Pa. University Seeks Toss Of Sergeant's Retaliation Claims

By Beverly Banks

The University of Scranton wants a Pennsylvania federal judge to dismiss retaliation and disability bias allegations from a police sergeant who alleged he was fired because he had cancer, telling the district court that the worker hadn't put up enough facts to support some of his claims.

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Edward Jones Among 5 Firms Paying $9.3M Over Inflated Fees

By Zach Dupont

Edward Jones, TD Ameritrade and three other wealth adviser firms have reached a $9.3 million settlement with the North American Securities Administrators Association after having been accused of overcharging fees for small-dollar investors.

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Samsung, Home Depot Liable For Home Fire, Insurer Says

By Hope Patti

Samsung and Home Depot owe an insurer more than $330,000 for payments made to a policyholder for fire damage, the insurer said in a suit removed to Pennsylvania federal court, alleging that an electric range manufactured by Samsung and sold by Home Depot caused the blaze.

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Vertex Says Tax Software Rival Purposely Destroyed Evidence

By Lauren Berg

Tax compliance software company Vertex Inc. told a Pennsylvania federal judge Monday that Avalara intentionally destroyed and failed to preserve "key sources of electronically stored information crucially relevant" to Vertex's lawsuit accusing its rival of poaching workers to steal trade secrets.

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Drivers Say FedEx Is Employer, Liable For Unpaid OT

By Emmy Freedman

FedEx exercised substantial control over drivers' jobs, two former workers told a Pennsylvania federal court, urging it to find that the delivery company acted as their joint employer and is therefore on the hook for what they said are unpaid overtime wages.

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Time-Barred Sex Abuse Claims Could Become Viable In Pa.

By Jonathan Capriel

House lawmakers in Pennsylvania have passed a pair of bills that could allow those who suffered from sexual abuse as minors to file a lawsuit decades after the statute of limitations expired, explicitly waving sovereign immunity defense for state agencies.

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3rd Circ. Upholds NFL Case Findings On Censured Atty

By P.J. D'Annunzio

The Third Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a Pennsylvania federal judge's ruling that an attorney representing former NFL players seeking concussion litigation settlement proceeds made "material misrepresentations and omissions" concerning medical records during the claims process, for which he was censured by the lower court.

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States Sue To Block 23andMe From Selling DNA Data In Ch. 11

By Dorothy Atkins

A bipartisan coalition of 28 attorneys general has sued 23andMe Inc. in Missouri bankruptcy court seeking to block the genetic-testing company from auctioning off its 15 million customers' personal genetic information without their explicit consent in its ongoing Chapter 11 proceeding.

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Mo. Verdict Winner Urges Justices To Deny Roundup Appeal

By Tom Lotshaw

A Missouri man awarded $1.2 million for a failure-to-warn claim alleging Roundup weed killer caused his cancer urged the U.S. Supreme Court to deny Monsanto's petition for review, saying the company is only trying to avoid liability.

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Neurocrine Loses Suit Challenging Hormone Treatment Patent

By Adam Lidgett

Neurocrine Biosciences has lost its attempt in Delaware federal court to invalidate a patent owned by biotechnology company Spruce Biosciences Inc. relating to the treatment of a hormonal disorder, after a federal judge tossed the lawsuit.

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Crane Owner Seeks To Shift Blame In Fatal Fla. Collapse

By Carolina Bolado

A Florida judge on Tuesday allowed Maxim Crane Works to try to shift blame to a fellow contractor facing a lawsuit over a crane collapse in downtown Fort Lauderdale that killed a worker and injured at least two other people.

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Holland & Knight Continues Tax Team Growth In Philadelphia

By James Boyle

Holland & Knight LLP is continuing the expansion of its tax practice in the Philadelphia office with the addition of an attorney who moved her practice from Chamberlain Hrdlicka White Williams & Aughtry, the second lawyer to join from the firm in the last month.

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Longtime Reed Smith Employment Pro Joins Fisher Phillips

By James Boyle

An attorney who has focused his career on advising clients on employment and labor matters recently moved his practice to Fisher Phillips' Pittsburgh office after 13 years with Reed Smith LLP.

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Calif. Bar Exam Fiasco Shows Why Attys Must Disclose AI Use

The recent revelation that a handful of questions from the controversial California bar exam administered in February were drafted using generative artificial intelligence demonstrates the continued importance of disclosure for attorneys who use AI tools, say attorneys at Troutman.

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ABA 'Surprised And Disappointed' By DOJ Shunning

By Courtney Bublé

The American Bar Association on Tuesday defended its long-standing process for reviewing judicial nominees and said Attorney General Pam Bondi was wrong to call the group an "activist organization."

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Analysis

Feds Reboot FCPA Agenda With Narrower Enforcement Focus

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Department of Justice on Tuesday released new and tightened guidelines for enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act after a four-month pause on such prosecutions, centering prospective investigations on situations that affect U.S. competitiveness and national security as well as transnational cartels.

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Top CFPB Enforcer Quits Over 'Devastating' Agency Pullback

By Jon Hill

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's top enforcement official resigned Tuesday, saying she can no longer effectively do her job under leadership that "has no intention to enforce the law in any meaningful way."

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Judiciary Panel Advances New Rules On Amici, AI, Subpoenas

By Jeff Overley

The federal judiciary's top policy panel Tuesday propelled revamped rules regarding numerous hot legal topics, including artificial intelligence, "dark money" groups bankrolling amicus briefs and the subpoena powers of courts and defense counsel.

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NJ Rep. LaMonica McIver Indicted Over ICE Facility Incident

By Hailey Konnath

U.S. Rep. LaMonica McIver has been charged with forcibly impeding and interfering with federal officers during her inspection of a Newark, New Jersey, immigration detention facility last month, the U.S. Department of Justice announced Tuesday.

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Wis. Judge Can't Wield Immunity For Obstructing ICE, DOJ Says

By Lynn LaRowe

The U.S. Department of Justice has urged a Wisconsin federal judge to reject a state court judge's argument that judicial immunity blocks her prosecution for allegedly obstructing an ICE arrest at a Milwaukee courthouse, saying that while judges may be immune from civil liability for official acts, they are not shielded from prosecution for supposedly criminal conduct.

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State Chief Justices Blast Plans To Cut Legal Services Corp.

By Hailey Konnath

A coalition of 37 state Supreme Court chief justices have asked federal lawmakers to reject President Donald Trump's plans to eliminate the Legal Services Corp., arguing that the "justice system is hobbled when citizens are deprived of legal counsel."

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Mass. Court-Appointed Attys Hit 'Boiling Point' Over Low Pay

By Julie Manganis

Hundreds of private attorneys in Massachusetts who are paid by the state to represent indigent defendants and others have stopped accepting new court-appointed cases over complaints about low pay, putting the system on what one veteran advocate called "the verge of imploding."

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House Conservatives Push Senate To 'Rein In' Judges

By Courtney Bublé

House conservatives are imploring their Senate counterparts to do more to "rein in" federal judges with the budget reconciliation package.

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SEC's Investment Management Chief Greiner To Leave Agency

By Tom Zanki

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission veteran Natasha Vij Greiner is stepping down as the director of the agency's investment management division, ending a nearly 24-year career serving the SEC in multiple roles, regulators announced Tuesday.

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Analysis

Key Insights On Looming Fair Use Rulings In AI Cases

By Ivan Moreno

Two California federal judges have indicated they are inclined to find that using copyrighted material to train artificial intelligence systems is transformative, which usually means that copying a work is fair, but that may not let Meta Platforms and Anthropic off the hook in separate lawsuits.

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Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

By Katryna Perera and Jeff Montgomery

Delaware's Court of Chancery showed new resistance to suits alleging corporate weaponizing of advance notice bylaws, and a new report highlighted the high fees that attorneys are cashing in on in Delaware courts compared to the federal court system. Several new suits were also filed concerning allegedly under- or overvalued sales and acquisitions being pushed through.

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