Philly Judge Won't Block FTC Noncompete Ban

By Bryan Koenig

A Pennsylvania federal judge refused Tuesday to temporarily block the Federal Trade Commission's impending ban on employment noncompete agreements, a victory for commission authority that could be short-lived as the agency awaits a final decision from a Texas federal judge who's already indicated an inclination to stop the regulation.

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Senate Dems Roll Out Bill To Codify Chevron Deference

By Courtney Bublé

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., led a group of Democratic senators Tuesday in introducing a bill to codify the now-defunct doctrine of Chevron deference after it was struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court last month.

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Analysis

Knives Out For Another Pro-Agency Landmark After Chevron

By Jeff Overley

Only weeks after U.S. Supreme Court conservatives took a hatchet to the judicial deference shown to federal agencies, right-leaning lawyers are imploring the justices to rock the administrative law realm again by gutting a New Deal-era precedent at the heart of the modern regulatory system.

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No Victims, No Fraud, Trump Says In $465M Judgment Appeal

By Carolina Bolado

Donald Trump has appealed the $465 million judgment against him, arguing that the New York attorney general exceeded her authority in her civil fraud suit against the former president because the statute in question does not apply to victimless transactions.

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'Not Doing Enough': Banks Grilled Over Zelle Fraud, Scams

By Jon Hill

Senate Democrats on Tuesday confronted bank executives over a new staff report that found three of the nation's largest banks have declined to reimburse customers in recent years for close to $900 million in payments reported as fraudulent or scam-related that were sent on Zelle, the largest U.S. peer-to-peer payment platform.

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House Panel Weighs New Rail Safety Regs After East Palestine

By Linda Chiem

The fiery Norfolk Southern derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, last year has created new urgency for strengthening federal standards for tank car designs, rail safety technology, track inspection protocols and classifying hazardous materials-carrying trains, industry experts told a House subcommittee Tuesday.

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​​​​​​​Nigeria Fines Meta $220M Over WhatsApp Privacy Policy

By Jared Foretek

Nigerian regulators have hit Meta with a $220 million fine over alleged privacy and antitrust violations and ordered the company to stop sharing WhatsApp users' data with advertisers without express permission, the culmination of a nearly three-year-long investigative process.

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US, UK, EU Antitrust Enforcers Outline AI Principles

By Bryan Koenig

The top antitrust officials from the U.S. Justice Department, the Federal Trade Commission, the European Commission and the U.K.'s Competition and Markets Authority presented a unified international commitment Tuesday to closely monitor artificial intelligence technology and the companies that they warned could wield AI anticompetitively.

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Brief

Indonesian National Admits To $23M Ponzi Scheme

By Elliot Weld

An Indonesian national pled guilty in New York federal court on Tuesday to conspiring to defraud a group of investors out of $23 million through a Ponzi scheme, ultimately spending the money on luxury goods and real estate.

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CFPB Sued Over Its Probe Of Lease-To-Own Fintech Co.

By Sydney Price

Lease-to-own fintech company Acima has accused the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau of trying to overextend its authority with an unconstitutional investigation into the company's transactions that fall outside the bureau's purview. 

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Coinbase Renews Plea For Gensler's Private Emails

By Jessica Corso

Coinbase Inc. asked once again Tuesday to access the private communications of U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission Chair Gary Gensler as it fights allegations that it permitted the illegal trading of unregistered securities on its crypto platform.

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Chancery Slams 'Squishy' Deal In 'Tagalong' BioMarin Suit

By Leslie A. Pappas

A visibly irritated Delaware Chancery Court judge on Tuesday rejected a settlement with BioMarin Pharmaceuticals Inc. that would have given shareholder attorneys $1.25 million in exchange for broad releases and "squishy" governance reforms, saying he didn't want to encourage "tagalong litigation" that yielded only "ephemeral" benefits.

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Capital One Card Holders Sue To Block Discover Merger

By Jared Foretek

Capital One credit card holders launched a proposed class action seeking to block the company's $35 billion purchase of Discover Monday, claiming the acquisition will drive down competition and further consolidate the already-concentrated credit card market.

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FTC Attys On Kroger Case Get Extensions After IT Outage

By Nadia Dreid

The administrative law judge overseeing the Federal Trade Commission's in-house challenge to Kroger and Albertsons' $25 billion merger has given the agency and the grocery behemoths two extra days on a couple of filing deadlines after the FTC said the worldwide Microsoft outage left several counsel laptops unusable.

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FTC Won't Delay Challenge To Handbag Merger Either

By Jared Foretek

The Federal Trade Commission has declined to pause its administrative challenge to the $8.5 billion handbag merger between the owners of Coach and Michael Koors, saying that even a district court refusal to temporarily enjoin the merger might not end the FTC's in-house case.

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Bros. Want New Trial For Concrete Price-Fixing Convictions

By Chart Riggall

Two brothers convicted earlier this month of involvement in a ready-made concrete bid-rigging and price-fixing scheme asked a Georgia federal judge Monday for another shot at trial, arguing that repeated testimony about purported law-breaking tipped the scales in favor of federal prosecutors.

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Chase, McKinsey Get FTC Inquiry Over 'Surveillance Pricing'

By Carolina Bolado

The Federal Trade Commission has issued orders to eight companies — including Mastercard, Chase, Accenture and McKinsey & Co. — seeking more information about the potential impact their practices of "surveillance pricing" products and services have on privacy, competition and consumer protection, the FTC said Tuesday.

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Funds Say Boeing Can't Ditch 737 Max Securities Suit

By Katryna Perera

Pension funds leading a proposed securities fraud suit against Boeing have fired back at the airline manufacturer's attempt to dismiss allegations that it misled investors about the safety of its 737 Max jets, saying the suit sufficiently showcases how missteps by Boeing's top brass diminished shareholder value.

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LA Sued Over Illegal Pollutant Discharges In San Pedro Bay

By Gina Kim

The city of Los Angeles was hit with a Clean Water Act suit in California federal court Tuesday by a nonprofit accusing it of regularly violating its wastewater discharge permit by exceeding limits on dangerous pollutants dispelled into the San Pedro Bay, threatening aquatic life and public health.

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EPA Says High Court's Chevron Ruling Doesn't Doom Air Rule

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday told the Fifth Circuit that a U.S. Supreme Court decision eliminating judges' obligation to defer to federal agencies in rulemaking litigation does not impact its decision to reject states' ozone air pollution plans.

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Red States Seek High Court Stay Of EPA Power Plant Rule

By Keith Goldberg

Dozens of red states Tuesday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to block implementation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's rule curbing greenhouse gas emissions from power plants, four days after the D.C. Circuit rejected a stay request.

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Stay Of Power Plant Mercury Rule Unwarranted, EPA Says

By Tom Lotshaw

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, joined by states, cities and public health and environmental groups, is urging the D.C. Circuit not to block a new rule tightening standards for mercury and other toxic metal emissions from some coal-fired power plants.

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EPA Must Ban PFAS In Pesticides, Environmental Groups Say

By Jonathan Capriel

Farmer advocacy groups and environmentalists urged the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to flex its regulatory muscles and prohibit the use of pesticide formulas and containers made with so-called forever chemicals, according to a petition that says the agency is doing little to address the issue.

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EPA Tells 5th Circ. Louisiana Can't Stall Chemical Regulation

By Juan-Carlos Rodriguez

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency says the Fifth Circuit cannot decide whether a Louisiana regulator can give a neoprene maker an extra two years to comply with a federal chemical rule because the issue is already before the D.C. Circuit.

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Brief

SEC Names New Acting Head Of Exams

By Sarah Jarvis

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has announced that the deputy director of its examinations division will serve as the unit's new acting director, as the previous director takes a leave of absence to focus on his health.

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Chevron's End Puts Target On CFPB's Aggressive BNPL Rule

A recent interpretative rule by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, subjecting buy-now, pay-later loans to the same regulations as credit cards, is unlikely to survive post-Chevron challenges of the rule's partisan and shaky logic, say Scott Pearson and Bryan Schneider at Manatt.

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Half-Truths Vs. Omissions: Slicing Justices' Macquarie Cake

The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling in Macquarie v. Moab provides a road map for determining whether corporate reports that omit information should be considered misleading — and the court baked it into a dessert analogy that is key to understanding the guidelines, say Daniel Levy and Pavithra Kumar at Advanced Analytical Consulting Group.

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Nat'l Security Considerations For Telecom Products Counsel

An increase in federal national security measures in the telecommunications space, particularly from the Federal Communications Commission, means that products counsel need to broaden their considerations as they advise on new products and services, says Laura Stefani at Venable.

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Preparing For Increased Scrutiny Of Tech Supply Chains

The U.S. Department of Commerce's recent action prohibiting sales of a Russia-based technology company's products in the U.S. is the first determination under the information technology supply chain rule, and signals plans to increase enforcement of protections that target companies in designated foreign adversary jurisdictions, say attorneys at Debevoise.

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Defending Against Aggressive DOL Child Labor Enforcement

The U.S. Department of Labor's recent unsuccessful injunction against an Alabama poultry facility highlights both the DOL's continued focus on child labor violations and the guardrails and defenses that employers can raise, say attorneys at Littler.

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3 Areas Of Enforcement Risk Facing The EV Industry

Companies in the EV manufacturing ecosystem are experiencing a boom in business, but with this boom comes increased regulatory and enforcement risks, from the corruption issues that have historically pervaded the extractive sector to newer risks posed by artificial intelligence, say attorneys at MoFo.

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Lead Like 'Ted Lasso' By Embracing Cognitive Diversity

The Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso” aptly illustrates how embracing cognitive diversity can be a winning strategy for teams, providing a useful lesson for law firms, which can benefit significantly from fresh, diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

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Where Biden Stands On Judicial Noms Compared To Trump

By Courtney Bublé

With President Joe Biden now set to be a one-term president, it appears he can match President Donald Trump's record on district court nominees, but it's not likely he will on nominees to circuit courts.

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Dentons Brings On Former Big 4 Exec As New Global CEO

By Aebra Coe

Global law firm Dentons, which has made a name for itself by aggressive growth through combinations, has tapped a new global chief executive officer with leadership experience at accounting giant EY, the firm's first change at the top in over a decade.

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Mintz Reelects Bodian To Final Term As Managing Member

By Tracey Read

Mintz Levin Cohn Ferris Glovsky and Popeo PC announced Wednesday that Bob Bodian, who was already the longest-serving managing member in the firm's 91-year history, has been elected to a sixth and final three-year term.

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Jenner & Block Wants Out Of COVID Vax Refusal Firing Suit

By Katryna Perera

Jenner & Block LLP has asked an Illinois federal judge to toss a former employee's claims that she was fired after being denied a religious exemption from the firm's COVID-19 vaccine mandate, saying she didn't do enough to spell out her religious beliefs or how they conflict with the vaccine.

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Parts Of Klehr Harrison Bills Not Privileged, Pa. Panel Finds

By Emily Sawicki

Pennsylvania journalists can view the subject lines of invoice requests sent to the Pennsylvania Office of General Counsel by outside law firms including Klehr Harrison, with a state appeals court panel determining the information falls under the state's Right-to-Know Law and is not privileged, nor is it protected by a court order.

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Legal Tech Co.'s $1.3M Data Privacy Deal Gets OK'd

By Andrea Keckley

A Kansas federal judge granted preliminary approval to a proposed $1.3 million settlement between a data and professional services company catering to law firms and a class of thousands of its customers and employees, who said their personal information was stolen in a March 2023 data breach that exposed 200 gigabytes of sensitive information.

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Series

Being A Luthier Makes Me a Better Lawyer

When I’m not working as an appellate lawyer, I spend my spare time building guitars — a craft known as luthiery — which has helped to enhance the discipline, patience and resilience needed to write better briefs, says Rob Carty at Nichols Brar.

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