Good morning. United Airlines workers are trying an unusual strategy to challenge the airline’s vaccine mandate for its staff — and they’re hoping that a federal judge will go along with it. Plus, we’ve got analysis of the Texas abortion ruling and the next move for former Trump White House counsel Pat Cipollone. Reese’s are an acceptable breakfast for an October Friday morning, right?
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United Airlines workers seeking a religious or medical exemption to the company’s vaccine mandate are asking a federal judge to block its enforcement against vaccine objectors temporarily — an attempt to go around the typical requirement that workers bring their discrimination claims through the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or a state anti-bias agency first, reports Reuters’ Daniel Wiessner.
The EEOC and similar agencies can take months to issue a worker a “right-to-sue” letter, but it’s viewed as a necessary step before litigation can begin. Some judges have allowed plaintiffs to bypass it, though not recently — and not in the case of a vaccine mandate, Wiessner writes.
Read more to find out what’s at stake at a hearing in the case next week.
- Latham & Watkins and Skadden took lead legal roles in Starry Inc ‘s merger with blank-check company FirstMark Horizon Acquisition Corp, a deal that will create a broadband services provider worth roughly $1.66 billion. (Reuters)
- Lawyers are optimistic that an overhaul of the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program by the U.S. Education Department will help many more attorneys discharge their outstanding loan debts. (Reuters)
- Former Trump White House Counsel Pat Cipollone is starting a Washington, D.C. office for Los Angeles-based litigation boutique Browne George Ross O’Brien Annaguey & Ellis. Cipollone has joined as a name partner and will work with a group of other Trump administration alums and partners from Sidley Austin and Williams & Connolly. (Reuters)
- The D.C. bar’s disciplinary office has asked an appeals court to approve its power to negotiate lesser penalties for lawyers when disbarment is the presumptive sanction. (Reuters)
- Kirkland’s Reginald Brown was among the Big Law partners advising witnesses in the Senate Judiciary Committee’s investigation of the alleged pressure campaign on the Justice Department to investigate former President Donald Trump’s claims of voter fraud. Brown represented Jeffrey Rosen, former acting U.S. attorney general. (NLJ)
That’s the number of former NBA players who’ve been charged with defrauding the sports league’s health and welfare benefit plan out of $3.9 million. "The defendants' playbook involved fraud and deception," U.S. Attorney in Manhattan Audrey Strauss said. Lawyers for the defendants could not immediately be identified. Read more about the government’s claims.
Decision blocking Texas abortion law 'not the final word,' says bill's sponsor. When columnist Jenna Greene spoke with Texas state senator Bryan Hughes last month about his role as author of his state’s strict new abortion law, he called it "a very elegant use of the judicial system." That didn’t ring true for U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman, who temporarily blocked it. But Hughes told Greene after the ruling that Pitman’s ruling is “not the final word.”
SEC’s stepped-up cyber scrutiny won’t save shareholder data breach suits. Delaware’s newest vice chancellor, Lori Will, dismissed a shareholder derivative suit this week against Marriott, finding that plaintiffs failed to surmount the very high bar for claims that directors breached their duty of loyalty. Alison Frankel’s latest column analyzes Will’s ruling in the context of stepped-up cyber enforcement by the SEC. Her conclusion: Regulators won’t make life much easier for plaintiffs lawyers.
- A jury in Boston federal court is set to continue its deliberation in the first trial in the U.S. college admissions scandal. Prosecutors argue two defendants — former casino executive Gamal Aziz and private equity firm founder John Wilson — made "dirty" deals to buy their kids' way into universities. Their defense lawyers countered that they never meant to bribe anyone. Aziz and Wilson are among 57 people charged in the "Operation Varsity Blues" investigation.
- The 9th Circuit will hear Quicken Loans’ appeal from a California district court order denying the company's bid to compel arbitration of a Telephone Consumer Protection Act lawsuit. Quicken Loans, represented by William Jay of Goodwin Procter, is arguing it demonstrated the plaintiff clicked on certain website buttons and therefore agreed to the company's use terms, including an agreement to arbitrate claims. David Hall of Hedin Hall represents the plaintiffs.
- Notre Dame Law School will host a discussion titled “Clearing up some misconceptions about the Supreme Court’s shadow docket — and its critics.” Professor Stephen Vladeck of the University of Texas School of Law will present, and Professor Samuel Bray of Notre Dame Law will respond to Vladeck. Watch the discussion live here. Last week, Justice Samuel Alito Jr defended the court's increasing use of its emergency "shadow docket" to decide major political and social cases with less deliberation than cases that are briefed and argued on the merits.
Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
What to catch up on this weekend
"If a lawyer does not communicate with a client in a mutually understood language, it is doubtful that the lawyer is exercising the thoroughness and preparation necessary to provide the client with competent representation."
The American Bar Association’s Standing Committee on Ethics and Professional Responsibility, which issued a new opinion on what lawyers need to do to communicate with clients that either do not speak their language or have a disability that limits communication. Read more to find out what the committee said is required of attorneys in these situations.
- Legal experts said U.S. District Judge Robert Pitman’s stern directive thwarting Texas’ abortion law was a warning to at least 12 other states contemplating similar action that there is now a route for the DOJ to challenge the structure of the ban. (Reuters)
- Drugmakers including Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline and Pfizer can’t dismiss proposed class actions filed by consumers over heartburn drug Zantac and the possibility it contains a carcinogen, U.S. District Judge Robin Rosenberg in West Palm Beach, Florida said in separate rulings. The classes are represented by Anapol Weiss, Kopelowitz Ostrow Ferguson Weiselberg Gilbert, Pope McGlamry and Pulaski Kherkher. Sanofi is represented by Arnold & Porter Kaye Scholer, Pfizer is represented by Williams & Connolly and GlaxoSmithKline is represented by Dechert. (Reuters)
- Samsung can continue to challenge patents owned by an Australian startup at a U.S. government tribunal despite an agreement that limited their legal disputes to Manhattan courts, the Federal Circuit said. Samsung, represented on appeal by Victoria Maroulis of Quinn Emanuel, challenged startup Kannuu’s patents after Kannuu accused the company of infringement. Kannuu is represented by Perry Goldberg of Progress LLP and Lewis Hudnell of Hudnell Law Group. (Reuters)
- A former member of an EPA scientific advisory body sued the agency over claims the Biden administration engaged "in an unprecedented purge" when the EPA "eliminated" all industry representatives from two advisory committees. S. Stanley Young, a statistician who has worked for the pharmaceutical industry, is represented by Jones Day partner Brett Shumate. (Reuters)
- Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner said Charles Tompkins has joined the firm as a Washington, D.C., antitrust partner. He arrives from Williams Montgomery & John, where he was chair of the antitrust and unfair competition practice. (Reuters)
- Steptoe & Johnson said a four-lawyer international trade team has joined the firm's Brussels office, including new partners Renato Antonini and Eva Monard. Antonini and Monard formerly practiced at Jones Day. (Steptoe)
- Holland & Knight has brought on former Florida solicitor general Amit Agarwal as an appellate partner in Washington, D.C., and Tallahassee. Agarwal was Florida’s top appellate counsel from 2016 to 2012. (Holland & Knight)
- Reed Smith has hired Daniel McClain as a corporate partner in New York focused on executive compensation and employee benefits. McClain joins from BakerHostetler. (Reed Smith)
- Paul Hastings said Matthias Kamber has joined the firm in San Francisco as an intellectual property partner. He formerly practiced at Keker, Van Nest & Peters. (Paul Hastings)
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