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Public Policy
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December 18, 2024
Monsanto Plaintiffs' Jury Demand Tops $4B In Wash. PCB Tort
Fifteen people in a toxic tort against Monsanto told a Washington state jury Wednesday that the company deserves a $3.45 billion punishment to deter corporate misconduct worldwide, on top of the $690 million in compensatory damages they requested the day before, as counsel sparred over whether the plaintiffs suffered "generational harm."
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December 18, 2024
Standing Unchanged In Gun Show Loophole Case, States Say
A Texas-led coalition of states has told a federal judge that the ATF failed to "move the needle" in arguing that several pro-Second Amendment organizations don't have standing to challenge a Biden administration rule that would broaden the scope of who qualifies as a firearms dealer.
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December 18, 2024
FDA's Gastro Drug Fast-Track Denial Survives DC Circuit
A D.C. Circuit panel upheld federal regulators' refusal to streamline approval of a drug to treat nausea in patients with a chronic gastric condition, ruling that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration was right to consider the drug's development plan when deciding whether it qualified for fast tracking.
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December 18, 2024
Divided SEC Approves PCAOB's $400M Budget
The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board will receive the nearly $400 million it requested to fund its operations in 2025, despite the objections of Republican members of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday who expressed concern about the auditing watchdog's growing budget.
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December 18, 2024
Funding Bill Takes In Broadband, Ticketing, Privacy
A congressional spending package that would fund the federal government through March is set to include a slew of bipartisan proposals aimed at digital security, online pricing transparency and rural broadband access.
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December 18, 2024
NJ Court Orders AG To Give Up Control Of Paterson Police Dept.
New Jersey Attorney General Matthew J. Platkin exceeded his authority last year when he took over police department operations in the city of Paterson and reassigned the police chief to a training post outside the city, a state appellate court ruled Wednesday.
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December 18, 2024
EDNY US Atty Peace To Resign Before Trump Inauguration
Brooklyn U.S. Attorney Breon Peace, who has headed the federal prosecution office in the Eastern District of New York since 2021, announced his resignation Wednesday ahead of the incoming Donald Trump administration.
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December 18, 2024
DHS Pushes Through Rule To Hasten Some Removals
A new U.S. Department of Homeland Security regulation will allow asylum officers to quickly decide if migrants are barred from asylum because of national security or public safety concerns, paving the way for swift removals of those individuals.
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December 18, 2024
11th Circ. Doubtful Of FCC's Marketing Consent Clampdown
Eleventh Circuit judges appeared skeptical Wednesday of the Federal Communications Commission's legal justification for a marketing rule that requires selecting businesses on an individual basis through comparison shopping sites before they reach out to consumers.
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December 18, 2024
Wash. City Settles Road Rage Shooting Suit For $15M
A Puget Sound municipality has agreed to pay $14.9 million to a restaurant owner who was paralyzed in a road-rage shooting, an attorney for the entrepreneur announced Wednesday, claiming that the same gun used to injure his client was given to the shooter by police days earlier.
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December 18, 2024
Judge Wants To Know If Colo. Kroger Merger Fight Is Moot
A Colorado state judge wants to know whether two recent decisions blocking the proposed $24.6 billion merger of The Kroger Co. and Albertsons Companies Inc. has mooted Attorney General Phillip J. Weiser's challenge to the transaction, according to a briefing plan approved Tuesday.
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December 18, 2024
Democrats Blocked Again On Confirming DC Judges
Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., tried and failed to fast-track the confirmation of 10 D.C. judicial nominees, making it unlikely these vacancies will be filled before the new year starts.
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December 18, 2024
Ex-Fla Rep. Charged Again For Foreign Agent Violations
Former Florida Rep. David Rivera, who is battling an indictment in Miami over lobbying work for Venezuela, faces additional criminal charges in Washington, D.C., where a grand jury indicted him on charges he failed to register as a foreign agent when he lobbied on a Venezuelan businessman's behalf.
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December 18, 2024
Colo. Judge Tosses County Challenge To State Sanctuary Law
A Colorado judge has dismissed six counties' challenge against two state laws limiting local cooperation with federal immigration enforcement, ruling the limits were well within the Legislature's power and that the counties lack standing to sue under the state and federal constitutions.
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December 18, 2024
CVS Fueled Opioid Epidemic In Rush For Profits, Feds Say
The U.S. Department of Justice unveiled a suit Wednesday accusing CVS, the nation's largest pharmacy chain, of knowingly filling invalid prescriptions for powerful opioids and ignoring internal pleas from its pharmacists as it allegedly put profits over safety.
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December 18, 2024
Conn. AG Can't Close Courtroom In Ghost Gun Hearing
A Connecticut state judge won't close the courtroom for a damages hearing in a suit by the state against an online shop selling so-called ghost gun kits, saying the public's interest in the facts of the case outweighs the state's concerns about an undercover investigator's safety.
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December 18, 2024
SBA Wants To Speed Up Late Subcontract Payments
The U.S. Small Business Administration on Wednesday proposed a rule intended to speed up payments to federal small business subcontractors, requiring prime contractors to more promptly report late payments to agencies and cooperate to resolve the issue.
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December 18, 2024
FTC Wants Express Scripts' Defamation Suit Tossed
The Federal Trade Commission told a Missouri federal court that Express Scripts Inc. has no basis to challenge an interim agency report that only offered "qualified conclusions" from an ongoing study about how pharmacy benefit managers affect prescription drug prices.
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December 18, 2024
States, Green Groups Drop Suits Over USPS Vehicle Plan
A coalition of states and cities and several environmental groups moved to dismiss their lawsuits challenging the U.S. Postal Service's multibillion-dollar plan to acquire its next-generation delivery vehicles.
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December 18, 2024
NC Lt. Gov. Wants Defamation Suit Kicked Back To State Court
North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson has urged a federal judge to return his defamation suit against CNN to state court, arguing that his claims against the network are tied to those against a former porn store clerk such that the lower trial court is better suited to hear the case.
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December 18, 2024
EPA Greenlights California's Race To 100% ZEVs By 2035
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Wednesday authorized California's plan to require that all new light cars and trucks sold in the state be zero-emission by 2035, a move that was instantly slammed by the fossil fuel industry.
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December 18, 2024
Congress Passes $3B Funding For FCC's 'Rip And Replace'
The U.S. Senate cleared legislation Wednesday to fully fund the Federal Communications Commission's "rip and replace" telecom security program to the tune of $3.08 billion as part of a sweeping defense spending authorization.
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December 18, 2024
Cherokee Chief Urges Senate To Block Fed. Recognition Bill
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians' principal chief is urging the U.S. Senate to reject legislation that would give federal recognition to a fellow North Carolina tribe, arguing that allowing the bill's passage would undermine the process to ensure the decision is based on evidence and not politics.
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December 18, 2024
Texas Says Border Wall Panel Sales May Violate Injunction
Missouri and Texas asked a federal judge to probe whether the Biden administration is violating an order to use $1.4 billion of congressional funds to build the southern border wall, pointing to media reports that wall materials are being sold off.
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December 18, 2024
RJ Reynolds Asks Justices To Toss Forum Shopping Argument
R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reject the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's argument that the vape company engaged in forum shopping when it challenged denial of one of its applications in the Fifth Circuit, saying its Texas- and Mississippi-based co-petitioners make the Fifth Circuit the proper venue.
Expert Analysis
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The Future Of GLP-1 Policy After Drug Shortage Ends
If and when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration determines that GLP-1 RA drugs are no longer in short supply, regulators will face questions of how to balance access to GLP-1 RAs with statutory and policy considerations applicable to compounded drugs, say attorneys at Skadden.
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Gov't Scrutiny Of Workplace Chat Apps Set To Keep Growing
The incoming Trump administration and Republican majorities in Congress are poised to open numerous investigations that include increasing demands for entities to produce communications from workplace chat apps, so companies must evaluate their usage and retention policies, say attorneys at Orrick.
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Del. Dispatch: The 2024 Corporate Cases You Need To Know
The Delaware Court of Chancery in 2024 issued several decisions that some viewed as upending long-standing corporate practices, leading to the amendment of the Delaware General Corporation Law and debates at some Delaware corporations about potentially reincorporating to another state, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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2024 Regulatory Developments For Bank-Fintech Partnerships
Joseph Silvia at Duane Morris reviews a handful of particularly noteworthy 2024 updates regarding bank-fintech partnerships, including federal banking agencies issuing a number of important pieces of guidance that reiterate and update previous guidance in the area of third-party risk management.
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2025's Midmarket M&A Terrain May Hold A Few Bright Spots
Attorneys at Stoel Rives assess middle-market merger and acquisition trends, and explain why many dealmakers have turned cautiously optimistic about the sector's 2025 prospects, despite potential inflation and new Federal Trade Commission rules.
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Top 10 Whistleblowing And Retaliation Events Of 2024
From a Florida federal court’s ruling that the False Claims Act’s qui tam provision is unconstitutional to a record-breaking number of whistleblower tips filed with the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, employers saw significant developments in the federal and state whistleblower landscapes this year, say attorneys at Proskauer.
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The Implications Of 2024's AI Rules And Regs For Patent Attys
Christina Huang, John Smith and Devin Stein at Faegre Drinker review this year's new rules and regulations on the development and use of artificial intelligence — from the Biden administration, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the American Bar Association and various states — as they apply to patent attorneys.
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When US Privilege Law Applies To Docs Made Outside The US
As globalization manifests itself in disputes over foreign-created documents, a California federal court’s recent trademark decision illustrates nuances of both U.S. privilege frameworks and foreign evidentiary protections that attorneys must increasingly bear in mind, say attorneys at Hunton.
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How Texas Bill Would Transform Noneconomic Damages
Large noneconomic damage awards in personal injury cases have grown exponentially in Texas in recent years, but newly introduced legislation would cap such damages, likely requiring both the plaintiff and defense bars to recalibrate their litigation strategies, say attorneys at Norton Rose.
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Changes To Expect From SEC Under Trump Nominee
President-elect Donald Trump's nomination of Paul Atkins for U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission chair will likely lead to significant shifts in the Division of Enforcement's priorities, likely focused on protecting retail investors and the stability of the capital markets, say attorneys at Morrison Foerster.
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Executive Orders That Could Affect Financial Services In 2025
The incoming Trump administration is likely to quickly revive or update a number of prior executive orders, and possibly issue new ones, that could affect financial services by emphasizing market discipline rather than regulatory initiatives to drive change in the industry, say attorneys at Davis Wright.
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The State Of USPTO Rulemaking At The End Of Vidal's Term
As U.S. Patent and Trademark Office director, Kathi Vidal placed a particular emphasis on formal rulemaking — so as she returns to private practice this week, attorneys at Irell take stock of which of her proposals made it across the finish line, and where the rest stand on the cusp of a new administration.
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How New Merger Filing Rules Will Affect Economic Advocacy
New rules from the antitrust agencies significantly change the Hart-Scott-Rodino premerger notification process and will necessitate rigorous economic analysis earlier in the merging process as the information provided in the filings reflects important antitrust considerations, says Andrea Asoni at Charles River.
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What Loper Bright And Trump 2.0 Mean For New Transpo Tech
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo, combined with the incoming Trump administration's deregulatory agenda, will likely lead to fewer new regulations on emerging transportation technologies like autonomous vehicles — and more careful and protracted drafting of any regulations that are produced, say attorneys at Venable.
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'Minimal Participant' Bar Is Tough To Clear For Whistleblowers
Under the U.S. Department of Justice’s corporate whistleblower pilot program, would-be whistleblowers will find it tough to show that they only minimally participated in criminal misconduct while still providing material information, but sentencing precedent shows how they might prove their eligibility for an award, say attorneys at MoloLamken.