Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Public Policy
-
July 18, 2024
Air Transport Co. Sued In Del. Over Director Removal Rule
Stockholders of air transport venture Blade Air Mobility Inc. have sued the company in Delaware's Court of Chancery for an order invalidating a Blade director election provision described as allowing "backdoor" board removal of incumbents without legal authority.
-
July 18, 2024
6th Circ. Looks To Wash Hands Of Waters Of US Appeal
An exasperated Sixth Circuit panel on Thursday looked for an easy way to dispatch Kentucky and industry groups' appeal of the dismissal of their challenges to a federal government rule defining the scope of the Clean Water Act.
-
July 18, 2024
Democrats Float Prison Environmental Health Bill
Congressional Democrats on Thursday proposed legislation that would fund programs to improve air quality, water quality, temperature, mold, contagious diseases and other issues in federal prisons.
-
July 18, 2024
Ind. Tax Board Says German Cultural Center Not Tax-Exempt
The Indiana Board of Tax Review determined that an event center owned by an organization that promotes German culture doesn't qualify for a property tax exemption because the property is used for social purposes rather than cultural preservation.
-
July 18, 2024
Court Denies Bid To Halt NYC Crackdown On Illicit Pot Shops
A New York federal judge on Thursday rejected a bid from 27 retailers to halt city officials' enforcement efforts aimed at closing stores that sell cannabis without a license, saying the shops were unlikely to prevail on claims their due process rights were violated.
-
July 18, 2024
FCC Caps Prison Phone Rates To Be 'Just And Reasonable'
The Federal Communications Commission on Thursday placed new caps on prison phone rates under the Martha Wright-Reed Act, enacted to make sure that rates for incarcerated people and their families are "just and reasonable."
-
July 18, 2024
NY Courts Limit Access To Ethics Data, Violating Own Rules
After a decade of widespread noncompliance with income and gift reporting rules, the New York court system's Ethics Commission has refused to publicly release all judges' annual financial disclosures, which safeguard against conflicts of interest, corruption and ethics lapses.
-
July 18, 2024
Texas Can't Nix EEOC Guidance Over Gender Identity
A Texas federal judge refused to grant the state attorney general's request to do away with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission's enforcement guidance over gender identity, saying the state needs to file a new lawsuit and not piggyback on a case that was closed two years ago.
-
July 18, 2024
Ind. Tax Board Agrees With $2M Valuation Of Unfinished Home
An Indiana local assessor correctly valued an unfinished mansion at $2.2 million in 2021 and $2.4 million in 2022, a state review board determined after agreeing with the assessor's cost approach.
-
July 18, 2024
Trade Court Dumps Tile Duties Set After Secretive Meeting
A U.S. Court of International Trade judge overturned duties on marble-topped tile from China on Thursday, holding that federal officials failed to divulge the specifics of a closed-door meeting with a U.S. tile producer related to their investigation.
-
July 18, 2024
NJ Gov., Ex-Elections Chief Spar Over Push To Resign
Garden State Gov. Phil Murphy told a New Jersey state judge Thursday claims from the former elections chief that his civil rights were violated when he was pushed to resign allegedly in retaliation for a satirical article should be tossed, arguing there is nothing in the law that prevents him from asking a state official to resign.
-
July 18, 2024
Judge With Lake Property Exits $217M Dam Repair Tax Suit
A Michigan federal judge said he would step aside in a fight over a $217 million tax assessment to fund dam reconstruction because he's part of the assessment district, though he warned that hundreds of plaintiffs could have their own conflicts.
-
July 18, 2024
Vermont Suit Accuses PBMs Of Price-Fixing
Vermont's attorney general filed suit against pharmacy benefit managers Express Scripts and CVS Wednesday, accusing the companies of abusing their market power to drive up prescription costs for consumers and squeezing out price competition from small pharmacies.
-
July 18, 2024
Most Top US Cos. To Report Tax Under Aussie Bill, Study Says
Australia's Senate is expected to consider adoption next month of the world's most extensive public country-by-country reporting rules, which would require 51% of large U.S. multinational corporations to disclose tax arrangements retroactively from July 1, according to a study published Thursday.
-
July 18, 2024
Final IRS Rules Require Beneficiaries To Take Distributions
Beneficiaries of retirement account owners who died after starting to take distributions must continue taking the distributions annually, the Internal Revenue Service said Thursday in final regulations on required minimum distributions that rejected feedback saying the requirement was overly complex.
-
July 18, 2024
Police Dept. Beats Cop's Suit Over Political Rally Attendance
A California police department defeated an officer's lawsuit alleging he was unlawfully fired after attending a "Stop the Steal" rally in early 2021, with a federal judge finding he was fired based on social media posts that violated department policies, not his political activities.
-
July 18, 2024
Colo. Judge Ends Voter Intimidation Case Midtrial
A Colorado federal judge on Thursday put an abrupt end to a bench trial in a lawsuit accusing members of a 2020 election denier group of illegal voter intimidation, concluding there was not enough evidence to back up the claims brought by voting rights groups.
-
July 18, 2024
Ex-BigLaw Atty Gets Nearly 2 Years For Election Crimes
A former BigLaw attorney was sentenced to 21 months in prison Thursday after being convicted of campaign finance violations tied to a failed run for U.S. Congress, with a Boston federal judge citing the defendant's legal acumen and experience as a law clerk as evidence he "should have known" better.
-
July 18, 2024
CFPB Eyes Loan Treatment For 'Earned Wage' Cash Advances
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau moved Thursday to apply federal truth-in-lending requirements to the growing market for fintech cash advances, issuing a proposed rule that would classify many "earned wage access" products as consumer loans needing clear pricing disclosures.
-
July 17, 2024
EPA Disputes High Court Link To Texas Clean Air Act Case
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency argued that the U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling blocking a federal plan to reduce cross-state pollution does not impact the EPA's decision to reject state plans submitted by Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi.
-
July 17, 2024
DOI Rejects Calif. Tribal Members' Lineal Descent Claims
The U.S. Department of the Interior is backing its bid to dismiss a D.C. federal court lawsuit brought by family members who seek control of the California Valley Miwok Tribe, highlighting its argument that their claims have already been decided in several prior cases.
-
July 17, 2024
PJM Jumps Into 3rd Circ. Row Over Transmission Project
A Pennsylvania commission's request to have the Third Circuit reinstate its rejection of a power transmission project would impinge on PJM Interconnection's federally mandated planning process, the regional grid operator said in an amicus brief filed Wednesday.
-
July 17, 2024
MTA Sued For Bus Service Cuts After Congestion Plan Nixed
New York City's Public Advocate hit the Metropolitan Transportation Authority with a proposed state court class action Wednesday aimed at reversing bus service cuts implemented after Gov. Kathy Hochul abruptly canceled plans for congestion pricing, slashing billions in anticipated revenue for the MTA.
-
July 17, 2024
SEC's Peirce Calls For Rule Agenda Reset After Court Rulings
Hester Peirce, a member of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, called on the agency Wednesday to reconsider its rulemaking agenda given recent court rulings, saying it should "really think about hewing closely" to its statutory mandate, in comments made just weeks after the U.S. Supreme Court's decision to end Chevron deference.
-
July 17, 2024
Special Counsel To Appeal Ax Of Trump Classified Docs Case
Special Counsel Jack Smith told a Florida federal court Wednesday that he was challenging U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon's order earlier this week tossing the classified documents criminal case against Donald Trump, according to a notice of appeal.
Expert Analysis
-
To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef
To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.
-
What Junk Fee Law Means For Biz In California And Beyond
Come July 1, companies doing business in California must ensure that the price of any good or service as offered, displayed or advertised is inclusive of all mandatory fees and other charges in compliance with S.B. 478, which may have a far-reaching impact across the country due to wide applicability, say Alexandria Ruiz and Amy Lally at Sidley Austin.
-
EPA Heavy-Duty Vehicle GHG Rules Face Bumpy Road Ahead
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's new standards to reduce greenhouse gas emissions for owners and operators of heavy-duty vehicles are facing opposition from both states and the transportation industry, and their arguments will mirror two pending cases challenging the EPA's authority, says Grant Laizer at Adams and Reese.
-
8 Steps Companies Should Take After An Internal Investigation
Given the U.S. Department of Justice’s increasing focus on corporate compliance and remediation of misconduct, companies must follow through in several key ways after an internal investigation to ensure history does not repeat itself, say Jonathan Aronie and Joseph Jay at Sheppard Mullin.
-
Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?
Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.
-
Opinion
US Solar Import Probe's Focus On China Is Misguided
The U.S. Department of Commerce's recent anti-dumping and countervailing duty investigation focuses on the apparent Chinese ownership of solar device importers in four Southeast Asian countries — a point that is irrelevant under the controlling statute, says John Anwesen at Lighthill.
-
DC Circ. Ruling Heightens HHS Contract Pharmacy Challenges
The D.C. Circuit's recent ruling that the Section 340B program does not bar manufacturers from restricting deliveries of discounted drugs to contract pharmacies represents a second strike against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' current contract pharmacy policy and raises the stakes surrounding an upcoming Seventh Circuit ruling on the same issue, say attorneys at Foley Hoag.
-
Ohio Tax Talk: The Legislative Push For Property Tax Relief
As Ohio legislators attempt to alleviate the increasing property tax burden, four recent bills that could significantly affect homeowners propose to eliminate replacement property tax levies, freeze property taxes for longtime homeowners, adjust homestead exemptions annually for inflation, and temporarily expand the homestead exemption, say Raghav Agnihotri and Rachael Chamberlain at Frost Brown.
-
Aviation Watch: Mostly Smooth Landing For New FAA Law
The recently signed Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act enhances air safety in several key ways, including strengthened passenger rights and cockpit voice recorder requirements, but an expansion of slot exemptions at Reagan National Airport is a notable misstep, says Alan Hoffman, a retired attorney and aviation expert.
-
Series
In The CFPB Playbook: Regulatory Aims Get High Court Assist
Newly emboldened after the U.S. Supreme Court last month found that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's funding is constitutional, the bureau has likely experienced a psychic boost, allowing its already robust enforcement agenda to continue expanding, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.
-
NY Public Campaign Funding May Attract Scrutiny From Feds
The upcoming elections across New York this year will be the first under the state’s public campaign finance program — which may broaden federal prosecutors' purview to target state election fraud and corruption, says Jarrod Schaeffer at Abell Eskew.
-
FTC Theories Of Harm After Anesthesia Co. Ruling
As Federal Trade Commission litigation against U.S. Anesthesia Partners proceeds following a Texas federal court's recent decision to dismiss a private equity sponsor from the suit, the case attempts to incorporate and advance some of the commission's theories of competitive harm from the final 2023 Merger Guidelines, say attorneys at Mintz.
-
National Security And The Commercial Space Sector: Part 2
Strategy documents recently published by the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. Space Force confirm the importance of the commercial space sector to the DOD, but say little about achieving the institutional changes needed to integrate commercial capabilities in support of national security in space, say Jeff Chiow and Skip Smith at Greenberg Traurig.
-
FTC Hearing On Fake Review Rule Stressed Compliance Costs
The Federal Trade Commission is likely to finalize its proposed rule to prohibit marketers from using deceptive practices in their product reviews after an informal hearing covered arguments over whether costs of implementing the rule, such as review moderation and software maintenance, would be minimal, says Jeffrey Edelstein at Manatt.
-
FTC Focus: Exploring The Meaning Of Orange Book Letters
The Federal Trade Commission recently announced an expansion of its campaign to promote competition by targeting pharmaceutical manufacturers' improper Orange Book patent listings, but there is a question of whether and how this helps generic entrants, say Colin Kass and David Munkittrick at Proskauer.