There’s no doubt fraud, committed by both external and internal parties, is on the rise as methods for committing theft become more available and easier to hide due to technology. And according to a recent survey by the Association of...
Emerging National Legal Issues:
A recent New York state appeals court decision highlights the need for suppliers to continue exercising caution when adopting and implementing a resale price maintenance policy.
On May 8, 2012, the Appellate Division of the New York...
On May 11, 2012, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit issued a decision in BMD Contractors, Inc. v. Fidelity and Deposit Company of Maryland (No. 11-1345), affirming a lower court summary judgment in favor...
Energy and Climate Debate
The Senate will debate ExIm Bank reauthorization this week, while the House will focus on Defense authorization over the next five days.
President Obama called on Congress May 8 to pass five...
New effort is part of President Obama’s initiative to double U.S. exports, support American jobs
Today U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa P. Jackson and Department of Commerce Secretary John E. Bryson...
Employers are increasingly asking (or requiring) applicants or employees to provide their Facebook password or other social media account log-in credentials so the employer can review non-publicly available content for anything troubling. ...
Increased demand over previous years could see H-1B visas exhausted by June 2012 or earlier.
U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that as of April 27, U.S. employers have filed for 29,000 H-1B...
Summary judgment is a manufacturer’s goal in almost every case. Often, it’s an uphill battle. For example, a recent Supreme Court decision has made summary judgment more difficult to obtain in prescription drug cases that...
The world is full of surprises, like the fact that Nutella chocolate spread is loaded with saturated fat and sugar and is not itself healthy.
Ferrero USA, Inc., the company that makes Nutella, learned the hard way that many American...
In October 2010, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) issued final regulations requiring plan administrators to disclose certain plan and investment-related information, including fee and expense information, to participants and...
As the economy continues to recover, an increase in M&A activity is expected. A target company’s historical compliance with unclaimed property laws is an important, but often overlooked, area for due diligence in M&A transactions. A...
As ICANN struggles to get its application system back online, companies have begun lining up to make a profit off of the peculiarities of the application process itself. Pool.com, a domain name drop catch service provider, has...
Considering whether a medical device company was entitled to obtain a trademark registration for its design of a closure cap for medical collection tubes, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a final decision of the...
Failure to provide detailed cost data relating to the provision of oil transportation service causes FERC to deny a pipeline's request to charge market-based initial rates.
On May 7, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (...
Most attorneys I know are too busy to devote the time needed to maintain a good social media presence, yet they very much want to be involved with social media for the lead generation benefits it provides at little or no cost.
One solution...
On April 25, 2012, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued an updated Enforcement Guidance on employer use of arrest and conviction records in employment decisions under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a district court ruling that claims that emerge from a reexamination do not create a new cause of action that did not exist before. Aspex Eyewear, Inc. v...
Guidance contains clarifications of participant-level disclosures and "good faith" standard for enforcement purposes.
On May 7, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) released guidance, in the form of "frequently asked questions...
Federal Courts and National Regulatory Issues:
In a joint-rulemaking finalized last month, the Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC) and the Securities Exchange...
On April 5, President Obama signed the Jump-Start Our Business Startups Act (JOBS Act) into law, which the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate had passed by wide margins on March 27 and March 24, respectively. The...
2012 is already a record-breaking year in health care fraud enforcement. This week Attorney General Eric Holder and Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen Sebelius...
Reviewing a defendant’s laches defense to a trademark infringement claim, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit held that a district court applied the wrong legal standard in determining when the defense was triggered,...
Decision by court of appeals affirms that settlements that do not expand the exclusionary scope of a patent are not subject to antitrust challenge.
On April 25, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed a lower court'...
The Kentucky Supreme Court recently ruled that a private, non-profit entity which acquired and marketed property in order to attract new business to Floyd County, did not qualify for an exemption from paying ad valorem real property taxes....
The USPTO has announced the implementation of a pilot program, effective from May 16th until September 30th, to permit applicants to file IDS statements after payment of the issue fee in utility and reissue applications,...
The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight (CCIIO) and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS)...
NLRB Member Terence Flynn is the subject of a second investigation by the Inspector General concerning alleged leaks by Flynn of internal Board information to former Board member Peter Schaumber. Like the first report,...
Introduction
Mintz Levin’s Health Care Fraud Enforcement Defense group has published a series of “Year in Review” articles discussing its observations about health care fraud enforcement trends in 2011 and its...
The first case to contest North Carolina’s move to Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) final decisions in contested cases challenging administrative agency actions, is limited in scope and theory. On February 8th, Piedmont...
On December 19, 2011, the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published a proposed rule to implement the Physician Payments Sunshine Act, which was included as part of the Patient Protection...
The Age of ALJ Final Decisions has dawned for many clients whose businesses involve regulatory actions or decisions by North Carolina administrative agencies. As part of the General Assembly’s regulatory reforms in the 2011 session,...
Most state and federal health care investigations are prompted by audits or claims brought by whistleblowers. But a recent newspaper article about a debt collection company’s tactics has prompted Congressional ire and...
It’s surely a sign of economic times that Poyner Spruill’s long term care lawyers have seen a marked increase in the number of clients calling us for assistance with nonpaying residents. While providers have seen facility-based...
The Internal Revenue Service recently issued requests for comments in advance of issuing proposed regulations on health care reform reporting and minimum value requirements.
Determination of “Minimum Value” Coverage...
In response to an exemption request submitted by the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA),...
Federal antitrust enforcement agencies continue to challenge transactions in the health industry that they view as anticompetitive. This newsletter provides an update on recent public comments by government officials overseeing antitrust...
In this first installment of Mintz Levin’s ...
State Courts and State Regulatory Issues:
Massachusetts continues to be at the national forefront of health care reform. Since becoming the first state in the nation to expand access aimed at universal health care coverage through Chapter 58 of the Acts of 2006,...
The Fourth District Appellate Court held that statutory damages for violation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (47 U.S.C. § 227 et seq.) are in the nature of punitive damages and are uninsurable under Illinois law...
If you are thinking about forming an LLC in Ohio for your new business, you may want to think again. And if you are a member of an existing Ohio LLC, the Ohio legislature just signed you up for a non-compete agreement with that LLC. ...
As reported in our June 2011 Newsletter, the Judicial Council of California in 2011 proposed revisions to California Civil Jury Instructions (known as CACI) related to the element of the foreseeability and effect of product...
On April 16, 2012, the Supreme Court of the State of New York, Nassau County, entered an Order of Liquidation and Approval of the ELNY Restructuring Agreement (Order) and accompanying memorandum decision. The Order was entered over the...
In its recent decision in Estate of Boyar, the Illinois Appellate Court applied the doctrine of election, a long-established principle of the law of wills, to a revocable trust. Although the ruling is not the final word...
On April 19, 2012, New York’s attorney general filed the first tax enforcement complaint under New York’s novel False Claims Act (“Act”), alleging that Sprint-Nextel Corp. had deliberately understated...
New legislation governing cleanups of contamination from leaking underground storage tanks (USTs) in Michigan became effective on May 1, 2012. The six-bill package amends Part 213 of Michigan's Natural Resources and...
North Carolina’s Rule
Last June, 2011, North Carolina joined the ranks of an increasing number of states requiring the use of E-Verify. E-Verify is a free internet-based system that allows employers to...
On Thursday, April 26, 2012, the Illinois State Senate unanimously passed a bill, SB 3280,setting standards for the extraction of hydrocarbons from shale using hydraulic fracturing, known as “fracking,” in Illinois. Fracking uses...
In a recent Texas bench ruling, in the case of Southwest Royalties, Inc. v. Combs, Case D-1-GNU-09-004282 (Travis County 250th Dist. Ct.), the court expanded the Texas sales or use tax exemption for manufacturing...
As the end of the 2011-2012 school year comes to an end in West Virginia, with it comes the planning of high school graduation ceremonies. Over the years, the issue of prayer at graduation ceremonies has been a hot topic...
On April 11, 2012, Judge John Dietz issued a ruling from the bench in Southwest Royalties, Inc. v. Combs, Case D-1-GNU-09-004282 (Travis County 250th Dist. Ct.) to extend the Texas sales tax exemption for manufacturing...
Employers taking advantage of increased access to criminal offender record information must comply with strict information-dissemination and recordkeeping guidelines.
The final slate of changes implemented by the...
Several new laws in California are placing new or additional requirements on employers. We have highlighted several of them.
Independent Contractors
A new law prohibits the “willful misclassification”...
Methane gas emissions at landfills are used to run reciprocating engines 24/7 to generate electricity. Waste Management has 141 such landfill gas projects, nine of which are in...
International Law and Immigration
On April 27, 2012, the European Commission (EC) announced the full activation of the EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS) single registry. The full activation process will include the migration of over 30,000 EU ETS...
Recently, the Supreme People’s Court of China issued final rules to build a working framework for civil anti-monopoly cases brought under the country’s Anti-Monopoly Law. The rules will take effect on 1 June 2012.
China...
On 25 April 2012, the European Commission adopted a new de minimis regulation on compensation granted to companies that provide services of general economic interest (SGEI). Under the new regulation, compensation granted...
Last week Argentina’s President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner proposed legislation regarding the government takeover of YPF, a major Argentine oil producer, by expropriating REPSOL’s majority stake in YPF. A copy of the...
Last year, the European Commission (the “Commission”) announced in its first annual report on trade and investment barriers that one of the items on its “to-do” list was to find a way to eradicate trading...
The much anticipated “Reveal Day” — so dubbed by ICANN itself — has now come and gone without fanfare. May 1st was to be the day when ICANN was scheduled to publish the list of all applied-for ...
In order to safeguard the legislative process from impropriety and to uphold good governance, a new Code of Conduct for Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) entered into force in 2012, and a transparency register for “...
500 New I-9 Notices of Inspection Issued
Recent reports indicate that U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) issued 500 new Notices of Inspection (NOIs) to employers in several states. NOIs are notices from ICE...
On Monday, the Delegation attended the 5th International Outsourcing Business Development Summit. The overall theme of the summit was helping China transition from “Made in China” to “Created in China....
Significant cutoff-date retrogression in the EB-2 category for Indian and Chinese nationals; affected persons should file AOS applications before May 1.
The U.S. Department of State (DOS) has released its May 2012 Visa...
Featured Articles:
In a decision issued a few minutes ago, the United States District Court for the District of Columbia ...
In January 2012, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) announced its third Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (“OVDP...
In our June 2011 Newsletter, we discussed the status of important pending legislation in Pennsylvania (the Fair Share Act)...
A recent Middle District of Florida decision highlights the need for employers to consider implications under the ...
Winner--Spring Student Writing Competition
I. INTRODUCTION
John Maynard Keynes’ theory of the “paradox of thrift” is premised on the assumption that...
With a greater concentration of resources being placed on eliminating bullying at school and incorporation of anti-bullying themes in television...
Winner--Spring 2012 Student Writing Competition
I. Introduction
...
Recent press coverage of Internal Revenue Service and U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission problems with executive travel on company...
While the prosecution of former Senator Ted Stevens is long over, the fallout from the prosecutorial misconduct in that case continues. Congress...
It’s April. For those of you in a planning mode, here’s what you may want to think about...
Your Pension...
The Conte decision is well known by brand and generic manufacturers alike. 85 Cal.Rptr.3d 299 (Cal.App. 2008). ...
The United States District Court for the Southern District of Indiana recently found that the Due Process Clause of the United States...
In a unanimous decision due to be published on May 15, the Connecticut Supreme Court has ruled that employers can be held liable for failing...
On April 19, 2012, the Michigan Court of Appeals released its decision in ...
Study Finds that the AMA Committee Recommendations on Doctor Fees Are Followed Nine Times out of Ten
To calculate physicians’ fees under Medicare – which in turn influence some state and private payers’ decisions on how they will...
Responding to a requirement in the Dodd-Frank Act that it review, and if appropriate, amend, the federal sentencing guidelines for mortgage fraud...
In preparation for bargaining of an initial cba, the Machinists' Union sent an extensive request for information to a DirecTV provider and...
Earlier this year, following a highly-publicized case in Maryland we discussed in...
The Indiana legislature recently enacted House Enrolled Act No. 1126 (HEA 1126), a bill which permits customers who live outside a municipality...
As of April 30th, 2012, the new NLRB procedures for union elections are in place. Dinsmore wrote about the details of these new rules last month (...
On April 20, 2012, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC)...
As a practicing attorney who represents property owners on cell tower leases, and as the head of the Finance Team at my own church, I am...
Many considered the Supreme Court’s decision last year in AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion as a...
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (the Act) imposes new, substantive requirements on health insurance issuers in the...
As a health care provider, you’re probably aware of the efforts by the state and federal governments to identify and recover overpayments...
Many franchise companies, particularly those in industries dealing with children and the elderly, require (or suggest) that their...
On May 3, 2012, an amicus curiae brief was filed in the U.S. Supreme Court on behalf of the Justice Fellowship and a group of law professors who...
For many, the family cottage is a place for relaxing, swimming, playing and most importantly – for spending time with family. Often,...
For cases filed before enactment of the America Invents Act, the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals has clarified that unrelated defendants may be...
The recent decision of the Fed. Cir. in Otsuka v. Sandoz...
Navigant recently published the latest update of its comprehensive Information Security and Data...
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