DC Circ. Backs CFTC Denial Of $147M Whistleblower Award

By Lauren Berg

The D.C. Circuit Friday affirmed the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's decision denying a former trader's bid for a $147 million whistleblower incentive award after he tipped off the agency about foreign exchange market manipulation, saying there's no evidence he was the original source on which the commission relied.

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Gibson Dunn Wants Ex-Worker's Bias Suit Sent To Arbitration

By Grace Elletson

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP told a Texas federal judge that a Hispanic former employee's race bias suit claiming she was denied promotions and mocked for her accent belongs in arbitration, arguing she is bound by a pact stating she would resolve all employment disputes outside of court.

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Seton Hall Prof Can't Get 2nd Chance At Indian Bias Suit

By Patrick Hoff

An associate professor at Seton Hall University can't reopen his lawsuit claiming he was denied a promotion because he's Asian and Indian, with a New Jersey state appeals court concluding Friday he hadn't shown he was qualified and waited too long to amend his complaint.

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Leon Black Seeks $1.6M In Fees After Wigdor Sanction

By Ryan Boysen

Scandal-plagued financier Leon Black wants Wigdor LLP to pay $1.6 million as a sanction for lying to a New York federal judge while representing a woman who claims she was raped by Black at notorious accused sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein's home.

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Musicians Say UMG, Warner Stiffed Them On AI Licensing

By Lauren Berg

The American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada claims Universal Music Group and Warner Music Group violated its members' collective bargaining agreement by licensing sound recordings to two artificial intelligence companies without compensating the musicians involved, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in New York federal court.

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Coalition Urges Court To Halt Gov't Contractor DEI Order

By Katherine Smith

A coalition of nonprofits, university professors, federal contractors and subcontractors has asked a Maryland federal court to halt an executive order requiring government contractors to agree not to engage in "racially discriminatory DEI activities," arguing that they will continue to suffer irreparable harm if the order is not enjoined and stayed.

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Roundup

Employment Authority: AI Could Impact Worker Classification

By Patrick Hoff

Law360 Employment Authority covers the biggest employment cases and trends. Catch up this week with coverage on how artificial intelligence tools could support findings that an independent contractor is an employee under federal law, how U.S. Department of Labor's recently finalized rule changing financial disclosure requirements for unions will increase their reporting burden, and the impact of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision last year to lift an evidentiary barrier that discrimination plaintiffs in majority groups had faced. 

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Marilyn Manson Fails To Nix Ex-Assistant's Sex Assault Suit

By Rae Ann Varona

Goth rocker Marilyn Manson failed to convince a Los Angeles judge on Friday to permanently toss his former personal assistant's latest amended complaint that accuses him of having sexually assaulted her in 2010, with the judge saying it wouldn't be right to resolve the case at the pleading stage.

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Ex-F5 Director Claims Gender Bias By 'Biggest Tech Bro' Boss

By Ben Adlin

A former product management director at technology firm F5 Inc. accused the company of "deliberate sex discrimination," claiming in a Washington state lawsuit that she was wrongfully fired after raising concerns about demeaning treatment from a supervisor described as the "biggest tech bro."

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Spirit Unions Blast Executive Bonus Proposal In Ch. 11

By Hailey Konnath

A pair of unions representing former Spirit Airlines employees Friday tore into the bankrupt airline's request to pay executives incentives to keep them on while the carrier winds down its operations, saying there is "no conscionable basis" to prioritize the highest-paid executives at the expense of the thousands of workers who lost their jobs.

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Builders Seek Redo On Biden-Era Labor Mandate Ruling

By Madeline Lyskawa

An association of builders has urged the en banc Eleventh Circuit to rethink a panel's decision rejecting its attempt to secure an injunction blocking a Biden-era executive order requiring labor agreements for all federal contracts exceeding $35 million.

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Analysis

4 Argument Sessions For Benefits Attys To Watch In June

By Kellie Mejdrich

The Ninth Circuit will hear from a benefits administrator that claims federal law preempts state-law data breach claims, and Amazon will defend its win in a military leave bias suit at the Second Circuit. Here, Law360 looks at cases being argued in June that benefits attorneys should have on their radar.

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Microchip Co. Can't Dismantle Severance Suit Class Action

By Patrick Hoff

A microchip manufacturer can't decertify a class action alleging it unlawfully revoked its severance program after a merger, with a California federal judge rejecting the company's assertion that a Ninth Circuit decision meant the court had to individually assess workers' decisions.

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Nortek Accuses Rival Of Stealing Data Center Cooling Secrets

By Elliot Weld

Ventilation company Nortek has hit a rival with allegations that, in response to the rising demand for cooling technology in data centers as a result of the artificial intelligence boom, it "raided" Nortek's employees and misappropriated trade secrets related to such technology.

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Site Redeveloper Fined $500K For Illegal Asbestos Demolition

By Carla Baranauckas

A redevelopment firm that admitted it commenced demolition work at a former automotive plant in Saginaw, Michigan, without first remediating asbestos was sentenced Friday to pay a $500,000 criminal fine and serve two years of probation, federal prosecutors said.

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MoFo Adds AI-Focused Labor Atty From McDermott In LA

By Madison Arnold

Morrison Foerster LLP has expanded its employment and labor group in Los Angeles with the addition of a former McDermott Will & Schulte attorney.

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What's Next After Justices' Last-Mile Driver Arbitration Ruling

The U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Flowers Foods v. Brock, refusing to narrow the scope of a Federal Arbitration Act exemption for workers engaged in interstate commerce, gives previously unprotected workers access to litigation, but preserves two potentially powerful arguments for future proceedings, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

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Series

The Biz Court Digest: Shoring Up Corporate Law In Maryland

Launched more than 20 years ago to improve complex corporate adjudication, Maryland's Business and Technology Case Management Program has been a solid success in some areas, but there always is room for improvement, says Bill Krulak at Miles & Stockbridge.

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Gibson Dunn, PE Firm Pay Charity $1M For Knicks VIP Seats

By Dorothy Atkins

Gibson Dunn and private equity firm Veritas Capital split the $1 million winning bid for two "Celebrity Row" seats in a Knicks fundraiser ahead of Game 3 of the NBA Finals between the New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs, the team's parent company announced Monday.

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Groom Law Joins Firms Matching New Milbank Associate Pay

By Tracey Read

Washington, D.C.-based Groom Law Group is the latest firm to match a new pay scale for associates that was set earlier this month by Milbank LLP, according to media reports Monday.

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9th Circ. Judge Faces Inquiry, Charges After Idaho Altercation

By Lauren Berg

The Ninth Circuit on Monday identified a judicial misconduct complaint against U.S. Circuit Judge Ryan D. Nelson after he was charged with misdemeanor battery stemming from an argument in an Idaho Falls parking lot that ended with him allegedly stomping a man's eyeglasses on the asphalt.

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Analysis

How A Texas Pastor Beat Mark Zuckerberg In Landmark Trial

By Craig Clough

Jurors who reached a landmark $6 million verdict in March finding Meta Platforms Inc. and Google liable for harming a teen's mental health didn't find Mark Zuckerberg credible, an impression that the plaintiff's attorney Mark Lanier credited to putting the well-prepared executive off his guard.

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King & Spalding May Be Sanctioned In $300M Fraud Lawsuit

By Aaron Keller

Two King & Spalding LLP partners face a sanctions hearing in a $300 million fraud lawsuit to determine whether they violated a rule requiring candor to the tribunal by falsely claiming attorneys for other parties were copied on letters to two Connecticut jurists, according to two state court orders.

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Another Lawmaker Joins Impeachment Push For Ga. Judge

By Courtney Bublé

A Republican House member on Monday introduced articles of impeachment for U.S. District Judge Eleanor Ross of the Northern District of Georgia after she was reprimanded for having sex with a police officer in her chambers within earshot of staff.

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Colorado Gov. Signs Bill Banning Fee Sharing With Non-Attys

By Emma Cueto

Colorado has enacted a ban on lawyers sharing fees with nonlawyer-owned firms, such as alternative businesses in Arizona, as well as a prohibition on deals with managed services organizations that involve paying a percentage of firm income.

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Brief

Todd Blanche Officially Nominated To Be AG

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump on Monday officially nominated Todd Blanche to be attorney general.

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Trump Taps DC Appeals Court Picks To Fill Final Vacancies

By Courtney Bublé

President Donald Trump has announced two picks for the D.C. Court of Appeals, which will fill the remaining vacancies on the District of Columbia's top court.

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Mich. Dems Back Trump Judicial Pick After Blue-Slip Review

By Courtney Bublé

Michigan's Democratic U.S. senators, Gary Peters and Elissa Slotkin, announced on Monday they've returned their blue slips for the nomination of Michael Martin, a veteran career prosecutor, to be a judge in the Eastern District of Michigan.

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Chapman Law School Dean Says He Was Fired For Being Gay

By Hailey Konnath

The former dean of Chapman University's Dale E. Fowler School of Law says the university unlawfully fired him because he's gay and married to a man, according to a complaint filed in California state court.

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NJ Senators Advance Litigation Funding Disclosure Bill

By Carla Baranauckas

New Jersey state senators on Monday advanced legislation that would require disclosure of third-party litigation funding agreements over the objections of trial lawyers and litigation finance representatives, who warned that the bill could discourage funding for plaintiffs involved in costly cases.

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Law Student's Kirk Comment Discipline Stays During Appeal

By Spencer Brewer

A Texas federal judge on Monday kept intact a reprimand against a law student who allegedly celebrated following the death of Charlie Kirk during an appeal, saying that the student "again seeks the wrong remedy" in her request.

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100+ Ex-Prosecutors Question Chicago US Atty's Leadership

By Celeste Bott

More than 100 former Illinois federal prosecutors issued a statement Monday saying there's been a "failure of leadership" in the U.S. attorney's office in Chicago and that "once-forbidden political considerations are infecting prosecutorial decisions" in the wake of an Illinois federal judge accusing the office of mishandling grand jury proceedings in a case against six immigration activists.

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SCOTUSblog Founder Goldstein's Sentencing Delayed To July

By Jared Foretek

A Maryland federal judge has agreed to push SCOTUSblog founder Thomas Goldstein's sentencing to July, after federal prosecutors speculated that his defense attorneys might come to the previously scheduled June hearing and declare that they aren't ready to proceed.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Lieff Cabraser's Elizabeth Cabraser

By Emily Field

When Elizabeth Cabraser began working with Robert Lieff as a clerk at his small practice in Northern California in the late 1970s, fresh out of law school, her job was to help him dispose of his remaining cases so he could retire early and become a winemaker.

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