🧩 BART's $7.8M vaccine-accommodation verdict survives
PLUS: Six Weil partners to Cravath, New Fortress creditors, Tribal's subsidiary sale...
September 14, 2026
Lookzy: all your daily legal news in 0.1 billable hours. Plain English coverage of deals, litigation and legal trends trusted by lawyers at Cravath, Latham, Skadden, Gunderson and elsewhere.
Welcome to Lookzy. In today's Lookzy:
BART denied religious accommodations to its vaccine requirement
Why Michigan's Campbell coal plant is still running
New Fortress creditors take control
Six Weil M&A partners will join Cravath
THE VERDICT
Arguing today's litigation news
Missing witnesses. San Francisco-area transit agency BART denied six employees religious accommodations to its Covid vaccine requirement. The Ninth Circuit upheld their $7.8 million verdict. BART called two experts retained for trial, but didn't call the public-health advisers it had consulted or introduce the guidance it relied on. To justify denying an accommodation, BART had to show that the added safety risk would be substantial in the employees' actual jobs. Their jobs involved little close contact, and the record didn't show they would refuse masks or similar precautions.
Still burning. The D.C. Circuit threw out the Department of Energy's first order forcing Michigan's Campbell coal plant to keep running. DOE warned of possible power shortages without explaining how severe or likely they'd be, or when and where they'd occur. Its own cited assessment described ways the region could respond, including reducing demand and importing power. The court wasn't persuaded that federal action was needed immediately. A sixth order still keeps the plant operating through November 14.
Hair relaxer warnings. Arizona accuses L'Oréal of selling chemical hair relaxers without warning customers about alleged cancer risks. Its consumer-fraud suit seeks to stop sales without adequate warnings and asks for penalties that would count each Arizona sale as a separate violation. L'Oréal says its products are safe and the study cited by the state didn't establish causation.
THE DEAL
Wheelin' and dealin' today's corporate news
Creditors take control. New Fortress Energy completed its restructuring, wiping out roughly $5.7 billion of old debt. As part of the exchange, creditors received all the equity in its separated Brazil business and 65% of the new NFE's common shares. The company received $136.5 million in new financing at completion, and certain creditors can still opt to participate. Those interested must contact Houlihan Lokey by September 17 at 5 p.m. EDT.
Selling the subsidiaries. Software company Tribal agreed to sell its operating subsidiaries to Main Capital's Thames Bidco for £189.3 million in cash. It had rejected SilverTree's nonbinding 95p-a-share approach. Selling the subsidiaries could prevent a potential bidder from acquiring those businesses through a takeover of Tribal, so takeover rules require a shareholder vote. The sale also needs UK national-security clearance. Tribal plans a solvent liquidation of the listed parent after completion, subject to further approvals.
Another H&F fund. Hellman & Friedman would cash out part of its investment in Italian software company TeamSystem and move its remaining stake into another of its own funds under a deal reported by Reuters. Francisco Partners would buy about 10%, with other investors including KKR taking about 5% collectively. The deal would value TeamSystem at €8–10 billion.
BOILERPLATE
Six to Cravath. Weil corporate chair Michael Aiello and five other M&A partners will join Cravath in New York. Aiello led Weil's 600-lawyer corporate department, and fellow mover Matthew Gilroy co-led M&A.
Mayer Brown's London hires. Scott Ashton and Brian Bates joined Mayer Brown's London capital-markets practice from Morrison Foerster as partner and senior counsel, respectively. They helped develop the Loan Market Association's private-placement documentation and the American College of Investment Counsel's cross-border model forms.
Alright, back to billing. That's all, folks!
