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Public Policy
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April 25, 2024
4 Takeaways From DOL's Final ERISA Investment Advice Regs
The U.S. Department of Labor’s finalized regulations broadening who qualifies as a fiduciary under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act will bring more investment advisers under the purview of federal benefits law, but the final version contains some important differences from what the DOL initially proposed. Here are four key takeaways.
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April 25, 2024
Standard General Claims Racial Bias By FCC In Tegna Deal
Hedge fund manager Soo Kim is suing the Federal Communications Commission and a cadre of media players over what he calls a racially charged conspiracy to block his fund's $8.6 billion purchase of media company Tegna, claiming the agency discriminated against him when it sidelined the deal last year.
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April 25, 2024
US Says Seizure Power Erodes Landowner's Border Wall Suit
The federal government told the Fifth Circuit that its eminent domain authority should defeat a landowner's claims that she owns a $6.5 million section of border wall that was allegedly built on her farm without authorization in 2008.
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April 25, 2024
Split Take On NJ 'Fake' Sale Case Disrupts Biz-Friendly Pattern
A recent New Jersey Supreme Court decision rejecting "fake discounts" as a source of consumer fraud was a boon for the class action defense bar, but the takes of three dissenting judges and Attorney General Matt Platkin show that the state's largely business-friendly jurisprudence on what qualifies as an ascertainable loss isn't quite settled.
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April 25, 2024
FCC Proposes Local Georouting For 988 Calls
The Federal Communications Commission proposed Thursday to introduce geolocation for calls made to the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline, which would ensure that the calls are routed to a local crisis center instead of one in another city or state.
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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
Dems Press DEA To Move Quickly On Rescheduling Marijuana
A coalition of Democratic U.S. senators and House members are urging the U.S. Department of Justice to complete swiftly its review of marijuana's legal status and remove the drug from Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act.
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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
UK Antitrust Arm Frontloads In-Depth Merger Probes
U.K. antitrust authorities finalized extensive changes Thursday to their in-depth merger probes, with an emphasis on frontloading the process for sooner — and more informal — talks with companies under investigation.
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April 25, 2024
Judge Puts Texas Arrest Law Case On Ice During Appeal
A Texas federal court has paused the Biden administration's lawsuit challenging Texas' controversial law allowing state officials to arrest and deport migrants crossing the border unlawfully until the state's appeal of the court's temporary block on the law concludes.
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April 25, 2024
DOD Unblocks Cohen Seglias From Emails Following Lawsuit
Cohen Seglias Pallas Greenhall & Furman PC on Thursday dropped its lawsuit against the Defense Information Systems Agency after the agency acknowledged it mistakenly flagged the firm for malware and blocked it from government emails, the firm's attorney told Law360.
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April 25, 2024
Coverage Recap: Day 3 Of Trump's NY Hush Money Trial
Law360 reporters are providing live updates from the Manhattan criminal courthouse as Donald Trump goes on trial for allegedly falsifying business records related to hush money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 election. Here's a recap from day three.
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April 25, 2024
Feds Lose Bid To Toss SD Tribe's School Funding Suit
A South Dakota federal judge has denied the Bureau of Indian Affairs' attempt to dismiss a tribe's lawsuit accusing the BIA of over-collecting on a $1 million school debt obligation, finding there are enough factual allegations asserted in the amended suit to keep it alive.
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April 25, 2024
Biden Permitting Reform To Fast-Track Power Line Approvals
Streamlined federal permitting for electric transmission projects is expected to shave years off the authorization process and speed up development of new power connections, according to a final new rule released on Thursday by the Biden administration.
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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
Mich. Pot Group Says Suit Against Town Was Properly Pled
A group of residents of Lima Township, Michigan, have asked a federal court not to throw out their suit claiming that the township's trustees abused their power by blocking any progress on opening a cannabis dispensary, saying the complaint clearly pleads that their 14th Amendment rights were violated.
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April 25, 2024
Trump Can't Overturn $83M Verdict For Defaming Carroll
Former President Donald Trump was denied a bid Thursday to get a new trial or to overturn a Manhattan federal jury's $83 million defamation verdict awarded to columnist E. Jean Carroll stemming from her sexual assault claims against Trump.
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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
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
Ex-Defender Says Feds Can't Hide Other Harassment Reports
A former assistant federal defender wants to make certain #MeToo evidence public following the trial in a case accusing the judiciary of botching its probe into her own sexual harassment complaint, saying the contents of similar allegations concerning the Federal Defender's Office have already been publicly revealed.
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April 25, 2024
Pa. Justices OK Teacher 'Character' Test For Suspended Atty
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania on Thursday upheld a lower court's ruling that an ex-attorney's disciplinary records can be used by the state Department of Education when evaluating whether that attorney has the "good moral character" to get a teaching license.
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April 25, 2024
Justices Skeptical Of Trump's Absolute Immunity Bid
A majority of the U.S. Supreme Court appeared open Thursday to the idea of limited immunity for former presidents related to the office's core constitutional powers, but divisions emerged among the justices over how to determine when acts outside of that narrow category are potentially subject to criminal prosecution.
Expert Analysis
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FDA Warning Letter Tightens Reins On 'Research Only' Labels
A recent warning letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to Agena Bioscience alleged the company’s diagnostic devices were labeled for research use only, but improperly promoted for human clinical purposes, signifying a reinforcement — and a potential narrowing — of the agency's policy on products labeled “research only,” say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
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Opinion
Seafarer Detention Under Ship Pollution Law Must Have Limits
The U.S. Coast Guard should reinstate limits on the number of days that foreign crew members may be forced to remain in the country while the U.S. Department of Justice investigates alleged violations of shipping pollution laws, in order to balance legitimate enforcement interests and seafarer welfare, say attorneys at Blank Rome.
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Justices' Forfeiture Ruling Resolves Nonexistent Split
The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in McIntosh v. U.S., holding that a trial court’s failure to enter a preliminary criminal forfeiture order prior to sentencing doesn’t bar its entry later, is unusual in that it settles an issue on which the lower courts were not divided — but it may apply in certain forfeiture disputes, says Stefan Cassella at Asset Forfeiture Law.
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Behind Indiana's Broad New Healthcare Transactions Law
The high materiality threshold in Indiana's recently passed healthcare transaction law, coupled with the inclusion of private equity in its definition of healthcare entities, makes it one of the broadest state review regulations to date, say attorneys at DLA Piper.
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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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Opinion
SC's Courts Have It Wrong On Amazon Marketplace Sales Tax
The South Carolina Supreme Court should step in and correct the misguided change in tax law effectuated by lower court rulings that found Amazon owes state sales tax for marketplace sales made prior to the U.S. Supreme Court’s Wayfair v. South Dakota decision in 2018, says Hayes Holderness at the University of Richmond.
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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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Highlights From The 2024 ABA Antitrust Spring Meeting
U.S. merger enforcement and cartels figured heavily in this year's American Bar Association spring antitrust meeting, where one key takeaway included news that the Federal Trade Commission's anticipated changes to the Hart-Scott-Rodino form may be less dramatic than many originally feared, say attorneys at Freshfields.
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What FERC's Disclosure Demands Mean For Cos., Investors
Two recent Federal Energy Regulatory Commission orders reflect the commission's increasingly meticulous approach to reviewing corporate structures in applications for approval of proposed consolidations, acquisitions or changes in control — putting the onus on the regulated community to track and comply with ever-more-burdensome disclosure requirements, say attorneys at Willkie.
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IRS Sings New Tune: Whistleblower Form Update Is Welcome
In a significant reform at the Internal Revenue Service's Whistleblower Office, the recently introduced revisions to the Form 211 whistleblower award application use new technology and a more intuitive approach to streamline the process of reporting allegations of tax fraud committed by wealthy individuals and companies, says Benjamin Calitri at Kohn Kohn.
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Strategies For Challenging A Fla. Grand Jury Report's Release
A Florida grand jury’s recent report on potential wrongdoing related to COVID-19 vaccines should serve as a reminder to attorneys to review the myriad legal mechanisms available to challenge the lawfulness of a grand jury report’s publication and expunge the names of their clients, says Cary Aronovitz at Holland & Knight.
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Macquarie Ruling Raises The Bar For Securities Fraud Claims
The U.S. Supreme Court's decision last week in Macquarie Infrastructure v. Moab Partners — holding that a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule does not forbid omissions in company disclosures unless they render other statements false — is a major setback for plaintiffs pursuing securities fraud claims against corporations, say attorneys at Skadden.
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Tenn. Law Protecting Artists From AI Raises Novel Issues
Tennessee recently enacted a law that extends the right of publicity protection to individuals' voices in an attempt to control the proliferation of artificial intelligence in the music industry, presenting fascinating questions about the First Amendment, the fair use doctrine and more, say attorneys at Davis Wright.
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Consumer Privacy Takeaways From FTC Extraterritorial Action
With what appears to be its first privacy-related consent agreement with a non-U.S. business, the Federal Trade Commission establishes that its reach is extraterritorial and that consumer internet browsing data is sensitive data, and there are lessons for any multinational business that handles consumer information, say Olivia Greer and Alexis Bello at Weil.