Ill. Judge Tosses Law Firm's $36M Pandemic Loan Fraud Suit

By Tom Lotshaw

An Illinois federal judge dismissed a Michigan law firm's $36 million whistleblower suit against dozens of automotive dealerships, ruling that the information underpinning its claims of pandemic loan fraud was already publicly available.

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Army Vets Say Fluor Deviating From 4th Circ. Ruling

By Madeline Lyskawa

A U.S. Army veteran told the U.S. Supreme Court that defense contractor Fluor Corp. has "abandoned the Fourth Circuit's rationale" in defending a panel's decision that affirmed the dismissal of his state-based injury claims stemming from a 2016 suicide bombing in Afghanistan.

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Calif. Hospitals Sue Over New Healthcare Cost Increase Caps

By Bonnie Eslinger

The California Hospital Association hit the state's Office of Health Care Affordability and others with a lawsuit Wednesday, claiming they violated state law with new rules that aim to limit increases in consumer health care costs by curbing hospital spending.

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Chamber Says Justices Must Address No-Poach Ruling

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and a trade association have urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review a proposed class action accusing shipbuilders for the U.S. military of conspiring to suppress wages, saying keeping the case alive could cause a cascade of antitrust litigation over decades-old conduct.

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Ex-Conn. Budget Official Testifies $70K Payments Were Legit

By Aaron Keller

Connecticut school construction director Kosta Diamantis believed state ethics statutes and a 2016 U.S. Supreme Court case allowed him to pocket roughly $70,000 in return for introducing his former brother-in-law's masonry company to a prominent general contractor, a federal jury heard Thursday.

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Afghans Fight US State Dept. Policy Denying Visa Eligibility

By Tom Lotshaw

Three Afghan nationals told a D.C. federal judge they were unlawfully denied eligibility to apply for a special immigrant visa and left at risk of persecution by the Taliban after years of providing security for U.S. forces in Afghanistan.

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Brief

Aerospace Workers Appeal 401(k) Suit Toss To 9th Circ.

By Kellie Mejdrich

Aerospace technology company workers told a California federal court Thursday that they'll seek Ninth Circuit review of the court's September decision to toss their proposed class action alleging an employee 401(k) plan was saddled with costly and underperforming investment options. 

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Covington Boosts DC Bench With Ex-Gov't Contracts Judge

By Lynn LaRowe

Covington & Burling LLP has fortified its government contracts practice with an of counsel in Washington, D.C., who previously served as an administrative judge with the Armed Services Board of Contract Appeals and who currently serves as a colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve.

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Series

Traveling Solo Makes Me A Better Lawyer

Traveling by myself has taught me to assess risk, understand tone and stay calm in high-pressure situations, which are not only useful life skills, but the foundation of how I support my clients, says Lacey Gutierrez at Group Five Legal.

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Loan Forgiveness Overhaul May Chill Legal Aid Work

By Alison Knezevich

Civil legal services groups and public defenders say the Trump administration's proposed change to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program would politicize the initiative and make it harder to recruit attorneys to jobs that pay less than the private sector.

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Atty Quits Ga. Bar's 'Facade' Committee On Client Solicitation

By Chart Riggall

A Georgia attorney resigned Friday as head of the state bar's committee on attorney-client solicitation, accusing the bar of not even "reaching for a garden hose" while unlawful solicitation of accident victims has spread "like wildfire" across the Peach State.

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

By Max Austin

This past week in London has seen Johnson & Johnson hit with a £1 billion ($1.34 billion) claim for allegedly selling contaminated baby powder, Carter-Ruck bring a claim against the Solicitors Regulation Authority, and Hewlett Packard file a probate claim against the estate of Mike Lynch.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Michele Gorman

Exxon was hit with a proposed class action alleging its new program to enable automated proxy voting for retail investors is intended to stifle shareholder dissent. Meanwhile, a new survey found that nearly two-thirds of in-house legal departments think they will rely less on outside legal service providers because of generative artificial intelligence. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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NY Court Orders Hearing On Counsel Conflict In Drug Case

By Elizabeth Daley

A man who pled guilty to gun and drug charges and was sentenced to 12 years in prison can argue for a new trial due to ineffective counsel after a similarly culpable co-defendant got a light sentence allegedly due to cooperation between their attorneys, a New York state appeals court said in a reversal.

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Utah Fires Motley Rice From Opioid Case

By Jack Karp

The state of Utah has fired Motley Rice LLC from representing it in long-running litigation over the opioid crisis, a spokesperson for the Utah attorney general's office confirmed to Law360 Pulse on Friday.

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Ga. Judge Resigns After DUI Arrest Outside Fla. Strip Club

By Chart Riggall

A Georgia Superior Court jurist who led the state's Council of Superior Court Judges stepped down from the bench Thursday after his driving under the influence arrest last week outside a Jacksonville, Florida, strip club.

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UC Law School Can Drop Hastings Name, Appeals Court Says

By Andrea Keckley

California is allowed to drop Serranus Clinton Hastings' name from the University of California's San Francisco-based law school, a state appeals court has ruled, backing a trial judge's decision to toss a lawsuit filed by the former chief state Supreme Court justice's descendants and various school alumni.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Caldwell Cassady & Curry PC and Miller Fair Henry PLLC lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after a California federal jury found Samsung must pay nearly $445.5 million for infringing four wireless communication patents.

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Liberty Mutual Attys Face Sanctions Bid Over Citation Errors

By Emily Sawicki

A St. Louis federal court is weighing whether to sanction Liberty Mutual Personal Insurance Company's lawyers after they submitted a motion containing citation errors and then, after a warning, "somehow" submitted a second motion with the same types of mistakes.

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Federal Courts To Scale Back Operations Amid Shutdown

By Ryan Boysen

The federal court system has run out of money and will scale back operations beginning Monday as a result of the ongoing government shutdown, possibly leading to case delays.

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Robbins Geller To Steer REIT Investors' Suit Over $787M Deal

By Sydney Price

Robbins Geller Rudman & Dowd LLP will lead a proposed class of investors in real estate investment trust Broadmark Realty Capital Inc. who claim they were misled by executives from the REIT ahead of a $787 million merger with Ready Capital Corp. in 2023.

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