The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) is continuing to scrutinize municipal bond offerings and bring enforcement actions aimed at improving underwriter due diligence and increasing information to investors. On September 30, 2015, the Commission announced a second round of enforcement actions under the Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation (MCDC) Initiative, securing settlements against 22 underwriting firms ...
This week the European Union Court of Justice (“EUCJ”) struck down the U.S.-EU Safe Harbor Framework governing the transfer of personal data from the European Union to the United States that had been in place since 2000 (“Safe Harbor”).1 Case C-362/14, Schrems v. Data Prot. Comm’r, 2015 E.C.R. ---. Safe Harbor governed the most common set of requirements under which organizations could legally transfer personal data from EU member countries to the U.S ...
On September 30, the U.S. House of Representatives passed a Continuing Resolution that will fund the government and extend the Immigrant Investor (EB-5) Pilot Program through December 11, 2015. The short-term extension will allow lawmakers seeking to reform the EB-5 program additional time to refine and advance legislation that would make investing in the program more difficult. To read the full alert, click here ...
After a marathon weekend negotiating session in Atlanta, trade ministers from the United States and eleven other countries reached a final agreement on the terms and text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP). The TPP is a multi-faceted trade agreement among Pacific Rim nations that account for approximately 40 percent of world GDP ...
As cyber threats and news of data breaches make headlines, the Securities Exchange Commission (the “Commission”) has increased its expectations for investment advisers, broker-dealers, and funds to protect client information from hackers. On September 22, 2015, the Commission brought its first cybersecurity enforcement action against an investment adviser, sending a message to regulated entities. R.T. Jones Capital Equities Management, a St ...
On September 25, 2015, the Texas Board of Pharmacy (“TBP”) issued proposed rules that will allow pharmacists to substitute interchangeable biological products for brand name drugs. Currently, Texas regulations only allow for the substitution of lower-priced, generically equivalent drugs instead of certain brand name drugs. In contrast, the proposed rules allow pharmacists to dispense interchangeable biological products ...
Under longstanding regulations governing its risk management program, Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (“BOEM”) may require an offshore oil and gas lessee or operator operating on the Outer Continental Shelf (“OCS”) to provide additional security, over and above standard security requirements, if BOEM determines that the security is necessary to ensure compliance with OCS lease obligations ...
In a short three-week period, the U.S. Department of Justice announced three large, multi-million dollar False Claims Act settlements involving Stark Law violations. Each of the three cases alleged that health systems compensated physicians in excess of fair market value, and in excess of collections for services personally performed by those physicians, in order to induce referrals ...
Financial institutions are moving forward in their multidistrict litigation (“MDL”) lawsuit against Target following the company’s 2013 payment card breach. Last week, a Minnesota federal district court certified a class of approximately 9,000 banks and credit unions that issued payment cards affected by the breach. The ruling is the first to grant class certification in litigation following a payment card compromise.To read the full alert, click here ...
On September 9, 2015, the Department of State and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) announced a transformation of the way the Department of State’s visa bulletin functions. This change will allow many individuals who have been waiting in visa backlogs to file green card applications before an actual green card is available ...
In late August 2015, the Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) announced a settlement with three investment funds managed by Third Point LLC (“Third Point”) for alleged violations of the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, as amended (the “HSR Act”) involving improper reliance on the “investment only exemption ...
The U.S. Treasury Department Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) has amended its Cuban Assets Control Regulations to, in OFAC’s words, “further implement elements of the policy announced by the President on December 17, 2014 to engage and empower the Cuban people.” In practice, the amendments make important changes to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations, originally liberalized in January of this year ...
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals recently affirmed a district court ruling regarding class certification in a securities class action, Ludlow, et al. v. BP, PLC, et al., stemming from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon explosion in the Gulf of Mexico. The opinion provides several important takeaways for securities class action litigation. To read the full alert, click here ...
On August 27, 2015, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB” or the “Board”) issued its decision in Browning-Ferris Industries of California, Inc., upending decades of well-settled precedent to establish a new, broad standard for determining when two entities are “joint employers” under the National Labor Relations Act. 362 NLRB 186 (2015) ...
In a decision involving claims of underground trespass and tortious interference, the San Antonio Court of Appeals held that a surface owner could grant permission to a third-party to drill through the mineral estate underlying the surface and that the lessee “has no right to exclude others from the earth surrounding the oil and gas hydrocarbons” on the lease. Lightning Oil Co. v. Anadarko E&P Onshore LLC, No. 04-14-00903-CV, 2015 WL 4933439, --- S.W.3d --- (Tex ...
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission recently adopted a final rule to implement Section 953(b) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act with respect to chief executive officer pay-ratio disclosures. Under the Final Rule, a public company must disclose the ratio of the annual total compensation of its chief executive officer to the median of the annual total compensation for all of that company’s other employees ...
The financial pressures resulting from the “narrow network” phenomenon are well-known to healthcare providers and payers. Many providers have been eliminated from existing networks in order to allow participating providers access to a greater volume of patients. Those remaining providers have seen lower reimbursement rates and other cost containment measures ...
Environmental groups are attempting to enlist the U.S. Department of Commerce in their fight against fracking operations and climate change by petitioning DOC to ban natural gas exports under the Energy Policy and Conservation Act of 1975 (EPCA).To read the full alert, click here ...
The FDA recently issued final guidance regarding the size, shape, and other physical characteristics of generic-manufactured tablet and capsule dosage forms. The guidance noted that differences in physical characteristics of a dosage form could affect patient compliance and acceptability of medication regimens, or could lead to medication errors. The main reason for the FDA’s guidance appears to be that many patients can experience difficulty swallowing tablets and capsules ...
On Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) released its Clean Power Plan (“CPP”), the cornerstone of the Obama Administration’s multi-faceted regulatory approach to address climate change.1 The final rule is centered on reducing CO2 emissions from fossil fuel-fired power plants by 32 percent from 2005 levels by 2030 ...
This is the age of government regulation. Businesses pay millions of dollars each year to comply with ever-increasing regulatory requirements intended to avoid catastrophic loss to persons and property. While corporate America underwrites the lion’s share of the cost associated with enhanced safety, the benefits are realized primarily by consumers, politicians and insurers. Yes, insurers. A dollar spent on preventing loss is a dollar saved by insurance companies ...
The Seventh Circuit has revived a class action against Neiman Marcus for losses customers allegedly suffered as a result of a data breach involving payment card information. A federal district court had dismissed the claims, finding – consistent with federal courts around the country – that the plaintiffs lacked standing because they failed to allege they suffered concrete harm from the breach ...
On July 22, 2015, the Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) released proposed regulations (the “Proposed Regulations”) providing that in certain circumstances a service provider’s allocations of a partnership’s income may be treated as compensatory payments for services under the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”) ...
The U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) has proposed significant changes to the overtime pay regulations of the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”) ...
Last year California passed the Healthy Workplaces, Healthy Families Act of 2014 (the “Act”), which requires employers to provide paid sick leave at a rate of one hour for every 30 hours worked starting on July 1, 2015. Recognizing some of the ambiguities of the Act, this month California passed Assembly Bill No. 304, which clarifies and amends certain aspects of the Act. The amendments of AB 304 took effect on July 13, 2015 ...
