Alerts

In a setback to the Washington, DC metropolitan area, the Trump Administration announced earlier this week that the Federal Bureau of Investigation will remain in its obsolete downtown Washington headquarters for the foreseeable future.

On July 11, 2017, President Trump issued an executive order extending the review period established by EO 13761 of January 13, 2017, which set forth criteria for the revocation of certain sanctions on Sudan and the Government of Sudan.

In the first ruling of its type, the Ninth Circuit held that an employer’s attorney can be sued for retaliating against an employee who sued his client.

A class of plaintiffs succeeded earlier this month in persuading a New Jersey federal court that trade and professional associations may violate the antitrust laws by tying benefits to association membership.

Since 2012, Barnes & Noble has been fighting claims arising from a data breach that affected its credit card pin pad machines. Now, the Barnes & Noble “Pin Pad” litigation is finally over.

Continuing a trend that is certain to keep growing, three consumer groups recently filed a lawsuit against Sanderson Farms alleging false advertising for their poultry products labeled “100 percent natural.”

On June 14, 2017, Governor John Carney signed a new law that will prevent Delaware employers from requesting the salary history of job applicants.

On June 21, the Food and Drug Administration announced a Drug Competition Action Plan in order to attempt to address ways that the agency’s rules have been, in the agency’s view, “gamed” to create obstacles that delay generic drug approvals to reduce generic competition.

Nevada is the latest state in the Union to adopt some form of a drug pricing transparency law, after Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval signed Senate Bill No. 539 into law on June 15, 2017.

On June 17, 2017, the Supreme Court struck down the disparagement clause of Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act on the grounds that it violates the First Amendment of the Constitution. Matal v. Tam, 582 U.S. ____ (2017). 

After weeks of secrecy and speculation about the content of the Senate’s health care bill, Senate Republicans released a “discussion draft” of their bill on Thursday.

On June 15th, 2017, Mick Mulvaney, Director of the Office of Management and the Budget, issued OMB Memorandum M-17-26, which purports to reduce the “Burden for Federal Agencies by Rescinding and Modifying [previous] OMB Memoranda.”

On Friday, June 16, 2017, President Donald Trump announced changes to the US-Cuba policy for individual travel to the island nation and engaging in transactions with entities associated with the Cuban military, intelligence or security services. 

The Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware recently issued a decision that will undoubtedly influence strategies in bankruptcy cases involving plugging and abandonment liabilities.

On Sunday, June 11, 2017, Gymboree filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, listing $755.5 million in assets and $1.365 billion in debts.

In a widely anticipated move, the FDA announced this week that it will extend the July 2018 compliance date for the revision to the Nutrition Facts panel. The revised panel will display calories more prominently on the label, as well as list added sugars.

With little fanfare or explanation, US Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta announced on June 7, 2017 the withdrawal of the US Department of Labor’s 2015 and 2016 informal guidance on joint employment and independent contractors.

The CPSC also alleged that Kawasaki knowingly made a material misrepresentation to CPSC staff by underreporting the number of incidents associated with one of the ROV models and failing to report any incidents regarding two others. 

Following a recent trend that started in Massachusetts and the City of Philadelphia, New York City has become the latest jurisdiction to ban employers from inquiring about salary history for applicants.

The Supreme Court issued a stunning ERISA decision on Monday, overturning the law in the three federal circuits as to what constitutes a “church plan” that is exempt from ERISA’s requirements.

On May 30, 2017, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio signed into law Bill 1387-A, which prohibits covered retail employers from engaging in so-called “on-call scheduling,” a practice that is very common and in many cases critical to the industry.

On May 30, 2017, the Supreme Court issued a landmark 8-0 decision holding that when a patentee sells one of its products, the patentee can no longer control that item through the patent laws.

In his first major announcement since taking office, FDA Commissioner Scott Gottlieb, M.D. finalized a major reorganization plan that had been under development since 2013. 

This week, the Supreme Court unanimously rejected the Federal Circuit’s broad reading of the patent venue statute for domestic corporations in TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC, No. 16-341, 2017 WL 2216934 (U.S. May 22, 2017).

Charges that investor-state arbitration is undemocratic, undermines national sovereignty, and prevents necessary regulations have prompted some states to develop new approaches to the field. Recent initiatives in Africa and South America aim to readjust the system in two very different ways.