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Compliance
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August 06, 2024
Ex-Army Contract Officer Gets 1 Year For GF's No-Show Job
A former U.S. Department of Defense contracting officer has been sentenced to a year in prison for getting his girlfriend a high-paying, no-show job at a defense contractor, then taking multiple trips to Disney World and other vacation spots with her on taxpayers' dime.
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August 05, 2024
Kia Atty Reduced To 'Monty Python' Knight By Tentative Order
Kia and Hyundai's attorney told a California federal judge Monday that his tentative order denying the companies' motion to dismiss Chicago's claims in multidistrict litigation over car thefts left him feeling like the knight in "Monty Python and the Holy Grail" who loses his arms and legs but keeps fighting.
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August 05, 2024
DOJ Wants Google Held Accountable For Deleted Chats
The U.S. Department of Justice has told the Virginia federal court overseeing the government's case accusing Google of monopolizing key digital advertising technology the company needs to be held accountable for implementing policies that destroyed evidence.
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August 05, 2024
FTC Says Syngenta 'Distorts' Info Rules In Competition Case
The Federal Trade Commission is urging a North Carolina federal court to force Syngenta Corp. to produce documents in a lawsuit accusing the chemical maker and Corteva Inc. of suppressing competition from cheaper generic pesticides, emphasizing that the information is relevant to the case despite Syngenta's contentions to the contrary.
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August 05, 2024
CFPB's Buy-Now, Pay-Later Policy In House GOP Crosshairs
Republican members of Congress have taken aim again at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent guidance requiring that some of the protections provided to credit card users be applied to buy-now, pay-later loans, putting forward a new measure that would overturn what the lawmakers argue is a "destructive," overreaching policy.
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August 05, 2024
Coinbase Broke Campaign Finance Laws, Crypto Critics Say
Crypto exchange Coinbase violated campaign finance laws when it donated $25.5 million to political action committees while negotiating a federal contract, prominent crypto critics told a federal election watchdog — a claim the firm's legal chief has staunchly denied.
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August 05, 2024
Abandoned Gas Wells Class Action Survives 4th Circ. Battle
The Fourth Circuit on Monday rejected EQT Corp.'s and Diversified Energy Co.'s efforts to evade a proposed class action filed by West Virginia property owners who allege they've been harmed by abandoned oil and gas wells.
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August 05, 2024
Morgan Stanley Says SEC Eyeing Its Cash Sweep Policies
Morgan Stanley told investors on Monday that it is fielding enforcement inquiries from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission about its investment account cash sweep policies.
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August 05, 2024
EBay Resists Calif. Damages In Mass. Stalking Case
Married Massachusetts bloggers who were stalked and terrorized by eBay Inc. employees shouldn't be able to seek punitive damages available under California law while having Massachusetts law otherwise govern liability for their myriad civil claims, the e-commerce giant is arguing.
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August 05, 2024
SEC Nabs $1M Default Win Against Fuel Tech Co.
A fuel and gas company previously known as Taronis Technologies Inc. must pay a $1 million civil penalty after disregarding U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission allegations it touted nonexistent or exaggerated customer relationships with big customers, including Turkey's government and food processor Smithfield.
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August 05, 2024
Petrobras Manipulating US Law For $2B, 5th Circ. Hints
A Fifth Circuit judge accused a Brazilian state-owned oil company subsidiary of "hiding behind the corporate structure," saying during oral arguments on Monday that subsidiary Petrobras America Inc. was seemingly manipulating American law for treble damages totaling nearly $2 billion stemming from allegations of bribery.
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August 05, 2024
Top Groups Lobbying The FCC
The Federal Communications Commission heard from advocates nearly 180 times in July on issues ranging from rural broadband to Wi-Fi hot spots for schools and libraries, new payment rates for phone call captioning, spectrum for the electric grid, and more.
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August 05, 2024
FTC Looks To End Noncompete Ban Challenge In Texas
The Federal Trade Commission defended its noncompete ban to a Texas federal judge, arguing in a new motion for summary judgment that its rule is well within the bounds of the FTC Act's plain language.
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August 05, 2024
GOP Bill Would Claw Back Broadband Funds For Local Areas
When a company defaults on millions in Rural Digital Opportunity Fund money, those funds should go to the state to redistribute for broadband projects as it sees fit, according to a Republican senator who has introduced a bill that would do just that.
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August 05, 2024
Patreon To Pay $7.25M To End Subscribers' Video Privacy Suit
Patreon has agreed to pay $7.25 million to settle a proposed class action on behalf of 1.2 million users who claim the content subscription-based platform violated the Video Privacy Protection Act by sharing their video-watching data with Facebook-owner Meta Platforms Inc. without their consent, according to court documents filed Friday.
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August 05, 2024
Nursing Home Flubs Make Reports Fair Game, NJ Justices Say
Two Garden State healthcare facilities failed to follow state regulations in after-incident reviews, making the normally privileged reports accessible to plaintiffs, the New Jersey Supreme Court ruled Monday.
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August 05, 2024
BIPA Reform Becomes Law, But Damages Concerns Persist
The Illinois Legislature heeded a call from the state's Supreme Court to shield business from potentially ruinous damages under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, but lawyers say the new protections can still leave large employers facing hefty verdicts.
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August 05, 2024
GM Slams Investors' Suit Alleging AV Tech Lapses
General Motors has asked a Michigan federal court to dismiss a proposed securities fraud class action alleging it downplayed safety concerns about its autonomous vehicle technology, arguing the investors have contorted definitions of safety terms to bolster the suit.
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August 05, 2024
Former Refiner Can't Dodge Polluted Water Remedy
A Virgin Islands oil refinery that spewed oil onto neighbors' properties has lost its Third Circuit challenge to a court-ordered program that required it to buy bottled water for residents too poor to buy it themselves.
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August 05, 2024
Washington, Tribes Back EPA's Health Criteria For The State
The state of Washington and five Native American tribes have argued that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rightly restored more than 140 human health criteria aimed at protecting the state's residents from toxic pollutants, urging a D.C. federal judge to reject several business groups' attempt to overturn the agency's rule.
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August 05, 2024
Ex-Credit Union VP Sues Over Pot Compliance Firing
A former vice president of a Missouri credit union has hit the institution with a federal lawsuit claiming her former employer violated state whistleblower and federal money laundering laws after she refused to open accounts for her boss's friends in marijuana-related businesses despite pressure from the boss.
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August 05, 2024
CrowdStrike Slams Delta Over Outage Lawsuit Threats
CrowdStrike has fired back at Delta Air Lines' recent threat to haul the cybersecurity firm to court to recoup hundreds of millions in losses from last month's global IT outage, saying the airline refused CrowdStrike's offer for technical assistance, then botched its own operational recovery.
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August 05, 2024
Sen. Urges CFPB To Investigate Banks' Zelle Dispute Practices
U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., has urged the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to investigate the nation's three largest banks and the operator behind payments network Zelle after he said the firms gave "circuitous answers" to lawmakers during a hearing on their handling of fraud and dispute resolutions on the platform.
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August 05, 2024
Poultry Co. Fights Bid For $217K In Legal Costs For Subpoena
A poultry rendering company suing Tyson Foods for allegedly deploying anticompetitive tactics in order to force a dramatically undervalued buyout is fighting a bid from Darling Ingredients, a nonparty in the suit, to recoup the money spent fighting a subpoena.
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August 05, 2024
Musk Accuses OpenAI Of Fraud, RICO Over Business Model
Elon Musk on Monday accused OpenAI Inc. and its leaders of violating several laws related to fraud, conspiracy, contract violations and false advertising by claiming he was wrongly told the company would remain a nonprofit, in a suit filed in California federal court.
Expert Analysis
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Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice
The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.
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Why High Court Social Media Ruling Will Be Hotly Debated
In deciding the NetChoice cases that challenged Florida and Texas content moderation laws, what the U.S. Supreme Court justices said about social media platforms — and the First Amendment — will have implications and raise questions for nearly all online operators, say Jacob Canter and Joanna Rosen Forster at Crowell & Moring.
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6 Lessons From DOJ's 1st Controlled Drug Case In Telehealth
Following the U.S. Department of Justice’s first-ever criminal prosecution over telehealth-prescribed controlled substances in U.S. v. Ruthia He, healthcare providers should be mindful of the risks associated with restricting the physician-patient relationship when crafting new business models, says Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.
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Realtor Settlement May Create New Antitrust Pitfalls
Following a recent antitrust settlement between the National Association of Realtors and home sellers, practices are set to change and the increased competition may benefit both brokers and homebuyers, but the loss of the customary method of buyer broker compensation could lead to new antitrust concerns, says Colin Ahler at Snell & Wilmer.
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Electrifying Transportation With Public-Private Partnerships
Many clean energy goals remain public policy abstractions that face a challenging road to realization — but public-private partnership models could be a valuable tool to electrify the transportation sector, says Michael Blackwell at Husch Blackwell.
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Navigating The New Rise Of Greenwashing Litigation
As greenwashing lawsuits continue to gain momentum with a shift in focus to carbon-neutrality claims, businesses must exercise caution and ensure transparency in their environmental marketing practices, taking cues from recent legal challenges in the airline industry, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.
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In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State
On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.
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Preparing For CFPB 'Junk Fee' Push Into Mortgage Industry
As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau considers expanding its "junk fee" initiative into mortgage closing costs, mortgage lenders and third parties must develop plans now that anticipate potential rulemaking or enforcement activity in this space, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.
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How High Court Approached Time Limit On Reg Challenges
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Corner Post v. Federal Reserve Board effectively gives new entities their own personal statute of limitations to challenge rules and regulations, and Justice Brett Kavanaugh's concurrence may portend the court's view that those entities do not need to be directly regulated, say attorneys at Snell & Wilmer.
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First-Of-Its-Kind Chancery Ruling Will Aid SPAC Defendants
The Delaware Chancery Court's first full dismissal of claims challenging a special purpose acquisition company transaction under the entire fairness doctrine in the recent Hennessy Capital Acquisition Stockholder Litigation establishes useful precedent to abate the flood of SPAC litigation, say Lisa Bugni and Benjamin Lee at King & Spalding.
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Series
After Chevron: FTC's 'Unfair Competition' Actions In Jeopardy
While the U.S. Supreme Court's decision ending Chevron deference will have limited effect on the Federal Trade Commission's merger guidelines, administrative enforcement actions and commission decisions on appeal, it could restrict the agency's expansive take on its rulemaking authority and threaten the noncompete ban, say attorneys at Baker Botts.
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Expect The Unexpected: Contracts For Underground Projects
Recent challenges encountered by the Mountain Valley Pipeline project underscore the importance of drafting contracts for underground construction to account for unexpected site conditions, associated risks and compliance with applicable laws, say Jill Jaffe and Brenda Lin at Nossaman.
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How To Clean Up Your Generative AI-Produced Legal Drafts
As law firms increasingly rely on generative artificial intelligence tools to produce legal text, attorneys should be on guard for the overuse of cohesive devices in initial drafts, and consider a few editing pointers to clean up AI’s repetitive and choppy outputs, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.
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Supreme Court's ALJ Ruling Carries Implications Beyond SEC
In its recent Jarkesy opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the types of cases that can be tried before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's in-house administrative law judges, setting the stage for challenges to the constitutionality of ALJs across other agencies, say Robert Robertson and Kimberley Church at Dechert.
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Opinion
A Tale Of 2 Trump Cases: The Rule Of Law Is A Live Issue
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision this week in Trump v. U.S., holding that former President Donald Trump has broad immunity from prosecution, undercuts the rule of law, while the former president’s New York hush money conviction vindicates it in eight key ways, says David Postel at Henein Hutchison.