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Public Policy
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November 14, 2024
DC Circ. Won't Rethink Denial Of Church Tax Exemption
The D.C. Circuit rejected a request to reconsider the tax status of an Iowa church that used a psychedelic drug in its rites, letting stand its decision that because the church uses a federally illegal drug, it isn't entitled to tax-exempt status.
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November 14, 2024
Capri, Tapestry Kill $8.5B Handbag Deal Amid FTC Battle
Capri Holdings Ltd. and Tapestry Inc. have called off their $8.5 billion merger following an extended regulatory battle with the Federal Trade Commission, with the companies mutually agreeing to terminate the deal because it is "unlikely" to obtain the regulatory approvals needed to close on time, Capri said Thursday.
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November 13, 2024
Trump's Card Rate Cap Idea Could See Red State Pushback
In a glimpse of potential future fault lines between red-state officials and the next Trump administration, West Virginia's top state attorney on Wednesday suggested litigation could be on the table if the White House bucks regulatory restraint to push ideas like capping credit card interest rates.
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November 13, 2024
Telecom Co. Lumen's Contract Breach Suit Survives, For Now
A Colorado federal judge on Tuesday ruled that an engineering consulting firm is liable to telecommunications company Lumen Technologies for damages caused by a subcontractor's faulty structural analysis, but said she couldn't yet rule on whether Florida law and a two-year statute of limitation barred Lumen's claims against the firm.
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November 13, 2024
Chinese Hackers Stole Call Data From Telecom Cos., Feds Say
The FBI and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency announced Wednesday that they have identified individuals associated with the Chinese government who have hacked into the networks of multiple telecommunications companies in search of private communications of people involved in government and political activity.
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November 13, 2024
UNC Tennis Player Narrows Prize-Money Suit Against NCAA
A University of North Carolina tennis player is taking another swing at NCAA rules stopping college athletes from accepting prize money in outside tournaments, this time limiting the proposed class action to Division I tennis players rather than athletes in a slew of non-revenue generating college sports.
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November 13, 2024
Tempur Sealy Has 'Keys' To Merger, Mattress Firm CEO Says
Mattress Firm's CEO told a Houston judge Wednesday that he has not had any involvement in Tempur Sealy's post-acquisition agreements with mattress suppliers, testifying that Tempur's board chairman and CEO is the one "driving" the deal.
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November 13, 2024
7th Circ. Won't Halt Ind. Gender-Affirming Care For Minors Ban
A split Seventh Circuit reversed a lower court's preliminary injunction order Tuesday that stopped an Indiana law prohibiting its physicians from providing gender-affirming care through medication to minors, finding the plaintiff's view on the law would result in allowing parents to decline to take a seriously injured child to the hospital.
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November 13, 2024
Republic Bank's 'Dysfunction' Enabled Its Failure, FDIC Says
The former Republic First Bank failed because of its inability to hold certain debt securities, its insufficient liquidity and an ineffective board and management team, according to a post-mortem review issued Wednesday by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s watchdog.
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November 13, 2024
Wash. Attys Expect Gov. And AG Will Keep Them Busy
Despite President-elect Donald Trump's anticipated de-emphasis of regulatory enforcement, Washington state antitrust and consumer protection attorneys are still expecting plenty of work in the coming years, as the new Democratic governor-attorney general duo are expected to step up local enforcement.
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November 13, 2024
Defenders, Prosecutors Clash On Proposed Wash. Case Caps
As public defenders called on the Washington Supreme Court on Wednesday to adopt lightened caseload standards to stem the exodus of attorneys from the indigent defense field, prosecutors chalked up those concerns to career dissatisfaction and cautioned the court the updated rules would catapult local governments into budgetary crisis.
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November 13, 2024
Transport Co. Wants To End Calif. Family Separation Suit
Transportation services provider MVM Inc. urged a California federal judge to toss a proposed class action by a father and son who were separated after crossing the border, arguing Tuesday the Trump-era separation policy was enacted by the U.S. government, and that MVM was simply executing its contractual duties.
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November 13, 2024
DOJ Doc Pushes For Strong Antitrust Compliance Programs
Companies hoping antitrust compliance programs will mitigate or even eliminate U.S. Department of Justice criminal prosecution for bid-rigging, price-fixing and market allocation schemes need strong monitoring, remediation, oversight and responsibility, according to new guidance released Tuesday.
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November 13, 2024
Md. Electricity 'Greenwashing' Law Is A Muzzle, Judge Told
A Maryland law attempting to crack down on electricity suppliers' "greenwashing" claims unconstitutionally mandates companies speak about their product in a way that conforms to what the state considers "sustainable energy," a renewable energy company and an advocacy organization argued in Maryland federal court.
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November 13, 2024
Cox Eyes Federal Suit After RI Court Tosses BEAD Case
Cox Communications has signaled that it may sue in federal court after a Rhode Island state judge tossed on jurisdictional grounds its complaint accusing state officials of botching the rollout of federal broadband deployment dollars.
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November 13, 2024
TikTok Asks To Keep NC AG's Addiction Complaint Redacted
TikTok Inc. is asking a North Carolina state court to keep redacted portions of a complaint by the state alleging that it targets youth to make them compulsive and addicted users, saying parts of the complaint include information from confidential documents and trade secrets.
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November 13, 2024
Copyright Chief: Fair Use A Tough Issue In Upcoming AI Report
An upcoming report from the U.S. Copyright Office addressing questions of infringement and training artificial intelligence models with copyrighted material will address fair use, Shira Perlmutter, the office's director, told a U.S. Senate oversight panel Wednesday.
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November 13, 2024
Boston Says Celebrity Chef Owes $1.6M In Taxes
The city of Boston is taking celebrity chef Barbara Lynch to court, alleging that for more than a decade she has failed to pay over $1.6 million in personal property taxes for her group of restaurants, which she is in the process of closing and attempting to sell.
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November 13, 2024
Detroit Fire Fee Ruling Concerns Mich. Justice
A Michigan Supreme Court justice on Wednesday said he was troubled by a lower appellate ruling he said seemed to imply that municipalities can work around a state law barring sneaky taxes, in this case by stating a charge for fire prevention services is really just the cost of a permit allowing property owners to do business in Detroit.
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November 13, 2024
EPA Tells DC Circ. That Mercury Rule Is Sound
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency told the D.C. Circuit that opponents of its rule strengthening standards for mercury and other toxic air emissions at power plants are seeking to hamstring the agency with a too-narrow interpretation of the Clean Air Act.
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November 13, 2024
Judge Won't Rethink Mootness Of Air Force Vax Mandate Suit
A Georgia federal judge on Tuesday refused to reconsider his finding that a challenge by U.S. Air Force personnel to the military's now-rescinded COVID-19 vaccination mandate on religious grounds is moot, holding there is no live controversy to keep the case going.
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November 13, 2024
Trump Is Poised, Once Again, To Jolt US Trade Policy
Donald Trump's first stint in the White House saw steep tariffs against China and other trade partners, and with the Biden administration having largely maintained and even expanded those levies, the president-elect is well-positioned to further pull those levers.
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November 13, 2024
Space Activities Need Licensing Latitude, Chamber Says
The Federal Communications Commission could stifle in-space manufacturing growth if it decides to license new space stations only for individual services instead of broader, category-wide uses, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said.
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November 13, 2024
FTX Prosecutors Tout Tech Chief's 'Outstanding Cooperation'
Manhattan federal prosecutors urged a lenient sentence for former FTX technology chief Zixiao "Gary" Wang, telling the court on Wednesday that his "outstanding cooperation" was instrumental in securing the lightning-fast indictment and ultimate conviction of founder Sam Bankman-Fried for an $11 billion fraud that sank the crypto exchange.
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November 13, 2024
Outgoing DOJ Antitrust Head Wants To Unstack Healthcare
The U.S. Department of Justice's top antitrust official looked to the future Tuesday, of both healthcare and his own exit with the change in presidential administration, as he defended the Biden era's more aggressive, nuanced approach to merger enforcement that wouldn't allow massive insurers and others to stack up the industry like Tetris.
Expert Analysis
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Opinion
Congress Must Do More To Bolster ERISA Protections
As the Employee Retirement Income Security Act turns 50 this month, we applaud Congress for championing a statute that protects worker and retiree rights, but further action is needed to ban arbitration clauses in plan provisions and codify regulations imperiled by the U.S. Supreme Court’s Chevron ruling, say Michelle Yau and Eleanor Frisch at Cohen Milstein.
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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.
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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.
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Financial Incentives May Alleviate Affordable Housing Crisis
There is a wide array of financial incentives and assistance that the government can provide to both real estate developers and individuals to chip away at the housing affordability problem from multiple angles, say Eric DeBear and Madeline Williams at Cozen.
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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.
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FTC Focus: What Access To Patent Settlements Would Mean
Settling parties should adopt a series of practice tips, including specifying rationales to support specific terms, as the Federal Trade Commission seeks to expand its access to settlements before the Patent Trial and Appeal Board, say Shannon McGowan and David Munkittrick at Proskauer.
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Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles
Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.
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How NJ Temp Equal Pay Survived A Constitutional Challenge
The Third Circuit recently gave the New Jersey Temporary Workers' Bill of Rights a new lease on life by systematically dismantling multiple theories of the act's unconstitutionality brought by staffing agencies hoping to delay their new equal pay and benefits obligations, say attorneys at Duane Morris.
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Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World
After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.
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Opinion
CFPB's AI Stance Backslides On Innovation Issues
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent response to a Treasury Department's request for information about artificial intelligence in the financial services sector uses alarmist rhetoric about the technology's risks, ceding an opportunity to help shape this important discussion, says Mike Silver at Husch Blackwell.
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Strategies To Defend Against Healthcare Nuclear Verdicts
The healthcare industry is increasingly the target of megaclaims, particularly those alleging medical malpractice, but attorneys representing providers can use a few tools to push back on flimsy litigation and reduce the likelihood of a nuclear verdict, says LaMar Jost at Wheeler Trigg.
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5 Tips To Succeed In A Master Of Laws Program And Beyond
As lawyers and recent law school graduates begin their Master of Laws coursework across the country, they should keep a few pointers in mind to get the most out of their programs and kick-start successful careers in their practice areas, says Kelley Miller at Reed Smith.