On July 10, 2013, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) adopted amendments to Rule 506 of Regulation D under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, that will lift the ban on general solicitation for certain private offerings, including offerings of private fund interests (“New Rule 506(c)”). New Rule 506(c) will become effective 60 days after publication in the Federal Register ...
On July 10, 2013, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted the new, much-anticipated rules that lift the ban on general solicitation and advertising in connection with certain private offerings of securities ...
Governor Perry recently signed four bills into law designed to combat Medicaid fraud, waste, and abuse. The bills are a mixed bag of enhanced enforcement capabilities for the state and a few new protections for healthcare providers. Most notably, the legislature made several changes to the Texas Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act (TMFPA), bringing the statute more in line with the federal False Claims Act. Changes to the Medicaid Fraud Laws On the enforcement side, S.B ...
On July 3, 2013, the Department of Labor issued its Semiannual Agenda of Regulations. Executive Order 12866 requires the semiannual publication of the listing of all regulations the Department of Labor expects to have under active consideration for promulgation, proposal or review during the coming one-year period. Here are some of the highlights regarding OSHA’s agenda. A ...
Recently, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in American Express Co. v. Italian Colors Restaurant, a third opinion in what is now a trilogy of cases upholding the validity of class action waiver clauses in contracts containing arbitration agreements ...
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) finalized amendments to formally adopt a framework regarding the voluntary withdrawal of Hart Scott Rodino (HSR) premerger notification filings and submission without an additional filing fee to allow additional time for enforcement agency review of transactions during the initial HSR waiting period ...
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) has announced a new National Emphasis Program (“NEP”) to protect workers from the health effects from occupational exposure to isocyanates. With the addition of this program, OSHA has thirteen (13) currently active NEPs, including programs on PSM Covered Chemical Facilities, Lead, Nursing and Residential Care Facilities, and Primary Metals Industries ...
In 2012, more than 99,000 charges of discrimination were filed with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. Of these charges, 31,208 of them alleged retaliation under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VII”). On June 24, 2013, the United States Supreme Court issued two much-anticipated employment law rulings, both of which are beneficial to employers confronted with these charges ...
In Wyeth and Cordis Corp. v. Abbott Laboratories, 2012-1223, -1224 (Fed. Cir. June 26, 2013), the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed the district court’s grant of summary judgment in favor of the defendants, holding method of treatment claims invalid under 35 U.S.C. § 112(a) (2012) as not being enabled for their full scope. (Slip op. at 3) ...
IntroductionGovernment contractors often use teaming agreements to combine the services of two or more contractors to offer the most persuasive bid for a government contract. The prime contractor typically agrees with the other team members that if the prime wins the bid, it will allocate some of the contractual work to the other member(s) ...
Many employers are wary of hiring applicants with criminal records because they fear exposing themselves to potential negligent hiring or negligent supervision claims, but they also have concerns imposed by the EEOC’s aggressive interpretation of Title VII that a blanket rule against hiring persons with criminal convictions is a violation of the law ...
On June 14, 2013, Governor Rick Perry signed legislation, which for the first time authorizes domestic captive insurers in Texas. The bill, known as SB 734, allows Texas businesses to realize the advantages, including tax benefits, of forming and operating a “pure” captive insurance company without the burden and cost associated with an out-of-state captive ...
On June 13, 2013, in the highly anticipated decision for Ass’n for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics, Inc., the Supreme Court shed some light on the future of genetic patenting to companies and scientists working in the personalized medicine and genetics industry. The personalized medicine industry seeks to revolutionize patient care by using genetic sequencing and testing to predict disease likelihood, severity, progression, and/or treatment response ...
You’ve seen all the articles about the Supreme Court’s decision in Assoc. for Molecular Pathology v. Myriad Genetics Inc. and the end of DNA patents, but what does this mean outside the biotech world? It means more insight into patent eligibility under 35 U.S.C. § 101. While Myriad does not affect business method and software patents, it is indicative of the general trend of the Supreme Court with respect to the threshold required to obtain a valid patent ...
The Supreme Court held today in FTC v. Actavis that so-called “reverse payment” settlement agreements are subject to antitrust law’s “rule of reason” analysis. The Court, however, largely downplayed whether such analysis would require inquiry into what Justice Scalia deemed “the elephant in the room” at oral argument: the strength of the patent at issue ...
On June 10, 2013, a unanimous Supreme Court in Oxford Health Plans LLC v. Sutter, 569 U.S. ___ (2013), held that an arbitrator’s decision to allow class arbitration cannot be overturned if the decision was based on the interpretation of the parties’ contract. Even if the interpretation is incorrect, the Court will not overturn the arbitrator’s decision given its limited scope of review allowed under §10(a)(4) of the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) ...
I. Background: 2010-2011 and the “First Wave” of Say-on-Pay SuitsIn 2010 and 2011, after the enactment of federal “say-on-pay” legislation in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act,1 shareholder plaintiff firms filed several actions alleging breaches of fiduciary duties by directors of companies experiencing unfavorable say-on-pay votes during proxy season ...
The First Circuit recently held that complaints filed first under the False Claims Act’s first-to-file rule do not need to satisfy Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 9(b)’s particularity requirement. See United States ex rel. Heineman-Guta v. Guidant Corp., 2013 WL 2364172 (1st Cir. May 31, 2013) ...
Every year, tornadoes in the United States cause dozens of fatalities and inflict billions of dollars in property damage. The EF5 tornado that struck Moore, Oklahoma on May 20 was the most powerful and destructive storm yet of the 2013 season. Although the Moore tornado is only one of 343 tornadoes already reported nationwide through May 23, more than 1300 occur annually in the United States, based on a three-year average ...
As previously described, in the fall of 2012 the NYSE and NASDAQ markets previously issued rules concerning the independence of compensation committee members and advisers as required by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act. These rules were approved by the Securities and Exchange Commission in January 2013 ...
The Supreme Court’s recent decision has seeded another patent protection feather in Monsanto’s increasingly large cap, in addition to providing guidance on application of the patent exhaustion doctrine in the case of self-replicating technology. In Bowman v ...
The Federal Circuit released the results of its en banc hearing of a case involving the issue of what is patent eligible subject matter under section 101 of the Patent Act. (CLS Bank International v. Alice Corporation Pty. Ltd., F. 3d., Case No. 2011 1301 (May 9, 2013) ...
On March 28, 2013, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) issued a final order exempting specified transactions by certain regional transmission organizations (“RTO”) and independent system operators (“ISO”) from all but the general anti-fraud and anti-manipulation prohibitions of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) and related CFTC regulations promulgated thereunder (“Exemptive Order”).1 This alert outlines the Exemptive Order ...
Last week, a federal jury in South Carolina found that Tuomey Healthcare System, Inc. violated the Stark Law and the False Claims Act by submitting false claims for reimbursement to the United States, resulting in $39 million in damages to the government. United States ex rel. Drakeford v. Tuomey Healthcare Sys., Inc., No. 3:05-2858-MBS (D.S.C. May 8, 2013) ...
On April 1, 2013, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) issued a final rule exempting swaps between certain affiliated entities from the clearing requirement under section 2(h)(1)(A) of the Commodity Exchange Act (“CEA”) and CFTC regulations (“Final Rule”).1 This alert outlines the rule and raises some questions as to its conditions and impact. I ...
