Public Policy

  • August 13, 2024

    Mich. County Will Pay $7M To End Deadly Jail Beating Suit

    A Michigan federal judge on Tuesday approved a $7 million settlement to end claims that Wayne County was responsible for the death of a man beaten by his cellmate on his first night in jail last year. 

  • August 13, 2024

    Ruling On Reservation Shooting Can't Be Delayed, Feds Say

    The U.S. government wants an Arizona federal court to deny a discovery bid by the family of a Tohono O'odham Nation man that seeks the names of the Border Patrol agents who discharged the weapons that killed him, saying the dispute shouldn't hold its motion to dismiss the lawsuit in abeyance.

  • August 13, 2024

    Wash. Social Media Ban Violates Workers' Free Speech

    The Washington State Court of Appeals has said a state law barring injured workers from posting videos of their state workers' compensation medical exams on social media is an unconstitutional violation of free speech rights.

  • August 13, 2024

    Congress Didn't Want Utility-Style Internet Regs, 6th Circ. Told

    Internet service providers urged the Sixth Circuit to deep-six the Federal Communications Commission's recent decision to reclassify broadband as a telecommunications service and impose net neutrality rules, saying Congress never intended that change even under the broadest reading of federal law.

  • August 13, 2024

    FirstEnergy Makes Nonprosecution Deal To End Ohio AG Probe

    FirstEnergy said Tuesday that it has secured a nonprosecution agreement with Ohio's attorney general stemming from an alleged $1 billion bribery scandal involving the former speaker of the Ohio House of Representatives, with both parties touting the utility company's remediation and compliance improvements.

  • August 13, 2024

    New Jersey Panel Deems Record Access Dispute Info Public

    The state agency created to make public records easily accessible to New Jerseyans is wrongfully keeping documents submitted in public records disputes under wraps, a state appellate panel said in a published opinion.

  • August 13, 2024

    Telecoms Fret Over FCC's Pole Attachment Deadlines

    Negotiating big pole attachment orders can take longer than the Federal Communications Commission might sometimes like, a telecom industry trade group says, warning the agency that a regulation requiring the first of 3,000 such attachments to be ready in 45 days isn't realistic.

  • August 13, 2024

    Partnerships' Easement Fight Ends As Gov't Drops IRS Notice

    An Alabama federal judge dismissed a complaint by dozens of partnerships claiming they shouldn't have to comply with an IRS notice regarding conservation easement transactions, following an Eleventh Circuit ruling upholding the notice as invalid and the government's agreement not to enforce it.

  • August 13, 2024

    NC Lawmakers Ask 4th Circ. To Restore Abortion Drug Limits

    North Carolina Republican lawmakers want the Fourth Circuit to reinstate restrictions on the abortion drug mifepristone, telling the court the new rules concerning the medication are not preempted by U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulations.

  • August 13, 2024

    Tort Report: Disney Blasted For 'Absurd' Arbitration Bid

    A Disney unit's unconventional bid to arbitrate a wrongful death suit and a hefty crash suit verdict out of California lead Law360's Tort Report, which compiles recent personal injury and medical malpractice news that may have flown under the radar.

  • August 13, 2024

    Shipping Co.'s Cleaning Services Taxable, Wash. Court Affirms

    A Washington state court properly denied a shipping company's request for a refund of sales tax paid on cleaning services for its shipping containers because the containers weren't integral to the ships' use, a state appellate court affirmed.

  • August 13, 2024

    Developing Countries Defend 3-Year Deadline For UN Tax Pact

    Three years is enough time to finish writing a United Nations framework convention on international tax cooperation, Brazil, India, Nigeria and other developing countries said Tuesday in defense of a proposed timeline that was criticized by Canada, the U.S. and France.

  • August 13, 2024

    DC Circ. Backs EPA's Ethylene Oxide Cancer Risk Value

    The D.C. Circuit on Tuesday upheld federal environmental regulators' assessment of the cancer risk from exposure to certain chemical manufacturers' ethylene oxide emissions, rejecting a challenge from a chemical company and two chemical associations that argued the risk assessment was arbitrary and capricious.

  • August 13, 2024

    NLRB Prosecutors, Mich. AG Ink Labor Enforcement Pact

    National Labor Relations Board prosecutors have teamed up with the Michigan Department of Attorney General to root out misclassification and other violations of workers' rights in the agency's first collaboration with a state attorney general, the board announced Tuesday.

  • August 13, 2024

    Ex-Prosecutors Back Willis In Trump's Appeal Of DQ Ruling

    Former federal prosecutors and others have thrown their support behind the State of Georgia, arguing that a trial court was right to let Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis continue prosecuting former President Donald Trump and others after a former outside counsel with whom she had a relationship resigned.

  • August 13, 2024

    DOJ Says Law Bars All River Structures In Texas Buoy Row

    The Biden administration criticized Texas' "cribbed reading" of the Rivers and Harbors Act in its suit to make Texas remove a border barrier in the Rio Grande, saying the law bars all unauthorized structures in the river — even those that haven't been built yet.

  • August 13, 2024

    3 International Trade Cases To Watch: Midyear Report

    The Federal Circuit is on track to issue its final word in challenges to duties on Chinese products and a lumber dispute seeking the court's guidance despite an ongoing trade pact arbitration, while the World Trade Organization's dispute tribunal is hashing out Brussels' beef over Colombia's tariffs on frozen french fries. Here, Law360 highlights three cases to watch during the second half of this year.

  • August 13, 2024

    Eversource Hit With $450M Suit Over Fatal Gas Explosion

    The family of a Massachusetts man who died in a 2021 natural gas explosion caused by a corroded and leaking pipe says utility provider Eversource put profits ahead of public safety, according to a wrongful death suit filed Tuesday that seeks $450 million in damages.

  • August 13, 2024

    EPA Defends Approval Of La. Injection Well Authority

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency on Monday urged the Fifth Circuit to dismiss a lawsuit by green groups challenging the EPA's decision to give Louisiana authority over some underground injection wells, which can be used for carbon capture and sequestration.

  • August 13, 2024

    The Top Immigration Cases Of 2024 So Far

    The U.S. Supreme Court handed down 2024’s biggest immigration rulings so far, including greenlighting a two-step removal notice scheme, barring U.S. citizens from challenging spousal visa denials and opening up hardship determinations to judicial review. Here, Law360 looks back at the year's four most consequential court decisions for immigration.

  • August 13, 2024

    Ex-Rep. Santos Warned Not To Hide Evidence As Trial Nears

    A New York federal judge cautioned former U.S. Rep. George Santos on Tuesday that failing to turn over discovery could box in his defense to allegations of campaign finance fraud and other criminal charges at a trial set to begin next month.

  • August 13, 2024

    Connecticut Justices Restore City's Lien On Burned Building

    The city of Hartford can place a lien on an apartment building that was heavily damaged in an arson fire to make sure that it recoups the funds that paid for 39 families to relocate, the Connecticut Supreme Court ruled in overturning a trial court's decision to discharge the lien.

  • August 13, 2024

    North Dakota Officials OK Pot Legalization Ballot Measure

    North Dakota voters will have another opportunity to legalize adult-use marijuana on Election Day this November after state officials said that reformers had submitted enough signatures to qualify the question for the ballot.

  • August 12, 2024

    RFK Jr.'s 'Sham' Address Keeps Him Off NY Ballot, Court Says

    Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s petition to appear as an independent presidential candidate on New York's ballot is invalid because he claimed a false address, an Albany judge ruled Monday, calling it a "sham" address that he used to maintain his voter registration in the state.

  • August 12, 2024

    Texas Wants Debt Relief Review In Wake Of 8th Circ. Ruling

    Texas' solicitor general on Saturday pressed the U.S. Supreme Court to shut down the Biden administration's student debt relief plan, arguing that a recent Eighth Circuit decision granting an injunction against the plan in a similar case "underscores" why the high court should grant its petition for certiorari.

Expert Analysis

  • Supreme Court's ALJ Ruling Carries Implications Beyond SEC

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    In its recent Jarkesy opinion, the U.S. Supreme Court limited the types of cases that can be tried before the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's in-house administrative law judges, setting the stage for challenges to the constitutionality of ALJs across other agencies, say Robert Robertson and Kimberley Church at Dechert.

  • Opinion

    A Tale Of 2 Trump Cases: The Rule Of Law Is A Live Issue

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision this week in Trump v. U.S., holding that former President Donald Trump has broad immunity from prosecution, undercuts the rule of law, while the former president’s New York hush money conviction vindicates it in eight key ways, says David Postel at Henein Hutchison.

  • USPTO Disclaimer Rule Would Complicate Patent Prosecution

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    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's proposed changes to terminal disclaimer practice could lead to a patent owner being unable to enforce a valid patent simply because it is indirectly tied to a patent in which a single claim is found anticipated or obvious in view of the prior art, say attorneys at Sterne Kessler.

  • 2nd Circ. ERISA Ruling May Help Fight Unfair Arb. Clauses

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    The Second Circuit recently held that a plaintiff seeking planwide relief under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act cannot be compelled to individual arbitration, a decision that opens the door to new applications of the effective vindication doctrine to defeat onerous and one-sided arbitration clauses, say Raphael Janove and Liana Vitale at Janove.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Various Paths For Labor And Employment Law

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    Labor and employment law leans heavily on federal agency guidance, so the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to toss out Chevron deference will ripple through this area, with future workplace policies possibly taking shape through strategic litigation, informal guidance, state-level regulation and more, says Alexander MacDonald at Littler.

  • Series

    Boxing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Boxing has influenced my legal work by enabling me to confidently hone the skills I've learned from the sport, like the ability to remain calm under pressure, evaluate an opponent's weaknesses and recognize when to seize an important opportunity, says Kirsten Soto at Clyde & Co.

  • What NYC's Green Fast Track Means For Affordable Housing

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    New York City's Green Fast Track for Housing initiative, which went into effect last month, aims to speed up the environmental review process for modest residential developments and could potentially pave the way for similar initiatives in other cities, say Vivien Krieger and Rachel Scall at Cozen O'Connor.

  • Series

    After Chevron: No Deference, No Difference For SEC Or CFTC

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    The Chevron doctrine did not fundamentally alter the interplay between the courts and the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission in the development of the securities and commodities laws — and its demise will not do so either, says Dan Berkovitz at Millennium Management.

  • Opinion

    Industry Self-Regulation Will Shine Post-Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper decision will shape the contours of industry self-regulation in the years to come, providing opportunities for this often-misunderstood practice, says Eric Reicin at BBB National Programs.

  • Justices' Bribery Ruling: A Corrupt Act Isn't Necessarily Illegal

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    In its Snyder v. U.S. decision last week, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a bribery law does not criminalize gratuities, continuing a trend of narrowing federal anti-corruption laws and scrutinizing public corruption prosecutions that go beyond obvious quid pro quo schemes, say Carrie Cohen and Christine Wong at MoFo.

  • 3 Ways Agencies Will Keep Making Law After Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court clearly thinks it has done something big in overturning the Chevron precedent that had given deference to agencies' statutory interpretations, but regulated parties have to consider how agencies retain significant power to shape the law and its meaning, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

  • Roundup

    After Chevron

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    In the month since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned the Chevron deference standard, this Expert Analysis series has featured attorneys discussing the potential impact across 26 different rulemaking and litigation areas.

  • Takeaways From New HHS Substance Use Disorder Info Rules

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    A new U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rule continues the agency's efforts to harmonize complex rules surrounding confidentiality provisions for substance use disorder patient records, though healthcare providers will need to remain mindful of different potentially applicable requirements and changes that their compliance structures may require, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Expect Few Changes In ITC Rulemaking

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's opinion overruling the Chevron doctrine will have less impact on the U.S. International Trade Commission than other agencies administering trade statutes, given that the commission exercises its congressionally granted authority in a manner that allows for consistent decision making at both agency and judicial levels, say attorneys at Polsinelli.

  • Opinion

    Reform NEPA To Speed Mining Permits, Clean Energy Shift

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    It is essential to balance responsible regulatory oversight with permit approvals for mining projects that are needed for the transition to renewable energy — and with the National Environmental Policy Act being one of the leading causes of permit delays, reform is urgently needed, say Ana Maria Gutierrez and Michael Miller at Womble Bond.

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