DOVER, Del. — The Supreme Court of Delaware, sitting en banc¸ reversed a lower court’s rescission of Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay package in a shareholder’s derivative suit, finding that rescission was an improper remedy because Musk couldn’t be restored to the status quo ante.

CHICAGO — Concluding that it had erred in failing to include a mixed-motive jury instruction, an Illinois federal court on Dec. 22 denied a municipal transit authority’s motion for judgment as a matter of law (JMOL) but granted its alternate motion for a new trial after a jury awarded a former transit authority employee $425,000 for violations of Title VII of the Civil Rights Act stemming from his termination for refusing to be vaccinated against COVID-19 after being denied a religious exemption.

FRESNO, Calif. — A federal judge in California granted final approval of a class action settlement and finalized certification of the settlement class in a long-running Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act (RESPA) case, authorizing class members to receive $875 in cash compensation per affected loan under an uncapped, claims-made agreement with an estimated maximum class payout settlement of $29.5 million, also approving $9.031 million in attorney fees, $2.07 million in litigation expenses and $5,000 service awards to the five class representatives.

ST. PAUL, Minn. — A Minnesota jury on Dec. 19 awarded a 37-year-old woman and her husband more than $65.5 million for peritoneal mesothelioma she developed after exposure to asbestos in Johnson & Johnson consumer talc.

ATLANTA — The 11th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals on Dec. 19 dismissed for lack of jurisdiction an appeal of remaining claims after the lower court entered partial judgment of $9,617,679.22 in favor of the U.S. government and state of Georgia in a suit alleging violations of the federal False Claims Act (FCA) for improper billing for occupational and physical therapy services, finding that the court lacks jurisdiction over the appeal due to the absence of a “final, appealable decision.”

PHILADELPHIA — A federal judge in Pennsylvania consolidated 18 putative class complaints alleging that an October 2025 breach of the University of Pennsylvania’s (UPenn) computer system resulted in unauthorized access to the sensitive personal data of more than one million people.

FRANKFORT, Ky. — Finding that evidence of gross negligence in the treatment of a nursing home resident who died during the pandemic that would nullify immunity under the Kentucky COVID-19 immunity statute had been alleged sufficient to create a question of material fact, a split Kentucky Supreme Court reversed the judgment of a state appellate court upholding a trial court grant of summary judgment in favor of a nursing home and staff members.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a Dec. 19 order, the U.S. Supreme Court denied without prejudice an application filed by the director of the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR) to stay a Fourth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals panel’s mandate that vacated and remanded an order that dismissed a complaint filed by the National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ) challenging a federal employee speech policy.