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Public Policy
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August 21, 2024
Conn. Justices Back Insurer's Out-Of-Network Patient Bills
The Connecticut Supreme Court on Wednesday limited an emergency physician group's attempt to require a medical insurer to shoulder patient costs under the state's surprise medical billing law, holding that insurers can charge patients for shared costs, such as deductibles and copayments, at lower levels without violating consumer protection laws.
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August 21, 2024
FTC Fails 1st Test Of Rulemaking Push In Noncompetes Loss
The Federal Trade Commission suffered its first definitive loss Tuesday in the push to ban employment noncompete agreements, although the decision probably isn't the final word given a likely appeal and two other pending challenges also viewed as a test of the agency's efforts to expand its rulemaking footprint.
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August 21, 2024
Legal, Policy Orgs Urge Justices To Toss FCA Interpretation
Two groups are defending AT&T subsidiary Wisconsin Bell Inc. in its challenge to the use of the False Claims Act for E-Rate program reimbursement fraud, telling the Supreme Court in amicus briefs Tuesday that the Seventh Circuit's ruling in the case would make the FCA's qui tam powers too expansive.
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August 21, 2024
8th Circ. Reboots Fed Swipe Fee Suit After High Court Ruling
An Eighth Circuit panel on Wednesday remanded a suit challenging Federal Reserve debit card swipe fee rules, ordering new proceedings in the case after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that it was not untimely after all.
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August 21, 2024
USPTO Argues Not All New Rules Call For Public Comments
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office told the U.S. Supreme Court that forcing the agency to solicit public comments before instituting a new home address requirement for registering trademarks would be too much work.
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August 21, 2024
Judge Skeptical Ex-Murder Suspect Can Sue Embattled DA
A Colorado federal judge appeared to have doubts Wednesday about the prospects of a malicious prosecution lawsuit brought by a man initially charged with the murder of his wife, asking how the lawsuit can defeat immunity for police and prosecutors.
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August 21, 2024
10th Circ. Says Ex-Prosecutor Still Hasn't Proven Immunity
A Tenth Circuit panel on Wednesday said a former Denver deputy district attorney had not yet proven that she was entitled to qualified immunity in a malicious-prosecution case dating back more than a decade, the second time the appeals court has reversed a procedural win for the prosecutor.
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August 21, 2024
Signal Peak Can't Hasten DOI's Coal Mine Review, Judge Says
A D.C. federal judge ruled Wednesday that it would be premature to order federal regulators to speed up their environmental review of Signal Peak Energy LLC's planned expansion of a Montana coal mine, saying the federal government still has time to make good on its deadlines.
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August 21, 2024
Prometheum Plans To Support Two More Crypto 'Securities'
A cryptocurrency startup approved to safeguard crypto securities said Wednesday that it plans to support the tokens UNI and ARB when it launches in the fall, indicating it believes the digital assets implicate securities laws.
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August 21, 2024
Ga. City Asks Full 11th Circ. To Review Race Bias Suit Revival
A southern Georgia city is urging the full Eleventh Circuit to reconsider a panel decision that revived a white city manager's lawsuit claiming it unlawfully fired him to hire a Black woman, arguing the panel improperly extended the alleged discriminatory intent of one Black city commissioner onto other Black commissioners.
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August 21, 2024
Dartmouth's Refusal To Bargain Is Illegal, Hoops Union Says
The union representing men's basketball players at Dartmouth College accused the university of illegally refusing to negotiate, according to an unfair labor practice charge obtained by Law360 on Wednesday, as the school aims to challenge in federal court whether collegiate athletes are employees under federal labor law.
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August 21, 2024
Hunters, Breeder Want Puppy Import Ban Paused During Suit
Hunting groups and a breeder urged a Michigan federal court Wednesday to pause a health policy that bars them from bringing puppies younger than six months old into the U.S., arguing the ban will harm them if it remains active during their legal challenge.
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August 21, 2024
Judge Bars DOD Policy Blocking HIV-Positive Enlistees
A Virginia federal judge has struck down a U.S. Department of Defense policy barring HIV-positive people from joining the military, saying the DOD had failed to take current scientific evidence on HIV treatment and transmission into account.
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August 21, 2024
US Army Escapes Nebraska Tribe's Repatriation Suit
A federal district court judge won't order the U.S. Army to repatriate the remains of two Native American children from a boarding school cemetery in Pennsylvania, saying provisions of a law designed to protect Indigenous burial sites don't apply to the 180 children entombed there for more than a century.
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August 21, 2024
Fla. High Court Rejects Petition Against Abortion Measure Info
Florida's high court Wednesday rejected a petition from a group challenging the financial impact statement attached to a measure legalizing abortion up to 24 weeks that's slated to appear on the state's ballot in November, saying they never initially challenged a committee's authority to revise a statement they considered flawed.
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August 21, 2024
Split 5th Circ. Revives Cameroonian Anglophone's Asylum Bid
A split Fifth Circuit has revived a Cameroonian nurse's asylum bid, saying in a published opinion that the Board of Immigration Appeals disregarded evidence he offered to prove that the Cameroonian military wanted him dead for purportedly being an English-speaking separatist.
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August 21, 2024
Ga. Strip Clubs Push High Court For Tax-Free Dances
A coalition of Georgia strip clubs labored to convince the state's highest court Wednesday that a nearly decade-old tax on their businesses, used by the state to fund child trafficking prevention efforts, is unconstitutional by infringing upon their First Amendment rights to put on nude dances.
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August 21, 2024
Daughter Keeps $9.2M Win In Father's Med Mal Death Suit
A Georgia appeals court affirmed a $9.2 million wrongful death verdict in favor of a woman whose father died of complications following surgery, rejecting the medical center's argument that the evidence couldn't support the verdict.
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August 21, 2024
Feds Chide Iowa's 'Implausible' Immigration Law Defense
The Biden administration is urging the Eighth Circuit to reject Iowa's defense of a state law criminalizing the presence of previously deported noncitizens in the state, suggesting Iowa is mischaracterizing the law in an effort to skirt U.S. Supreme Court precedent.
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August 21, 2024
Minn. Justices OK Denial Of Homestead Tax Break
A Minnesota property was correctly denied a homestead classification and property tax break because the owner did not live at the home as required, the state Supreme Court said Wednesday, affirming a state tax court decision.
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August 21, 2024
EPA Urges 8th Circ. Not To Delay Power Plant Effluent Rule
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and green groups on Tuesday asked the Eighth Circuit not to block the implementation of a rule that set new wastewater standards for coal-fired power plants, as utility companies, trade groups and nearly two dozen states that oppose the rule have urged.
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August 21, 2024
Dems At DNC Push For High Court Reform
Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday made the case at an event adjacent to the Democratic National Convention that U.S. Supreme Court reform is an issue that everyday Americans should care about and championed the progress made thus far.
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August 21, 2024
Oath Keepers Atty Pleads Guilty In Jan. 6 Case
A former attorney for the far-right Oath Keepers group pled guilty Wednesday to charges connected to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol, copping to entering restricted Capitol grounds and advising Oath Keepers affiliates to delete incriminating digital evidence following the riot.
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August 21, 2024
Paxton Issues Warrants To Texas Counties In Election Inquiry
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Wednesday that his office had executed multiple search warrants in Frio, Atascosa, and Bexar counties as part of an ongoing investigation into election integrity.
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August 21, 2024
Oregon Judge Grants EPA Partial Win In Water Pollution Suit
An Oregon federal judge rejected a conservation group's contention that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency must step in and act because Oregon has effectively submitted no total maximum daily load plans to set appropriate pollution limits for hundreds of impaired waterways, some of which have been considered impaired for decades.
Expert Analysis
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Tips For Tax Equity-Tax Credit Transfers That Pass IRS Muster
Although the Internal Revenue Service has increased its scrutiny of complex partnership structures, which must demonstrate their economic substance and business purpose, recent cases and IRS guidance together provide a reliable road map for creating legitimate tax equity structures, say Ian Boccaccio and Michael Messina at Ryan Tax.
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How Cos. With Chinese Suppliers Should Prep For Biotech Bill
A proposed bill to prohibit government-affiliated life sciences companies from contracting with Chinese biotech companies of concern may necessitate switching to other sources for research and supplies, meaning they should begin evaluating supply chains now due to the long lead times of drug development, say John O'Loughlin and Christina Carone at Weil Gotshal.
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Opinion
Texas Judges Ignored ERISA's Core To Stall Fiduciary Rule
Two recent rulings from Texas federal courts, which rely on a plainly wrong reading of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act to effectively strike a forthcoming rule that would impose functional fiduciary duties onto sellers of investment services, may expose financially unsophisticated 401(k) participants to peddlers of misleading advice, says Mark DeBofsky at DeBofsky Law.
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Inside OCC's Retail Nondeposit Investment Products Refresh
In addition to clarifying safe and sound risk management practices generally, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency's revised booklet on retail nondeposit investment products updates its guidance around certain sales practices in light of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's adoption of Regulation Best Interest, say attorneys at Debevoise.
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5 Defense Lessons From Prosecutors' Recent Evidence Flubs
The recent dismissal of Alec Baldwin’s involuntary manslaughter charges, and the filing of an ethics complaint against a former D.C. prosecutor, both provide takeaways for white collar defense counsel who suspect that prosecutors may be withholding or misrepresenting evidence, say Anden Chow at MoloLamken and Jonathan Porter at Husch Blackwell.
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Mirror, Mirror On The Wall, Is My Counterclaim Bound To Fall?
A Pennsylvania federal court’s recent dismissal of the defendants’ counterclaims in Morgan v. Noss should remind attorneys to avoid the temptation to repackage a claim’s facts and law into a mirror-image counterclaim, as this approach will often result in a waste of time and resources, says Matthew Selmasska at Kaufman Dolowich.
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Loper Fuels Debate Over Merchant Cash Advances As Credit
The U.S. Supreme Court's recent rejection of the Chevron doctrine in Loper Bright may escalate a Florida federal court dispute between the Revenue Based Finance Coalition and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau over whether merchant cash advances should be considered credit under the Dodd-Frank Act, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.
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Bank M&A Continues To Lag Amid Regulatory Ambiguity
Bank M&A activity in the first half of 2024 continued to be lower than in prior years, as the industry is recovering from the 2023 bank failures, and regulatory and macroeconomic conditions have not otherwise been prime for deals, say Robert Azarow and Amber Hay at Arnold & Porter.
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FTC's Drug Middlemen Probe Highlights Ongoing Scrutiny
The Federal Trade Commission's interim staff report on its inquiry into pharmacy benefit managers suggests that the industry will remain under an enforcement microscope for the foreseeable future due to concerns about how PBMs affect drug costs and accessibility, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.
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How High Court Ruling Is Shaping Homelessness Policies
The U.S. Supreme Court’s June decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson to allow enforcement of local ordinances against overnight camping is already spurring new policies to manage homelessness, but the court's ruling does not grant jurisdictions unfettered power, say Kathryn Kafka and Alex Merritt at Sheppard Mullin.
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DOJ Paths To Limit FARA Fallout From Wynn's DC Circ. Win
After the D.C. Circuit’s recent Attorney General v. Wynn ruling, holding that the government cannot compel retroactive registration under the Foreign Agents Registration Act, the U.S. Department of Justice has a few options to limit the decision’s impact on enforcement, say attorneys at MoFo.
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Series
Playing Dungeons & Dragons Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Playing Dungeons & Dragons – a tabletop role-playing game – helped pave the way for my legal career by providing me with foundational skills such as persuasion and team building, says Derrick Carman at Robins Kaplan.
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A Look At The Regulatory Scrutiny Facing Liquid Restaking
Recent U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission enforcement actions highlight the regulatory challenges facing emerging financial instruments like liquid restaking tokens and services, say Daniel Davis and Alexander Kim at Katten.
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Del. Dispatch: Director Caremark Claims Need Extreme Facts
The Delaware Court of Chancery recently dismissed Caremark claims against the directors of Centene in Bricklayers Pension Fund of Western Pennsylvania v. Brinkley, indicating a high bar for a finding of the required element of bad faith for Caremark liability, and stressing the need to resist hindsight bias, say attorneys at Fried Frank.
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Series
After Chevron: Challenges Loom For PBGC Actions
After Loper Bright, two recent actions taken by the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corp. already under scrutiny seem destined to be challenged and resolved under the new standard of judicial deference, which will greatly affect employers with potential withdrawal liability exposure, say Robert Perry and David Pixley at Jackson Lewis.