Alerts

For decades, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and criminal prosecutors have pursued claims for insider trading in securities by persons who learn material nonpublic information about clinical drug trials.

In another pro-employee decision, the National Labor Relations Board (Board) has held that the familiar Wright Line standard no longer governs cases involving employees disciplined for engaging in offensive or abusive conduct while participating in activities that Section 7 of the NLRA protects.

In recent years, “sustainability” has gone from being a niche product approaching, in some quarters, a religion. Few would argue with the proposition that issues like climate- and carbon-neutrality and recyclability have become mainstream consumer issues across the United States.

Effective April 26, 2023, the Michigan Sales and Use Tax Acts were amended so that most delivery and installation charges are no longer subject to sales and use taxes in Michigan.

Throughout 2021 and 2022, states have been seeking to include or have successfully included medical respite to Medicaid 1115 waivers. These experimental Medicaid-reimbursed programs are reviewed and approved by the Secretary of Health and Human Services to promote the objectives of Medicaid.

On April 23, 2023, the US Supreme Court denied a petition for certiorari filed by Stephen Thaler, following the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit’s finding that Thaler’s artificial intelligence system — DABUS – could not be considered an “inventor” under the Patent Act.

In a recent decision, the US District Court for the District of Utah granted United Healthcare’s (UHC) motion for summary judgment on the plaintiff’s facial and as-applied claims under the Mental Health Parity Act.

Headlines that Matter for Companies and Executives in Regulated Industries

This has been a banner year for employee-friendly legislation in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

The “Chevron doctrine,” meaning whether courts should defer to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes they administer, has been viewed as a key underpinning of the modern regulatory state.

On April 24, 2023, the Illinois Supreme Court announced an amended rule permitting service of summons through electronic means of communication. The new rule, effective immediately, clarifies the procedure for using this alternative means of service.

Headlines that Matter for Companies and Executives in Regulated Industries

On April 27, 2023, Worthington Industries filed antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) petitions on non-refillable steel cylinders from India.

We’ve all been on notice for some time that the current General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board), as well as a majority of the Board itself, has an aggressively expansive view of employee rights under the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA or Act).

Private Company Strategies

On April 13, the Federal Trade Commission issued Notices of Penalty Offenses and cover letters to close to 700 advertisers of OTC drugs, homeopathic products, dietary supplements, and functional foods, putting them on notice of their obligation to have adequate substantiation of their claims.

When corporate management requests or obtains legal advice from corporate counsel, management expects those communications to be protected from disclosure by the attorney-client privilege, and usually they are. But there are exceptions.

On April 27, 2023, the American Brass Rod Fair Trade Coalition, Mueller Brass Co., and Wieland Chase LLC filed antidumping duty (AD) and countervailing duty (CVD) petitions on brass rod from Brazil, India, Israel, Mexico, South Africa, and South Korea.

On March 21, 2023, Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin signed SB 1040 into law. The new law, which goes into effect on July 1, 2023, prohibits employers from using an employee’s social security number or any derivative thereof as the employee’s identification number.

On January 26, 2023, the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) conducted a public roundtable, during which various attorneys and industry experts discussed their thoughts on the intersection of patent law with non-fungible tokens (NFTs).

If you blink, there’s a good chance that you will miss a major development in the environmental justice (EJ) space.

On April 25, 2023, Edsal Manufacturing Co., Inc. filed antidumping duty (AD) petitions on boltless steel shelving units prepackaged for sale from India, Malaysia, Taiwan, Thailand, and Vietnam.

In taking steps to take the “voluntary” out of voluntary disclosure, Assistant Secretary of US Export Enforcement Matthew Axelrod issued another memorandum on April 18, 2023, following on his June 2022 enforcement memorandum, that further changes the voluntary disclosure dynamic.

Immediately before opening statements were to begin, Dominion settled its defamation lawsuit against Fox News for its coverage of Donald Trump’s “Big Lie” about the 2020 presidential election for a landmark $787.5 million.

Publicizing home health agency and hospice agency ownership information furthers President Biden’s goal to promote competition and make data more transparent for consumers, as noted in his July 2021 Executive Order.