Good morning. An employer in California must face a worker's lawsuit in a closely-watched “take-home” COVID case, as the state’s high court declined to review a novel ruling. Plus, the U.S. Justice Department suffered trial defeats in labor-related antitrust actions. Exxon's Paul Weiss team was sanctioned in a human rights case; bar exam pass rates slump in New York and Florida; and a U.S. bankruptcy judge is expected to rule soon on the Boy Scouts’ proposed reorganization plan and $2.7 billion sexual-abuse settlement. It's a news-packed Monday, and we're glad you're with us. Let's dive in.
Our colleague Dan Brillman is co-writing The Daily Docket while Diana Novak Jones is on parental leave. Were you forwarded this email? Subscribe here.
|
The California Supreme Court has left in place a novel ruling that said an employer can be sued by an employee who claims she contracted COVID-19 at work and spread it to her husband, who died. The court ruled against Munger Tolles client See's Candies, which sought review of the December decision, Daniel Wiessner reports.
Trade groups have warned the lawsuit could spur limitless liability for businesses. Advocates for business interests contend that allowing employers to be held liable for COVID infections will spur lawsuits not only by workers' family and friends, but by anyone infected by that circle of people.
More than two dozen so-called "take-home" COVID-19 lawsuits have been filed across the country. Defendants in those cases include Amazon, Walmart, McDonald's and Caribbean Cruises. The 9th Circuit is considering whether employers can be liable under California law for take-home COVID in a separate case involving a woodworking company. Circuit Judge John Wallace called the See's Candies decision "a game changer" during oral arguments last month.
|
The U.S. Justice Department’s criminal antitrust enforcement efforts suffered setbacks last week in two separate federal court trials, as jurors in Colorado on Friday rejected claims against dialysis provider DaVita and its former chief executive, and a panel in Texas spurned a wage-fixing case against a businessman in the physical therapy industry.
Prosecutors had argued DaVita and retired CEO Kent Thiry conspired with other companies to restrict employee mobility. A lawyer for DaVita, John Dodds of Morgan Lewis, argued that the company’s employee recruitment agreements were not illegal. An attorney for Thiry, Juanita Brooks of Fish & Richardson, called the case against Thiry a “witch hunt.” After the verdict, a DOJ spokesperson said the department remains committed to enforcing the antitrust laws in the labor markets.
A Texas jury a day earlier acquitted businessman Neeraj Jindal, who owned a therapist staffing company, on antitrust charges. Prosecutors had alleged in the case against Jindal that he participated in a scheme to suppress wages. Locke Lord partner Paul Coggins, a lawyer for Jindal, had said “we have a better case on the law, and I know we have a better case on the facts.”
|
-
Exxon must pay nearly $289,000 to plaintiffs firm Cohen Milstein as a sanction for deposition misconduct from the oil company’s lawyers at Paul Weiss, a federal judge ruled last week. The deposition dispute in the international human rights case led to the abrupt resignation of former Paul Weiss partner Alex Oh as the head of the SEC’s enforcement division. U.S. District Judge Royce Lamberth’s order follows his decision last year to admonish Oh and Paul Weiss. (Reuters)
-
Johnnie Rawlinson, the first Black woman to serve on the 9th Circuit, is considering stepping down from active service. Rawlinson told Reuters that she expressed to both the Biden administration and Nevada's senators her preference for Berna Rhodes-Ford, the wife of Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford, to be nominated as her replacement. (Reuters)
-
A new audit of attorney regulators in California found the bar too often resolved misconduct allegations behind closed doors and did not consistently address conflicts of interest with the lawyers who come under investigation. State bar board of trustees chairman Ruben Duran said some of the findings in the audit were "profoundly eye-opening and troubling." (Reuters)
-
Dykema Gossett has written a letter to a California state appeals court urging it to make "crucial" changes to a ruling that the firm says leaves a mistaken impression it was facing sanctions for appellate work done in a negligence case. (Reuters)
|
That's the national average score on the Multistate Bar Exam administered in February, tying an all-time low set in 2020. In New York State, the largest bar exam jurisdiction, the overall pass rate dipped to 45% from 49% in 2021. Fewer people take the February test than one in July, and 68% of February examinees were retaking the test. Repeaters tend to fail at a higher rate than first-time examinees. |
Small things can make a big difference in people’s satisfaction with their jobs, especially as firms return to in-person work and the war for talent rages on. Jenna Greene takes a look at Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s new innovation challenge, which attracted scores of participants split evenly between lawyers and staff. The teams pitched “SAULutions” (get it?) to what managing partner Jason St. John termed “pain points,” with the winning ideas unveiled at a recent town hall meeting. See what new policies are in store as a result.
|
Reuters video journalist Tom Rowe gives you an early view of the week ahead in legal news. Watch the video. And to hear what’s coming up this week, listen to Alex Cohen’s Audio Lookahead.
|
"So I was forced to concede to the SEC unlawfully. Those bastards."
—Tesla CEO Elon Musk in remarks to an audience at the TED Conference in Vancouver. Musk claims he was forced to settle with the SEC because banks threatened to stop funding Tesla, which he says would have made the company bankrupt. Musk and Tesla paid $20 million each in fines after the agency said Musk's 2018 tweet that he had "funding secured" to take Tesla private "lacked an adequate basis in fact." Read more from Musk.
|
-
The U.S. Supreme Court will take up the federal government's legal challenge of a Washington state law that extends workers' compensation benefits to employees at a U.S. energy site who were exposed to toxic fumes and radioactive waste. The Justice Department is contesting a 9th Circuit ruling that said a federal law allowing states to apply workers' compensation to sites operated by the U.S. government within the state extends to state laws that single out individual facilities.
-
The DOJ's antitrust lawsuit aimed at blocking U.S. Sugar Corp’s $315 million bid to buy rival Imperial Sugar heads to trial in Delaware federal court. The DOJ’s lawyers, including Brian Hanna, contend the merger would drive up the price of sugar. United States Sugar, represented by lawyers from Morris, Nichols, Arsht & Tunnell and Latham & Watkins, said the deal would improve supply chain logistics. Lawyers from Richards, Layton & Finger; Cravath; and Norton Rose represent Imperial Sugar. U.S. District Judge Maryellen Noreika will preside at the bench trial.
-
U.S. District Judge Thomas Durkin in Illinois federal court will weigh final approval of more than $104 million in civil antitrust settlements with major chicken producers including Tyson Foods and Pilgrim’s Pride. The law firms Gustafson Gluek and Cotchett, Pitre & McCarthy represent commercial and institutional indirect plaintiffs and have asked for more than $30 million in legal fees. A team from Axinn represents Tyson Food, and Pilgrim’s is represented by Weil Gotshal. The companies denied any wrongdoing as part of their settlements.
-
The U.S. federal judge overseeing the false-statements case against former Perkins Coie partner Michael Sussmann set today as a deadline for any opposition to prosecutors’ demands for records from third-parties including the Democratic National Committee and Hillary for America. Sussmann, a former lawyer for Hillary Clinton on her 2016 presidential campaign, is accused of lying to the FBI about who he was representing at a meeting in 2016 about Donald Trump and Russia. Sussmann, represented by a team from Latham, has pleaded not guilty. His trial is set to begin next month in D.C. federal court.
Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
|
-
On Tuesday, lawyers for Google and the U.S. Justice Department are expected to submit new filings in a dustup over whether U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta should sanction the tech company for allegedly abusing attorney-client privilege to shield information from the government. Mehta expressed doubt at a hearing that he had the power to punish Google for alleged conduct that occurred before the government sued Google in 2020. He asked both sides to tell him more in supplemental submissions.
-
On Wednesday, a former state judge in Brooklyn is scheduled to be sentenced for obstructing a federal investigation of alleged misconduct at Municipal Credit Union, one of the country’s largest credit unions. Former State Supreme Court Justice Sylvia Ash was convicted after a two-week trial before U.S. District Judge Lewis Kaplan in Manhattan. Ash, represented by Carrie Cohen of Morrison & Foerster, served on the credit union’s board from 2008 to 2016, when she resigned. Ash is seeking a non-prison sentence. “The reputation and good name that she spent a lifetime building is in tatters,” Cohen told the court.
-
A California federal court on Thursday will hear arguments on Roche's Genentech's bid to dismiss a $210 million Novartis lawsuit over patent-licensing fees that Novartis allegedly overpaid. The license required Novartis to pay to use Genentech's patents in developing Novartis' inflammation drug Ilaris and psoriasis drug Cosentyx. Novartis said it's been trying to get Genentech to pay it back to no avail. Genentech said in its motion to dismiss that the lawsuit was a "cynical play for a retroactive free ride." David Gindler of Milbank is representing Genentech, and Laura Stoll of Goodwin Procter is on the team for Novartis.
|
-
The Boy Scouts have wrapped up a month-long court hearing over its proposed reorganization plan and $2.7 billion settlement of claims by thousands of men who say they were sexually abused as children by troop leaders. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Laurie Selber Silverstein said she would rule on the plan and settlement as soon as possible. (Reuters)
- The federal government and families of patients are urging a judge to reject bankrupt Florida nursing home operator Gulf Coast Health Care’s proposed liquidation plan over its handling of lawsuits blaming the company for patient deaths and injuries. Gulf Coast will seek approval of its plan from U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Karen Owens in Delaware bankruptcy court on Tuesday. (Reuters)
-
Alabama is negotiating a settlement with drug distributor McKesson, ahead of a planned trial that was scheduled to begin today on the state's claim that the company fueled an addiction crisis there. The trial had been scheduled to begin on April 18 in Montgomery County Circuit Court, but that date has been pushed back indefinitely to allow the parties "to complete a settlement," according to an order. (Reuters)
-
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell in D.C. denied Russia’s latest bid to pause U.S. litigation brought by shareholders of the defunct oil company Yukos to enforce a $50 billion judgment against the country. Howell in her ruling cited delays in the case and escalating sanctions over Russia's Ukraine invasion. (Reuters)
-
Louisiana and its coalition of Republican-led states said they will press a legal challenge at the U.S. Supreme Court over the Biden administration’s climate-change cost calculations. The en banc 5th Circuit last week declined to step into a fight. (Reuters)
|
-
McDermott brought on Tara Ward as a Washington, D.C.-based regulatory partner. Ward formerly practiced at Wiley Rein. (McDermott)
-
Jason Croft and R. Chad Pugh have joined Buchalter as shareholders in Salt Lake City. Croft, who comes from Maschoff Brennan, will be chair of the firm's patent procurement and strategy group. Pugh joins its litigation practice group from Stoel Rives. (Buchalter)
-
Skadden said Kathleen Gregor joined the firm in Boston as a tax controversy and litigation partner. She earlier practiced at Ropes & Gray. (Skadden)
-
Jim Park joined Faegre Drinker's finance and restructuring practice in Minneapolis as a partner. He previously worked at Greenberg Traurig. (Faegre Drinker)
|
Whistleblowers and their lawyers can face this dilemma at times: If two laws allow a tipster to receive a financial award for making an identical disclosure, how do you pick which one to use? Stephen Kohn of Kohn, Kohn & Colapinto dives into the criteria and looks at the interplay of different laws allowing whistleblowers to obtain awards. Find out which criteria can be the most important.
|
|
|
Copyright © 2022 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved. 610 Opperman Drive, Eagan, MN 55123
Want to change how you receive these emails? You can unsubscribe from this list here. |
|
|
|