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Good morning. The EEOC is accusing Tesla of tolerating racial harassment at its flagship assembly plant, adding to an array of workplace claims against the electric vehicle maker. Plus, Michigan has become the first state to require judges to refer to attorneys by their preferred pronouns; Eli Lilly settled a whistleblower suit over manufacturing problems; and Sam Bankman-Fried’s upcoming fraud trial will test Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams’ white-collar crime crackdown. Thanks for reading!
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Tesla super chargers in California. REUTERS/Mike Blake
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Tesla must navigate a new legal challenge over workplace and employment, as the electric carmaker faces a new EEOC lawsuit claiming it has tolerated severe harassment of Black employees at its flagship Fremont, California, assembly plant.
The U.S. agency alleged in its California federal court lawsuit that from 2015 to the present, Black workers at the Tesla plant routinely have been subjected to racist slurs and graffiti, including swastikas and nooses, Daniel Wiessner reports.
Tesla is already facing an array of other race discrimination lawsuits that make similar claims, including from the California Civil Rights Department. In another case, a Black former elevator operator at the Fremont plant is seeking a third trial in his 2017 lawsuit claiming he was subjected to severe racial harassment after a jury in April awarded him $3.2 million. Tesla is also facing a class action in California state court over the alleged mistreatment of Black factory workers. About 240 workers have moved to join that lawsuit.
The company in those cases has said it does not tolerate discrimination and takes workers’ complaints seriously. Tesla did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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- Michigan has become the first state to require judges to refer to attorneys by their preferred pronouns. A divided Michigan Supreme Court approved a new rule that allows attorneys to include their preferred forms of address or pronouns in court documents. The rule also requires judges to use those terms “or other respectful means” when referring to those attorneys either in court or in documents. The rule goes into effect on Jan. 1. (Reuters)
- Delaware Vice Chancellor Travis Laster temporarily blocked special acquisition company 26 Capital’s plan to dissolve, a day after its former law firm Schulte sued to recover more than $1.9 million in legal fees for work on a now-failed merger with the Philippines’ largest casino. (Reuters)
- Securities class action firm Levi & Korsinsky and its founding partners retaliated against a former attorney at the firm after she sued them for sex discrimination, U.S. District Judge Loretta Preska ruled. Preska said Amy Miller had shown the firm and founding partners Eduard Korsinsky and Joseph Levi filed counterclaims in her discrimination lawsuit against them as retaliation for her allegations that they underpaid her and fired her after she asked for more money. Levi, Korsinsky and their attorneys did not respond to requests for comment. (Reuters)
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Donald Trump speaks at a rally in Iowa. REUTERS/Scott Morgan
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Last April, we did a little bragging about solving the mystery of who was funding Smartmatic’s $2.7 billion defamation lawsuit accusing Fox of reporting election fraud lies. The answer, we said, was no one: Smartmatic, which had been ordered to disclose any outside funding to Fox, told us there was, in fact, nothing to disclose. Fox is now back in court with a slightly different theory, contending that a Smartmatic financial adviser used the Fox lawsuit in a pitch to investors. Smartmatic says that’s bosh — but it didn’t respond to Alison Frankel’s questions about yet another new Fox theory that George Soros provided financial aid to the voting tech company.
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“A car company should never sell consumers experimental vehicles.“
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—Plaintiffs’ attorney Jonathan Michaels, in his opening statement in the first U.S. trial over allegations that Tesla’s Autopilot driver assistant feature led to a death. The trial stems from a civil lawsuit alleging the Autopilot system caused owner Micah Lee’s Model 3 to suddenly veer off a highway at 65 miles per hour, strike a palm tree and burst into flames, all in the span of seconds. Tesla has denied liability. The trial in Riverside, California, could help shape similar cases across the country.
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What to catch up on this weekend
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- Private equity financier John Wilson will be resentenced after the 1st Circuit in March overturned most of his conviction on charges that he participated in a vast U.S. college admissions fraud scheme by conspiring to pay bribes to secure spots for his children at top schools. Wilson, founder of Hyannis Port Capital, was originally sentenced to 15 months in prison before the appellate court decision, which left only a tax-related conviction standing. Jones Day’s Noel Francisco, a lawyer for Wilson, said the appeals court decision overturned the “core” of the prosecution against his client.
- Nancy Abudu, President Joe Biden’s newly confirmed pick to the Atlanta-based 11th Circuit, is slated to be formally sworn in during an investiture ceremony. Abudu, a lawyer for the nonprofit advocacy group Southern Poverty Law Center, is the first Black woman to serve on the 11th Circuit.
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Court calendars are subject to last-minute docket changes.
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- Donald Trump lost his bid to delay his scheduled Oct. 2 civil fraud trial, as a five-judge panel of the Appellate Division ruled against his motion. The panel ruled two days after state court Justice Arthur Engoron found that Trump and his family business persistently and fraudulently overvalued his assets and net worth in order to obtain better terms on loans and insurance (Reuters)
- Eli Lilly and a former employee agreed to settle a lawsuit in which the worker claimed she was terminated after pointing out poor manufacturing practices and data falsification involving one of its blockbuster diabetes drugs, according to court filings. The former human resources officer, Amrit Mula, contended in the lawsuit that she repeatedly urged leaders at a New Jersey plant to remedy problems involving several biologic drugs, including Type 2 diabetes medicine Trulicity. (Reuters)
- The DOJ is suing data company Agri Stats in Minnesota federal court, alleging that its weekly reports on meat pricing and sales have enabled anticompetitive practices in the chicken, pork and turkey industries. Meat companies including Smithfield and Tyson have previously faced lawsuits from restaurants and other food buyers alleging they use reports from Agri Stats to conspire to drive up meat prices. Hogan Lovells is representing Agri Stats, which denied any wrongdoing. (Reuters)
- Apple asked the U.S. Supreme Court to strike down an order requiring changes to its App Store rules stemming from an antitrust case brought by “Fortnite” owner Epic Games. Epic separately asked the justices to take up the case, from the 9th Circuit. Apple’s team includes lawyers from Weil, and Epic’s lawyers include veteran appellate lawyer Tom Goldstein. (Reuters)
- Meat processors including National Beef and Hormel lost their bid in Colorado federal court to dismiss a prospective class action from hundreds of thousands of workers alleging the companies conspired to artificially suppress wages. The processors have denied liability. Some in the group have agreed to settle and cooperate. (Reuters)
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