Public Policy

  • October 01, 2024

    CFPB Warns On Collecting 'Invalid,' Unverified Medical Debt

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau on Tuesday cautioned debt collectors about significant potential compliance risks when working in the medical debt market, issuing guidance that identified a number of practices as illegal and capable of triggering "strict liability" under federal law.

  • October 01, 2024

    Trump Cries Voter Interference As Immunity Brief Hits Docket

    Former President Donald Trump on Tuesday slammed special counsel Jack Smith's bid to publicize some evidence in a voluminous filing over Trump's presidential immunity to election interference charges, reiterating allegations that it's a "politically motivated manifesto" aimed at influencing voters on the eve of the 2024 election.

  • October 01, 2024

    From AI To Enviro: The Top Biz Bills Calif. Gov. Inked Into Law

    California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed hundreds of bills into law ahead of an Oct. 1 deadline, meaning major changes are on the horizon for employers, tech companies, healthcare providers and others doing business in the Golden State.

  • October 01, 2024

    Oxygenation Doesn't Show Water Quality, Texas Justices Hear

    Texas Supreme Court justices prodded the Save Our Springs Alliance's argument that a permit to release treated wastewater would degrade water quality, questioning whether the advocacy organization's argument that a drop in levels of dissolved oxygen shows water degradation during oral arguments Tuesday.

  • October 01, 2024

    Bribe-Laundering Gets Ecuador Ex-Official 10 Years In Prison

    A Florida federal judge on Tuesday sentenced Ecuador's former comptroller to 10 years in prison after a jury earlier this year convicted him on multiple counts related to laundering millions of dollars in bribe money he received in exchange for eliminating fines connected to a defective hydroelectric dam and other projects.

  • October 01, 2024

    Data Brokers Decry 'Ill-Tailored' NJ Judicial Privacy Law

    Data brokers such as Equifax, Thomson Reuters and Zillow urged a New Jersey federal judge Tuesday to toss a suit accusing them of violating Daniel's Law, arguing the state's judicial privacy measure is unconstitutionally broad and unevenly applied. 

  • October 01, 2024

    Lyft Beats NY Wheelchair Access, Disability Bias Class Action

    A New York federal judge on Monday threw out a long-running class action alleging that Lyft fails to offer adequate wheelchair-accessible vehicle options for riders in the vast majority of its service regions, finding that the plaintiffs' proposed modifications for increasing accessibility aren't reasonable.

  • October 01, 2024

    Calif. Tribe Can't Block 'Indian Blood' Certification Process

    A D.C. federal judge has denied a preliminary injunction request by family members who seek control of the California Valley Miwok Tribe and want the U.S. Department of the Interior to stop using a "Certificate of Degree of Indian Blood" to determine who is eligible for enrollment.

  • October 01, 2024

    Judge Backs Louisiana 340B Law In Loss For Pharma Lobby

    A Louisiana federal court has issued a sweeping loss to Big Pharma's top lobbying group and two pharmaceutical companies that argued a state law improperly expands the scope of the federal drug discount program.

  • October 01, 2024

    Woman Seeks Review Of Evals In BIA Sexual Assault Case

    A Northern Cheyenne woman who was sexually assaulted by a Bureau of Indian Affairs officer is asking a Montana federal court for an in camera review of his psychological evaluation and presentencing report to determine whether the documents should be produced as impeachment evidence in the ongoing litigation over the government's liability.

  • October 01, 2024

    Kroger Says Labor Costs Led To Price Hikes At Colo. Stores

    A Kroger Co. pricing director testified Tuesday that the company raised prices at eight Colorado stores that have little competition in order to cover higher labor and operational costs in those mountain communities, during a trial in the state's bid to block the grocer's proposed $24.6 billion merger with Albertsons.

  • October 01, 2024

    NJ Hotels Beat Room Price-Fixing Suit For Good

    Another algorithmic antitrust suit is off the table after a New Jersey federal judge said Monday that a room-rate proposed class action against Atlantic City casino-hotels has the same failings that doomed a case over room prices on the Las Vegas Strip.

  • October 01, 2024

    Judge Stays Calif. Locomotive Emissions Rule Challenge

    A California federal judge halted litigation brought by rail industry groups challenging a regulation requiring railroads to transition to zero-emission locomotives in the Golden State over the next decade, finding the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's upcoming authorization decision will greatly impact the case.

  • October 01, 2024

    Nonprofit Finds Bad Patent 'Epidemic' Is Just A Myth

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is more likely to reject patent applications with valid claims than approve applications with invalid claims, according to a new report commissioned by former USPTO directors and Federal Circuit judges who were concerned about an alleged "epidemic" of bad patents. 

  • October 01, 2024

    University Can Keep Conduct Records, Texas Justices Hear

    Texas Supreme Court Justices asked the University of Texas at Austin why it was trying to keep from releasing records of students who violated policies against violence and sex offenses during oral arguments Tuesday, saying that the category of students the university was protecting seemed the "least defensible."

  • October 01, 2024

    Judge Says Texas Election Law Provision Is Unconstitutional

    A Texas federal judge has struck down part of a controversial Texas election law after a six-week bench trial in a decision that Attorney General Ken Paxton vowed to immediately try to block.

  • October 01, 2024

    Activists Sue Ark. Officials Over Medical Pot Ballot Measure

    Activists attempting to put a measure that would expand medical marijuana access in Arkansas on the ballot brought a lawsuit against John Thurston, the state's secretary of state, on Tuesday, one day after he said that the campaign did not have enough signatures to qualify for the ballot.

  • October 01, 2024

    Google Ad Tech Trial: 15 Days On The Rocket Docket

    The Justice Department wrapped an extraordinary antitrust trial last week that left a Virginia federal judge pondering whether Google is even dominant in the display advertising placement technology market or just another player.

  • October 01, 2024

    Mich. Court Says It Can't Force Gov't To Speed Up U-Visas

    A Michigan federal judge dismissed a proposed class action from U-visa petitioners who sued over government processing delays, saying federal courts lack power to force the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services to process visas in a required time frame.

  • October 01, 2024

    EPA Can't Justify Water Permitting Rule, La. Judge Told

    Republican-led states and industry groups fired back at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's defense of its rule broadening states' and tribes' power to veto infrastructure projects over water quality concerns, telling a Louisiana federal judge it goes against what Congress intended with the Clean Water Act.

  • October 01, 2024

    Phone 'Tax' For FCC Programs Unconstitutional, Justices Told

    Groups challenging the Federal Communications Commission's universal service system urged the U.S. Supreme Court on Tuesday to throw out the program's funding base, arguing it amounts to an illegal tax on consumers.

  • October 01, 2024

    Feds Didn't Consider Gold Mine's Full Impact, Judge Says

    The federal government didn't realistically study the potential spill risks associated with a large open-pit gold mine when it approved the project, an Alaskan federal judge has said, arguing the Army Corps of Engineers erred in concluding that a catastrophic event is a "worst case" scenario in its environmental analysis.

  • October 01, 2024

    ​​​​​​​Texas Loses Bid To Block Residency Over Use Of Benefits

    A Texas federal judge has dismissed the state's lawsuit challenging a Biden administration decision to upend a Trump-era rule blocking permanent residency for immigrants who use certain public benefits, finding Texas lacked standing because it didn't show the upending would lead to an increase in immigration or related costs.

  • October 01, 2024

    Binance GC Is Building The Firm's Future, One Atty At A Time

    Binance general counsel Eleanor Hughes says she inherited "probably one of the most stressful situations a lawyer can face" when she entered her role as the company negotiated a $4.3 billion settlement with U.S. authorities, but since then her focus has been on building the right team to guide the firm's compliance forward.

  • October 01, 2024

    Verdict Stands In Fifth Third Bank Cash Advance Suit

    An Ohio federal judge refused to override a jury's verdict that Fifth Third Bank breached its contracts with the class of borrowers who participated in its Early Access loan program, and also said he would not order a partial new trial for the borrowers after that same jury denied them damages.

Expert Analysis

  • Managing Sanctions Defense Across Multiple Jurisdictions

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    Companies called before multiple regulators to account for the same conduct in this era of increased global sanctions and import-control enforcement should consider national differences in law and policy, and proactively coordinate their responses in certain key areas, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Series

    Colorado Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3

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    In the third quarter of 2024, Colorado's banking and financial services sector faced both regulatory updates and changes to state law due to recent federal court decisions — with consequences for local governments, mortgage lenders, state-chartered trust companies and federally chartered lenders serving Colorado consumers, says Sarah Auchterlonie at Brownstein Hyatt.

  • Building US-Japan Relationships In The M&A Market

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    The prospect of U.S.-Japanese mergers and acquisitions presents stronger competition to U.S. investors in the global M&A markets, while also opening up an additional exit route for sellers looking to offload strategic assets, says Nick Wall at A&O Shearman.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession

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    About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • 4 Ways To Prepare For DOD Cyber Certification Rule

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    Given the U.S. Department of Justice's increased scrutiny of contractor compliance with cybersecurity requirements, it is critical that contractors take certain steps now in response to the U.S. Department of Defense's proposed Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification implementation rule, say Townsend Bourne and Lillia Damalouji at Sheppard Mullin.

  • FTC Focus: How Scrutiny Of PBMs And Insulin May Play Out

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    Should Express Scripts' recent judicial challenge to the Federal Trade Commission succeed, any new targets could add litigation and choice of forum to their playbooks, and potential FTC court action on insulin could be forced to parallel venues as the issues between the commission and PBMs evolve, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Opinion

    AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys

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    The thing that’s so powerful about artificial intelligence is also what’s most scary about it — its ability to detect patterns may curtail young attorneys’ chance to practice the lower-level work of managing cases, preventing them from ever honing the pattern recognition skills that undergird creative lawyering, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.

  • A Look At How De Minimis Import Rules May Soon Change

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    The planned implementation of executive actions focused on the de minimis rule as it applies to shipments means companies should use this interval to evaluate the potential applicability and impact of Section 301, Section 201 or Section 232 duties on their products, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Key Takeaways From DOJ's New Corp. Compliance Guidance

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s updated guidance to federal prosecutors on evaluating corporate compliance programs addresses how entities manage new technology-related risks and expands on preexisting policies, providing key insights for companies about increasing regulatory expectations, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • What's In The Cards For CFTC's Election Betting Case

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    A D.C. federal judge's Sept. 12 ruling, allowing KalshiEx to offer derivative contracts trading on the outcome of the U.S. congressional elections over objections from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, could mark a watershed moment in the permissibility of election betting if upheld on appeal, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • What To Know About Latest Calif. Auto-Renewal Law Update

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    While businesses have about nine months to prepare before the recently passed amendment to California's automatic renewal law takes effect, it’s not too early to begin working on compliance efforts, including sign-up flow reviews, record retention updates and marketing language revisions, say Gonzalo Mon and Beth Chun at Kelley Drye.

  • The Key Changes In Revised FDIC Hiring Regulations

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    Attorneys at Ogletree break down the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s new rule, effective Oct. 1, that will ease restrictions on financial institutions hiring employees with criminal histories, amend the FDIC's treatment of minor offenses and clarify its stance on expunged or dismissed criminal records.

  • FDIC's Cautious Approach To Industrial Banks, Reaffirmed

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    Although the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. recently approved an industrial loan company's deposit insurance application and proposed new rules regarding parent companies, these developments do not represent a liberalization or modernization of the FDIC's regulatory framework, say Max Bonici and Andrew Bigart at Venable.

  • How Lucia, Jarkesy Could Affect Grocery Merger Challenge

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    While the Federal Trade Commission is taking a dual federal court and administrative tribunal approach to block Kroger's merger with Alberstons, Kroger's long-shot unconstitutionality claims could potentially lead to a reevaluation of the FTC's reliance on administrative processes in complex merger cases, say attorneys at Saul Ewing.

  • How NLRB Memo Balances Schools' Labor, Privacy Concerns

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    Natale DiNatale at Robinson & Cole highlights the recent National Labor Relations Board advice memorandum that aims to help colleges reconcile competing obligations under the National Labor Relations Act and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act as university students flock toward unionization.

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