Public Policy

  • June 16, 2025

    China Mobile Won't Give Up Info In Federal Probe, FCC Says

    China Mobile has failed to fully cooperate with an investigation of whether the company is violating restrictions on its U.S. operations and could soon be fined more than $25,000 per day if the situation continues, the Federal Communications Commission said Monday.

  • June 16, 2025

    TM Registration Co. Sanctioned Over Attorney Signatures

    A Mumbai-based business that offers trademark registration services was blocked by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from submitting any more trademark documents, after an investigation found it forged counsel signatures.

  • June 16, 2025

    Live Nation Arbitration Firm Defends Its 'Flexible' Approach

    Live Nation's chosen arbitration firm is urging the U.S. Supreme Court to take up the concert giant's bid to force concertgoers into arbitration, arguing its procedures are fair, and it was wrongly dinged for what the Ninth Circuit called "internally inconsistent, poorly drafted" arbitration rules.

  • June 16, 2025

    Rural Broadband Cos. Say Scalability, Cost Key To Buildout

    Rural network providers are happy about some of the changes the U.S. Department of Commerce is making to the multibillion-dollar broadband deployment program BEAD, but say they also think the government should turn a keen eye toward making sure projects are scalable and cost-efficient.

  • June 16, 2025

    NJ Judicial Privacy Act Suits Too Fuzzy On Details, Cos. Say

    Companies accused by data security firm Atlas Data Privacy Corp. of violating New Jersey's judicial privacy law argued in federal court Monday that the suits should be dismissed because they lack enough facts to carry their claims.

  • June 16, 2025

    Ga. Panel Says Injured Worker Bound By Past Pleadings

    The Georgia Court of Appeals has upheld an early win for an auto transport company and one of its drivers who allegedly injured another employee in a crash, ruling that his only path to resolving the dispute ran through the Peach State's workers' compensation statute.

  • June 16, 2025

    Grubhub Can't Use FTC Deal To End Chicago's Deception Suit

    Grubhub cannot cite a deceptive practices settlement it entered into with the Federal Trade Commission and Illinois officials to terminate the city of Chicago's lawsuit targeting prices it shows to customers, a state judge said on Monday.

  • June 16, 2025

    Commerce Official Turned US Rep. Slams 'Absurd' AI Proposal

    Before coming to Congress in January, Rep. April McClain Delaney, D-Md., was a top official at the U.S. Department of Commerce, where she oversaw the rollout of a $42.45 billion broadband access program; now she's working to protect it from the "deeply dangerous" provision in the budget reconciliation bill that punishes states that attempt to regulate AI.

  • June 16, 2025

    Sanctuary Cities Rip Feds' Immigration Terms In Funding Fight

    So-called sanctuary jurisdictions told a California federal judge Friday the Trump administration has conditioned entire swaths of federal funding on cooperating with its immigration crackdown, against the judge's April injunction, while the government argued the injunction can't broadly "prejudge an array of distinct issues that are not properly before the court."

  • June 16, 2025

    Fla. Court OKs Atty Fees To Associations In Rent Control Suit

    A Florida state appellate court reinstated a lawsuit brought by real estate groups against a county rent control measure saying they're owed attorney fees and costs as a "collateral legal consequence" of a challenge to a local ordinance that is preempted by state law.

  • June 16, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Urged To Jump In Over Fintiv Memo Withdrawal

    SAP America wants the Federal Circuit to rein in the effects of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office decision to rescind a 2022 memo regarding when the Patent Trial and Appeal Board may deny review of patents based on parallel litigation.

  • June 16, 2025

    6th Circ. Denies Mich. Gov.'s Rehearing Bid In Pipeline Suit

    A three-judge panel of the Sixth Circuit on Monday rejected a request for a rehearing from Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, who had asked the appellate court to reconsider its earlier decision that she didn't have sovereign immunity from Enbridge Energy's lawsuit seeking to halt her efforts to shut down the Line 5 pipeline.

  • June 16, 2025

    Network Co. Sues Feds For $274M In 'Rip and Replace' Costs

    A Florida-based communications company is claiming that it was improperly denied reimbursement for replacing Chinese-made equipment from its network as part of the Federal Communications Commission's "Rip and Replace" program.

  • June 16, 2025

    Finance Influencer Admits To Tax Fraud In $20M Ponzi Scheme

    An Ohio social media finance influencer pled guilty to wire fraud and abetting a false tax filing tied to a $20 million real estate Ponzi scheme he was operating between 2019 and 2023, the U.S. Department of Justice said.

  • June 16, 2025

    NRC Commissioner Says Trump Illegally Fired Him

    Former U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission chairman and current commissioner Christopher Hanson said Monday that President Donald Trump illegally fired him on Friday, becoming the latest member of an independent agency removed by the president.

  • June 16, 2025

    ABA Sues Over Trump's 'Law Firm Intimidation Policy'

    The American Bar Association sued dozens of federal officials and agencies in D.C. federal court Monday, saying President Donald Trump and his administration have used the executive branch's vast powers "to coerce lawyers and law firms to abandon clients, causes and policy positions" he doesn't like.

  • June 16, 2025

    Judge Orders DOJ To Address Cuellar's Grand Jury Request

    A Houston judge has given prosecutors until the end of the month to address whether they should provide U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar with certain grand jury materials connected to his bribery case.

  • June 16, 2025

    Vaping Interests Seek Halt On New NC E-Cigarette Law

    A coalition of vaping industry interests has asked a North Carolina federal judge to halt enforcement of a new state law regulating electronic cigarettes while its lawsuit alleging the policy is preempted by federal law plays out.

  • June 16, 2025

    High Court Will Hear Chevron, Exxon Pollution Liability Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court agreed Monday to determine whether federal or state courts are the proper venue for Louisiana's bid to hold Chevron, Exxon Mobil and other major oil companies liable for damages to the state's coastal lands that were allegedly caused by World War II-era oil production activities.

  • June 16, 2025

    Feds Say U-Visa Seekers' Class Action Is Moot

    U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services urged a judge not to certify a class claiming unreasonable delays in processing visas for immigrant victims of crime, saying the named plaintiffs' applications for work authorization have already been resolved.

  • June 16, 2025

    Hemp Farm Says $3.9M Seizure Suit Wasn't Filed Too Late

    A California hemp farm is urging a Tennessee federal court not to throw out its suit as untimely against a Tennessee sheriff's office over $3.9 million in hemp flower the farm claimed was wrongly seized and then destroyed, saying it only learned that the hemp was illegally seized at a hearing for the hemp deliveryman months afterward.

  • June 16, 2025

    Calif. Bar Panel Upholds Recommending Eastman Disbarment

    A panel of the California State Bar Court's Review Department has affirmed the March 2024 recommended disbarment of President Donald Trump's former attorney, John Eastman, over attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.

  • June 16, 2025

    GAO Says DOE Hasn't Held Funds Under Trump Wind Pause

    The U.S. Department of Energy has not unlawfully withheld any federal funds in response to a presidential memorandum directing it and the U.S. Department of the Interior to put all wind energy permitting and leasing activities on hold, the U.S. Government Accountability Office said Monday.

  • June 16, 2025

    Ex-Mich. Worker Gets 3.5 Years For 'Awful' $1.5M COVID Fraud

    A former employee for the state of Michigan was sentenced Monday to spend 41 months in prison and pay $1.5 million in restitution, the amount of a conspiracy a federal judge called "awful" to defraud the government of money meant for unemployment assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • June 16, 2025

    Mass. Judge Blocks NIH Grant Cuts, Points To 'Discrimination'

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Monday blocked the National Institutes of Health from cutting hundreds of grant programs to universities, hospitals and other organizations, saying that in his 40 years on the bench he had never seen such "palpable" racial and LGBTQ discrimination from the government.

Expert Analysis

  • Top 3 Litigation Finance Deal-Killers, And How To Avoid Them

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    Like all transactions, litigation finance deals can sometimes collapse, but understanding the most common reasons for failure, including a lack of trust or a misunderstanding of deal terms, can help both parties avoid problems, say Rebecca Berrebi at Avenue 33 and Boris Ziser at Schulte Roth.

  • A 2-Step System For Choosing A Digital Asset Reporting Path

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    Under the Internal Revenue Service's new digital asset reporting regulation, each type of asset may have three potential reporting destinations, so a detailed testing framework can help to determine the appropriate path, says Keval Sonecha at Sonecha & Amlani.

  • NEPA Repeal Could Slow Down Environmental Review

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    As the Trump administration has rescinded the Council on Environmental Quality's long-standing National Environmental Policy Act regulations, projects that require NEPA review may be bogged down by significant regulatory uncertainty and litigation risks, potentially undermining the administration's intent to streamline the permitting process, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.

  • 5th Circ. Ruling Is Latest Signal Of Shaky Qui Tam Landscape

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    In his recent concurring opinion in U.S. v. Peripheral Vascular Associates, a Fifth Circuit judge joined a growing list of jurists suggesting that the False Claims Act's whistleblower provisions are unconstitutional, underscoring that acceptance of qui tam relators can no longer be taken for granted, say attorneys at Miller & Chevalier.

  • Foreign Countries Have Strong Foundation To Fill FCPA Void

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    Though the U.S. has paused enforcement of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, liberal democracies across the globe are well equipped to reverse any setback in anti-corruption enforcement, potentially heightening prosecution risk for companies headquartered in the U.S., says Stephen Kohn at Kohn Kohn.

  • How Attys Can Use A Therapy Model To Help Triggered Clients

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    Attorneys can lean on key principles from a psychotherapeutic paradigm known as the "Internal Family Systems" model to help manage triggered clients and get settlement negotiations back on track, says Jennifer Gibbs at Zelle.

  • A Tale Of Two Admins: Parsing 1st Half Of SEC's FY 2025

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    The first half of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's fiscal year 2025, which ended March 31, was unusually eventful, marked by a flurry of enforcement actions in the last three months of former Chair Gary Gensler's tenure and a prompt pivot after Inauguration Day, say attorneys at Jones Day.

  • A Closer Look At Amendments To Virginia Noncompete Ban

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    Recently passed amendments in Virignia will prohibit noncompetes for all employees who are eligible for overtime pay under federal law, and though the changes could simplify employers’ analyses as to restrictive covenant enforceability, it may require them to reassess and potentially adjust their use of noncompetes with some workers, say attorneys at McGuireWoods.

  • What Bank Regulator Consolidation Would Mean For Industry

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    Speculation over the Trump administration’s potential plans to consolidate financial service regulators is intensifying uncertainty, but no matter the outcome for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, the industry should expect continued policy changes, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • Getting Ahead Of The SEC's Continued Focus On Cyber, AI

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    The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is showing it will continue to scrutinize actions involving cybersecurity and artificial intelligence, but there are proactive measures that companies and financial institutions can take to avoid regulatory scrutiny going forward, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Navigating Florida's Bad Faith Reforms After Appellate Ruling

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    A Florida appellate court's recent decision is among the first to interpret two significant amendments to the state's insurance bad faith law, and its holding that one of the statutes could not apply retroactively may affect insurers' interpretation of the other statute, say attorneys at Cozen O'Connor.

  • 3 Steps For In-House Counsel To Assess Litigation Claims

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    Before a potential economic downturn, in-house attorneys should investigate whether their company is sitting on hidden litigation claims that could unlock large recoveries to help the business withstand tough times, says Will Burgess at Hilgers Graben.

  • IRS And ICE Info Sharing Could Drive Payroll Tax Enforcement

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    Tax crimes are historically difficult to prosecute, but the Internal Revenue Services’ recent agreement with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to share taxpayer records of non-U.S. citizens could be used to enhance payroll tax-related enforcement against their employers, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Breaking Down Ill. Bellwether Case For Bank Preemption

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    The banking industry's pending lawsuit against the state of Illinois stands to permanently enjoin state regulation of bank card processing, as well as clarify the outstanding and consequential issue of whether conflict preemption continues to cover third parties in certain circumstances, says Tom Witherspoon at Stinson.

  • Despite SEC Climate Pause, Cos. Must Still Heed State Regs

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    While businesses may have been given a reprieve from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's rules aimed at standardizing climate-related disclosures, they must still track evolving requirements in states including California, Illinois, New Jersey and New York that will soon require reporting of direct and indirect carbon emissions, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

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