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Compliance
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April 25, 2024
Antitrust Enforcers Warn FERC About Ownership Overlaps
The Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice warned energy regulators Thursday about competitive risks that can arise from investment firms that own stakes in multiple electric utilities, even if they don't have controlling interests.
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April 25, 2024
SEC, Trade Group Ask DC Circ. To Revive Proxy Advisory Rule
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and a leading trade group called on the D.C. Circuit Thursday to revive a rule imposing heightened disclosure requirements on proxy advisory firms, appealing a lower court decision that threw out the requirements.
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April 25, 2024
Feds' Pacific Sardine Management Plan Lacking, Judge Says
The government's plan to protect Pacific sardines, an important food source for many marine species, fell short in a number of ways, including by failing to prevent overfishing, a California federal judge has ruled.
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April 25, 2024
NC Hospital Leader Condemns FTC's Merger Block Bid
The chief of staff for a North Carolina hospital in the midst of a merger battle ripped the care facility's current owners Thursday in a show of support for new ownership, pleading for federal antitrust regulators to get out of the way lest they usher in "a year long death marked by suffering" for the hospital.
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April 25, 2024
Mr. Cooper's $3.6M Convenience Fee Settlement Gets Final OK
A D.C. federal judge on Thursday gave the final nod to a nearly $3.6 million settlement to resolve class action claims that Mr. Cooper unlawfully charged processing fees to borrowers who made mortgage payments over the phone.
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April 25, 2024
Trump Legal Fees Paid Via Illegal Scheme, Watchdog Org Says
Donald Trump's 2024 presidential campaign and related political committees have masked payments for millions of dollars in legal work done for the former president in a possible violation of federal law, an election watchdog claims in a complaint filed Wednesday with the Federal Election Commission.
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April 25, 2024
Conn. Judge In Drug Price-Fixing Suit Reveals Day Pitney Ties
U.S. District Judge Michael P. Shea of the District of Connecticut said Thursday he will not recuse himself from overseeing state enforcers' price-fixing claims against Sandoz Inc. and other drug companies despite Sandoz's attorneys being from Day Pitney LLP, where he was once a partner.
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April 25, 2024
Digital Health Co.'s Former GC Joins Perkins Coie In NY
Perkins Coie LLP is bolstering its intellectual property practice, announcing Thursday that it has brought on the former general counsel and chief compliance officer of digital healthcare company Cleerly.
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April 25, 2024
EEOC Pregnant Worker Rule Draws Suit From Red State AGs
A group of 17 Republican state attorneys general hit the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission with a lawsuit Thursday over the agency's recently finalized Pregnant Workers Fairness Act regulations, saying the EEOC's stance that the PWFA encompasses abortion-related workplace accommodations is unconstitutional.
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April 25, 2024
OECD Says Latvia Must Shift Tax Burden, Limit Fuel Subsidies
Latvia needs to shift its tax burden off labor and onto other forms of income such as property, and to eliminate harmful subsidies and tax practices around fossil fuels, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development said Thursday.
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April 25, 2024
Valero Seeks $75M In Tax Refunds For Fuel Mixtures
Energy company Valero asked a Texas federal court for $75 million in excise tax refunds, claiming the Internal Revenue Service failed to recognize that its production of specific fuels such as butane blends and biomass derivatives qualified for the alternative fuel mixture credit.
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April 25, 2024
FCC Restores Net Neutrality Rules In Party-Line Vote
The Federal Communications Commission voted 3-2 on party lines Thursday to bring back the Obama-era net neutrality regime by reclassifying broadband service under the Communications Act and making it subject to common carrier telecom rules.
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April 25, 2024
Treasury Finalizes Rules On Sales Of Green Energy Credits
The U.S. Department of the Treasury released final rules Thursday to facilitate the sale or transfer of clean energy tax credits by project owners under a new way to monetize the incentives created by the 2022 landmark climate law.
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April 25, 2024
EPA Unveils Final Power Plant Rules, Prepares For Challenges
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Thursday finalized four new rules that will impose tougher standards on greenhouse gas and mercury emissions from power plants, wastewater discharged from those facilities, and the storage and management of coal ash.
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April 24, 2024
Whole Foods May Have Retaliated In BLM Case, 1st Circ. Says
Whole Foods hasn't yet proven that its firing of a worker who wore a Black Lives Matter mask to work wasn't retaliatory, the First Circuit said in an opinion unsealed Wednesday, ruling that there is a "genuine dispute" as to whether she was terminated for protected conduct.
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April 24, 2024
Canada Privacy Chief Aims To Make The Most Of Existing Laws
Amid his push for more robust enforcement powers, Canada's privacy commissioner hasn't forgotten that existing data protection laws still pack a punch and plans to continue to wield these tools to tackle priorities such as protecting children online and addressing concerns raised by technologies like ChatGPT, the regulator told Law360.
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April 24, 2024
Class Attys Seek $218M Fee Award In Google 'Incognito' Deal
Attorneys from three firms urged a California federal judge to award them $217.6 million in fees after reaching a settlement with Google in which the search giant agreed to delete billions of data records related to users' private browsing activities, with a Google representative blasting the fee bid as an attempt to "line their own pockets."
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April 24, 2024
Ex-Autonomy GC Tells Jurors He Wanted To Be 'Helpful' To HP
Autonomy's former U.S. general counsel conceded Wednesday in the criminal trial of former CEO Michael Lynch that he told an HP lawyer he wanted to be as "helpful" as possible to the company as it was investigating Autonomy-related issues that popped up after the Silicon Valley giant purchased the British company, and that he was told he could face liability for his work at Autonomy.
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April 24, 2024
Bid To Sanction DOJ Denied In Novel Insider Trading Case
A California federal judge on Tuesday refused to grant an indicted former healthcare CEO's bid to sanction the government in a case accusing him of a novel form of insider trading, saying the CEO failed to show that he was prejudiced by the government interviewing a potential witness without counsel present.
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April 24, 2024
FDIC Pushes Back On Lender Groups Suing Over Colo. Law
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. has weighed in on a legal challenge to a Colorado law aimed at curbing higher-cost online lending in the state, arguing that the lender trade groups behind the challenge are misconstruing the agency's past words to support their case.
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April 24, 2024
FCC OKs Detroit TV Deal — If Certain Conditions Are Met
The Federal Communications Commission approved the $75 million sale of a Michigan-based television station to Mission Broadcasting, but conditioned the sale on terms meant to ensure that Nexstar, the country's largest TV station group owner, does not have de facto control of the station.
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April 24, 2024
Takeaways From The FTC's Noncompetes Ban
The first legal challenges to the Federal Trade Commission's new ban on essentially all noncompete agreements that employers impose on workers have already been filed, but questions remain, not just on the rule's legal viability, but also on the likelihood of follow-on rulemakings and the rule's exact reach.
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April 24, 2024
1st Circ. Upholds Feds' Vineyard Wind Project Approval
The First Circuit on Wednesday affirmed a lower court ruling rejecting Massachusetts residents' challenge to the federal government's approval of a wind energy project off the coast of Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket, saying federal regulators adequately analyzed the projects' effects on right whales.
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April 24, 2024
Wash. AG Wants RFK Jr., Ex-NBA Star's Anti-Vax Suit Tossed
Washington's attorney general urged a federal judge Tuesday to toss a lawsuit brought by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on behalf of NBA legend John Stockton trying to shield doctors who make anti-vaccine statements, arguing a state medical board has the right to penalize medical providers for spreading COVID-19 misinformation.
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April 24, 2024
DOL Says Firm 'Repeatedly' Misclassified Highway Workers
The U.S. Department of Labor recently determined that a subcontractor "repeatedly misclassified" employees who worked on 25 federal highway construction projects in Pennsylvania, according to a notice filed in Pennsylvania federal court Wednesday in a lawsuit against three construction firms.
Expert Analysis
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4 Ways To Refresh Your Law Firm's Marketing Strategy
With many BigLaw firms relying on an increasingly obsolete marketing approach that prioritizes stiff professionalism over authentic connection, adopting a few key communications strategies to better connect with today's clients and prospects can make all the difference, say Eric Pacifici and Kevin Henderson at SMB Law.
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What 3rd Circ. Trust Ruling Means For Securitization Market
Mercedes Tunstall and Michael Gambro at Cadwalader break down the Third Circuit's March decision in Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. National Collegiate Master Student Loan Trust, as well as predict next steps in the litigation and the implications of the decision for servicers and the securitization industry as a whole.
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Tips For Balanced Board Oversight After A Cyberincident
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's cybersecurity disclosure rules, as well as recent regulatory enforcement actions bringing board governance under scrutiny, continue to push boards toward active engagement in relation to their cyber-oversight role, despite it being unclear what a board's level of involvement should be, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
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9th Circ. Ruling Puts Teeth Into Mental Health Parity Claims
In its recent finding that UnitedHealth applied an excessively strict review process for substance use disorder treatment claims, the Ninth Circuit provided guidance on how to plead a Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act violation and took a step toward achieving mental health parity in healthcare, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.
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Breaking Down DOJ's Individual Self-Disclosure Pilot Program
The U.S. Department of Justice’s recently announced pilot program aims to incentivize individuals to voluntarily self-disclose corporate misconduct they were personally involved in, complementing a new whistleblower pilot program for individuals not involved in misconduct as well as the government's broader corporate enforcement approach, say attorneys at Paul Weiss.
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Cos. Must Prepare For Calif. Legislation That Would Ban PFAS
Pending California legislation that would ban the sale or distribution of new products containing intentionally added per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances could affect thousands of businesses — and given the bill's expected passage, and its draconian enforcement regime, companies must act now to prepare for it, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
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How To Prepare As Employee Data Reporting Deadlines Near
As filing deadlines approach, government contractors and private companies alike should familiarize themselves with recent changes to federal and California employee data reporting requirements and think strategically about registration of affirmative action plans to minimize the risk of being audited, say Christopher Durham and Zev Grumet-Morris at Duane Morris.
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Address Complainants Before They Become Whistleblowers
A New York federal court's dismissal of a whistleblower retaliation claim against HSBC Securities last month indicates that ignored complaints to management combined with financial incentives from regulators create the perfect conditions for a concerned and disgruntled employee to make the jump to federal whistleblower, say attorneys at Cooley.
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Ensuring Nonpublic Info Stays Private Amid SEC Crackdown
Companies and individuals must take steps to ensure material nonpublic information remains confidential while working outside the office, as the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission continues to take enforcement actions against those who trade on MNPI and don't comply with new off-channel communications rules in the remote work era, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.
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What Cos. Are Reporting Under New SEC Cybersecurity Rule
Four months after its effective date, 14 companies have made disclosures under the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's mandatory cybersecurity incident reporting rule, and some early trends are emerging, including a possible rush to file, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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10 Tips For ESG Disclosure Compliance In Private Funds
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
As regulators increase scrutiny of misleading claims about environmental, social and governance investments, private fund sponsors should consider several practical tips for communicating accurately with potential investors, drafting comprehensive disclosures and establishing internal policies that can keep pace with evolving compliance requirements, says Jonathan Rash at Ropes & Gray.
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Proactive Strategies Can Reduce Truck Cos.' Accident Liability
The legal complications of trucking accidents can be grave — so transportation companies and their attorneys should implement proactive strategies that include driver safety programs, pre-accident legal counseling, electronic monitoring and attorney involvement at crash scenes, says Mandy Kolodkin at Segal McCambridge.
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What's In OCC's Proposed Freedom Of Information Act Update
In this article, Christine Docherty at Goodwin discusses the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's proposed amendments to its regulations implementing the Freedom of Information Act, and how these changes might align with guidance from other regulators.
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Assigning Liability In Key Bridge Collapse May Be Challenging
In the wake of a cargo ship's collision with Baltimore's Key Bridge last month, claimants may focus on the vessel's owners and the agencies responsible for the design and maintenance of the bridge — but allocating legal liability to either private or governmental entities may be difficult under applicable state and federal laws, says Clay Robbins at Wisner Baum.
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Binance Ruling Spotlights Muddled Post-Morrison Landscape
The Second Circuit's recent decision in Williams v. Binance highlights the judiciary's struggle to apply the U.S. Supreme Court's Morrison v. National Australia Bank ruling to digital assets, and illustrates how Morrison's territorial limits on the federal securities laws have become convoluted, say Andrew Rhys Davies and Jessica Lewis at WilmerHale.