NJ Holding Co. Escapes $1M Printers' Union Pension Liability

By Kellie Mejdrich

A union pension fund that tried to collect more than $1 million in withdrawal liability after a printing company ceased operations failed to prove that a holding company was a trade or business, a New Jersey federal judge ruled Friday, handing the holding company a win.

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11th Circ. Sinks Firm's $1.5M Win Over 'Illegal' ESOP Advice

By Chart Riggall

The Eleventh Circuit threw out a $1.5 million verdict awarded to a financial advisory firm that alleged its former client backed out of an employee stock ownership plan contract, ruling Friday that the firm could not recover for the cost of the "illegal investment advice" it furnished.

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Elevance Can't Nix Suit Over GLP-1 Coverage For Sleep Apnea

By Grace Elletson

An Indiana federal judge declined to toss a proposed class action claiming Elevance Health Inc. illegally denied coverage for a GLP-1 weight loss medication that was prescribed to treat sleep apnea, ruling that the insurance company is the right party to answer to the allegations at play.

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Compass Group Workers Get Cert. For Tobacco Fee Suit

By Jonathan Capriel

Former employees for food service company Compass Group USA have secured class certification for their Missouri federal lawsuit claiming the company's $48 bi-weekly health insurance fee for tobacco using-workers violates federal law.

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Chicago Plumbing Co. Defying Arbitration Order, Suit Says

By Katherine Smith

A Chicago plumbing company is refusing to follow all the terms of an arbitration award ordering it to obtain a dual wage and fringe benefit bond with a labor union, a lawsuit filed in Illinois federal court has claimed.

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Feds Say Pot Opponents Lack Injury In CMS Hemp Suit

By Sam Reisman

Federal health regulators have urged a D.C. federal judge to toss a bid by anti-cannabis activists to block a program to ease access for Medicare beneficiaries to federally legal hemp products that have small amounts of THC.

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How Calif. Safety Worker Pension Bill Could Cost Employers

Public employers should carefully consider how pension costs and bargaining concerns could change under a California Legislature bill that would increase retirement benefits for safety employees like police and firefighters, which could erode previous efforts to fully fund the public retirement system without necessarily improving worker retention, says Michael Youril at Liebert Cassidy.

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Trump Order Signals Tougher Benefits Fraud Probes

A recent order from President Donald Trump establishing a federal taskforce for addressing fraud in federally funded benefit programs emphasizes interagency information sharing, potentially affecting a broad range of areas including government contracts, administrative law considerations and False Claims Act cases, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

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Trump's $10B WSJ Suit Tossed Over Thin Defamation Claims

By David Minsky

A Florida federal judge tossed a $10 billion defamation suit President Donald Trump brought against the Wall Street Journal over a published article linking him to convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, ruling Monday that the newspaper didn't knowingly or recklessly run a false story. 

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Holland & Knight Adds Healthcare Pro In Dallas From Dykema

By Lynn LaRowe

Holland & Knight LLP announced Monday that it has deepened its healthcare transactions practice with a Dallas-based partner who came aboard from Dykema Gossett PLLC.

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Akin Hires Navy Strategic Systems Counsel In DC

By Jack Rodgers

Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP has hired a former counsel from the Navy office responsible for developing, producing and maintaining nuclear missiles fired from the sea, the firm announced Monday.

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DOJ Urges DC Circuit To Revive Trump EOs Targeting Firms

By Alison Knezevich

The D.C. Circuit should individually review each section of President Donald Trump's executive orders targeting four law firms, allowing certain portions to stand if others are blocked, the U.S. Department of Justice argued in a new filing urging the court to revive the measures.

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Cooley Adds Ex-Silver Lake Leader To Private Equity Team

By Daniel Moritz-Rabson

Cooley LLP has strengthened its private equity offering by adding Silver Lake's former legal director of fund formation as a New York-based partner, the firm announced Monday.

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DLA Piper Defeats Fired Associate's Claims Of Pregnancy Bias

By Pete Brush

A federal jury in Manhattan declined to award damages Monday to a former associate who says DLA Piper unlawfully fired her after she announced she was pregnant, absolving the BigLaw firm hours after tense closing arguments.

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NJ Man Who Sought To DQ US Atty Leadership To Plead Guilty

By Gina Kim

A criminal defendant who joined a pending bid to disqualify assistant U.S. attorneys overseeing the U.S. Attorney's Office for the District of New Jersey and escalated a constitutional challenge to its leadership structure told a federal judge Saturday he plans to plead guilty in his drug case. 

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Brief

EEOC To Produce Law Firm DEI Letter Records By May 15

By Kelcey Caulder

The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission told a federal court Monday that it would give two law professors documents related to 20 letters the agency sent to law firms over their purported diversity, equity and inclusion practices by May 15.

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