9th Circ. Rejects 'Kitchen Sink' Challenge To Vaccine Mandate

By Ben Adlin

A Ninth Circuit panel on Monday upheld a lower court's rejection of a lawsuit brought by dozens of former employees of a nonprofit healthcare system who claimed Washington state's requirement that healthcare workers be vaccinated against COVID-19 violated their statutory and constitutional rights.

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Amazon Supplement Buyers Seek Spoliation Penalties

By Rachel Riley

Consumers in a proposed class action accusing Amazon of peddling dietary supplements without making federally required disclosures urged a Washington federal judge on Tuesday to punish the e-commerce giant for allegedly failing to preserve product detail webpages they say are key to the litigation. 

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Wash. Spam Email Law Is Unconstitutional, Retailers Say

By Emilie Ruscoe

Beauty retail giant Ulta and home improvement retailer Home Depot argued last week in separate cases that Washington state's Commercial Electronic Mail Act is unconstitutional and preempted by federal law as they seek to shed proposed consumer class actions claiming their promotional emails were misleading.

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Chamber Asks 9th Circ. For Clarity In Trade Secrets Cases

By Madeline Lyskawa

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce backed Boeing's bid for the Ninth Circuit to reconsider a panel's decision to reinstate a $72 million jury verdict against the company, saying the panel's "swift treatment" of such a complex issue threatens creating confusion.

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AGs Rip DOJ Bid To Pause Planned Parenthood Funding Suit

By Brian Steele

The U.S. Department of Justice wants to use the ongoing government shutdown as a "shield" to stop a group of states from seeking an injunction against a halt to Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood, the states told a Massachusetts federal judge in opposing a possible pause on their lawsuit.

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DC, 18 States Back Campaign Spending Caps At High Court

By Carolyn Muyskens

The District of Columbia and 18 states urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday not to lift caps on the amount political parties may spend in coordination with candidates for federal office, saying state-level campaign finance regulations could be destabilized.

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Seattle Marine Site Operator To Pay $1.2M To End CWA Suit

By Rachel Riley

SSA Marine will pour $950,000 into a local watershed upgrade and cover roughly $320,000 in legal fees for an environmental group to end allegations that a Seattle cargo facility dumped pollutant-laden wastewater into the Duwamish River, according to a consent decree filed in Washington federal court.

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Feature

4 Oral Argument Sessions Benefits Attys Should Watch In Oct.

By Kellie Mejdrich

The Second Circuit will hear from Teamsters looking to revive a proposed class action alleging mismanagement of a multiemployer pension plan, while Alcoa will ask the Seventh Circuit to overturn a ruling requiring the aluminum maker to cover union retirees' healthcare for life. Here, Law360 looks at four arguments that benefits attorneys should have on their radar this month.

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9th Circ. Tosses Sporting Goods Co. Suit Against Ex-Landlord

By Isaac Monterose

The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday backed the dismissal of a sporting goods retailer's suit against its former landlord, which was accused of wrongfully charging the retailer with monthly fee invoices even after the retailer left the location it was renting due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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9th Circ. Revives Ex-Service Members' Antimalarial Drug Suit

By Ben Adlin

A Ninth Circuit panel on Tuesday breathed new life into a lawsuit by four former U.S. military service members who claim drugmakers Hoffman-La Roche Inc. and Genentech Inc. failed to warn them about permanent psychiatric side effects allegedly caused by the antimalarial drug mefloquine.

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5 Evolving Marketing Risks That Finance Cos. Should Watch

Financial services providers should beware several areas where consumer protection regulators are broadening their scrutiny of modern marketing practices, such as the use of influencer testimonials or advertisements touting artificial intelligence-powered products, so they can better adapt to changing expectations for compliance, say attorneys at Hinshaw.

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What The New Nondomiciled-Trucker Rule Means For Carriers

A new Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration interim final rule restricting states' issuance of commercial drivers licenses to nondomiciled drivers does not alter motor carriers' obligations to verify drivers' qualifications, but may create disruptions by reducing the number of eligible drivers, say attorneys at Benesch.

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Williams & Connolly Says It Was Targeted By Foreign Hackers

By Lauren Berg

Williams & Connolly LLP recently discovered that hackers had wormed their way into a few attorney email accounts but that there is no evidence the threat is ongoing, the firm told Law360 Tuesday, amid other attacks on the legal and technology sectors by hackers with suspected ties to the Chinese government.

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Musk Atty Alex Spiro Faces DQ Bid Ahead Of Twitter Deal Trial

By Dorothy Atkins

A certified class of former Twitter investors accusing Elon Musk of tanking the social media platform's stock during acquisition negotiations has urged a California federal judge to disqualify Musk's proposed lead trial counsel Alex Spiro before a January trial, arguing he's a "critical first-hand witness" and may testify, according to documents unsealed Monday.

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Judge Concerned As Feds Keep Immigration Atty's Phone Data

By Julie Manganis

A federal prosecutor told a Massachusetts judge on Tuesday that the government has returned a phone it seized from an immigration lawyer but does not intend to delete data it pulled from the device, prompting the court to raise concerns that the information could be used to identify and arrest immigrants.

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Goldstein's $968K Border Cash Claim To Be Admitted At Trial

By Jared Foretek

A Maryland federal jury will hear claims from prosecutors that SCOTUSblog publisher Tom Goldstein told Dulles International Airport border guards that the $968,000 in cash he brought into the country in 2018 had been gambling winnings, after a judge shot down his efforts to suppress his alleged statements Tuesday.

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SEC's Atkins Wants To 'Future-Proof' Deregulatory Agenda

By Jessica Corso

U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Paul Atkins said Tuesday that he hopes that moving quickly to adopt new rules deregulating the public and private markets will "future-proof" his agenda against potential tampering by succeeding presidential administrations.

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Fed. Circ. Talks Judge Denzel Washington, AI Susan Sarandon

By Dani Kass

More than half of the Federal Circuit's judges were in Boston on Tuesday conducting out-of-town oral arguments, and afterward they discussed the most concerning and most promising elements of artificial intelligence, how to write a good brief, why en banc hearings are rare and which celebrities they'd love to see on a panel.

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Bondi Declines To Discuss James Comey Indictment

By Courtney Bublé

Appearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday, U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi deflected when questioned on the recent indictment of former FBI Director James Comey and other controversies involving the U.S. Department of Justice. 

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Fitch Even's $1.2M Fee Fight Appears Headed To Arbitration

By Lauraann Wood

Fitch Even Tabin & Flannery LLP's $1.2 million fee dispute with a former client and a litigation funder's CEO may be paused and sent to arbitration before the firm can convince an Illinois federal judge to halt any alleged use or transfer of the money at issue.

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Ex-Reed Smith Atty Says NJ Pay Bias Law Goes Back 6 Years

By Jake Maher

A former Reed Smith LLP attorney suing the firm for gender discrimination told a New Jersey appeals court Tuesday that a 2018 equal pay law was intended by the Legislature to be a "game changer" and be applied retroactively, expanding the scope of her claims.

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NJ Justices Won't Disturb Locke Lord Win In Oil Co.'s Suit

By Jake Maher

The New Jersey Supreme Court has declined to review a lower appellate court decision handing a victory to Locke Lord LLP over malpractice claims from an oil processing company on the grounds that the firm does not have a significant connection to New Jersey and cannot be sued in the state's courts.

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Senate Confirms Boyden Gray Atty As Trump's Labor Solicitor

By Max Kutner

The Senate confirmed on Tuesday a Boyden Gray PLLC managing partner as President Donald Trump's nominee for labor solicitor, the third-highest-ranking position at the U.S. Department of Labor.

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Senate Confirms 2 DOJ Nominees, 16 US Attys

By Courtney Bublé

The U.S. Senate voted 51-47 Tuesday, along party lines, to confirm a slew of nominees for the U.S. Department of Justice.

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Attys Urge Mass. Courts To Protect Immigrants' Court Access

By Rae Ann Varona

Civil rights lawyers urged the Massachusetts trial court system to better protect migrants' due process rights amid increasing arrests by federal immigration officers inside and outside courthouses, saying Tuesday the court is "well within its right" to do so.

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Approach The Bench: Judge Kaplan On Suit Against The Gov't

By Cara Bayles and Steven Trader

U.S. Court of Federal Claims Judge Elaine Kaplan's docket doesn't always garner attention in the same way trial court cases do, but that may change as the executive branch makes sweeping budget and policy changes that could lend more political significance to monetary claims against the government.

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