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  • June 17, 2010

    'Judicial Takings' Still Unresolved By High Court Ruling

    In finding that Florida can claim sand bought with public funds and added to hurricane-ravaged beaches as state property, the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday shot down a citizens group petition contending upland property owners were being illegally stripped of their littoral rights to accretion without compensation, but left unresolved the wider issue of judicial takings.

  • June 16, 2010

    SEC Launches Probe Of Trading Director's Departure

    Under pressure from lawmakers, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has revealed that it is investigating "issues of concern" surrounding a senior official's departure to electronic trading firm Getco LLC.

  • June 16, 2010

    9/11 Special Master Feinberg To Oversee $20B BP Fund

    The White House announced Wednesday that it had reached a mutual agreement with BP PLC to tap veteran mediator Kenneth Feinberg to administer claims against a $20 billion escrow account to pay for environmental and economic damage from the ongoing oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

  • June 16, 2010

    BP To Set Up $20B Escrow Fund For Spill Claims

    Bowing to pressure from the Obama administration and Democratic lawmakers, BP PLC agreed Wednesday to set up a $20 billion escrow fund in order to pay claims arising from the massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and to suspend dividend payments to shareholders for the rest of 2010.

  • June 16, 2010

    SF Adopts Novel Cell Phone Radiation Disclosure Law

    The city of San Francisco has passed a consumer protection measure that will require retailers to disclose information about how much radiation is emitted by the cell phones they hawk.

  • June 16, 2010

    FDA Launches Data-Sharing System For New Drugs

    The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has launched a new system to share safety data on recently approved drugs and biologics with consumers and health care providers.

  • June 16, 2010

    DOI Asked To Nix NEPA Exclusions For Offshore Oil

    The Center for Biological Diversity is petitioning the U.S. Department of the Interior to formally rescind a policy that allowed BP PLC to receive approval for its offshore drilling operations in the Gulf of Mexico without “meaningful” environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act.

  • June 16, 2010

    UK Watchdog Probes Ernst &Young's Lehman Books

    The U.K. agency tasked with monitoring corporate accounting standards said Wednesday it was opening a probe into the conduct of Ernst & Young LLP regarding Lehman Brothers International Europe's books for the year ended November 2007.

  • June 15, 2010

    Obama Lays Out 'Battle Plan' For BP Spill

    President Barack Obama vowed Tuesday night to make BP PLC pay in full for the environmental and economic havoc wreaked by the ongoing oil spill from the sunken Deepwater Horizon rig.

  • June 15, 2010

    Planned NM Mine Not On Indian Land: 10th Circ.

    A federal appeals court ruled en banc Tuesday that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency improperly designated Hydro Resources Inc.’s property as Indian country in a dispute over a proposed New Mexico uranium mine, wrongly subjecting the area to federal rather than state law.

  • June 15, 2010

    2nd Circ. Says Courts Can Stop Involuntary Bankruptcy

    In a case involving a $255 million Ponzi scheme, a federal appeals court has ruled that district judges can stop creditors from initiating involuntary bankruptcies against entities put under receivership.

  • June 15, 2010

    Obama Names BP Oil Spill Investigation Panel

    President Barack Obama has chosen five environmental experts to investigate the causes of the ongoing BP PLC oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, as well as any regulatory lapses that may have contributed to the catastrophe.

  • June 15, 2010

    Madoff's Largest Feeder Seeks Ch. 15 Protection

    Fairfield Sentry Ltd., the largest feeder fund to notorious Ponzi mastermind Bernard L. Madoff, has sought Chapter 15 protection as it hashes out liquidation in the British Virgin Islands.

  • June 15, 2010

    FTC Seeks More Info On Avis, Dollar Thrifty Deal

    The Federal Trade Commission has sent Avis Budget Group Inc. a request for more information about the car rental heavyweight's potential acquisition of rival Dollar Thrifty Automotive Group Inc.

  • June 14, 2010

    J&J Gets Pa.'s Off-Label Risperdal Suit Tossed

    A state court judge on Monday threw out the commonwealth of Pennsylvania's suit alleging that Johnson & Johnson unit Janssen Pharmaceutica Inc. had improperly marketed the antipsychotic drug Risperdal, and an attorney for Pennsylvania vowed to appeal.

  • June 14, 2010

    Medical Monitoring: BP's Next Legal Headache

    BP PLC may be facing medical monitoring lawsuits brought by thousands or perhaps millions of class action claimants, as scientists and lawyers broaden their focus from economic damage and environmental devastation to the potential for a spike in illness among those near the Deepwater Horizon spill.

  • June 14, 2010

    Abbott Sales Reps Ruled Not Exempt From FLSA

    A federal judge has ruled that sales representatives alleging Abbott Laboratories violated the Fair Labor Standards Act are not exempt from the federally mandated premium pay rate for overtime hours because, among other things, they don't actually make sales.

  • June 14, 2010

    Marsh Unit, Alaska Pensions Settle Suit For $500M

    The Alaska Retirement Management Board has agreed to accept a $500 million settlement from its former actuary, Marsh & McLennan Cos. Inc. subsidiary Mercer Inc., in exchange for dismissing its suit accusing Mercer of leaving state pension funds with billions of dollars in unfunded liabilities.

  • June 14, 2010

    Ex-Aeropostale Exec Accused Of $350M Kickback Plot

    A former senior executive at clothing maker Aeropostale Inc. is facing charges that he steered more than $350 million in business to a New York-based supplier as part of a nearly 10-year kickback scheme.

  • June 14, 2010

    High Court To Hear CSX Challenge To Ala. Taxes

    The nation's highest court agreed Monday to take up the question of whether millions of dollars in diesel fuel taxes applied to railroad transport petitioner CSX Transportation Inc., but not its water- and highway-based freight hauling competitors, may be challenged as discriminatory.