Judge Questions Fees In Abbott Investors' $40M Formula Deal

By Celeste Bott

An Illinois federal judge on Thursday granted final approval to most of Abbott Laboratories' $40 million deal to resolve shareholder claims over its management of a 2022 infant formula crisis, but questioned whether the settlement's corporate reforms justify a $15 million fee award for the investors' attorneys.

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Safeway Sues To Undo Teamsters Local's Driver Mileage Win

By Katherine Smith

Safeway Inc. has urged a Washington federal court to vacate an arbitration award finding the grocery store chain violated its collective bargaining agreement with a Teamsters local by unilaterally changing its method for calculating how much its delivery drivers are paid, arguing that the award "fails to draw its essence" from the agreement.

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Worker Accuses Hormel Of Discriminatory, Retaliatory Firing

By MJ Koo

A Black payroll specialist at a Hormel Foods Corp. plant in Georgia has accused the food company of firing her two days before Christmas because of her race and age, and in retaliation for raising concerns about improper wage recordkeeping, according to a complaint filed in federal court.

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Deals Rumor Mill

Anthropic, DeepSeek Pivot To New Financing, More Rumors

By Al Barbarino

Anthropic and China's DeepSeek are among a growing group of AI firms turning to new financing structures to meet surging demand for compute power. Reports indicate that private equity giants are assembling a $36 billion private credit vehicle to help fund Anthropic access to certain Google chips, while DeepSeek has reportedly broken from its earlier strategy by arranging more than $7 billion in outside funding.

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Brief

Colorado Enacts PPE, Meat Plant Worker Protections

By MJ Koo

Colorado workers will no longer have to foot the bill for their own personal protective equipment under a new state law that also guarantees restroom breaks for meat processing workers.

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Legislative Update: Cannabis And Psychedelics Bill Roundup

By Sam Reisman

New York lawmakers gave final approval to legislation designed to curb the flow of illicit product into the state's cannabis market; Iowa's governor signed into law a bill to double the number of licensed medical cannabis dispensaries; and Louisiana legislation allowing terminally ill patients to access medical marijuana became law. Here are the major moves in cannabis and psychedelics legislation from the past week.

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Buyers Say Cove Probiotic Sodas Have Artificial Sweetener

By Mike Curley

A proposed class of California consumers is suing Cove Drinks Inc. in federal court, alleging that its probiotic sodas contain an artificial sweetener despite advertising claiming that they do not.

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Total Wine Operator Says Pay Transparency Class Is 'Ruinous'

By Benjamin Morse

A Total Wine & More operator urged a Washington federal judge Thursday to deny class certification in a pay transparency suit, warning that certifying a class of up to 20,000 job applicants would be "ruinous" for the employer.

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Jacksons Food Stores Hit With Wash. Wage Class Action

By Ben Adlin

Jacksons Food Stores Inc. pushed workers in Washington state to delay their legally mandated meal and rest breaks, cut them short or skip them entirely in order to complete their assigned job duties, a former employee has claimed in a proposed class action targeting the convenience store chain.

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CBD Oil Co., Hemp Farm Spar Over $1.7M Contract Suit

By Mike Curley

A Washington hemp farm is suing CBD oil processor AgroRefiner LLC, alleging it breached a contract to buy 2.5 million pounds of biomass and owes $14.7 million, while AgroRefiner has filed counterclaims alleging that the biomass didn't meet the standards of the agreement.

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Series

Competing At Poker Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Playing poker in male-dominated rooms taught me to treat skepticism as background noise when my opponents seem to underestimate me, to apply pressure when it matters and to adapt without losing strategic discipline — skills that are all indispensable in restructuring and insolvency matters, says Alexis Gambale at Pashman Stein.

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Roundup

UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

By Megan Norcott

The past week in London has seen the U.K.'s oldest Indian restaurant launch an appeal against King Charles III's property company in an effort to stop its eviction, trustees of a bankrupt former EY tax partner file a claim against his wife, and 37 leading insurers bring a lawsuit against agrichemical company Syngenta over an insurance dispute. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

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Katten Is Latest Firm To Match Milbank Associate Pay Raise

By Kevin Penton

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP has joined the growing list of firms that are largely matching a new pay scale for associates set earlier this week by Milbank LLP, with attorneys set to see annual pay increases of $10,000 to $20,000.

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Roundup

GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

Among the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week, investor advocates have questioned the legality of the SEC's plan to withdraw corporate climate disclosure regulations, and an insurance broker's report found claims made under policies for mergers and acquisitions have risen in frequency and severity.

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North Korea Sanctions Case Ends In Plea After 2 Mistrials

By Phillip Bantz

A Chinese national pled guilty on Thursday in D.C. federal court to conspiracy to defraud the U.S. in a sanctions evasion scheme involving North Korean tobacco smuggling, bringing an end to a protracted prosecution after two separate deadlocked juries.

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ICE Atty's Bid To Ax Contempt Order Is 'Absurd,' Amicus Says

By Emily Sawicki

A court-appointed amicus curae has told the Eighth Circuit that a Minnesota federal judge was right to hold a government attorney in contempt after finding that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement flouted a court order, leading to a detained man being released hundreds of miles from his home without legal identification.

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Morgan & Morgan Explores Private Equity Investment Options

By Emma Cueto

The nation's largest personal injury firm, Morgan & Morgan, is exploring its options with regard to a potential private equity investment, with the firm saying Friday it is in the early stages of understanding what such an investment might mean and whether it is a good opportunity or "fool's gold."

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Winston Taylor leads this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court ended a patent suit over Hikma Pharmaceuticals USA Inc.'s generic version of a heart drug that uses a so-called skinny label.

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Titan Of The Plaintiffs Bar: Morgan & Morgan's John Yanchunis

By Matt Perez

John Yanchunis of Morgan & Morgan PA has been at the forefront of data privacy litigation for nearly three decades, but what stands out to his colleague Ryan McGee is not the litany of wins but the attorney's humility.

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Legal Job Market Surges With Special Litigation, Gov't Work

By Tracey Read

The legal sector saw 1,200 more jobs in May after gaining 1,900 positions the month before, according to seasonally adjusted data released Friday by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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First Democrat Returns A Blue Slip For Judicial Nominee

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., is the first Democratic senator in the second Trump administration to return a blue slip for a judicial nominee.

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DLA Piper Urges 2nd Circ. To End 'Vexatious' Malpractice Suit

By Emily Sawicki

The Second Circuit should uphold the dismissal of a Chinese software company's legal malpractice suit and $635,000 in sanctions against it and its lawyers, DLA Piper has argued, citing previous favorable rulings in the matter by a federal magistrate judge, district court judge, state justice and five-judge panel of the New York state appeals court.

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In Case You Missed It: Hottest Firms And Stories On Law360

For those who missed out, here's a look back at the law firms, stories and expert analyses that generated the most buzz on Law360 last week.

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