
Boston Mayor Michelle Wu on Wednesday announced a novel deal between the city and energy company Avangrid Inc. to purchase up to 15 megawatts of wind-generated electricity from the company, contingent on Avangrid winning a multistate bidding process for new offshore development.
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March 27, 2024
New England Patriots Defeat Stadium Wi-Fi Patent Case
A patent-holding entity behind nearly a dozen infringement suits focused on Wi-Fi solutions for sports stadiums suffered its latest defeat Wednesday as a Boston federal judge dismissed its case against the New England Patriots and found the purported invention unpatentable.
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March 27, 2024
COVID Prompted Equity Plan Edit, Raytheon Tells Chancery
Raytheon Technologies Corp. amended employee compensation plans in early 2020 to mitigate "head-spinning unprecedented volatility" from the COVID-19 pandemic, and a shareholder's allegations that directors acted in bad faith by failing to seek stockholder approval should be dismissed, the aerospace company told Delaware's Court of Chancery on Wednesday.
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March 27, 2024
Everbridge Investor Seeks To Block $1.8B Thoma Bravo Deal
A shareholder in Massachusetts-based emergency management platform Everbridge Inc. is asking a state court to intervene in a pending $1.8 billion acquisition by private equity firm Thoma Bravo LP, alleging in a Wednesday lawsuit that investors are being misled about the true value of shares and the motives of those promoting the deal.
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March 27, 2024
Cannabis Retailer Sues To Revive Union Decertification Bid
A western Massachusetts cannabis retailer has asked a state court to reinstate an employee's petition to decertify a budding local of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, which was dismissed by a state labor board following a settlement of separate prohibited practices complaints.
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March 27, 2024
NCAA President Calls For Nationwide Ban On Prop Bets
NCAA President Charlie Baker on Wednesday called for all states to ban prop bets on college sports, pointing to reports of harassment of college and pro athletes over such bets, and saying he aims to "protect student-athletes and to protect the integrity of the game."
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March 26, 2024
AI Weapons Detector Faces Investor Suit After Gov't Probes
Evolv Technologies, which makes metal detectors that purportedly use artificial intelligence to detect weapons, is facing a proposed shareholder class action in Massachusetts federal court alleging that false claims about its products' abilities to screen for types of tactical knives and guns led to federal investigations and share declines.
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March 26, 2024
Terraform Backer Tells Jury His Firm Lost Big On $36M Stake
A Boston venture capitalist told the Manhattan federal jury hearing fraud claims against Terraform Labs and its creator Do Kwon on Tuesday that his former company confidently invested $35.9 million in the crypto startup based on representations that regulators say were false.
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March 26, 2024
Boston To Pay $4.7M To Settle Suit Over Fatal Police Shooting
The city of Boston said Tuesday that it has agreed to pay $4.7 million to settle a suit brought by the mother of a Black man fatally shot by police in 2016, ending a yearslong case that saw the city repeatedly draw the ire of the presiding judge due to discovery missteps.
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March 26, 2024
Biden Admin Greenlights 2nd Orsted NY Offshore Wind Farm
The U.S. Department of the Interior on Tuesday approved the construction of Orsted-Eversource's Sunrise Wind project off the New York coast, the seventh offshore wind project given the go-ahead by the Biden administration.
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March 26, 2024
Locke Lord Gains Real Estate Attorney From Boston Boutique
Locke Lord LLP announced the addition of a partner from the Boston-based real estate and commercial litigation boutique Nathanson & Goldberg PC, touting his combined litigation and transactional experience.
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March 26, 2024
Ailing Health Co. Steward Owes Attys $600K, Firm Says
A small Boston law firm that represented Steward Health Care System in a variety of cases says the beleaguered healthcare provider has strung it along with promises to pay fees that now total more than $600,000.
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March 26, 2024
Ex-Veterans Home Leaders Resolve Landmark COVID-19 Case
The former leaders of a Massachusetts veterans facility charged in the first pandemic-related criminal neglect case against a nursing home operator resolved the charges Tuesday with separate statements of admission, acknowledging they could be found guilty if they stood trial.
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March 25, 2024
Ex-Fugitive In Offshore Gambling Ring Asks For Time Served
A 74-year-old former office manager and agent for an illegal offshore gambling operation who spent 13 years as a fugitive before being taken into custody in August asked a Massachusetts federal judge on Monday not to extend his prison term so he can return to his family in Antigua.
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March 25, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Last week in Delaware's Court of Chancery, litigants battled as Truth Social went public, Carl Icahn and Tripadvisor hit a roadblock, and more shareholders wailed about "invasive" bylaws. Oil drilling and pharmaceutical mergers sparked new lawsuits, and a sewing machine trademark owner sued to end a contract.
Expert Analysis
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Steps To Success For Senior Associates
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Adriana Paris at Rissman Barrett discusses the increased responsibilities and opportunities that becoming a senior associate brings and what attorneys in this role should prioritize to flourish in this stressful but rewarding next level in their careers.
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How To Avoid A Zombie Office Building Apocalypse
With national office vacancy rates approaching 20%, policymakers, investors and developers will need to come together in order to prevent this troubling trend from sucking the life out of business districts or contaminating the broader real estate market, say Ryan Sommers and Robyn Minter Smyers at Thompson Hine.
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Legal Profession Must Do More For Lawyers With Disabilities
At the start of Disability Pride month, Rosalyn Richter at Arnold & Porter looks at why lawyers with disabilities are significantly underrepresented in private practice, asserting that law firms and other employers must do more to conquer the implicit bias that deters attorneys from seeking accommodations.
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What Affirmative Action Ruling Means For Higher Ed And Cos.
The U.S. Supreme Court's holding that race-conscious admissions programs at two educational institutions violate the Constitution's equal protection clause applied the "strict scrutiny" standard that governs race-conscious programs in a way that will be very difficult for educational institutions and other entities to satisfy, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.
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DC Circ.'s Perchlorate Ruling Means Regulatory Restart
The D.C. Circuit's recent ruling in National Resources Defense Council v. Regan, requiring the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to regulate perchlorate under the Safe Drinking Water Act, reopens a decadeslong regulatory debate and creates renewed uncertainty for companies, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
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Opinion
Appellate Funding Disclosure: No Mandate Is Right Choice
The Advisory Committee on Appellate Rules' recent decision, forgoing a mandatory disclosure rule for litigation funding in federal appeals, is prudent, as third-party funding is only involved in a minuscule number of federal cases, and courts have ample authority to obtain funding information if necessary, says Stewart Ackerly at Statera Capital.
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NBA Players Must Avoid Legal Fouls In CBD Deals
The NBA’s recently ratified collective bargaining agreement allows athletes to promote CBD brands and products, but athletes and the companies they promote must be cautious of a complex patchwork of applicable state laws and federal regulators’ approach to advertising claims, says Airina Rodrigues at Brownstein Hyatt.
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How Attys Can Avoid Exposing Their Firms To Cyberattacks
Attorneys are the weakest link in their firms' cyberdefenses because hackers often exploit the gap between individuals’ work and personal cybersecurity habits, but there are some steps lawyers can take to reduce the risks they create for their employers, say Mark Hurley and Carmine Cicalese at Digital Privacy & Protection.
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Virginia 'Rocket Docket' Slowdown Is Likely A Blip
After being the fastest or second-fastest federal civil trial court for 14 straight years, the Eastern District of Virginia has slid to 18th place, but the rocket docket’s statistical tumble doesn't mean the district no longer maintains a speedy civil docket, says Robert Tata at Hunton.
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'Varsity Blues' Reversal May Inform Conspiracy Defenses
The First Circuit’s recent decision vacating the convictions of two “Varsity Blues” defendants provides potential support for creative arguments against conspiracy charges, particularly where defense counsel can show competition or indifference among alleged co-conspirators, say Cormac Connor and Emily Mikes at Husch Blackwell.
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5 Management Tips To Keep Law Firm Merger Talks Moving
Many law firm mergers that make solid business sense still fall apart due to the costs and frustrations of inefficient negotiations, but firm managers can increase the chance of success by effectively planning and executing merger discussions, say Lisa Smith and Kristin Stark at Fairfax Associates.
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3 Abortion Enforcement Takeaways 1 Year After Dobbs
A year after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, confusion continues to abound amid the quagmire of state-level enforcement risks, federal efforts to protect reproductive health care, and fights over geolocation data, say Elena Quattrone and Sarah Hall at Epstein Becker.
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Rethinking In-Office Attendance For Associate Retention
The hybrid office attendance model doesn't work for all employees, but it does for many — and balancing these two groups is important for associate retention and maintaining a BigLaw firm culture that supports all attorneys, says Summer Eberhard at Major Lindsey.
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What Innovators Can Expect In The Patent World After Amgen
After the U.S. Supreme Court's recent Amgen v. Sanofi decision, which invalidated Amgen's patents because the specifications failed to enable the full scope of the invention, innovators should expect more enablement rejections and invalidity challenges, and higher standards overall for obtaining broad genus claims, says Kisuk Lee from Harness IP.
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Opinion
ALI, Bar Groups Need More Defense Engagement For Balance
The American Law Institute and state bar committees have a special role in the development of the law — but if they do not do a better job of including attorneys from the defense bar, they will come to be viewed as special interest advocacy groups, says Mark Behrens at Shook Hardy.