Balch & Bingham LLP

Balch & Bingham LLP is a corporate law firm with more than 230 attorneys across offices in Birmingham and Montgomery, Alabama; Jacksonville, Florida; Atlanta, Georgia; Gulfport and Jackson, Mississippi; and Washington, D.C. We are recognized for our deep experience serving clients in regulated industries, including energy, financial services and healthcare, and our established practices in business, environmental, government relations, labor and employment and litigation.

Balch & Bingham LLP Blogs

Affordable Care Act Review

Data Privacy & Security Observer

Past Due

Southeast Financial Litigation Monitor

Blog Authors

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Austin Alexander

Matthew B. Ames

Conrad Anderson

Latest from Balch & Bingham LLP

Data Privacy & Security Observer

FTC Issues Opinion and Final Order Against Cambridge Analytica

By Brandon Robinson

December 13, 2019

On December 6, 2019, the FTC issued an opinion finding that Cambridge Analytica, they had engaged in deceptive practices to collect personal information from several users of Facebook for purposes of voter profiling and targeting. In addition, the Commission found that Cambridge Analytica had engaged in deceptive practices regarding its participation in the EU-US Privacy Shield framework. According to the administrative complaint’s allegations, an app developer worked with Cambridge Analytica’s then-CEO to enable the developer’s…

Data Privacy & Security Observer

Senate Democrats Introduce the Consumer Online Privacy Rights Act (COPRA)

By Brandon Robinson

November 27, 2019

Yesterday (November 26, 2019), a comprehensive federal privacy bill was introduced that would grant individuals broad rights with respect to their data, impose new obligations on data processors, and expand the Federal Trade Commission’s enforcement authority with respect to privacy, as well as allowing for state attorney general enforcement and individual rights of action. The bill was sponsored by Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), and Ed Markey (D-MA). Some key…

Data Privacy & Security Observer

Governor Signs Five Amendments to CCPA

By Brandon Robinson

October 14, 2019

Last Friday, October 11, 2019, one day after the California Attorney General issued proposed regulations to implement the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”), the California Governor, Gavin Newsom, announced that he signed all five of the September 2019 legislative amendments to the CCPA into law. Those amendments include AB-25, AB-874, AB-1146, AB-1355, and AB-1564. The governor had until Sunday, October 13 to either sign or veto the bills. Among other changes to the…

Data Privacy & Security Observer

California Attorney General Issues Proposed CCPA Regulations

By Brandon Robinson

October 10, 2019

Today, on October 10, 2019, the California Attorney General (“AG”) issued long-awaited proposed regulations implementing the California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 (“CCPA”). The AG also issued a notice of proposed rulemaking action and an initial statement of reasons elaborating on the purposes of the proposed regulations. The proposed regulations are intended to “establish procedures to facilitate consumer’s new rights under the CCPA and provide guidance to businesses for how to comply.” While the CCPA’s statutory…

Data Privacy & Security Observer

Equifax Will Pay Minimum of $575 Million, up to $700 Million, in Settlement Over 2017 Data Breach

By Brandon Robinson

July 22, 2019

Today, the FTC announced that Equifax, Inc. will pay at least $575 million (and potentially up to $700 million) as part of a proposed global settlement with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), and 50 U.S. states and territories. Their complaint alleges that Equifax failed to take reasonable steps to secure its network in ways that led to a 2017 data breach affecting approximately 147 million people. The proposed settlement will…

Data Privacy & Security Observer

Significant UK GDPR Penalties & Record FTC/Facebook Settlement Reveal Valuable Insight into Current Landscape of Privacy Governance and Compliance

By Brandon Robinson

July 14, 2019

This last week saw significant compliance and enforcement activity with respect to both GDPR and the FTC. Specifically, we saw two significant GDPR fines handed down by the UK Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) against British Airways (approx. $230 million) and Marriott International (approx. $130 million). In addition, Facebook settled with the FTC for the largest privacy-related penalty ever at $5 billion. Discussed in more detail below, these developments provide some valuable insight into the landscape…

Southeast Financial Litigation Monitor

MERS Procedure Not Violation of Alabama Law – Alabama Supreme Court Looks Beyond Punctuation in Interpreting Recording Statute

By Jeremy Retherford

July 8, 2019

In its recent opinion in Deutsche Bank National Trust Company v. Walker County, the Alabama Supreme Court held Alabama Code § 35-4-50 does not impose a mandatory duty to record assignments of beneficial interests in residential mortgages. In the underlying action, Walker County brought suit against Deutsche Bank National Trust Company, Mortgage Electronic Registration Systems, Inc. (“MERS”), and CIS Financial Services, Inc., after the Bank allegedly relied on Walker County’s real property recording system,…

Southeast Financial Litigation Monitor

Eleventh Circuit: Motion to Reschedule a Foreclosure Sale Not Barred by Regulation X

By Steven C. Corhern

June 28, 2019

In an important victory for mortgage servicers, the Eleventh Circuit rejected a RESPA claim based on a motion to reschedule a foreclosure sale in Landau v. Roundpoint Mortgage Servicing Corp.…

Data Privacy & Security Observer

China Releases Draft Measures for Data Security Management

By Brandon Robinson

June 13, 2019

*written with assistance from co-author and W&L law student, Isabella Gray. On May 28, 2019, the Cyberspace Administration of China (“Cybersecurity Administration”) released a set of draft Measures for Data Security Management (the “Draft Measures”). The Draft Measures provide articles governing how network operators, defined as someone who owns and administrates a network or a network service provider, can collect, use, and store different types of data. The articles contained in the Draft Measures were…

Past Due

Compelling Arbitration of TCPA Claims Alive and Well

By Jonathan Hoffmann

May 20, 2019

Two recent opinions show that litigants should always determine whether compelling arbitration is viable tactic in fighting claims under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). In Fridman v. Uber Tech. Inc., two plaintiffs—one a former driver, the other a rejected applicant—sued Uber regarding unsolicited text messages to their cell phones, allegedly in violation of the TCPA. Uber moved to compel arbitration, looking to technology services agreement executed by both plaintiffs. Though the plaintiffs sought to…

Balch & Bingham LLP

Balch & Bingham LLP Blogs

Blog Authors

FTC Issues Opinion and Final Order Against Cambridge Analytica

Senate Democrats Introduce the Consumer Online Privacy Rights Act (COPRA)

Governor Signs Five Amendments to CCPA

California Attorney General Issues Proposed CCPA Regulations

Equifax Will Pay Minimum of $575 Million, up to $700 Million, in Settlement Over 2017 Data Breach

Significant UK GDPR Penalties & Record FTC/Facebook Settlement Reveal Valuable Insight into Current Landscape of Privacy Governance and Compliance

MERS Procedure Not Violation of Alabama Law – Alabama Supreme Court Looks Beyond Punctuation in Interpreting Recording Statute

Eleventh Circuit: Motion to Reschedule a Foreclosure Sale Not Barred by Regulation X

China Releases Draft Measures for Data Security Management

Compelling Arbitration of TCPA Claims Alive and Well

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