Alerts

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Department of Justice (DOJ) recently ordered Twitter to pay $150 million for violating a 2011 FTC order that prohibited the company from misrepresenting its privacy and data security practices.

The US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) Office of Environmental Justice (OEJ) and External Civil Rights Compliance Office issued draft guidance (Draft Guidance) on June 2, 2022.

The House has passed a bill that will now go to the President to sign into law that raises the eligible debt ceiling for Subchapter V of Chapter 11 to $7,500,000. Small businesses with up to $7,500,000 in noncontingent, liquidated debts will once again be eligible for relief under Subchapter V.

Headlines that Matter for Privacy and Data Security.

Many investment funds, advisors, and companies have been working to incorporate environmental, social, and governance (ESG) factors into their investment practices, but the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has proposed new disclosure and reporting requirements.

On May 25, 2022, in Grossman v. GEICO Cas. Co. (No. 21-278), the Second Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the District Court’s dismissal of an attempted class action by two automobile policyholders alleging that GEICO unjustly retained windfall profits on personal auto insurance policies.

Headlines that Matter for Companies and Executives in Regulated Industries

On May 26, 2022, the Supreme Court of the State of Delaware issued its decision in Wells Fargo Bank, N.A. and Berkshire Hathaway Life Insurance Company of Nebraska v. Estate of Phyllis M. Malkin (19-14689, 17-cv-23136, 172, 2021) (“Malkin”).

A California appellate court recently concluded that the bumble bee is a “fish,” at least for the purposes of certain provisions in the California Endangered Species Act (Cal. ESA). Because bumble bees are “fish,” they can be subject to the Cal. ESA.

In her recently-filed brief to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or Board) in Cemex Construction, 28-CA-230115, NLRB General Counsel, Jennifer Abruzzo, continues her campaign to significantly curtail longstanding employer rights under the National Labor Relations Act.

As technology becomes increasingly a part of student learning, education technology (ed tech) companies, parents, and educators should stay abreast of children’s privacy rights under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).

US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has issued some guidance relating to its enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) prior to June 21, 2022, the effective date of the rebuttable presumption.

Augmented Reality (“AR”), along with Virtual Reality (“VR”), is rapidly growing in prominence and will be transformative to the way we live, work, learn and play.

Massachusetts highest court upheld a state trial court’s decision which allowed a closely watched climate-disclosure related challenge filed by Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey against ExxonMobil (Exxon) to proceed over Exxon’s objections.

Headlines that Matter for Companies and Executives in Regulated Industries

On May 20, 2022, the agency governing Proposition 65, the California Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment (OEHHA), announced that it was allowing the rulemaking process for proposed modifications to the Prop. 65 short-form warnings to lapse.

In a unanimous decision authored by Justice Elena Kagan, the US Supreme Court ruled that in determining whether a party has waived its right to enforce an arbitration agreement, the party asserting waiver does not have to show that it was prejudiced.

In its latest decision on meal and rest period issues, the California Supreme Court unanimously held that premium pay owed employees for meal and rest break violations can be a basis for imposing waiting time and wage statement penalties on employers.

The US Supreme Court – once again – sided with advocates of the First Amendment in a decision striking an unconstitutional limit on campaign speech. 

If yours is one of the many companies considering new employment incentives, enhanced benefits, and retention bonuses, you should also consider taking another look at your non-compete covenants at the same time. They might already be outdated and unenforceable.

Headlines that Matter for Companies and Executives in Regulated Industries

Physician-owned companies that generate revenue from the sale of medical devices ordered by their physician owners have in recent years been the target of federal fraud and abuse enforcement actions.

In July 2018, the Court of Justice of the European Union (ECJ), the EU’s Highest Court, issued a decision clarifying whether the EU would regulate products of innovative breeding techniques, like gene editing, under the EU’s Directive 2001/18, the principal EU law governing the regulation of GMOs.

The metaverse is shaping up to be the next frontier in digital commerce, with businesses across industries spending millions of dollars buying digital real estate and investing in platforms to be market leaders. This has made companies with metaverse operations hot targets for venture capitalists.

On May 17, 2022, the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit issued an opinion in a False Claims Act suit, narrowly interpreting the so-called “government-action bar.” The government-action bar, 31 USC § 3730(e)(3), forecloses qui tam suits.