Public Policy

  • July 12, 2024

    Red State AGs Slam SEC 'Overreach' In Crypto Co. Challenge

    Seven Republican state attorneys general have told a Texas federal judge that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's alleged crypto policy of "rulemaking by district court enforcement action" threatens their ability to protect consumers as the court weighs a yet-to-launch crypto exchange's preemptive challenge to the securities regulator.

  • July 12, 2024

    FCC Says Rural Areas Get New Funds After Charter Defaults

    Charter is going to be dropping some of the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund census blocks it took responsibility for and taking the fines that come with doing so, according to the FCC, which says the good news is that those blocks are now open for more federal funding for another provider.

  • July 12, 2024

    CFPB Takes Its 5th Circ. Lumps To Advance Late Fee Rule Suit

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has told the Fifth Circuit that it won't appeal a three-judge panel's decision forcing it defend its $8 credit card late fee rule in Texas rather than Washington, D.C., a move that could expedite the agency's efforts to free the rule from a lower-court injunction.

  • July 12, 2024

    Texas DA Tells 5th Circ. He's Immune In Border Law Fight

    Texas District Attorney Bill Hicks told the Fifth Circuit its June decision finding another district attorney immune from a suit over changes to the state's election code means he should be shielded from a challenge to the Lone Star State's migrant arrest law.

  • July 12, 2024

    DC Circ. Upholds FCC Approval Of SpaceX Satellite Plan

    A D.C. Circuit panel Friday affirmed a Federal Communications Commission license authorizing SpaceX to deploy thousands of its Starlink satellites, rejecting challenges from satellite TV provider Dish Network LLC and advocacy group DarkSky International.

  • July 12, 2024

    MoneyLion Cites High Court Rulings In Bid To Toss CFPB Suit

    MoneyLion Technologies Inc. told a New York federal judge on Friday that two recent U.S. Supreme Court rulings, including the reversal of the so-called Chevron deference doctrine, support the challenge to military lending regulations it is accused of violating in a lawsuit by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.

  • July 12, 2024

    Colo. Prisoners Seek Class Cert. In Slave Labor Suit

    A pair of Colorado prisoners have asked a state judge to grant class certification for their suit alleging the state is illegally using them for slave labor, detailing their experiences of punishment like extensive isolation for refusing to work.

  • July 12, 2024

    Feds Join Voting Rights Suit Over Georgia Election Law

    The federal government has joined a suit against Georgia officials over their 2021 voting law after a federal judge allowed it to intervene in wide-ranging litigation against the measure, saying state lawmakers intend to deny Black Georgians and other people of color the right to vote because of their race.

  • July 12, 2024

    Texas Lethal Injections Criminal Matter, Says Appeals Court

    A split Texas appeals court panel found that a state district court should have dismissed two death row inmates' suit because it did not have jurisdiction, with the majority saying Friday that any case seeking an injunction that could stay an execution falls under the jurisdiction of criminal courts.

  • July 12, 2024

    Texas Panel Revives Woman's Acupuncture Burn Suit

    A Texas court of appeals revived a suit accusing an acupuncturist of providing negligent suction cup treatment that left a woman with second-degree burns, finding the woman should be provided additional time to fix her deficient medical expert report.

  • July 12, 2024

    Tire Cos. Can't Pause Fish-Harming Chemical Suit

    A California federal judge rejected a group of tire companies' efforts to stay an Endangered Species Act suit accusing the companies of killing fish on the West Coast with their use of a rubber additive, saying that waiting for a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rulemaking on the additive "makes little sense."

  • July 12, 2024

    Menendez Bribery Case Goes To Jury

    A Manhattan jury began deliberating Friday over bribery and other charges against Sen. Robert Menendez and two New Jersey businessmen after hearing hours of instructions in the 18-count case and eating their final lunch with five alternates.

  • July 12, 2024

    Guo Trial Juror Booted For Googling Fugitive Co-Defendant

    The jury in Chinese dissident Miles Guo's $1 billion fraud and racketeering case was forced to restart its verdict deliberations on Friday after a juror was cut loose for Google-searching Guo's fugitive financial adviser and co-defendant William Je.

  • July 12, 2024

    Conn. Justices Say Town Can Tax Hospital's Property

    Personal property of a Connecticut hospital owned by Hartford HealthCare is taxable, the state Supreme Court said Friday, reversing a trial court opinion and ruling that Hartford's acquisition of the hospital negated a tax exemption for charitable entities.

  • July 12, 2024

    Giuliani's Ch. 11 Tossed Over Lack Of Financial Candor

    Rudolph W. Giuliani, former mayor of New York City and legal adviser to Donald Trump, had his Chapter 11 case dismissed Friday by a New York bankruptcy judge, who found that Giuliani's missing financial disclosure made ending the proceedings the best option for creditors.

  • July 12, 2024

    Payments To Ex-Wife Should Be Deductible, 11th Circ. Told

    A Georgia man told the Eleventh Circuit on Friday that his payments to his ex-wife as part of a marital settlement should qualify as alimony and therefore be deductible from his federal income taxes, asking the court to reverse a U.S. Tax Court decision.

  • July 12, 2024

    Lawmakers Unveil $1B Water Infrastructure Bill For Ariz. Tribe

    A bipartisan group of Arizona federal lawmakers has introduced legislation in both houses of Congress to ratify and provide just over $1 billion in funding to resolve the Yavapai-Apache Nation's water rights claims and bring additional supplies to the Verde Valley.

  • July 12, 2024

    Republican Presses Tai For Info On E-Commerce Shift

    Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., pressed the Biden administration's top trade official for more information on why the president withdrew from digital trade talks at the World Trade Organization, threatening "compulsory action" if she failed to provide meaningful answers.

  • July 12, 2024

    6th Circ. Delays FCC's Net Neutrality Effective Date

    The Sixth Circuit on Friday delayed the effective date of the Federal Communications Commission's net neutrality rules by two weeks to give the court more time to consider an indefinite hold on the regulations during a legal challenge.

  • July 12, 2024

    Boston To Pay $1M To End Health Dept. Harassment Case

    A high-profile sexual harassment case against the city of Boston and its former health director settled for $1 million earlier this month, according to a copy of the agreement released Friday.

  • July 12, 2024

    Chancery Tosses Centene Shareholders' Medicaid Fraud Suit

    The Delaware Chancery Court on Friday dismissed a Centene stockholder derivative lawsuit seeking damages from company directors and officers over allegations of a multistate Medicaid pharmacy benefit billing fraud scheme that the investors said could result in a $1.25 billion liability for the healthcare giant.

  • July 12, 2024

    Pa. Drive-In Dinged For Sleepovers In No-Campground Zone

    A Pennsylvania drive-in movie theater's "overnight passes" for guests to stay after a late-night showing or for multiple days of a movie marathon effectively made the theater into a campground and ran afoul of township zoning ordinances, a state appellate court ruled Friday.

  • July 12, 2024

    Va. Tax Head Upholds Denial Of Resident's Subtraction

    Virginia residents were properly denied an income tax subtraction that they claimed because of recaptured depreciation that came from the sale of a rental property, the state tax commissioner ruled.

  • July 12, 2024

    Ex-Quantix Worker Sues Abbott Labs Over Drug Test Firing

    A former employee of Quantix SCS LLC is suing the company, Abbott Laboratories Inc. and two other drug testing companies, saying he was wrongly fired after testing positive for THC and the companies did not consider that it could have resulted from his use of legal CBD products.

  • July 12, 2024

    Feds Ignoring Idle Offshore Oil Well Risks, Green Group Says

    The federal government is looking the other way as owners of retired offshore oil and gas drilling infrastructure fail to properly shut down the facilities and blow deadlines, environmentalists said in a new lawsuit.

Expert Analysis

  • Novel Applications May Fizzle After Fed Master Account Wins

    Author Photo

    Two recent federal court rulings that upheld decisions denying master account applications from two fintech-focused banks are noteworthy for depository institutions with novel charters that wish to have direct access to the Federal Reserve's payment channels and settle transactions in central bank money, say attorneys at Davis Polk.

  • Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance

    Author Photo

    A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.

  • Salvaging The Investor-State Arbitration System's Legitimacy

    Author Photo

    Recent developments in Europe and Ecuador highlight the vulnerability of the investor-state arbitration framework, but arbitrators can avert a crisis by relying on a poorly understood doctrine of fairness and equity, rather than law, to resolve the disputes before them, says Phillip Euell at Diaz Reus.

  • NY's Vision For Grid Of The Future: Flexible, Open, Affordable

    Author Photo

    Acknowledging that New York state's progress toward its climate goals is stalling, the New York Public Service Commission's recent "Grid of the Future" order signals a move toward more flexible, cost-effective solutions — and suggests potential opportunities for nonutility participation, say Daniel Spitzer and William McLaughlin at Hodgson Russ.

  • FTC Noncompete Rule's Impact On Healthcare Nonprofits

    Author Photo

    Healthcare entities that are nonprofit or tax-exempt and thus outside of the pending Federal Trade Commission noncompete rule's reach should evaluate a number of potential risk factors and impacts, starting by assessing their own status, say Ben Shook and Tania Archer at Moore & Van Allen.

  • Businesses Should Take Their AI Contracts Off Auto-Renew

    Author Photo

    When subscribing to artificial intelligence tools — or to any technology in a highly competitive and legally thorny market — companies should push back on automatic renewal contract clauses for reasons including litigation and regulatory risk, and competition, says Chris Wlach at Huge Inc.

  • Global Bribery Probes Are Complicating FCPA Compliance

    Author Photo

    The recent rise in collaboration between the U.S. Department of Justice and foreign authorities in bribery enforcement can not only affect companies' legal exposure as resolution approaches vary by country, but also the decision of when and whether to disclose Foreign Corrupt Practices Act violations to the DOJ, say Samantha Badlam and Catherine Conroy at Ropes & Gray.

  • Airlines Must Prepare For State AG Investigations

    Author Photo

    A recent agreement between the U.S. Department of Transportation and 18 states and territories will allow attorneys general to investigate consumer complaints against commercial passenger airlines — so carriers must be ready for heightened scrutiny and possibly inconsistent enforcement, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Series

    Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer

    Author Photo

    Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.

  • A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System

    Author Photo

    As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.

  • Opinion

    State-Regulated Cannabis Can Thrive Without Section 280E

    Author Photo

    Marijauna's reclassification as a Schedule III-controlled substance comes at a critical juncture, as removing marijuana from being subjected to Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code is the only path forward for the state-regulated cannabis industry to survive and thrive, say Andrew Kline at Perkins Coie and Sammy Markland at FTI Consulting.

  • Asset Manager Exemption Shifts May Prove Too Burdensome

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Department of Labor’s recent change to a prohibited transaction exemption used by retirement plan asset managers introduces a host of new costs, burdens and risks to investment firms, from registration requirements to new transition periods, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Pay-To-Play Deal Shows Need For Strong Compliance Policies

    Author Photo

    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, through its recent settlement with Wayzata, has indicated that it will continue stringent enforcement of the pay-to-play rule, so investment advisers should ensure strong compliance policies are in place to promptly address potential violations as the November elections approach, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • Key Takeaways From FDA Final Rule On Lab-Developed Tests

    Author Photo

    Michele Buenafe and Dennis Gucciardo at Morgan Lewis discuss potential consequences of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's recently finalized rule regulating lab-developed tests as medical devices, and explain the rule's phaseout policy for enforcement discretion.

  • A Look At New IRS Rules For Domestically Controlled REITs

    Author Photo

    The Internal Revenue Services' finalized Treasury Regulations addressing whether real estate investment trusts qualify as domestically controlled adopt the basic structure of previous proposals, but certain new and modified rules may mitigate the regulations' impact, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Public Policy archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!