Public Policy

  • August 05, 2024

    GM Slams Investors' Suit Alleging AV Tech Lapses

    General Motors has asked a Michigan federal court to dismiss a proposed securities fraud class action alleging it downplayed safety concerns about its autonomous vehicle technology, arguing the investors have contorted definitions of safety terms to bolster the suit.

  • August 05, 2024

    Feds, Immigration Orgs Say Texas Can't Join Asylum Suit

    The U.S. government and immigration advocacy groups are pushing back on Texas' bid to participate in litigation over a new Biden administration policy restricting asylum at the southern border, telling a D.C. federal judge the state lacks both standing and a "legally protectable interest" in the lawsuit.

  • August 05, 2024

    Washington, Tribes Back EPA's Health Criteria For The State

    The state of Washington and five Native American tribes have argued that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency rightly restored more than 140 human health criteria aimed at protecting the state's residents from toxic pollutants, urging a D.C. federal judge to reject several business groups' attempt to overturn the agency's rule.

  • August 05, 2024

    CrowdStrike Slams Delta Over Outage Lawsuit Threats

    CrowdStrike has fired back at Delta Air Lines' recent threat to haul the cybersecurity firm to court to recoup hundreds of millions in losses from last month's global IT outage, saying the airline refused CrowdStrike's offer for technical assistance, then botched its own operational recovery.

  • August 05, 2024

    Latest Draft Widens Scope Of UN Tax Convention

    Diplomats would gain flexibility on the scope, commitments and source material of a United Nations convention on international tax cooperation under a revised guidance for negotiators released ahead of a debate Monday as preliminary talks inch closer to finishing.

  • August 05, 2024

    Sen. Urges CFPB To Investigate Banks' Zelle Dispute Practices

    U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., has urged the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to investigate the nation's three largest banks and the operator behind payments network Zelle after he said the firms gave "circuitous answers" to lawmakers during a hearing on their handling of fraud and dispute resolutions on the platform.

  • August 05, 2024

    Judge Mostly Preserves Md. Firearm Restrictions

    A Maryland federal judge has granted a permanent injunction blocking some provisions of a Maryland law restricting where residents can publicly carry firearms, while allowing the bulk of its restrictions to remain in effect.

  • August 05, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Sunken treasure, rock band discord, a wrestling competition, and more news about Elon Musk — all in all, a colorful week in Delaware's Court of Chancery. The First State's famous court of equity also pushed forward on disputes involving a famous social media app, Delaware's largest hospital system, an artificial intelligence company and a budding commodity futures exchange.

  • August 05, 2024

    5th NYC Housing Worker Gets Prison In Anti-Corruption Bust

    A Manhattan federal judge hit a retired public housing worker with 20 months in prison on Monday for taking over $83,000 of bribes, showing that prison is the most likely outcome for those convicted of felonies in the anti-bribery sweep.

  • August 05, 2024

    Atlanta, County Say Cops' Firing Claims 'Rife With Conjecture'

    Fulton County, Georgia, and the city of Atlanta are urging the Eleventh Circuit to reject the "unadorned conspiracy theories" of two police officers who allege they were wrongly fired and arrested over their widely publicized shooting of a Black man in the city in the summer of 2020.

  • August 05, 2024

    El Paso Inks Deal Over NM Agency's $1.3M Sewage Dump Fine

    An El Paso, Texas, water utility is moving to end a lawsuit against the New Mexico Environment Department that challenged two compliance orders and a nearly $1.3 million penalty imposed against it over sewage diversions into the Rio Grande.

  • August 05, 2024

    Dems Unearth Another Thomas Trip Paid For By Harlan Crow

    U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas took a previously undisclosed trip between Hawaii and New Zealand on a billionaire Republican donor's private jet in 2010, lawmakers revealed in a letter Monday that offered the donor a "final opportunity" to explain how that trip and others don't constitute a tax fraud scheme.

  • August 05, 2024

    Transportation Policies To Watch: Midyear 2024 Review

    Rail and aviation safety reforms following recent incidents, stricter vehicle emission standards guiding automakers' gradual pivot to electrification, and the integration of new automation and drone technology are some of the transportation industry's top regulatory priorities to watch in the second half of 2024.

  • August 05, 2024

    US Chamber Backs Rail Co. Challenge To Crew Size Rule

    The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is backing railroad companies' argument that the Federal Railroad Administration overstepped by implementing a rule that requires trains to be operated by at least two people, telling the Eleventh Circuit the rule was imposed without adequate justification or consideration of companies' interests.

  • August 05, 2024

    Dems Urge CFTC To Finalize Elections Trading Ban

    A group of Democratic lawmakers urged the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission on Monday to finalize and implement its proposed rule to ban trading on the outcome of elections.

  • August 05, 2024

    Pennsylvania Legislation To Watch In 2024: A Midyear Report

    The Pennsylvania Legislature is following other jurisdictions striving to make social media safer while preserving free speech, and putting stricter limits on "forever chemicals" that had been widely used in firefighting applications and products for resisting stains and stickiness. Here, Law360 looks at some of the Pennsylvania bills attorneys are watching in 2024.

  • August 05, 2024

    9th Circ. Denies Rehearing Bid In ESA Fish Protection Suit

    The Ninth Circuit denied conservation groups' request to rehear a ruling affirming the federal government's approval of water supply contracts for the Central Valley Project in California.

  • August 02, 2024

    5th Circ. Upholds Challenge To Surprise Medical Billing Rule

    The Fifth Circuit on Friday affirmed wins for plaintiffs challenging provisions of a federal surprise medical billing rule that relate to payment fights between out-of-network providers and health insurers, agreeing with a Texas federal judge that the rule places "a thumb on the scale" in insurers' favor.

  • August 02, 2024

    CFPB Takes Fintech Flak Over Credit Card-Like BNPL Policy

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is facing fresh industry pushback to its guidance that aims to extend more credit card-like protections to the fintech-dominated market for buy-now, pay-later loans, with key providers arguing it is trying to squeeze a square peg into a round hole.

  • August 02, 2024

    Fla.'s Trans Healthcare Ban Violates Title VII, Judge Says

    A Florida federal judge has ruled the state's Department of Management Services illegally excluded gender-affirming treatment for transgender employees under state-sponsored health benefits plans, finding the state's exclusion only applies to trans individuals and is facially discriminatory under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.

  • August 02, 2024

    Uber Legal Chief Takes Leave To Aid Kamala Harris' Campaign

    Uber Technologies' Tony West, who has served as its chief legal officer since 2017, will take a leave of absence to volunteer for his sister-in-law Vice President Kamala Harris' presidential campaign, a representative of the ride-share company confirmed Friday.

  • August 02, 2024

    Connecticut City Gets Ex-Cop's Arbitration Win Vacated

    In a legally rare decision, a Connecticut state judge vacated an arbitration panel's determination that forced a city to reinstate a fired police lieutenant, ruling the arbiters were wrong to ignore an earlier court order banning the lieutenant from coming within 100 yards of the city's police chief.

  • August 02, 2024

    BigLaw Insurer Calls FirstEnergy Ruling Threat To Privilege

    The Attorneys' Liability Assurance Society and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce threw their support Friday behind FirstEnergy's call for the Sixth Circuit to block investors' access to internal investigative documents produced by two BigLaw firms after a $1 billion bribery scandal became public.

  • August 02, 2024

    OT Rule Exceeds DOL's Authority, Red States Argue

    A group of 14 red states joined Texas in calling for a federal court to strike down the U.S. Department of Labor's rule raising salary thresholds for a federal overtime exemption, claiming in a brief that the new rule would hit their states particularly hard.

  • August 02, 2024

    Dems Launch Bill To Expand Zelle, Venmo Fraud Protections

    U.S. Senate and House Democrats on Friday proposed revisions to the Electronic Fund Transfer Act aimed at bolstering protections for consumers who fall victim to scams perpetrated by means such as mobile wallets, payment apps and wire transfers.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • Series

    Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q2

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    The second quarter of 2024 in California, which saw efforts to expand consumer protection legislation and enforcement actions in areas of federal focus like medical debt and student loans, demonstrated that the state's role as a trendsetter in consumer financial protection will continue for the foreseeable future, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • 6 PTAB Events To Know From The Last 6 Months

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    The first half of 2024 brought a flurry of Patent Trial and Appeal Board developments that should be considered in post-grant strategies, including proposed rules on discretionary denial and director review, and the first decisions of the Delegated Rehearing Panel, say attorneys at Fish & Richardson.

  • Key Takeaways From High Court's Substitute Expert Decision

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent Smith v. Arizona decision, holding that the confrontation clause generally bars prosecutors’ use of a substitute expert witness at trial, will have the most impact in narcotics and violent crime cases, but creative defense lawyers may find it useful in white collar cases, too, say Joshua Naftalis and Melissa Kelley at Pallas Partners.

  • Opinion

    Atty Well-Being Efforts Ignore Root Causes Of The Problem

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    The legal industry is engaged in a critical conversation about lawyers' mental health, but current attorney well-being programs primarily focus on helping lawyers cope with the stress of excessive workloads, instead of examining whether this work culture is even fundamentally compatible with lawyer well-being, says Jonathan Baum at Avenir Guild.

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