Public Policy

  • July 24, 2024

    Pfizer's Fuel Cells Can't Be Taxed, Conn. Justices Rule

    A fuel cell module that powers Pfizer Inc.'s research campus in Groton, Connecticut, is not subject to personal property taxes, the state's high court ruled Wednesday, upholding a lower court decision that allowed FuelCell Inc. to avoid several multimillion-dollar local tax assessments and penalties.

  • July 24, 2024

    Fla. Groups Argue Racial Gerrymandering Suit Is Valid

    A trio of South Florida civic groups urged a Miami federal judge Tuesday to deny a request to dismiss their gerrymandering lawsuit against state officials, arguing that each claim "easily clears the plausibility threshold" and that the Florida House of Representatives hasn't grasped their "well-pleaded allegations."

  • July 24, 2024

    Top Texas Real Estate News In 2024 So Far

    Catch up on the hottest real estate news out of Texas so far this year, from data center construction and roadblocks in a major rail project to a Texas landowner's win in a takings suit and the U.S. Department of Justice's first predatory mortgage suit. 

  • July 24, 2024

    DOJ Says NY Judge Muffed Standing In DirecTV Price-Fix Case

    Paying inflated prices isn't the only way someone can be injured by price-fixing, and a New York federal court was wrong to rule that it was in a case brought by DirecTV over retransmission fees, the U.S. Department of Justice has told the Second Circuit.

  • July 24, 2024

    DC Circ. Nixes Medicare Hospital Inpatient Payment Rule

    The D.C. Circuit has vacated a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services rule that inflated Medicare reimbursements for inpatient care at low-wage hospitals, saying the agency made an "unprecedented, expensive, broad, and possibly never-ending" change to a policy articulated by Congress.

  • July 24, 2024

    Judge Sets Up 2-Tier Counsel Access In DOJ Live Nation Suit

    A New York federal judge on Tuesday set up a two-tiered system for document access in the U.S. Department of Justice's antitrust lawsuit against Live Nation and Ticketmaster, limiting sensitive information from other market participants from Live Nation in-house counsel.

  • July 24, 2024

    Boulder Wants Suncor Back In Colorado Climate Suit

    The city of Boulder, Colorado, and Boulder County have asked a Colorado state judge to certify part of his judgment dismissing Canadian oil and gas company Suncor Energy from the municipalities' climate change lawsuit so they can appeal that decision and bring Suncor back in.

  • July 24, 2024

    Atty Can't Deduct Car Racing Costs As Ads, US Tells 10th Circ.

    A personal injury lawyer who also races cars shouldn't be allowed to deduct about $300,000 for racing-related costs as ordinary business advertising expenses because they're unrelated to his law practice, the U.S. government told the Tenth Circuit on Wednesday.

  • July 24, 2024

    Senate Tees Up Votes On Two Tax Court Nominees

    The U.S. Senate set the stage Wednesday for the chamber to proceed with votes on two of President Joe Biden's picks for U.S. Tax Court seats.

  • July 24, 2024

    Senate Dems Demand Scrutiny Of T-Mobile, UScellular Deal

    T-Mobile's plan to buy the wireless operations of yet another mobile network operator — this time, United States Cellular Corp. — several years after it was allowed to merge with Sprint to become the third biggest carrier in the country is a bad idea, a handful of Democratic senators have told the U.S. Department of Justice and FCC.

  • July 24, 2024

    Tire Biz Can't Delay Duties Under Relief Order For Other Cos.

    An importer that hadn't participated in a lawsuit challenging duties on Chinese tires can't benefit from a court order temporarily suspending duty collection while the case was underway, the U.S. Court of International Trade said.

  • July 24, 2024

    Copyright Protections For Safety Standards Stall In US House

    The U.S. House failed to advance legislation to let the private groups that set standards for a variety of safety matters keep copyright protections when their works are incorporated by reference into laws as long as the standards are still available for free online.

  • July 24, 2024

    Feds Say Immigration Orgs Can't Sue Over 2020 Asylum Rule

    The federal government told a D.C. federal judge that two immigration advocacy groups have no standing to press their legal challenge to a Trump-era rule that narrowed asylum eligibility, saying the overhaul does not directly regulate the organizations.

  • July 24, 2024

    Navajo Coal Co. Appeals FINRA Arbitration Order In $11M Fight

    A Navajo coal-mining company has wasted no time in appealing a Pennsylvania federal judge's order refusing to grant the tribe-owned business's bid to halt arbitration proceedings against a private equity firm in an $11 million dispute over their financing agreement.

  • July 24, 2024

    Watchdog Clears DOJ In 'Unusual' Roger Stone Sentencing

    The Justice Department did not bow to political pressure to push for a more lenient sentence for former President Donald Trump's longtime adviser Roger Stone, but the way in which the department handled the sentencing was "highly unusual" and the result of a U.S. attorney's poor leadership, according to a watchdog report released Wednesday.

  • July 24, 2024

    Patent Cap In Drug Pricing Bill Seen As Having Muted Effect

    The U.S. Senate recently passed a bill aiming to lower drug prices by limiting the number of patents that can be asserted in cases over biosimilars, but attorneys say the measure's numerous exceptions make it unlikely to have a major effect on litigation or consumer costs.

  • July 24, 2024

    CFPB Warns Of Anti-Whistleblower Risk In NDAs That 'Muzzle'

    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau cautioned Wednesday that banks and other financial firms risk violating federal law if they require their employees to sign broad nondisclosure agreements that don't clearly allow them to talk freely with regulators or law enforcement.

  • July 24, 2024

    Ex-AT&T Exec Wants Madigan Bribery Charges Dropped

    A former AT&T executive who's accused of scheming to illegally influence former Illinois House speaker Michael Madigan's policy decisions argued that the U.S. Supreme Court's recent bribery ruling warrants chopping a conspiracy and bribery charge from his case.

  • July 24, 2024

    Ga. Sheriff Wants $11M Groping Arrest Suit Tossed

    A Georgia sheriff accused of using excessive force against a man who says he was falsely accused of groping the lawman's wife asked a federal judge Tuesday to dismiss the civil rights claims against him, arguing he was well within his rights to tackle the man and take him into custody.

  • July 24, 2024

    CFIUS Reviews Slumped In 2023, Penalties Increased

    The Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States experienced a significant drop in the number of cases it reviewed in 2023, but levied a record number of penalties last year, according to an annual report to Congress.

  • July 24, 2024

    IRS Sets Criteria For Carbon Capture Credit Life Cycle Report

    The Internal Revenue Service detailed standards and procedures Wednesday for a written report on a carbon sequestration facility's greenhouse gas emissions that project owners must submit and get agency approval on before claiming the carbon oxide tax credit.

  • July 24, 2024

    Pa. Judge Won't 'Chase' Deadline-Flouting ADA Case Attys

    A Pennsylvania federal judge on Wednesday told attorneys in an Americans with Disabilities Act case against Tommy Bahama that he wasn't going to "chase" lawyers flouting scheduling orders, warning that the consequences might hurt more than just complying with the plan.

  • July 24, 2024

    Nonprofit Sues Former CFO Over Alleged $40M Embezzlement

    The Detroit Riverfront Conservancy on Wednesday sued its former CFO William Anthony Smith and his wife, mother and sister over their purported involvement in a scheme to steal almost $40 million from the nonprofit, claiming they used the money to fund a lavish lifestyle and buy plane tickets for professional athletes.

  • July 24, 2024

    ICE Contractor Hit With Class Action Over Family Separations

    A father and son who were separated for six years under the Trump administration's policy of "zero tolerance" for unlawful border crossings have brought a proposed class action against the private contractor responsible for transporting children, seeking to make it pay for the emotional trauma families have endured.

  • July 24, 2024

    3rd Circ. Says ​NJ Temp Worker Law Is Constitutional

    Staffing industry groups can't halt a New Jersey law strengthening protections for temporary workers because it doesn't discriminate between out-of-state and in-state companies and is therefore constitutional, the Third Circuit ruled Wednesday, affirming a district court's ruling.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    After Chevron: Environmental Law May Face Hurdles

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's recent ruling overturning Chevron deference could prove to be as influential as the original 1984 decision, with far-reaching implications for U.S. environmental laws, including rendering recently promulgated regulations more vulnerable to challenges, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice

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    The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.

  • Why High Court Social Media Ruling Will Be Hotly Debated

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    In deciding the NetChoice cases that challenged Florida and Texas content moderation laws, what the U.S. Supreme Court justices said about social media platforms — and the First Amendment — will have implications and raise questions for nearly all online operators, say Jacob Canter and Joanna Rosen Forster at Crowell & Moring.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Good News For Gov't Contractors In Litigation

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    The net result of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision overturning Chevron deference is that individuals, contractors and companies bringing procurement-related cases against the government will have new pathways toward success, say Joseph Berger and Andrés Vera at Thompson Hine.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Scale Tips Favor Away From HHS Agencies

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    The loss of Chevron deference may indirectly aid parties in challenging the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' interpretations of regulations and could immediately influence several pending cases challenging HHS on technical questions and agency authority, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Series

    After Chevron: FDA Regulations In The Crosshairs

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's overturning of the Chevron doctrine is likely to unleash an array of challenges against the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, focusing on areas of potential overreach such as the FDA's authority under the Federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • Realtor Settlement May Create New Antitrust Pitfalls

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    Following a recent antitrust settlement between the National Association of Realtors and home sellers, practices are set to change and the increased competition may benefit both brokers and homebuyers, but the loss of the customary method of buyer broker compensation could lead to new antitrust concerns, says Colin Ahler at Snell & Wilmer.

  • Navigating The New Rise Of Greenwashing Litigation

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    As greenwashing lawsuits continue to gain momentum with a shift in focus to carbon-neutrality claims, businesses must exercise caution and ensure transparency in their environmental marketing practices, taking cues from recent legal challenges in the airline industry, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State

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    On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Expect Limited Changes In USPTO Rulemaking

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling overturning Chevron deference will have limited consequences for the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office given the USPTO's unique statutory features, but it is still an important decision for matters of statutory interpretation, especially those involving provisions of the America Invents Act, say Andrei Iancu and Cooper Godfrey at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • Preparing For CFPB 'Junk Fee' Push Into Mortgage Industry

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    As the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau considers expanding its "junk fee" initiative into mortgage closing costs, mortgage lenders and third parties must develop plans now that anticipate potential rulemaking or enforcement activity in this space, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Opinion

    It's Time For Nationwide Race-Based Hair Protections

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    While 24 states have passed laws that prohibit race-based hair discrimination, this type of bias persists in workplaces and schools, so a robust federal law is necessary to ensure widespread protection, says Samone Ijoma and Erica Roberts at Sanford Heisler.

  • Series

    After Chevron: EEOC Status Quo Will Likely Continue

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    As the legal landscape adjusts to the end of Chevron deference, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s rulemaking authority isn’t likely to shift as much as some other employment-related agencies, says Paige Lyle at FordHarrison.

  • Series

    After Chevron: Impact On Indian Law May Be Muted

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    Agency interpretations of Indian law statutes that previously stood the test of judicial review ​are likely to withstand new challenges even after the end of Chevron deference, but litigation in the area is all but certain, say attorneys at Jenner & Block.

  • Opinion

    Trump Immunity Ruling Upends Our Constitutional Scheme

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    The U.S. Supreme Court’s Trump v. U.S. decision elevates the president to imperial status and paves the way for nearly absolute presidential immunity from potential criminal prosecutions — with no constitutional textual support, says Paul Berman at the George Washington University Law School.

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