Try our Advanced Search for more refined results
Compliance
-
September 24, 2024
Exxon Claims It Beat Weak Defense In $1.8B Tax Trial
Exxon Mobil urged a Texas federal judge to find that it defeated what it called a scattered defense by the U.S. government during a five-day bench trial in April when the company argued for a $1.8 billion tax refund on its natural gas deal with Qatar, according to newly released filings.
-
September 24, 2024
8th Circ. Mulls Arkansas' Authority To Regulate Hemp
An Eighth Circuit panel on Monday pushed attorneys for the state of Arkansas and a group of hemp companies to define precisely how much power states have to restrict the production and sale of intoxicating products derived from federally legal hemp.
-
September 24, 2024
Senators Spar Over Abortion Bans Where 'Docs Play Lawyer'
Republican and Democratic senators on Tuesday grappled with whether some states' abortion bans conflict with a federal emergency care law and whether exceptions under those bans put doctors in situations where they must decide between a prison sentence or providing emergency stabilizing care.
-
September 24, 2024
DOJ Accuses Visa Of Monopolizing Debit Card Market
The U.S. Department of Justice accused Visa on Tuesday of illegally maintaining a monopoly over debit card networks by using its dominance to thwart competition from new and existing rivals, as the Biden administration continues its push to combat high prices using antitrust law.
-
September 24, 2024
Miller & Chevalier Adds Federal Tax Expert From White & Case
Miller & Chevalier Chtd. announced that it added a former partner at White & Case LLP to its tax controversy and litigation practice.
-
September 24, 2024
SEC, CFTC Issue $118M Fines In Latest Text Message Actions
Federal regulators said Tuesday that the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and nearly a dozen other financial firms have agreed to pay fines totaling nearly $120 million to settle recordkeeping violations tied to employee use of unapproved communication methods like text messages to conduct business.
-
September 24, 2024
Do GCs Even Know Company's AI Use? Survey Raises Doubts
Top legal officers appear badly misaligned with other executives or are misinformed on the use of artificial intelligence at their companies, especially in the human resources area, according to a new survey released Tuesday.
-
September 23, 2024
Albertsons Says Wash. AG 'Cherry-Picked' Merger Fears
Counsel for Albertsons accused Washington regulators Monday of cherry-picking comments from the grocer's CEO hyping Kroger as key competition to bolster the government's case for blocking the merger and overcame the state's objections to introduce emails where the CEO expressed fears about Costco, Walmart and Amazon's ever-expanding reach.
-
September 23, 2024
Chamber Says X Ruling Boosts Bid To Nix Calif. Climate Laws
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the state of California have filed competing briefs on how a recent Ninth Circuit decision blocking parts of a social media law applies to the state's corporate climate disclosure rules, with the Chamber arguing the ruling reinforces how the latter violate the First Amendment.
-
September 23, 2024
3rd Circ. Probes SEC's 'Close To Vacuous' Reply To Coinbase
Members of a Third Circuit panel on Monday pressed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on its brief denial of crypto exchange Coinbase's request for rulemaking around digital assets, digging into how much of an explanation the agency owes the industry about its decision to forego setting rules for now.
-
September 23, 2024
Google Executive Says There's No Internal Ad Tech Advantage
A Google executive pushed back Monday on some of the U.S. Justice Department's most important allegations of a conflict of interest in the search giant's control over online display advertising placement technology, arguing that website publishers are in charge of how ads are placed and priced.
-
September 23, 2024
Judge Grants Ex-Admiral, Contractors Separate Bribery Trials
The Washington, D.C., federal court agreed on Monday to sever a retired Navy admiral's bribery trial from that of the defense contractors he is accused of steering federal contracts toward.
-
September 23, 2024
Crypto Miners Must Keep Fighting SEC's $18M Fraud Claims
A Utah federal judge on Monday refused to throw out the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's suit accusing two Utah residents of running an $18 million crypto fraud scheme, rejecting their arguments that the transactions at the heart of the dispute do not involve securities subject to the SEC's regulation.
-
September 23, 2024
High Court Enviro Shadow Docket Could Diminish DC Circ.
The U.S. Supreme Court's "shadow docket" is full of pleas from environmental rule opponents who want the justices to overturn D.C. Circuit rulings that allowed the regulations to go into effect, and recent history shows the challengers have some chance for success — but experts say the high court's willingness to step in at this stage risks diminishing lower courts' voices.
-
September 23, 2024
John Paul Mitchell Beats Dry Shampoo Benzene Suit, For Now
An Illinois federal judge ruled Monday a putative consumer class action claiming a Paul Mitchell dry shampoo contains cancer-causing benzene didn't sufficiently show an "injury-in-fact" to warrant damages or even that the product contained the carcinogen, but gave the consumers a chance to amend their complaint.
-
September 23, 2024
Coinbase Brings On Ex-Citadel Legal Chief With SEC Chops
Coinbase announced on Monday it has hired Ryan VanGrack to serve as its vice president of legal, where he will be overseeing civil litigation, regulatory probes, employment and intellectual property matters for the crypto exchange after spending seven years with Citadel Securities as general counsel.
-
September 23, 2024
Calif. Gov. Vetoes Privacy Bill, OKs Social Media Addiction Law
California's governor has refused to enact legislation that would have required browser developers to make it easier for consumers to stop the sale and sharing of their personal information, while approving a bill that will block online platforms from using algorithms to deliver addictive feeds to children without parental consent.
-
September 23, 2024
Holland & Knight Lands McDermott FDA Regulatory Pro
Holland & Knight LLP has nabbed a partner from McDermott Will & Emery LLP with extensive experience representing clients in regulatory matters before the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the firm announced Monday.
-
September 23, 2024
Mallinckrodt Brass Can't Avoid Investor Suit Over 2nd Ch. 11
A New Jersey federal judge ruled Monday that senior leaders of drugmaker Mallinckrodt cannot escape a lawsuit brought by shareholders alleging the company tricked them into thinking it had recovered from bankruptcy and would make a $200 million payment to opioid claimants, finding the investors sufficiently pleaded securities law violations.
-
September 23, 2024
Feds, SunZia Urge 9th Circ. To Toss Power Line Challenge
The federal government and SunZia Transmission LLC have asked the Ninth Circuit to uphold a lower court decision tossing a suit by a coalition of tribes and conservation groups challenging the government's decision to let the company route a 520-mile power line through cultural and historical sites.
-
September 23, 2024
Bipartisan Senate Bill Would Extend Pandemic IG's Life
A bipartisan group of senators introduced a bill Monday to extend the pandemic watchdog five years beyond its March sunset, which the office has been asking for continuously.
-
September 23, 2024
EPA Admits Mistakes In Approving New Chevron Chemicals
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Friday told the D.C. Circuit that it overestimated the risk of allowing Chevron Corp. to create new fuel chemicals derived from plastic waste, asking the appeals court to remand the order authorizing the new substances back to federal regulators.
-
September 23, 2024
Toyota Accused Of 'Rotten' Forklift Emissions Compliance
Toyota has been misrepresenting the true emissions levels of the engines in its forklifts and construction machinery, leading businesses to believe the engines were far more environmentally friendly than they actually were, according to a proposed class action filed in California federal court.
-
September 23, 2024
Adviser To Pay SEC $1.8M Over Temu Parent Co. Short-Selling
Private fund adviser Centerline Investment Management on Monday agreed to pay nearly $1.8 million to settle U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission charges that it illegally short-sold shares of PDD Holdings Inc., the parent of Chinese e-commerce giant Temu, within a restricted period.
-
September 23, 2024
CFTC Fines Piper Sandler $2M In Latest Text Messaging Action
The U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission both announced settlements Monday in their ongoing probe into the financial industry's use of personal devices to discuss company business, with the CFTC issuing a fine against a subsidiary of Piper Sandler & Co. while the SEC said that a cooperative investment adviser would not have to pay anything.
Expert Analysis
-
Opinion
Big Oil Climate Ruling Sets Dangerous Liability Precedent
The recent Maryland court dismissal of Baltimore's case seeking to hold BP responsible for climate damage mischaracterized the city's injuries as divorced from the conduct that caused them, and could allow companies that conceal the dangers of their products to escape liability, says Randall Abate at George Washington University Law School.
-
DOJ Must Overcome Hurdles In RealPage Antitrust Case
The U.S. Department of Justice's recent claims that RealPage's pricing software violates the Sherman Act mark a creative, and apparently contradictory, shift in the agency's approach to algorithmic price-fixing that will face several key challenges, say attorneys at Clifford Chance.
-
How Companies Are Approaching Insider Trading Policies
An analysis of insider trading policies recently disclosed by 49 S&P 500 companies under a new U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission rule reveals that while specific provisions vary from company to company, certain common themes are emerging, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.
-
What To Know About CFPB Stance On Confidentiality Terms
A recent circular from the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau represents a growing effort across government agencies to address overbroad confidentiality agreements, and gives employers insight into the bureau's perspective on the issue as it relates to the Consumer Financial Protection Act, say Holly Williamson and Elizabeth King at Hunton.
-
How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations
Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.
-
ESA Ruling May Jeopardize Gulf Of Mexico Drilling Operations
A Maryland federal court's recent decision in Sierra Club v. National Marine Fisheries Service, vacating key Endangered Species Act analyses of oil and gas operations in the Gulf of Mexico, may create a gap in guidance that could expose operators to enforcement risk and even criminal liability, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.
-
The State Law Landscape After Justices' Social Media Ruling
Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent NetChoice ruling on social media platforms’ First Amendment rights, it’s still unclear if state content moderation laws are constitutional, leaving online operators to face a patchwork of regulation, and the potential for the issue to return to the high court, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.
-
Old Employment Law Principles Can Answer New AI Concerns
Despite growing legal and regulatory concerns about how artificial intelligence tools may affect employment decisions and worker rights, companies should take comfort in knowing that familiar principles of employment law and established compliance regimes can still largely address these new twists on old questions, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.
-
Navigating New Enforcement Scrutiny Of 'AI Washing'
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent lawsuit against Joonko Diversity, its first public AI-focused enforcement action against a private company, underscores the importance of applying the same internal legal and compliance rigor to AI-related claims as other market-facing statements, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
-
What's Next For Federal Preemption In Financial Services
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's review of its preemption interpretations and growing pressure from state regulators signal potential changes ahead for preemption in U.S. financial services, and the path forward will likely involve a reevaluation of the entire framework, say attorneys at Clark Hill.
-
Pa. Health Employers Must Prep For Noncompete Restrictions
Newly enacted legislation in Pennsylvania prohibits certain noncompete covenants for healthcare practitioners in the state beginning next year, creating compliance challenges that both employers and employees should be aware of, say attorneys at Buchanan Ingersoll.
-
Avoiding Corporate Political Activity Pitfalls This Election Year
As Election Day approaches, corporate counsel should be mindful of the complicated rules around companies engaging in political activities, including super PAC contributions, pay-to-play prohibitions and foreign agent restrictions, say attorneys at Covington.
-
Increased Scrutiny Raises Int'l Real Estate Transaction Risks
Recently proposed regulations expanding the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States' oversight, a White House divestment order and state-level legislative efforts signal increasing scrutiny of real estate transactions that may trigger national security concerns, say Luciano Racco and Aleksis Fernández Caballero at Foley Hoag.
-
Navigating Cybersecurity Rule Changes For Gov't Contractors
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
As federal contractors evaluate the security of their IT systems, they should keep in mind numerous changes to the Federal Acquisition Regulations and the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement recently promulgated to meet new cyber threats, says William Stowe at KBR.
-
How Fund Advisers Can Limit Election Year Pay-To-Play Risks
With Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz now the Democratic candidate for vice president, politically active investment advisers should take practical steps to avoid triggering strict pay-to-play rules that can lead to fund managers facing mutli-year timeouts from working with public funds after contributing to sitting officials, say attorneys at Dechert.