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Compliance
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August 13, 2024
Kroger Blasts FTC's 'Head-To-Head' Competition Claims
Kroger and Albertsons have assailed the Federal Trade Commission's challenge to their merger, telling an Oregon federal judge that there's no need to preliminarily block the deal because the agency is pushing a "never before applied" theory that reducing head-to-head competition is illegal, which the grocery stores said is undone by the law and the companies' planned divestiture of 579 stores.
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August 13, 2024
DOJ Gets Crash Course In AI As Attys Brace For Crackdown
The U.S. Department of Justice is working to keep pace with the swift rise of the tools known as artificial intelligence, investigating potential fraud as its Criminal Division learns the nuances of the technology — an unsettling dynamic for some defense lawyers.
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August 13, 2024
Congress Didn't Want Utility-Style Internet Regs, 6th Circ. Told
Internet service providers urged the Sixth Circuit to deep-six the Federal Communications Commission's recent decision to reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service and impose net neutrality rules, saying Congress never intended that change even under the broadest reading of federal law.
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August 13, 2024
FirstEnergy Makes Nonprosecution Deal To End Ohio AG Probe
FirstEnergy said Tuesday that it has secured a nonprosecution agreement with Ohio's attorney general stemming from an alleged $1 billion bribery scandal involving the former speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, with both parties touting the utility company's remediation and compliance improvements.
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August 13, 2024
New Jersey Panel Deems Record Access Dispute Info Public
The state agency created to make public records easily accessible to New Jerseyans is wrongfully keeping documents submitted in public records disputes under wraps, a state appellate panel said in a published opinion.
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August 13, 2024
Telecoms Fret Over FCC's Pole Attachment Deadlines
Negotiating big pole attachment orders can take longer than the Federal Communications Commission might sometimes like, a telecom industry trade group says, warning the agency that a regulation requiring the first of 3,000 such attachments to be ready in 45 days isn't realistic.
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August 13, 2024
Partnerships' Easement Fight Ends As Gov't Drops IRS Notice
An Alabama federal judge dismissed a complaint by dozens of partnerships claiming they shouldn't have to comply with an IRS notice regarding conservation easement transactions, following an Eleventh Circuit ruling upholding the notice as invalid and the government's agreement not to enforce it.
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August 13, 2024
Flyers Denied Standing To Stop Alaska-Hawaiian Airlines Deal
A Hawaii federal judge has tossed an antitrust lawsuit seeking to block Alaska Airlines' proposed merger with Hawaiian Airlines, saying a group of airline passengers and travel agents spearheading the lawsuit haven't alleged any concrete harm from the would-be merger.
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August 13, 2024
NY, NJ And Conn. Score $4.5M Penalty Over Enzo Data Breach
Molecular diagnostics company Enzo Biochem Inc. has agreed to pay a $4.5 million penalty after an investigation found that the company failed to implement recommended security protocols ahead of a data breach that affected millions of patients, New York's attorney general announced Tuesday.
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August 13, 2024
Janssen Wants New FCA Trial As Relators Seek $1.85B Win
Janssen has urged a New Jersey federal judge to toss a jury's $150 million False Claims Act verdict that found the pharmaceutical company illegally profited from the off-label marketing of popular HIV medications, while whistleblowers have asked the court for a whopping $1.85 billion judgment consisting of trebled damages and statutory penalties.
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August 13, 2024
Fla. Produce Co. Can't Change Settlement, EEOC Says
The U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission asked a Michigan federal court Tuesday to enforce a settlement with a Florida-based produce supplier that is now insisting on changing the deal over sexual harassment claims after the parties had already agreed on the terms.
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August 13, 2024
United Customer's Greenwashing Suit Preempted, Judge Says
A Maryland federal judge ruled Tuesday that federal law preempts a proposed class action alleging United Airlines misled customers by deceptively marketing its use of sustainable aviation fuels and its efforts to be green and carbon-neutral.
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August 13, 2024
DC Circ. Backs EPA's Ethylene Oxide Cancer Risk Value
The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday upheld federal environmental regulators' assessment of the cancer risk from exposure to certain chemical manufacturers' ethylene oxide emissions, rejecting a challenge from a chemical company and two chemical associations that argued the risk assessment was arbitrary and capricious.
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August 13, 2024
FTC Says Fix In Epic's Google Case Should Spur Competition
The Federal Trade Commission has told a California federal court that it has the power to impose a wide range of remedies after a jury found that Google violated antitrust law through its app store policies and urged the court to reject Google's concerns about the proposed changes.
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August 13, 2024
FTC Makes 2nd Request In Review Of Medical Device Co. Deal
Medical device company Surmodics Inc. disclosed Monday that federal regulators are taking a closer look at its agreement to be acquired by private equity giant GTCR in a $627 million deal.
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August 13, 2024
NLRB Prosecutors, Mich. AG Ink Labor Enforcement Pact
National Labor Relations Board prosecutors have teamed up with the Michigan Department of Attorney General to root out misclassification and other violations of workers' rights in the agency's first collaboration with a state attorney general, the board announced Tuesday.
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August 13, 2024
CBP Strikes $45M Deal To End Pregnancy Bias Suit
U.S. Customs and Border Protection will pay $45 million to wrap up a class action brought on behalf of 1,000 workers who said the agency forced them onto light duty because they became pregnant, the workers' attorneys said Tuesday.
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August 13, 2024
EPA Defends Approval Of La. Injection Well Authority
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday urged the Fifth Circuit to dismiss a lawsuit by green groups challenging the EPA's decision to give Louisiana authority over some underground injection wells, which can be used for carbon capture and sequestration.
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August 13, 2024
Most In-House Counsel Worried Over Transparency Act
Most legal and compliance executives are worried that their own companies are not ready to meet the requirements of the new U.S. Corporate Transparency Act, and many don't even know when the reporting deadlines are.
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August 13, 2024
Connecticut Justices Restore City's Lien On Burned Building
The city of Hartford can place a lien on an apartment building that was heavily damaged in an arson fire to make sure that it recoups the funds that paid for 39 families to relocate, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled in overturning a trial court's decision to discharge the lien.
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August 13, 2024
Rising Star: Mayer Brown's Juliet Gunev
Juliet Gunev of Mayer Brown LLP has spent her career helping global corporations build out their compliance programs, developing a specialty in corporate investigations and anticorruption law in the process and earning her a spot among the compliance law practitioners under age 40 honored by Law360 as Rising Stars.
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August 13, 2024
State Street Fired 9/11 Victim During Cancer Bout, Suit Says
A former State Street employee filed a lawsuit claiming the Boston-based megabank illegally fired her for taking medical leave for 9/11-related cancer treatments and for internally reporting more than a million dollars in alleged fraudulent bills sent to customers.
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August 13, 2024
JDs Linked To Higher Pay For Chief Compliance Officers
Chief compliance officers with law degrees earn much more — sometimes as much as nearly $300,000 more — compared with those without the degree, according to a recent report.
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August 12, 2024
Texas Wants Debt Relief Review In Wake Of 8th Circ. Ruling
Texas' solicitor general on Saturday pressed the U.S. Supreme Court to shut down the Biden administration's student debt relief plan, arguing that a recent Eighth Circuit decision granting an injunction against the plan in a similar case "underscores" why the high court should grant its petition for certiorari.
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August 12, 2024
Chase Bank Sued Over Alleged Ties To $119M Ponzi Scheme
Chase Bank "actively accommodated" a purported Ponzi scheme worth more than a hundred million dollars by real estate developer SiliconSage Builders LLC, according to a court-appointed receiver who alleged in a new suit that the bank "went well beyond providing ordinary banking services" to the developer.
Expert Analysis
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Series
A Day In The In-House Life: Block CLO Talks Problem-Solving
Amid the busy summer months, Block Inc. Chief Legal Officer Chrysty Esperanza chronicles a typical Wednesday where she conquered everything from unexpected fintech regulatory issues and team building to Bay Area commutes and school drop-off.
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Shipping Containers As Building Elements Require Diligence
With the shipping container market projected to double between 2020 and 2028, repurposing containers as storage units, office spaces and housing may become more common, but developers must make sure they comply with requirements that can vary by intended use and location, says Steven Otto at Crosbie Gliner.
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7th Circ. Ruling Expands CFPB Power In Post-Chevron Era
The Seventh Circuit’s recent ruling in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Townstone Financial interprets the Equal Credit Opportunity Act broadly, paving the way for increased CFPB enforcement and hinting at how federal courts may approach statutory interpretation in the post-Chevron world, say attorneys at Saul Ewing.
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How Loper Bright Weakens NEPA Enviro Justice Strategy
The National Environmental Policy Act is central to the Biden administration's environmental justice agenda — but the U.S. Supreme Court's recent decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo casts doubt on the government's ability to rely on NEPA for this purpose, and a pending federal case will test the strategy's limits, say attorneys at Perkins Coie.
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Heading Off Officials' Errors When Awarded A Gov't Contract
Government contractors awarded state or local projects funded through federal programs should seek clarification of their compliance obligations, documenting everything, or risk having to defend themselves when they seek reimbursement months later, with only their word for support, says George Petel at Wiley.
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Drip Pricing Exemption Isn't A Free Pass For Calif. Eateries
A new exemption relieves California bars and restaurants from the recently effective law banning prices that don't reflect mandatory fees and charges — but such establishments aren't entirely off the hook for drip pricing, due to uncertainty over disclosure requirements and pending federal junk fee regulations, say Alexandria Ruiz and Amy Lally at Sidley.
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Justices' Intent Witness Ruling May Be Useful For Defense Bar
At first glance, the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Diaz v. U.S. decision, allowing experts to testify to the mental state of criminal defendants in federal court, gives prosecutors a new tool, but creative white collar defense counsel may be able to use the same tool to their own advantage, say Jack Sharman and Rachel Bragg at Lightfoot Franklin.
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Eye On Compliance: New Pregnancy And Nursing Protections
With New York rolling out paid lactation breaks and extra leave for prenatal care, and recent federal legislative developments enhancing protection for pregnant and nursing workers, employers required to offer these complex new accommodations should take several steps to mitigate their compliance risks, says Madjeen Garcon-Bonneau at Wilson Elser.
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How To Grow Marketing, Biz Dev Teams In A Tight Market
Faced with fierce competition and rising operating costs, firms are feeling the pressure to build a well-oiled marketing and business development team that supports strategic priorities, but they’ll need to be flexible and creative given a tight talent market, says Ben Curle at Ambition.
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FTC Focus: Private Equity Investments In Healthcare
As the Federal Trade Commission is tightening its scrutiny of private equity investment in healthcare, the agency is finding novel grounds to challenge key focus areas, including rollup acquisitions, the flip-and-strip approach and minority investments in rival providers, say attorneys at Proskauer.
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Jarkesy's Impact On SEC Enforcement Will Be Modest
Though the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy decision found that fraud defendants have a constitutional right to a jury trial, the ruling will have muted impact on the agency’s enforcement because it’s already bringing most of its cases in federal court, say Jeremiah Williams and Alyssa Fixsen at Ropes & Gray.
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Opinion
Data Breach Reporting Requirements Must Change In AI Age
Outdated data breach reporting laws are inadequate to protect consumers in the age of artificial intelligence, as AI’s ability to determine relationships coupled with its improvements to deepfake technology mean that the very definitions used in breach reporting laws are no longer sufficient, says Collin Walke at Hall Estill.
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Unpacking HHS' Opinion On Cell Therapy Refund Programs
A recent advisory opinion from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, determining that a biopharma company's refund program for its cell therapy will not be penalized, indicates an encouraging willingness to engage, but the regulator's assumptions about the program's limited term warrant a closer look, says Mary Kohler at Kohler Health.
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New FARA Letters Offer Insight Into DOJ's Approach
The U.S. Department of Justice's recently released batch of 15 advisory opinions from the Foreign Agents Registration Act Unit provides important guidance on FARA registration triggers and exemptions, underscoring the breadth of FARA's scope, says Tessa Capeloto at Wiley.
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Series
Rock Climbing Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Rock climbing requires problem-solving, focus, risk management and resilience, skills that are also invaluable assets in my role as a finance lawyer, says Mei Zhang at Haynes and Boone.