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Public Policy
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October 28, 2024
Colo. Will Decide How Judges Are Judged
The Colorado Supreme Court could soon lose some of its control over judicial discipline, from the rules governing the process to who doles out punishment, as voters decide whether to adopt constitutional reforms following a scandal over hush-money allegations that ensnared a former chief justice and other top judiciary officials.
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October 28, 2024
Pennsylvania Judge Yanks Delaware River Port Approvals
A Pennsylvania federal judge ruled Monday that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers "arbitrarily and capriciously departed from its own procedures" in authorizing plans for a new port on the Delaware River in Delaware, downriver from Philadelphia, ordering the agency to conduct a closer review of the project.
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October 28, 2024
Surge In Nicotine Fee Suits Shows Wellness Program Risks
A recent crop of suits accusing large employers of violating nondiscrimination provisions in federal benefits law by making workers who use nicotine pay more for health insurance underscore the risk of using fees to offset healthcare costs, attorneys say. Here are five nicotine surcharge suits to keep an eye on.
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October 28, 2024
FTC, DOJ Tell 9th Circ. Google Wrong On Play Store Fixes
Federal antitrust enforcers told the Ninth Circuit there should be consequences after a jury found Google monopolized the Android app distribution market, as Google pushes to keep a court order paused in the antitrust case being brought by Epic Games.
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October 28, 2024
Colo. Judge: Attys Have Work To Do On Disability Acceptance
A Colorado appeals court judge who co-founded the Colorado Disability Bar Association told a room of law students Monday that while the legal community has made progress on being inclusive of those with physical disabilities, work remains on accepting lawyers with "invisible disabilities" like mental health conditions, neurodivergence and chronic pain.
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October 28, 2024
Feds Defend DEI Monitor Provision In Boeing Plea Deal
The U.S. Department of Justice said it will consider diversity and inclusion when it picks an independent compliance monitor for The Boeing Co. under a proposed plea agreement in the company's criminal conspiracy case, reassuring a Texas federal judge that the selection process will be rigorous.
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October 28, 2024
NY Suit Over Inaccurate Background Check Gets Dropped
A man who lost a job opportunity with the Home Shopping Network after an allegedly faulty background check pinned him for cocaine trafficking instead of marijuana peddling agreed to drop his suit against the screening company.
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October 28, 2024
Ga. Election Denier Sues Over Council Meeting Arrest
A Georgia election denier sued a host of Floyd County officials over his arrest last year at a county commission meeting, alleging that the county government conspired to have him jailed after he lobbied for its attorney to be fired.
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October 28, 2024
FCC Looks To Build 'Single Network Future' Through Regs
The federal government envisions a "single network future" where smartphones can connect almost anywhere in the country thanks to regulations allowing signal coverage enhanced by satellites, the Federal Communications Commission's chief told academics.
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October 28, 2024
FCC Urged To Include Credit Unions In Broadband Fund Rules
Credit unions should be included along with banks under Federal Communications Commission requirements to secure letters of credit in order to receive funding for broadband networks, a national trade group told the FCC.
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October 28, 2024
Supreme Court Keeps 5th Circuit Horse Racing Ruling On Ice
A Fifth Circuit ruling that declared the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Authority's oversight of federal horse safety regulation to be unconstitutional was put on hold by the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday while it decides whether to hear the authority's appeal.
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October 28, 2024
Biden Immigration Rule Pushes 'Mass Amnesty,' Texas Says
Texas told a federal judge that a Joe Biden administration rule allowing noncitizens and stepchildren of U.S. citizens to stay in the country while they apply for green cards and work permits ignores existing immigration law and was an attempt at pushing "mass amnesty."
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October 28, 2024
No COVID Property Tax Break For Hotels, Wash. Court Told
Hotels in Washington state should not get property tax breaks for COVID-19 because the pandemic was not a natural disaster that allows relief, the assessor of the state's most populous county told a state court.
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October 28, 2024
HHS Says In-Home Evals Raised Insurers' Medicare Payments
Private Medicare insurers collected an estimated $4.2 billion in extra federal payments last year from in-home health assessments they conducted, even though the evaluations led to no treatment, according to a report by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' internal watchdog.
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October 28, 2024
FCC To Help Tribal Libraries Connect To E-Rate Funding
The Federal Communications Commission will help tribal libraries link up with funding through the E-Rate subsidy program for schools and libraries on a permanent basis.
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October 28, 2024
Transgender Inmate's Suit Meets Skeptical 2nd Circ. Judge
A Second Circuit judge pressed counsel for a transgender inmate Monday to explain how prison officials in Connecticut were supposed to know that their failure to refer the inmate to specific gender dysphoria treatment would constitute cruel and unusual punishment, noting that relevant case law may not have put them on notice.
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October 28, 2024
Tribe-Linked Lenders Flouted Interest Laws, Borrower Says
A Florida man and his purported data analytic companies face a proposed class action alleging they improperly touted a relationship with a small Native American tribe as they made consumer loans with triple-digit annual interest rates.
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October 28, 2024
5th Circ. Balks At Ballots Received After Election Day
The Fifth Circuit has ruled against Mississippi being able to count ballots received after Election Day, but it is unlikely to have an effect on the upcoming election.
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October 28, 2024
Mass. Court's Wiretap Ruling May Be Bad Omen For Plaintiffs
A ruling by the Massachusetts high court rejecting wiretap claims over website operators' use of tracking software like Meta Pixel and Google Analytics shows the steep climb plaintiffs may continue to face as they try to apply older laws to modern technologies, experts told Law360.
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October 28, 2024
DC Circ. Told Carbon Tech Doesn't Back EPA Power Plant Rule
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency can't show that carbon capture and sequestration technology can be used now to meet its new emissions requirements for power plants, necessitating vacatur, Republican-led states and industry challengers told the D.C. Circuit.
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October 28, 2024
7 Months, 11 Dissents: GOP Minority Flexes Muscles At FTC
The Federal Trade Commission's two relatively new Republican members are starting to show how they'll use their minority position to full advantage. Sometimes they've fully signed on to the Democratic majority, other times they've dissented emphatically. And the GOP members showed something new this month when approving a dramatic overhaul to the agency's merger filing rules: forcing their colleagues to compromise.
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October 28, 2024
Calif.'s 2018 Fire Reimbursement Suit Meets Skeptical Judge
A Los Angeles judge appeared dubious Monday that the state of California can use litigation against Southern California Edison to recover emergency funds distributed to local agencies that responded to the destructive Woolsey Fire in 2018.
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October 28, 2024
Hotel Guests Ask 3rd Circ. To Look At Algorithm Price-Fix Suit
Three Atlantic City guests are taking their beef with hotel-casinos to the Third Circuit after a New Jersey federal court threw out their lawsuit that accused hotel owners in the town of using an algorithm to inflate the price of rooms.
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October 28, 2024
Osage Call Need For Okla. ETC Designation 'Critical'
The Osage Nation of Oklahoma is asking once again for the FCC to designate it as an eligible telecommunications carrier so that it can more easily bring internet — and federal subsidy programs — to the underserved citizens of its reservation, which is roughly the size of Delaware.
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October 28, 2024
Labor Dept.'s Proposed ESOP Rule Moves Toward Release
The White House Office of Management and Budget is reviewing the U.S. Department of Labor's proposal for a rule related to how employee stock ownership valuations are conducted, the last step before the long-awaited proposed regulation is released to the public for comment.
Expert Analysis
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The Key Changes In Revised FDIC Hiring Regulations
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.
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FDIC's Cautious Approach To Industrial Banks, Reaffirmed
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.
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How Lucia, Jarkesy Could Affect Grocery Merger Challenge
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.
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How NLRB Memo Balances Schools' Labor, Privacy Concerns
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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Taking Stock Of FCC's New Spectrum Rule For Drones
While an order recently adopted by the Federal Communications Commission is intended to provide drones with rapid access to a limited amount of spectrum in the 5030-5091 megahertz band, the commission envisions an incremental approach to full usage that will play out over the course of the coming months and years, say attorneys at Wiley.
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Basel Endgame Rules: A Change Is Coming
The Federal Reserve Board's recently announced recalibration of the Basel endgame proposal begins a critical chapter in the evolution of not only the safety and soundness of U.S. banks, but also of banks' abilities to lend and support American businesses and consumers, say attorneys at Davis Wright.
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Ruling On Foreign Dividend Break Offers 2 Tax Court Insights
In Varian v. Commissioner, the U.S. Tax Court allowed a taxpayer's deduction for dividends from foreign subsidiaries, providing clarity on how the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright decision may affect challenges to Treasury regulations, and revealing a potential disallowance of foreign tax credits, say attorneys at Davis Polk.
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How Loper Bright Is Affecting Pending FCC Litigation
Pending challenges against Federal Communications Commission orders at the Sixth and Eleventh Circuits following the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Loper Bright highlight that counsel must be familiar with the statutes, regulations and precedent relevant to the FCC to best navigate the rapidly changing compliance landscape, say attorneys at Davis Wright.
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What PCOAB's Broadened Liability Rule Means For Auditors
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s recent vote agreeing to lower the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board's liability standard, allowing the board to charge individual auditors whose mere negligence leads firms into PCOAB violations, may erode inspection cooperation, shrink the talent pool and have anticompetitive outcomes, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.
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USPTO Guidance Suggests 2 Strategies For AI Inventions
Analyzing the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's recent guidance, it appears that there are at least two paths for establishing that an artificial intelligence invention is eligible for protection, and that which strategy to use may turn on how broadly the invention is applied, says William Morriss at Frost Brown.
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Employer Tips For PUMP Act Compliance As Law Turns 2
Enacted in December 2022, the Providing Urgent Maternal Protections for Nursing Mothers Act requires employers to provide reasonable break time and a private space for employees to express breast milk, but some companies may still be struggling with how to comply, say attorneys at Alston & Bird.
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4 Takeaways From The FDIC's Proposed Recordkeeping Rule
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s new proposed rule would impose recordkeeping and other compliance requirements on custodial deposit accounts with transactional features, and practitioners should be aware of four important factors, including who is affected and who is exempt, say attorneys at Covington.
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Series
Round-Canopy Parachuting Makes Me A Better Lawyer
Similar to the practice of law, jumping from an in-flight airplane with nothing but training and a few yards of parachute silk is a demanding and stressful endeavor, and the experience has bolstered my legal practice by enhancing my focus, teamwork skills and sense of perspective, says Thomas Salerno at Stinson.
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Navigating Restrictions Following Biotech Bill House Passage
Ahead of the BIOSECURE Act’s potential enactment, companies that obtain equipment from certain Chinese biotechnology companies should consider whether the act would restrict their ability to enter into contracts with the U.S. government and what steps they might take in response, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.
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Dealmaker Lessons From CFIUS' New Enforcement Webpage
The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States’ recently launched webpage, which details the actions — and inactions — that led to enforcement activity, provides important insights for dealmakers about filing requirements, mitigation commitments and the cost of noncompliance, say attorneys at Dechert.