Public Policy

  • November 04, 2024

    Worker Says Ga. City Fired Him For Opposing Mayor's Fraud

    The former finance director of Norcross, Georgia, has slapped the city, its mayor and a city council member with a complaint in Georgia federal court alleging he was subjected to "vicious retaliation" and fired after disclosing the mayor's "fraud, waste, abuse and violations of the law."

  • November 04, 2024

    Wash. Barred From Enforcing Anti-Bias Law Against Nonprofit

    A Washington federal judge paused the state from enforcing its anti-discrimination statute against a Christian nonprofit, saying the organization is likely to succeed in a lawsuit revived by the Ninth Circuit claiming it has a constitutional right to hire only like-minded employees who abstain from sex outside of heterosexual marriage.

  • November 04, 2024

    Texas Border Buoy Trial Delayed After En Banc Ruling

    An Austin federal judge paused an impending bench trial between the Biden administration and the state of Texas over a 1,000-foot buoy barrier in the Rio Grande, reopening discovery Monday in the wake of an en banc circuit court opinion that slammed the judge for ordering the removal of the buoys.

  • November 04, 2024

    US Must Pay Legal Fees To Challenger Of IRS Guidance

    A Michigan federal judge ordered the U.S. to pay roughly $220,000 in attorney fees to a construction company that won its challenge to Internal Revenue Service penalties and overturned underlying agency guidance, rejecting a magistrate judge's recommendation that the company foot its own bill.

  • November 04, 2024

    Developer And Mich. Township Reach Deal In FOIA Suit

    A developer and a Michigan township resolved the developer's nearly $18 million suit that accused the township of wrongfully blocking its industrial development project.

  • November 04, 2024

    Colo. Urges Appeals Court To Toss Netflix Sales Tax Ruling

    Netflix subscriptions in Colorado are tangible personal property subject to sales tax under long-standing state law, the state tax department told an appeals court, urging it to reverse a trial court ruling.

  • November 04, 2024

    Atty Moves To Oust DA Who Cleared Cops In Brother's Death

    A Littler Mendelson PC shareholder's effort to remove the Massachusetts district attorney who absolved officers in the 2021 fatal shooting of his brother left justices on the state's highest court grappling with the reach of a seldom-used state statute allowing them to oust government officials for "the public good."

  • November 04, 2024

    Texas Rips Feds' 5th Circ. Bid To Revive Highway GHG Rule

    Texas is telling the Fifth Circuit there's no reason to disturb a district court's decision to vacate a Federal Highway Administration rule that called on states to set targets to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from federally funded highway projects.

  • November 04, 2024

    IRS Finalizes Seized Property Rules To Include Online Sales

    The Internal Revenue Service issued final rules Monday meant to modernize regulations governing the seizure of property by levy, including facilitating the online sale of a property and the agency's ability to maximize sale proceeds for the property owner's benefit.

  • November 04, 2024

    Justices To Review 30-Day Appeal Window In Removal Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday accepted a case that could resolve a circuit split on whether noncitizens with final removal orders must appeal to courts within 30 days of the order, or 30 days after administrative appeals conclude.

  • November 04, 2024

    US IPO Activity Hits Standstill As Election Takes Center Stage

    U.S. initial public offerings have screeched to a halt amid peak election season, and dealmakers expect new listings to largely remain iced until next year as market participants sort out ramifications of Tuesday's presidential and congressional contests.

  • November 04, 2024

    Justices Will Review Use Of Race In La.'s Election Map

    The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to hear arguments over the constitutionality of Louisiana's new congressional map containing two majority-Black voting districts, in a dispute that asks the justices to harmonize the Voting Rights Act's objectives with the language of the 14th Amendment's equal protection clause.

  • November 01, 2024

    Pa. High Court Says Undated Ballots Still Won't Count Nov. 5

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court held Friday that mail-in votes in the fast-approaching general election can still be thrown out if they have missing or "incorrect" dates on their outer envelopes, a ruling that comes just days after a state appellate court found that the practice was unconstitutional.

  • November 01, 2024

    COVID Death Suit Not Barred By PREP Act, 11th Circ. Affirms

    A split Eleventh Circuit affirmed a lower court's decision Thursday to remand to state court a lawsuit over a nursing home resident's COVID-19 death, finding preemption may cover a defendant sued for following federal public health emergency guidelines, but not when, as in the instant case, the guidelines were allegedly unheeded.

  • November 01, 2024

    USCIS Moves To Toss Regional Centers' EB-5 Guidance Fight

    U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has urged a D.C. federal judge to toss a lawsuit alleging that it unlawfully changed the minimum investment period for foreign investors seeking green cards, saying it did not create a legislative rule but merely interpreted one.

  • November 01, 2024

    Boeing Supplier Should Win Texas Probe Suit, Judge Says

    A magistrate judge on Friday recommended a Texas federal judge grant Spirit AeroSystems Inc.'s bid to permanently enjoin a Texas statute requiring businesses to immediately comply with the state's demand to examine business records, saying the statute is unconstitutional.

  • November 01, 2024

    Elevance Says Flawed Medicare Rating System Cost It $375M

    Elevance Health Inc. has hit the Biden administration with a $375 million lawsuit in Texas federal court after the government slashed star ratings for its Medicare Advantage and Part D health plan contracts in the latest of multiple lawsuits by insurance companies challenging the government's rating system.

  • November 01, 2024

    DC Circ. Urged To Uphold Veto Of Fla. Dredge Program

    A coalition of environmental groups urged the D.C. Circuit on Friday to uphold a lower court ruling depriving Florida of its authority to issue wetland dredge and fill permits under the Clean Water Act, saying regulators must follow the rigorous laws protecting endangered species.

  • November 01, 2024

    Suit Calls School Lunch Pay Processors Junk Fee 'Bullies'

    Three parents filed a proposed class action in New Jersey federal court alleging consumer fraud against a major school lunch payment processor, saying it has misrepresented the purpose of the "junk fees" it charges for electronic transactions that are imposed on families mostly just for profit.

  • November 01, 2024

    #MeToo, Except For Migrants Fleeing Gender-Based Violence

    Women fleeing gender-based violence face an uphill battle in a U.S. asylum system that has long been perceived as largely geared toward victims of state persecution and has yet to absorb the #MeToo movement's cultural shift.

  • November 01, 2024

    The Push To End 'Prison Gerrymandering' Gains Momentum

    Opponents of so-called prison gerrymandering are having success fighting to end the practice, which they say reduces the political representation of minority communities in favor of rural, white areas, but obstacles like poor data and political opposition remain.

  • November 01, 2024

    Texas Justice Says Amici Should Get Say In Religion Case

    A Texas Supreme Court justice released a statement Friday saying the court should have granted First Liberty Institute's request for five minutes to argue its position in a case about religious freedom under the Lone Star State's constitution, saying help from an amici would be "sensible and advisable."

  • November 01, 2024

    Cloud Co. To Pay $300K Over FCC Subsidy Fund Paperwork

    Cloud communication company Fuze Inc. is going to be shelling out $300,000 to the Federal Communications Commission for not following certain rules related to Universal Service Fund contributions, the agency said Friday.

  • November 01, 2024

    5th Circ. Punts On Bid To Stay CFPB Small Biz Rule

    The Fifth Circuit said it won't immediately start tolling compliance deadlines for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's small business lending data collection rule and will reserve judgment on whether to stay the rule pending an appeal by the bank trade groups challenging it.

  • November 01, 2024

    DC Circ. Questions Enviro Groups On Renewable Fuels Rules

    Judges on the D.C. Circuit on Friday morning pressed attorneys for environmental groups challenging the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's 2023-2025 renewable fuel standards, questioning their claims that the federal government didn't do enough to assess the standards' potential impacts on water quality and certain species.

Expert Analysis

  • Aviation Watch: Boeing Plea Agreement May Not Serve Public

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    The proposed plea agreement between the U.S. Department of Justice and Boeing — the latest outgrowth of the company's 737 Max travails — is opposed by crash victims' families, faces an uncertain fate in court, and may ultimately serve no beneficial purpose, even if approved, says Alan Hoffman, a retired attorney and aviation expert.

  • Opinion

    Bill Is Key To Protecting US Economy From Patent Piracy

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    It is critical that Congress pass a recently introduced bill that would protect U.S. investors from intellectual property theft by restoring court-ordered injunctions as the default remedy in patent infringement cases to ensure inventors get the justice they deserve, says Andrei Iancu at Sullivan & Cromwell.

  • Managing Sanctions Defense Across Multiple Jurisdictions

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    Companies called before multiple regulators to account for the same conduct in this era of increased global sanctions and import-control enforcement should consider national differences in law and policy, and proactively coordinate their responses in certain key areas, say attorneys at Baker McKenzie.

  • Series

    Colorado Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q3

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    In the third quarter of 2024, Colorado's banking and financial services sector faced both regulatory updates and changes to state law due to recent federal court decisions — with consequences for local governments, mortgage lenders, state-chartered trust companies and federally chartered lenders serving Colorado consumers, says Sarah Auchterlonie at Brownstein Hyatt.

  • Building US-Japan Relationships In The M&A Market

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    The prospect of U.S.-Japanese mergers and acquisitions presents stronger competition to U.S. investors in the global M&A markets, while also opening up an additional exit route for sellers looking to offload strategic assets, says Nick Wall at A&O Shearman.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Honoring Your Learned Profession

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    About 30,000 people who took the bar exam in July will learn they passed this fall, marking a fitting time for all attorneys to remember that they are members in a specialty club of learned professionals — and the more they can keep this in mind, the more benefits they will see, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • 4 Ways To Prepare For DOD Cyber Certification Rule

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    Given the U.S. Department of Justice's increased scrutiny of contractor compliance with cybersecurity requirements, it is critical that contractors take certain steps now in response to the U.S. Department of Defense's proposed Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification implementation rule, say Townsend Bourne and Lillia Damalouji at Sheppard Mullin.

  • FTC Focus: How Scrutiny Of PBMs And Insulin May Play Out

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    Should Express Scripts' recent judicial challenge to the Federal Trade Commission succeed, any new targets could add litigation and choice of forum to their playbooks, and potential FTC court action on insulin could be forced to parallel venues as the issues between the commission and PBMs evolve, say attorneys at Proskauer.

  • Opinion

    AI May Limit Key Learning Opportunities For Young Attorneys

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    The thing that’s so powerful about artificial intelligence is also what’s most scary about it — its ability to detect patterns may curtail young attorneys’ chance to practice the lower-level work of managing cases, preventing them from ever honing the pattern recognition skills that undergird creative lawyering, says Sarah Murray at Trialcraft.

  • A Look At How De Minimis Import Rules May Soon Change

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    The planned implementation of executive actions focused on the de minimis rule as it applies to shipments means companies should use this interval to evaluate the potential applicability and impact of Section 301, Section 201 or Section 232 duties on their products, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Key Takeaways From DOJ's New Corp. Compliance Guidance

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    The U.S. Department of Justice’s updated guidance to federal prosecutors on evaluating corporate compliance programs addresses how entities manage new technology-related risks and expands on preexisting policies, providing key insights for companies about increasing regulatory expectations, say attorneys at Debevoise.

  • What's In The Cards For CFTC's Election Betting Case

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    A D.C. federal judge's Sept. 12 ruling, allowing KalshiEx to offer derivative contracts trading on the outcome of the U.S. congressional elections over objections from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, could mark a watershed moment in the permissibility of election betting if upheld on appeal, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • What To Know About Latest Calif. Auto-Renewal Law Update

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    While businesses have about nine months to prepare before the recently passed amendment to California's automatic renewal law takes effect, it’s not too early to begin working on compliance efforts, including sign-up flow reviews, record retention updates and marketing language revisions, say Gonzalo Mon and Beth Chun at Kelley Drye.

  • The Key Changes In Revised FDIC Hiring Regulations

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    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.

  • FDIC's Cautious Approach To Industrial Banks, Reaffirmed

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    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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