Analysis

High Court's Cornell Ruling Eases Path For ERISA Suits

By Kellie Mejdrich

The U.S. Supreme Court's revival of Cornell University workers' class action alleging excessive retirement plan fees will likely spur a rise in lawsuits zeroing in on employers' arrangements with recordkeepers and other service providers, and could make those cases tougher to knock out of court, attorneys say.

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How They Won It

How Manatt Beat A Crypto Trader's 'Code As Law' Defense

By Aislinn Keely

After a crypto user exploited a software bug to create millions of dollars' worth of new tokens from a blockchain network, a Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP team defeated his claim to the tokens — and won an award worth millions — by showing that faulty code can't stand in for rule of law.

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Whole Foods Strikes Deal In Sweeping 401(k) Fee Suit

By Patrick Hoff

Whole Foods reached an agreement to end a class action alleging its failure to keep its 401(k) plan's administrative fees in check cost a class of roughly 97,000 workers millions of dollars in retirement savings, the Amazon-owned grocer told a Texas federal court.

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Judge Blocks 'Third Country' Removals Without Due Process

By Julie Manganis

A Massachusetts federal judge on Friday ordered the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to provide due process protections for immigrants facing deportation to countries where they have no prior ties, saying they must receive written notice and a meaningful opportunity to raise concerns about their safety.

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Justices Temporarily Block Removals Under Wartime Law

By Britain Eakin

The U.S. Supreme Court on Saturday ordered the Trump administration to halt removals of alleged Venezuelan gang members detained in Texas under the 1798 Alien Enemies Act, pending further input from the court.

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High Court's Pause Of Removals Was 'Premature,' Alito Says

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court's decision early Saturday morning to prohibit the Trump administration from using a 1798 wartime law to remove alleged Venezuelan gang members detained in northern Texas to an El Salvadoran prison was hasty and premature, Justice Samuel Alito wrote in a dissent joined by Justice Clarence Thomas.

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Trump Admin: Colo. Migrants Not Held Under Enemy Act

By Thy Vo

The Trump administration has told a Colorado federal court that two Venezuelan men accused of being Tren de Aragua members who are challenging their removal under an Alien Enemies Act proclamation aren't being held under that law, meaning the court lacks jurisdiction over their case.

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Suit Says Loyola Enabled Ex-Michigan Coach's Alleged Hack

By Celeste Bott

A former Loyola University Chicago athlete filed a proposed class action accusing an ex-University of Michigan football coach of orchestrating a years-long cyber sexual assault by hacking into university athletic databases and stealing intimate photos and medical data of over 150,000 students, and asserting that the university and its vendor enabled the breach.

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Up Next At High Court: Preventive HealthCare & LGBTQ Books

By Katie Buehler

The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in five cases this week, including disputes over the constitutionality of a task force that sets preventive healthcare coverage requirements, a school district's introduction of LGBTQ-themed storybooks and whether parties can establish standing based on harms affecting third parties. 

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Block Execs Failed To Prevent 'Illicit Activities,' Suit Says

By Katryna Perera

A Block Inc. shareholder claims in a new suit that the fintech company's top brass, which includes former Twitter chief Jack Dorsey, failed to prevent illicit activities like money laundering, child sexual abuse and terrorism financing on its platform, causing damage to the company's reputation and investors as a result.

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Attys Score Bitcoin-Based Fee Award In Crypto Mining Suit

By Sydney Price

The attorneys who won $4.6 million and 25 bitcoins in a class action accusing crypto mining company Stronghold Digital Mining Inc. of failing to fully disclose its supply chain risks will, along with the class, be partially paid in the cash equivalent of bitcoin, according to an order.

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Mass General Inks $8.25M Deal To End Retirement Fee Suit

By Patrick Hoff

Boston-based healthcare system Mass General Brigham Inc. agreed to pay $8.25 million to settle a proposed class action alleging it unlawfully allowed its employee retirement plan to pay excessive administrative fees, according to a filing in Massachusetts federal court.

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Ohio Health System Says It Didn't Cheat Workers On Time

By Parker Quinlan

Cleveland health system MetroHealth has asked a federal court in Ohio to toss a potential class action alleging a failure to properly pay workers overtime, telling the judge a nursing assistant had not proved the healthcare provider violated the Fair Labor Standards Act.

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Nitrous Companies Decline Liability For Misused Products

By Jonathan Capriel

The companies behind nitrous oxide brand Galaxy Gas urged a Florida federal court to end a proposed class action filed by the family of a woman who died while inhaling their product, arguing that they can't be held liable for "reckless and illegal misuse" of their canisters.

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Sig Sauer Gun Gear Recall Doesn't Fix Past Harm, Buyer Says

By Jonathan Capriel

A Texas man is pushing back on gunmaker Sig Sauer Inc.'s bid seeking to end his lawsuit over a firearm-mounted product that had a faulty cap — allowing children easy access to a dangerous battery — telling a federal judge Friday that the company's recall doesn't resolve his claims.

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$6.5M Deal In Amazon's PillPack TCPA Suit Gets Final OK

By Greg Lamm

A Washington federal judge on Friday approved a $6.5 million settlement to end a class action alleging Amazon.com affiliate PillPack LLC was responsible for unsolicited telemarketing calls that ran afoul of federal consumer law against robocalls and texts.

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6th Circ. Upholds American Airlines' Win In Hidden-Fee Suit

By Carolyn Muyskens

American Airlines secured a Sixth Circuit panel's ruling Friday affirming the toss of customer claims that the airline wasn't transparent about making money from a third-party travel assistance product offered to customers during the booking process.

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Analysis

IP Notebook: AI Prompts, DMCA Battle, Squishmallows Scuffle

By Ivan Moreno

Welcome to IP Notebook, a recurring series that highlights disputes and legal developments that raise novel or crucial questions in the trademark and copyright space.

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Off The Bench

Off The Bench: Maine Sued Over Trans Ban, NIL Deal Tweaked

By David Steele

In this week's Off The Bench, the Trump administration takes aim at Maine's policy on transgender athletes, the NCAA's settlement with athletes stands firm on a contentious clause, and a university that displayed a controversial quiz question at a football game settles with the quiz's creator.

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An Unrestrained, Bright-Eyed View Of Legal AI's Future

Todd Itami at Covington offers a bright-eyed, laughing-all-the-way, skydive look at what the legal industry could look like after an artificial intelligence revolution, which he believes may happen much sooner and more dramatically than we expect.

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WilmerHale, Feds Dispute Reach Of Trump Order Against Firm

By Jack Karp

WilmerHale and the U.S. Department of Justice traded salvos in the BigLaw firm's challenge to President Donald Trump's executive order targeting it, with the firm and the government offering "starkly different" versions of what's at stake in the dispute.

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Ex-Katten Partner Hits Firm With $67M Age Bias Suit

By Lauren Berg

A former Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP partner launched a $67 million discrimination lawsuit against his one-time firm in New York federal court, alleging he was pushed out of the aircraft-finance practice group, pressured to resign and then fired because of the firm CEO's "stereotyped views of lawyers in their 60s."

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Joel Katz, Music Law's Longtime Power Broker, Dies At 80

By Chart Riggall

Joel Katz, the powerful music industry lawyer who co-founded Greenberg Traurig LLP's media and entertainment practice and helped bring the firm to the Atlanta market, has died at the age of 80, Law360 confirmed Friday.

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Sunoco Accused Of Age Bias By Ex-Chief Counsel

By Gina Kim

A former chief counsel for Sunoco LP sued her ex-employer in Texas state court Wednesday, alleging she was denied promotional opportunities and later terminated due to her age, while also accusing the company of replacing attorneys older than 50 with significantly younger attorneys with less experience.

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Ex-DOJ Atty Convicted In 1MDB Case Ordered Disbarred In NY

By Craig Clough

A New York appellate court ordered Wednesday that a former U.S. Department of Justice attorney be disbarred due to his felony conviction as part of a sprawling, billion-dollar fraud scandal connected to 1Malaysia Development Berhad and Fugees founder Pras Michél.

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Judge Nixes Feds' DQ Bid In Migrant Kids Legal Funding Case

By Ryan Boysen

A California federal judge has denied the Trump administration's bid to remove her from a lawsuit challenging funding cuts that prevent attorneys from representing child migrants, ruling her employment at one of the plaintiffs nearly seven years ago doesn't undermine her impartiality.

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PTAB Judge Heads To Boutique, Citing Return-To-Office Order

By Andrew Karpan

An outgoing Patent Trial and Appeal Board judge based in Austin, Texas, tells Law360 that President Donald Trump's return-to-office order was a "significant factor" in her decision to return to private practice, joining boutique patent firm Smith Baluch LLP as a partner.

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Judiciary Faces Security Risks Amid Spending Freeze

By Courtney Bublé

The federal judiciary is warning congressional appropriators that funding shortfalls could threaten courthouse security.

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Wis. Sens. Renew Bipartisan Judicial Nomination Commission

By Courtney Bublé

The Republican and Democratic senators from Wisconsin announced Friday they are renewing their bipartisan commission to recommend U.S. attorney and judicial nominees to the president.

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GC Cheat Sheet: The Hottest Corporate News Of The Week

By Sue Reisinger

Google and its chief legal officer have now lost two major antitrust cases to DOJ prosecutors after a federal judge ruled Thursday the search engine monopolized markets and servers related to display advertising. Meanwhile, a new study shows companies are disclosing their business risks, and how they are trying to mitigate those risks, amid changing tariffs and the uncertainty of the U.S.-China trade war. These are some of the stories in corporate legal news you may have missed in the past week.

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Law360's Legal Lions Of The Week

By Kevin Penton

Schlichter Bogard LLC and the University of Virginia School of Law Supreme Court Litigation Clinic lead this week's edition of Law360 Legal Lions, after the U.S. Supreme Court revived a class action from Cornell University workers who said their retirement plans were saddled with excessive fees.

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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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