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Compliance
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June 25, 2024
Firm Accused Of Raising $12M On Fake Investment Claims
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has sued an investment firm and its adviser over allegations they fraudulently raised $12.5 million from investors while claiming it had ties to an art investing platform and had a major accounting firm as its auditor.
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June 25, 2024
Exxon Bid For Avangrid Docs In Greenwash Case Faces Doubt
A Massachusetts judge on Tuesday questioned the relevance of potentially millions of wind energy company Avangrid's documents being sought by ExxonMobil in its defense of a greenwashing case brought by the state.
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June 25, 2024
Pot Cos. Push Back On Calif. City's Bid To Toss $5.4M Fee Suit
Six cannabis companies are fighting the California city of Cudahy's bid to dismiss a suit alleging that the city reneged on a promise to waive $5.4 million in fees accrued during the COVID-19 shutdowns, saying the motion largely disputes allegations that the court has to accept as true under a motion to dismiss.
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June 25, 2024
Drilling Permit Challenge Should Stay Dead, DOI Tells DC Circ.
The U.S. Department of the Interior told the D.C. Circuit a federal judge correctly ruled environmental groups cannot challenge the federal approval of thousands of drilling permits in New Mexico and Wyoming because they failed to establish any particularized injury.
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June 25, 2024
EU Opens Microsoft Case, Unappeased By Teams Unbundling
European Union antitrust authorities opened a formal complaint against Microsoft on Tuesday over the company's bundling of its Teams communications program with its Office 365 suites, calling out as insufficient the disconnection of the services Microsoft initiated last year to appease enforcers.
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June 25, 2024
Int'l Paper Gets US Clearance On $7.2B DS Smith Buy
International Paper Co. and its U.K. competitor DS Smith PLC said Tuesday that the waiting period for U.S. antitrust authorities to try and block their planned roughly $7.2 billion merger has expired.
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June 25, 2024
NY Judge Partially Lifts Trump Gag Order Ahead Of Sentence
The Manhattan judge overseeing former President Donald Trump's hush-money case on Tuesday vacated key parts of a gag order intended to shield jurors and witnesses from his verbal attacks, although an order protecting the jurors' identities remains in place.
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June 24, 2024
Chevron's $120M Trial Loss Reinstated By Calif. Appeals Court
A California appellate court says Chevron cannot get another trial after a jury found it liable for the negligent operation of an oil field, overturning a lower court's ruling that the company was entitled to a new trial because a juror failed to disclose a decades-old criminal conviction.
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June 24, 2024
More Law Schools Boosting AI In Curricula
Law schools are increasingly incorporating artificial intelligence into their curricula, including dedicated AI courses and opportunities for students to use AI tools, signaling a trend that the technology is becoming essential for future lawyers, according to results from an American Bar Association survey released Monday.
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June 24, 2024
Tesla Class Attys In Del. Blast Musk's Texas Pay-Salvage Plan
Tesla stockholder attorneys who won a Delaware Court of Chancery order voiding Elon Musk's then-$56 billion compensation package in January have asked the court to reject company claims that recent stockholder approval of the same Musk pay plan after Tesla's reincorporation in Texas "has controlling and preclusive effect."
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June 24, 2024
SEC Official Urges Banks To Report Commercial RE Risks
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is closely monitoring the way banks with significant commercial real estate portfolios are communicating with investors about their exposure to the struggling market, the agency's director of its Division of Corporation Finance said in remarks posted online Monday.
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June 24, 2024
Localities Redouble Effort To Block House Broadband Bill
The U.S. Conference of Mayors is leaning on Congress to abandon the American Broadband Deployment Act of 2023, saying the bill is trying to cut red tape for broadband permitting at the expense of local governments' control over their own territories.
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June 24, 2024
Justices Will Weigh Liability Of Corporate Affiliates In TM Row
The U.S. Supreme Court will review whether a real estate development company's corporate affiliates should be responsible for a $46.6 million trademark infringement judgment — even though they were not defendants — in a case attorneys said Monday could have ramifications beyond the Lanham Act.
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June 24, 2024
GM Financial Pulls FDIC Industrial Bank Application, For Now
General Motors' financing arm said Monday that it has withdrawn its long-gestating bid for Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. approval to open an insured industrial bank, tabling its plans just days after the agency signed off on another such application for the first time in years.
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June 24, 2024
States Attack Conservation Leasing In New Public Lands Rule
North Dakota, Idaho and Montana are challenging the Bureau of Land Management's move to prioritize conservation in public land regulation, claiming the agency's recent public lands rule "upends" long-standing federal leasing processes and reorients land use mandates against the priorities of federal law.
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June 24, 2024
Toyota Accused Of Misleading Investors Over Emission Tests
Toyota and its top brass misled investors by understating in U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filings its role in falsifying emissions and fuel-economy data, which led to a drop in stock price when the truth came out, according to a proposed class action filed Monday in California federal court.
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June 24, 2024
CFTC Says Gemini Can't 'Heighten Burden' Over Omissions
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission has urged a New York federal judge to grant it a pretrial win on claims cryptocurrency exchange Gemini provided incomplete information that misled the regulator on a proposed bitcoin futures contract, arguing Gemini's defense is nothing but a "convoluted exercise in avoidance."
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June 24, 2024
5th Circ. Weighs 'Binding Authority' Of Gulf Fishery Council
A Fifth Circuit panel on Monday pushed back against the government's assertion that members of a council tasked with regulating fishing in federal waters do not count as federal officers, saying the council's ability to limit changes to federal rules "sounds like a legally binding authority."
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June 24, 2024
JPMorgan Should Save Data Sob Story For Feds, Argus Says
TransUnion and its data unit Argus Information & Advisory Services have told a Delaware federal judge that they plan to seek dismissal of a JPMorgan Chase & Co. lawsuit tied to their recent $37 million settlement with the government over claims that Argus misused credit card data it was collecting from banks on regulators' behalf.
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June 24, 2024
Sierra Club Says Mich. Power Co. Liable For Illegal Pollution
The Sierra Club and a small town in Michigan are looking to hold a power plant partially liable for air pollution produced by a steel factory, claiming in amended complaints filed Monday that many of the factory's regulatory compliance failures can be traced back to energy company employees.
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June 24, 2024
Ill. Landowners Challenge FERC Moves On $7B Power Line
Illinois residents, farmers and landowners launched a fresh challenge to the $7 billion Grain Belt Express high-voltage power line, telling the D.C. Circuit that when the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission approved an amended negotiated rate authority, it ignored clean energy giant Invenergy's unsanctioned purchase of the project in 2020.
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June 24, 2024
9th Circ. Won't Reconsider Or Sanction In Kari Lake Vote Suit
The Ninth Circuit has rejected Arizona Republican Kari Lake's attempt to revive her 2022 suit over the state's voting machines, issuing a two-sentence order that also rejects a sanctions bid Maricopa County officials filed in response to the former gubernatorial candidate's attempt to restart her failed suit.
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June 24, 2024
Illinois, Other States Back FTC Bid To Affirm Intuit Ad Ruling
Illinois, along with 20 other states and the District of Columbia, defended the Federal Trade Commission in tax software giant Intuit's Fifth Circuit constitutional challenge to the agency's findings that the company engaged in deceptive advertising, saying in an amicus brief that the FTC's conclusion was correct.
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June 24, 2024
Boeing Says Turbulent Securities Suit Should Be Dismissed
Boeing has moved to dismiss a proposed securities fraud suit in Virginia federal court accusing it of misleading investors about the overall safety of its 737 Max jets, saying that the plaintiffs' "kitchen-sink" approach falls short of pleading requirements.
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June 24, 2024
Judge Blocks Part Of DOL Construction Prevailing Wage Rule
A Texas federal judge on Monday blocked parts of a U.S. Department of Labor rule changing how prevailing wages are determined for federally funded construction projects from going into effect, saying the department had overstepped its authority under the Davis-Bacon Act.
Expert Analysis
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CFPB Reality Check: Video Game Cash Is Still Money
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent report examining payments within online video games indicates that financial services offered within the game marketplace are quickly evolving to the point where they are indistinguishable from traditional financial services subject to regulation, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
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What CRA Deadline Means For Biden Admin. Rulemaking
With the 2024 election rapidly approaching, the Biden administration must race to finalize proposed agency actions within the next few weeks, or be exposed to the chance that the following Congress will overturn the rules under the Congressional Review Act, say attorneys at Covington.
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5 Takeaways From FDA's Biosimilars Promotion Guidance
New draft guidance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expands upon other recent efforts to clarify expectations for biosimilar and interchangeable labeling, highlighting a number of potential missteps that could draw attention from regulators, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
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The Legal Issues Raised In Minn. Rate Exportation Opt-Out Bill
A recent Minnesota House bill would amend state law by opting out of the federal interest rate preemption and introduce several legal gray areas if passed, including issues regarding loan location, rates on credit card loans and values of state charters, says Karen Grandstrand at Fredrikson & Byron.
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Are Concessions In FDA's Lab-Developed Tests Rule Enough?
Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new policy for laboratory-developed tests included major strategic concessions to help balance patient safety, access and diagnostic innovation, the new rule may well face significant legal challenges in court, say Dominick DiSabatino and Audrey Mercer at Sheppard Mullin.
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5 Climate Change Regulatory Issues Insurers Should Follow
The climate change landscape for insurers has changed dramatically recently — and not just because of the controversy over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related risk disclosure rules, says Thomas Dawson at McDermott.
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How New Rule Would Change CFIUS Enforcement Powers
Before the May 15 comment deadline, companies may want to weigh in on proposed regulatory changes to enforcement and mitigation tools at the disposal of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, including broadened subpoena powers, difficult new mitigation timelines and higher maximum penalties, say attorneys at Venable.
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What's Extraordinary About Challenges To SEC Climate Rule
A set of ideologically diverse legal challenges to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate disclosure rule have been consolidated in the Eighth Circuit via a seldom-used lottery system, and the unpredictability of this process may drive agencies toward a more cautious future approach to rulemaking, say attorneys at Thompson Coburn.
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8 Questions To Ask Before Final CISA Breach Reporting Rule
The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s recently proposed cyber incident reporting requirements for critical infrastructure entities represent the overall approach CISA will take in its final rule, so companies should be asking key compliance questions now and preparing for a more complicated reporting regime, say Arianna Evers and Shannon Mercer at WilmerHale.
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Is The Digital Accessibility Storm Almost Over?
Though private businesses have faced a decadelong deluge of digital accessibility complaints in the absence of clear regulations or uniformity among the courts, attorneys at Epstein Becker address how recent federal courts’ pushback against serial Americans with Disabilities Act plaintiffs and the U.S. Department of Justice’s proposed government accessibility standards may presage a break in the downpour.
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PE In The Crosshairs Of Public And Private Antitrust Enforcers
A series of decisions from a California federal court in the recently settled Packaged Seafood Products Antitrust Litigation, as well as heightened scrutiny from federal agencies, serve as a reminder that private equity firms may be exposed to liability for alleged anti-competitive conduct by their portfolio companies, say attorneys at Axinn.
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Series
Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.
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Mid-2024 FCA Enforcement And Litigation Trends To Watch
Reviewing notable False Claims Act trends and enforcement efforts in the last year and a half reveals that healthcare is a key enforcement priority for the U.S. Department of Justice, and the road ahead may bring clarification on Anti-Kickback Statute causation and willfulness standards, along with increased focus on private equity, cybersecurity and self-disclosure, say attorneys at Epstein Becker.
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Key Priorities In FDIC Report On Resolving Big Bank Failures
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s report last month on the resolvability of large financial institutions contains little new information, but it does reiterate key policy priorities, including the agency's desire to enhance loss-absorbing capacity through long-term debt requirements and preference for single-point-of-entry resolution strategies, say attorneys at Freshfields.
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Justices' Title VII Ruling Requires Greater Employer Vigilance
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Muldrow v. St. Louis ruling expands the types of employment decisions that can be challenged under Title VII, so employers will need to carefully review decisions that affect a term, condition or privilege of employment, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.