Public Policy

  • August 05, 2024

    Trucking Co. Moves To Nix DOL Independent Contractor Rule

    ​​A trucking company that regularly hires owner-operator truck drivers has urged a New Mexico federal judge to vacate a new U.S. Department of Labor rule for classifying independent contractors, arguing in a motion for summary judgment that the rule makes classifying workers more confusing.

  • 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.

  • August 05, 2024

    Chamber Tells Pa. Justices To Keep Gov't Suit Damages Cap

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has urged the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to uphold the constitutionality of a $250,000 damages cap for personal injury suits against state agencies, saying to not do so would "foist an uncapped tort liability scheme" with a "ruinous financial impact" on the Keystone State.

  • August 05, 2024

    TikTok Tells DC Circ. That Feds Can't Keep Filings Secret

    TikTok told the D.C. Circuit on Monday that the U.S. government shouldn't be allowed to conceal its court filings in litigation over a federal law that could ban the popular social media platform in the United States.

  • 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.

  • August 05, 2024

    Wis. Bank Settles Tribal Group's Bias Suit Over Peyote Use

    A local Wisconsin bank and Native American company Medicine Fireplace have jointly told a federal judge they've resolved a lawsuit claiming that the financial institution denied service to the nonprofit firm, whose members use the hallucinogenic peyote plant in their religious ceremonies.

  • August 05, 2024

    GSA Makes First Tribal Carbon-Free Electricity Purchase

    A Seneca Nation holding company is the first tribal majority-owned business to be awarded a bid from the U.S. General Services Administration to sell carbon pollution-free electricity to the federal agency, a move that's been in the works since at least April.

  • August 05, 2024

    GOP Sens. Urge Biden To Lift 'Partial Arms Embargo' On Israel

    Nearly all Republican lawmakers in the U.S. Senate urged President Joe Biden to "use every available emergency authority" to swiftly deliver weapons to Israel, criticizing what they called a partial arms embargo that flouted the "will of Congress."

  • August 05, 2024

    Conn. Gunmaker Says Mass Shooting Cases Belong In Colo.

    Connecticut-based gunmaker Sturm Ruger & Co. Inc. wants two lawsuits surrounding a March 2021 mass shooting at a King Soopers grocery store in Boulder, Colorado, dismissed from Connecticut state court, arguing that Connecticut is an inconvenient place to litigate a massacre that occurred two time zones away.

  • August 05, 2024

    Insurers Can't Escape Coverage For Russian-Seized Aircraft

    A group of insurers can't escape covering one of the largest aircraft lessors for aircraft seized by the Russian government, a California state court ruled, agreeing with the company that even a temporary seizure of its property constitutes physical loss for coverage purposes.

  • August 05, 2024

    Ex-Virgin Islands Premier Gets 11 Years For Drug Conspiracy

    A Florida federal judge on Monday sentenced the former premier of the British Virgin Islands to more than 11 years in prison after a jury convicted him of charges related to a conspiracy to smuggle cocaine from South America to the U.S. following a trial earlier this year.

  • August 05, 2024

    Indivior Accused Of Overstating Prospects Of 3 Opioid Drugs

    Drugmaker Indivior PLC has been hit with a proposed investor class action in Virginia federal court over claims it overstated the financial prospects of its drugs used to treat opioid use disorders and the company's ability to forecast such financial projections.

  • August 05, 2024

    SEC, Other Regulators Propose Joint Data Standards

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and six other regulators are crafting joint standards required by bipartisan legislation aiming to modernize the collection and publication of those agencies' financial data, the SEC announced Friday.

  • August 05, 2024

    Music, Movie Orgs. Address Deepfake Proposals

    Representatives from the music, movie and video game industries were among the speakers Monday at a U.S. Patent and Trademark Office roundtable regarding what legislation may be needed to address the explosion of deepfakes created with the growing power of artificial intelligence.

  • 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.

  • 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.

  • August 05, 2024

    Marriott Says NYC Hotels' Housing Of Migrants Violated Deal

    Marriott International Inc. has accused a hotel company in Jamaica, Queens, of breaching a contract by repurposing two properties for migrant housing while refusing to "de-identify" itself with the global hotel brand.

  • August 05, 2024

    Mich. Says HHS Can't Get Back $195M Medicaid Payments

    The state of Michigan is asking a D.C. federal judge to bar the federal government from seeking repayment for $195 million in Medicaid payouts made to two state-operated hospitals that provided psychiatric services to state criminal defendant inmates, saying the government's payment withdrawal decision was made years too late and without proper notice.

  • August 05, 2024

    Tribe Says DOI Must Finalize New Recognition Rule

    A Michigan tribe wants a D.C. federal district court to enforce a Nov. 1 deadline on the U.S. Department of the Interior to complete the process for a new rule that would address eligibility to reapply for federal recognition or otherwise hold Secretary Deb Haaland in contempt.

  • August 05, 2024

    AT&T Chief Pushes FCC To Make FirstNet 4.9 GHz Manager

    AT&T Inc. CEO John Stankey met with Federal Communications Commission members to lobby for the company's first responder network to lead the national public safety band, despite band users' concerns that AT&T could control the band for its own self-serving interests.

  • August 05, 2024

    Mich. AG Defends Judge's Block Of Abortion Waiting Period

    A Michigan judge's suspension of several state abortion regulations should be upheld, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel told appellate judges, saying the restrictions don't pass constitutional muster because they don't serve to protect women's health.

  • 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.

  • August 05, 2024

    BCBS Asks 9th Circ. To Undo Trans Patients' Win In Bias Suit

    Blue Cross Blue Shield of Illinois urged the Ninth Circuit to reverse summary judgment in favor of trans patients who argued its exclusions for gender-affirming treatments violated the Affordable Care Act's anti-discrimination mandate, arguing Friday it is a third-party administrator that didn't design the exclusion nor exercised any control over it.

  • 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.

  • August 05, 2024

    Del. Court Declines To Reopen Biden Documents Case

    Delaware's Superior Court on Monday declined to reopen litigation from two conservative organizations that sued for access to a trove of documents U.S. President Joe Biden donated to the University of Delaware in 2012, concluding that newly discovered evidence wasn't relevant enough to change the case.

Expert Analysis

  • A Closer Look At New SDNY And EDNY Local Rules

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    New local rules in the U.S. District Courts for the Southern and Eastern Districts of New York went into effect earlier this month, and include both stylistic changes to make legal writing more accessible, and substantive changes to make processes and filings more efficient, say Andrew Van Houter and Jennifer Montan at Faegre Drinker.

  • Avoiding Legal Ethics Landmines In Preindictment Meetings

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    U.S. Sen. Bob Menendez's recent bribery conviction included obstruction charges based on his former lawyer's preindictment presentation to prosecutors, highlighting valuable lessons on the legal ethics rules implicated in these kinds of defense presentations, say Steve Miller and Hilary Gerzhoy at HWG.

  • Series

    Being A Luthier Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    When I’m not working as an appellate lawyer, I spend my spare time building guitars — a craft known as luthiery — which has helped to enhance the discipline, patience and resilience needed to write better briefs, says Rob Carty at Nichols Brar.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Uncertainty In Scope Of ITC Oversight

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    The U.S. International Trade Commission's long-standing jurisprudence on some of the most disputed and controversial issues is likely to be reshaped by the Federal Circuit, which is no longer bound by Chevron deference in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision, say Kecia Reynolds and Madeleine Moss at Paul Hastings.

  • Half-Truths Vs. Omissions: Slicing Justices' Macquarie Cake

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Macquarie v. Moab provides a road map for determining whether corporate reports that omit information should be considered misleading — and the court baked it into a dessert analogy that is key to understanding the guidelines, say Daniel Levy and Pavithra Kumar at Advanced Analytical Consulting Group.

  • FDA's Multifaceted Role On Display In MDMA Therapy Scrutiny

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    Ongoing deliberations at the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regarding MDMA-assisted therapy for post-traumatic stress disorder serves as a window into the intricate balance of scientific innovation and patient safety oversight, and offers crucial insights into regulatory nuances, say Kimberly Chew at Husch Blackwell and Kevin Lanzo at Pharmaka Clinical Consulting.

  • Lead Like 'Ted Lasso' By Embracing Cognitive Diversity

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    The Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso” aptly illustrates how embracing cognitive diversity can be a winning strategy for teams, providing a useful lesson for law firms, which can benefit significantly from fresh, diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

  • Preparing For Increased Scrutiny Of Tech Supply Chains

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    The U.S. Department of Commerce's recent action prohibiting sales of a Russia-based technology company's products in the U.S. is the first determination under the information technology supply chain rule, and signals plans to increase enforcement of protections that target companies in designated foreign adversary jurisdictions, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Chevron's End Puts Target On CFPB's Aggressive BNPL Rule

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    A recent interpretative rule by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, subjecting buy-now, pay-later loans to the same regulations as credit cards, is unlikely to survive post-Chevron challenges of the rule's partisan and shaky logic, say Scott Pearson and Bryan Schneider at Manatt.

  • Boeing Plea Deal Is A Mixed Bag, Providing Lessons For Cos.

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    The plea deal for conspiracy to defraud regulators that Boeing has tentatively agreed to will, on the one hand, probably help the company avoid further reputational damage, but also demonstrates to companies that deferred prosecution agreements have real teeth, and that noncompliance with DPA terms can be costly, says Edmund Vickers at Red Lion Chambers.

  • Keeping Up With Carbon Capture Policy In The US And EU

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    Recent regulatory moves from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the European Commission in the carbon capture, sequestration and storage space are likely to further encourage the owners and operators of fossil fuel-fired power plants to make decisions on shutdowns or reconfiguration to meet the expanding requirements, say Inosi Nyatta and Silvia Brünjes at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • New State Climate Liability Laws: What Companies Must Know

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    New legislation in Vermont and New York creating liability and compliance obligations for businesses deemed responsible for climate change — as well as similar bills proposed in California, Massachusetts and Maryland — have far-reaching implications for companies, so it is vital to remain vigilant as these initiatives progress, say Gregory Berlin and Jeffrey Dintzer at Alston & Bird.

  • EU Investor-State Dispute Transparency Rules: Key Points

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    The European Union's recent vote to embrace greater transparency for investor-state arbitration will make managing newly public information more complex for all parties in a dispute — so it is important for stakeholders to understand the risks and opportunities involved, say Philip Hall, Tara Flores and Charles McKeon at Thorndon Partners.

  • Analyzing FDA Draft Guidance On Clinical Trial Diversity

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    In light of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's draft guidance on clinical trial diversity action plans, there are several important considerations for sponsors and clinical researchers to keep in mind to prevent delay in a drug or device application, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

  • Justices' Criminal Law Decisions: The Term In Review

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    Each of the 11 criminal decisions issued in the U.S. Supreme Court’s recently concluded term is independently important, but taken together, they reveal trends in the court’s broader approach to criminal law, presenting both pitfalls and opportunities for defendants and their counsel, says Kenneth Notter at MoloLamken.

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