Featured Posts

Senators Introduce Bipartisan Effort to Regulate Health Apps, Biometrics & Wearables

By Kristi Wolff & Alex Schneider on June 25, 2019

A new bill introduced in the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee would impose federal regulatory obligations on health technology businesses that collect sensitive health information from their service users and customers. The Protecting Personal Health Data Act, S.1842, introduced by Senators Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), seeks to close a growing divide between data covered by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and non-covered, sensitive personal health…

FinReg

New Economic Sanctions on Iran: More Sound than Fury

By John B. Reynolds, Jeanine P. McGuinness, Will Schisa & Brooklynn Moore on June 25, 2019

On June 24, 2019, President Trump signed an Executive Order (“EO” or “Order”) imposing new economic sanctions on the Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, and the Iranian Supreme Leader’s Office. The EO blocks all of the Supreme Leader’s property and interests in property in the United States, that come within the United States, or come within the possession or control of any United States person, and provides that such property may not be…

California Public Agency Labor & Employment Blog

Does the First Amendment Apply to Public Agency Social Media Platforms? Three Cases Work Toward an Answer

By David Urban on June 25, 2019

This post was authored by David Urban. Cities, counties, special districts, public educators, and other government entities who invite public comment and contribution on their Twitter accounts, Facebook pages, websites, or other spaces on the internet might face liability for violating the First Amendment if they remove content posted by members of the public or block certain members of the public from participating. The theory is that such virtual spaces function the same way…

Droning On

Canada’s New Drone Regulations Take Effect: How They Compare to the U.S. Regulations

By Matt Clark, Christina Isnardi & Lisa Ellman on June 25, 2019

Canada’s drone industry is taking off. Like its neighbor to the south, the commercial remotely piloted aircraft system (RPAS) industry is growing quickly. In Canada, the industry has doubled in size every two years over the past decade. The economic impact of the expanding commercial drone industry in Canada and the U.S. is expected to surpass $7 billion by 2024. While the economic impact and societal benefits of commercial drone use in Canada are significant,…

The Capital Commitment

SEC Fines Fund Manager $5 Million Over Undervaluation of Assets

By Joshua M. Newville & Brian Hooven on June 25, 2019

A recent action where the SEC focused on the presumably conservative undervaluation of assets suggests that it is more than willing to use valuation as a hook to deter “smoothing” of returns. As we previously noted, while the SEC consistently announces that valuation is a “key area of focus,” it is uncommon for regulators to second guess valuation determinations in the absence of other potential violations. However, failure to adhere to stated valuation policies/procedures…

Texas Commercial Litigator

Multi-Million Dollar Judgment against IBM Reversed by Texas Supreme Court

By Dane Patrick on June 25, 2019

Introduction. The Texas Supreme Court reversed a judgment rendered against IBM originally in the amount of $21 million because Lufkin Industries disclaimed its reliance upon IBM’s misrepresentations in the written contract between the parties. Int’l Bus. Machines Corp. v. Lufkin Indus., LLC, 573 S.W.3d 224 (Tex. 2019), reh’g denied (May 31, 2019). Background. Lufkin manufactures machinery and equipment used in the energy industry. It needed to upgrade its business-operations computer-software system. After several meetings with…

Socially Aware Blog

Legislators Propose Narrowing § 230’s Protections, the Law that Gave us the Modern Internet

By Aaron Rubin on June 25, 2019

As we have frequently noted on Socially Aware, Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act protects social media sites and other online platforms from liability for user-generated content. Sometimes referred to as “the law that gave us the modern Internet,” Section 230 has provided robust immunity for website operators since it was enacted in 1996. As we have also written previously, however, the historically broad Section 230 immunity has come under pressure…

Law and the Workplace

New York State Poised to Expand Protections Against Discriminatory Pay Practices

By Evandro Gigante, Laura Fant & Arielle E. Kobetz on June 25, 2019

The New York State legislature has passed a bill that, if signed by Governor Andrew Cuomo, will expand pay protections by requiring employers to provide employees with equal pay for “substantially similar” work across all protected categories under the New York State Human Rights Law (NYSHRL). Currently, the New York Equal Pay Act provides that no employee shall be paid at a lesser wage rate than an employee of the opposite sex in the same…

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Embracing the Ambiguity: Why the Pursuit of “Market” is More Journey than Finish

By Brian Trujillo on June 25, 2019

If you think back to my last post about the Real Estate Mock Negotiation, you will remember how excited I was to cut my teeth on transactional practice. Be careful what you wish for. My eagerness quickly turned to frustration when presented with the very real ambiguity that transactional lawyers deal with on a daily basis. But this frustration grew into one of the most important lessons I will learn as a young lawyer.…

Energy & Environmental Law Adviser

EPA’s Final Power Plant Greenhouse Gas Rule Shifts Emissions Regulation to States

By Jane E. Montgomery on June 25, 2019

The EPA announced its final rule for power plant greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, culminating often rancorous discussion and litigation over the EPA’s authority to regulate GHG emissions from existing coal-fired electricity generating sources. Under the new Affordable Clean Energy (ACE) rule, the states, not the federal government, are now responsible for driving down GHG emissions from power plants. Specifically, the EPA now requires unit-specific standards of performance to be developed by the states using its…