The federal government’s new authority to regulate tobacco products is facing its first major legal challenge. Several tobacco companies filed a lawsuit yesterday claiming that a host of new advertising restrictions—including a requirement that tobacco products must have larger, graphic warning labels covering half of the packaging—violates constitutional rights of commercial free speech.

A union representing DuPont Co. workers has filed a class-action lawsuit claiming the company has failed to correct miscalculations of pension benefits for employees who retired on or after Aug. 1 last year. The International Brotherhood of DuPont Workers filed the lawsuit Monday in U.S. District Court in Richmond on behalf of five people who recently retired, or soon will retire, from four DuPont plants, including the company’s Spruance plant in Chesterfield County.

A lawsuit claims that BB&T Corp.‘s Richmond-based investment banking subsidiary, Scott & Stringfellow LLC, conspired to take trade secrets when it recruited several employees from a competitor’s Richmond office. Stephens Inc., a Little Rock, Ark.-based investment banking firm, filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Richmond last week. It names Winston Salem, N.C.-based BB&T Corp. and Scott & Stringfellow as defendants.

The parents of a Covington High School student killed in a car wreck on the way to sell ads for the school’s yearbook are suing the School Board, the principal and a teacher for $1 million. According to the lawsuit, Robert Smith, 16, was the back-seat passenger in a vehicle driven by classmate Norman Lee Thomas on Sept. 19, 2007. Thomas, who was 17 at the time, was driving at speeds of more than 100 mph on Interstate 64, according to another passenger in the car. The car went off the road and flipped.

The State Fair of Virginia Inc. has reached a settlement with the Tennessee-based company planning a 10-day event this summer at the fair’s former home. The federal lawsuit, filed March 6 in Richmond, alleged that Universal Fairs used a similar logo and participated in unfair competition through misleading statements as it promoted the Richmond State Fair, planned for the Richmond Raceway Complex, longtime home of the State Fair of Virginia.

The State Fair of Virginia Inc. has filed a lawsuit in federal court against a Tennessee-based company planning a 10-day fair this summer in Henrico County that they say undermines their decades-old event.

Washington lobbyist Vicki Iseman has withdrawn her $27 million lawsuit against The New York Times filed Dec. 30 in federal court in Richmond. The suit alleged that the newspaper damaged her reputation by falsely implying she had an illicit romantic relationship with Sen. John McCain. The news article ran almost a year ago, when McCain was the presumptive Republican nominee for president.

SAN FRANCISCO—A federal judge has upheld a jury award of $28.1 million to retired football players who sued the NFL Players’ Association for allegedly failing to properly market their images. The judge said today there was sufficient evidence presented at trial in November that the union actively sought to cut out the retired players from lucrative contracts for the benefit of current players.

Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder blasted attorney David M. Hicks yesterday, saying Hicks sought $2 million to settle a lawsuit against the city while also leading the transition of Mayor-elect Dwight Clinton Jones.

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—NASCAR has settled a $225 million lawsuit filed by a former official who said she was subjected to racial discrimination and sexual harassment during her two-plus years working for the stock-car organization, The Associated Press has learned. The suit was settled during a Dec. 3 mediation held in New York between Mauricia Grant and NASCAR. Settlement terms were confidential.

CHARLOTTE, N.C.—NASCAR has settled a $225 million lawsuit filed by a former official who said she was subjected to racial discrimination and sexual harassment during her two-plus years working for the stock-car organization, The Associated Press has learned. The suit was settled during a Dec. 3 mediation held in New York between Mauricia Grant and NASCAR. Settlement terms were confidential.

George Harrison is on it.  So is Michael Bolton.  And, as we’re reminded in the current “Cadillac Records,“ Chuck Berry made sure The Beach Boys were also on the list.  Now add Coldplay to the lineup of artists who have been accused of musical plagiarism.  The British quartet is being sued by guitar maestro Joe Satriani for allegedly swiping “substantial original portions” of Satriani’s instrumental “If I Could Fly” in the band’s Grammy-nominated hit, “Viva La Vida.“

George Harrison is on it.  So is Michael Bolton.  And, as we’re reminded in the current “Cadillac Records,“ Chuck Berry made sure The Beach Boys were also on the list.  Now add Coldplay to the lineup of artists who have been accused of musical plagiarism.  The British quartet is being sued by guitar maestro Joe Satriani for allegedly swiping “substantial original portions” of Satriani’s instrumental “If I Could Fly” in the band’s Grammy-nominated hit, “Viva La Vida.“

Japanese millionaire Daisuke Enomoto had planned to dress up as his favorite anime character in outer space and spent $21 million to make it happen. Now he claims the company that was supposed make his dream come true brushed him aside with little more than a “sorry, no refunds.“