Public Policy

  • June 10, 2024

    Unclaimed Property Group Backs Disney At Mich. High Court

    An unclaimed property holder trade organization urged the Michigan Supreme Court to affirm that the state waited too long to demand that Disney and a restaurant company remit unclaimed property, arguing that third-party auditors' lax oversight allowed examinations to languish beyond the statute of limitations.

  • June 10, 2024

    USPTO Makes Filing Delist Requests Slightly Easier

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office will begin to make it easier for anybody to ask the agency to delist "precedential" administrative board rulings, it announced by email on Monday.

  • June 10, 2024

    Split 4th Circ. Tosses Suit Over 'Forever Chemicals' In NC

    The Fourth Circuit ruled Monday that environmental groups couldn't challenge in district court the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's selection of particular so-called forever chemicals for testing after the agency agreed, at the groups' request, to research the chemicals' effects in North Carolina.

  • June 10, 2024

    Software Alliance Urges Congress To Tackle Deepfakes

    The Software Alliance, a trade group that includes Microsoft Corp., Adobe Inc. and IBM, urged Congress Monday to pass legislation that addresses the proliferation of digital replicas made possible with artificial intelligence, telling lawmakers that unauthorized deepfakes harm artists who rely on their reputation and public recognition.

  • June 10, 2024

    Big Tech Urges US Reprisal Over Canada's Impending DST

    The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative should open formal dispute proceedings with the Canadian government in response to a 3% digital services tax that is expected to soon pass in the Canadian Senate, business groups with members in the U.S. tech industry said Monday.

  • June 10, 2024

    3 Takeaways From Cigna's Win In 9th Circ. Rehab Claim Fight

    The Ninth Circuit's recent decision finding Cigna is off the hook for $8.6 million in out-of-network mental health and substance use disorder treatment claims against employee benefit plans administered by the insurer could discourage similar litigation, benefits attorneys say. Here are three key takeaways from the decision.

  • June 10, 2024

    Mass. House Omits Local-Option Tax From $6B Housing Bill

    A proposal by Massachusetts Gov. Maura Healey to allow local-option transfer fees on high-value real estate sales was left out of a housing package worth more than $6 billion passed by the state House of Representatives. 

  • June 10, 2024

    EPA Air Compliance Rule Trumps State Powers, DC Circ. Told

    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency usurped state authority when it issued a final rule changing the deadline for states to submit Clean Air Act compliance plans for power plants and other existing facilities within their borders, 25 Republican-led states told the D.C. Circuit.

  • June 10, 2024

    W.Va. Anti-Trans Sports Suit Stayed Amid High Court Bid

    A West Virginia federal judge has temporarily paused a lawsuit from a transgender minor challenging a state law that prohibits biological males from joining girls' teams, arguing it is not in the best interest of taxpayers to proceed while the U.S. Supreme Court weighs whether to take up the case.

  • June 10, 2024

    Menendez Likely Knew About Mercedes Bribe, Jury Told

    A former New Jersey insurance broker testified Monday in New York federal court that he never spoke directly to U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez about providing the down payment and monthly installments for a luxury car for his wife, but indicated that he suspected the senator knew about the arrangement.

  • June 10, 2024

    FTC To Fight Go-Ahead Order On Novant $320M Hospital Deal

    Just days after a district court loss, the Federal Trade Commission said Monday it will ask the Fourth Circuit to step in and block Novant Health from buying two North Carolina hospitals in a $320 million deal the agency contends would harm competition.

  • June 10, 2024

    Trump Ally Asks If Stay Applies To All Ga. Co-Defendants

    As former President Donald Trump asks the Georgia Court of Appeals to hear oral arguments in his appeal of a ruling allowing Fulton County District Attorney Fani T. Willis to continue prosecuting the Georgia election interference case, one of his co-defendants asked for clarity on whether a recent stay applies to every defendant.

  • June 10, 2024

    9th Circ. To Hear Args In Psilocybin Right-To-Try Case

    A Ninth Circuit panel will hear oral arguments in August in an appeal brought by a Seattle doctor seeking to administer psilocybin to terminal cancer patients under state and federal right-to-try laws.

  • June 10, 2024

    Justices Call For Do-Over In 9th Circ. Bank Preemption Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday tossed a Ninth Circuit decision rejecting federal preemption of a California state interest-on-escrow law for Flagstar Bank, ordering a do-over in the case following the high court's recent ruling on preemption standards in a similar case involving Bank of America.

  • June 10, 2024

    Texas Urges 5th Circ. To Prioritize DHS Parole Program Appeal

    Texas has urged the Fifth Circuit to expedite its bid to revive a challenge to the Biden administration's parole program for Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Venezuela, saying time is of the essence because the case has major implications on federal immigration policy.

  • June 10, 2024

    NY State May Allow People With Past Felonies To Sit On Juries

    A New York state bill to remove a prohibition on people convicted of felonies sitting on juries following their release from prison has advanced to the governor's office, moving forward legislation that its authors say is designed to increase the racial diversity of jury pools and help former prison inmates reintegrate into society.

  • June 10, 2024

    Order Trims Cuomo Suit Over Harassment Probe Documents

    A New York state judge has partially dismissed a petition brought by former Gov. Andrew Cuomo seeking dozens of unredacted transcripts of witness interviews as part of the state attorney general's sexual harassment investigation that led to his 2021 resignation.

  • June 10, 2024

    New 'Access DOJ' Aims To Nix Barriers, Boost Accessibility

    The U.S. Department of Justice has announced the launch of an initiative to improve access to its programs and services, including an upcoming project to make it easier to report tips about crime or other violations of law.

  • June 10, 2024

    Co. Says 16 Intervenors Will Drag Out Alaska Mine Dispute

    A company seeking relief from a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency decision to block a mining proposal for a stretch of pristine salmon habitat on Alaska's Bristol Bay asked a federal judge to exclude more than a dozen environmental groups from joining the case.

  • June 10, 2024

    Pa. Bridge Collapse Victim Can Only Get $5K, Court Told  

    Pittsburgh Regional Transit wants to trim claims brought by a passenger aboard a bus that was on the Fern Hollow Bridge when it collapsed in 2022, telling a Pennsylvania court that as a self-insured state agency, the most it would owe her is $5,000 for medical expenses.

  • June 10, 2024

    Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court

    Big players and big moves dominated much of the past week in Delaware's Court of Chancery, as Tesla in particular and big corporations in general showed their pique over rulings that went toward stockholders or against conventional expectations.

  • June 10, 2024

    Senate Judiciary Panel Urged To Investigate High Court Ethics

    The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights sent a letter on Monday urging the "full power" of the Senate Judiciary Committee be used to investigate the latest "ethics crisis" at the U.S. Supreme Court.

  • June 10, 2024

    Justices Want Feds To Weigh In On ND Voting Dispute

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday invited the federal government to weigh in on a voting rights dispute in which two local North Dakota Republican officials seek to block newly created voting subdistricts for Native Americans after Secretary of State Michael Howe reversed course in the litigation.

  • June 10, 2024

    High Court To Review HHS Hospital Pay Formula

    The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review a D.C. Circuit decision siding with the Department of Health and Human Services over how the agency applies a formula for calculating disproportionate share hospital payments for Supplemental Security Income benefits.

  • June 10, 2024

    High Court Won't Review FCC's Universal Service Fund

    The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to review whether the country's fee-based telecom subsidy system unlawfully delegates taxing powers from Congress to the Federal Communications Commission and a privately run administrator.

Expert Analysis

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data

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    Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • CFPB Reality Check: Video Game Cash Is Still Money

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent report examining payments within online video games indicates that financial services offered within the game marketplace are quickly evolving to the point where they are indistinguishable from traditional financial services subject to regulation, say attorneys at Sheppard Mullin.

  • What CRA Deadline Means For Biden Admin. Rulemaking

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    With the 2024 election rapidly approaching, the Biden administration must race to finalize proposed agency actions within the next few weeks, or be exposed to the chance that the following Congress will overturn the rules under the Congressional Review Act, say attorneys at Covington.

  • 5 Takeaways From FDA's Biosimilars Promotion Guidance

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    New draft guidance from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration expands upon other recent efforts to clarify expectations for biosimilar and interchangeable labeling, highlighting a number of potential missteps that could draw attention from regulators, say attorneys at Arnold & Porter.

  • The Legal Issues Raised In Minn. Rate Exportation Opt-Out Bill

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    A recent Minnesota House bill would amend state law by opting out of the federal interest rate preemption and introduce several legal gray areas if passed, including issues regarding loan location, rates on credit card loans and values of state charters, says Karen Grandstrand at Fredrikson & Byron.

  • Rebuttal

    Time For Congress To Let Qualified Older Pilots Keep Flying

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    While a previous Law360 guest article affirmed the current law requiring airline pilots to retire at age 65, the facts suggest that the pilots, their unions, the airlines and the flying public will all benefit if Congress allows experienced, medically qualified aviators to stay in the cockpit, say Allen Baker and Bo Ellis at Let Experienced Pilots Fly.

  • Does Expert Testimony Aid Preliminary IPR Responses?

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    Dechert attorneys analyze six years of patent owners' preliminary responses to inter partes review petitions to determine whether the elimination of the presumption favoring the petitioner as to preinstitution testimonial evidence affected the usefulness of expert testimony in responses.

  • Fostering Employee Retention Amid Shaky DEI Landscape

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    Ongoing challenges to the legality of corporate diversity, equity and inclusion programs are complicating efforts to use DEI as an employee retention tool, but with the right strategic approach employers can continue to recruit and retain diverse talent — even after the FTC’s ban on noncompetes, says Ally Coll at the Purple Method.

  • Are Concessions In FDA's Lab-Developed Tests Rule Enough?

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    Although the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's new policy for laboratory-developed tests included major strategic concessions to help balance patient safety, access and diagnostic innovation, the new rule may well face significant legal challenges in court, say Dominick DiSabatino and Audrey Mercer at Sheppard Mullin.

  • 5 Climate Change Regulatory Issues Insurers Should Follow

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    The climate change landscape for insurers has changed dramatically recently — and not just because of the controversy over the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate-related risk disclosure rules, says Thomas Dawson at McDermott.

  • How New Rule Would Change CFIUS Enforcement Powers

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    Before the May 15 comment deadline, companies may want to weigh in on proposed regulatory changes to enforcement and mitigation tools at the disposal of the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States, including broadened subpoena powers, difficult new mitigation timelines and higher maximum penalties, say attorneys at Venable.

  • What's Extraordinary About Challenges To SEC Climate Rule

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    A set of ideologically diverse legal challenges to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's climate disclosure rule have been consolidated in the Eighth Circuit via a seldom-used lottery system, and the unpredictability of this process may drive agencies toward a more cautious future approach to rulemaking, say attorneys at Thompson Coburn.

  • 8 Questions To Ask Before Final CISA Breach Reporting Rule

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    The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency’s recently proposed cyber incident reporting requirements for critical infrastructure entities represent the overall approach CISA will take in its final rule, so companies should be asking key compliance questions now and preparing for a more complicated reporting regime, say Arianna Evers and Shannon Mercer at WilmerHale.

  • Series

    Swimming Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Years of participation in swimming events, especially in the open water, have proven to be ideal preparation for appellate arguments in court — just as you must put your trust in the ocean when competing in a swim event, you must do the same with the judicial process, says John Kulewicz at Vorys.

  • Key Priorities In FDIC Report On Resolving Big Bank Failures

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    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s report last month on the resolvability of large financial institutions contains little new information, but it does reiterate key policy priorities, including the agency's desire to enhance loss-absorbing capacity through long-term debt requirements and preference for single-point-of-entry resolution strategies, say attorneys at Freshfields.

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