In March 2021, Virginia’s Governor Ralph Northam signed the Consumer Data Protection Act (CDPA), making Virginia the second state to enact comprehensive data privacy protections for its residents. If you are feeling blindsided by this news, you are not alone.[1] Unlike California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA) and Privacy Rights Act (CPRA) or the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which were heavily debated in both the legislature and public commentary for months on…
Throughout Joe Biden’s campaign, he made clear that climate change, the environment, and “Clean Energy” were going to be anchors of his Presidential platform. What was less clear was how his administration would treat oil and gas beyond the expected counterbalance to the Trump Administration’s regulatory rollbacks – especially with respect to GHG emissions. On the big ticket items – drilling, fracking, leasing on federal lands, etc. – the campaign messages were mixed. Between Biden’s…
The Supreme Court of Louisiana’s recent decision in Rismiller v. Gemini Ins. Co., 2020-0313 (La. 12/11/20), will impact all stages of civil litigation. In Rismiller, the Court held that, like biological and adopted children, children who have been given in adoption fall within the enumerated class of beneficiaries who may bring a wrongful death and/or survival action arising from the death of their biological family members.
Rismiller was the result of a motor vehicle collision…
The U.S. Supreme Court offered some good news to secured lenders last week, tempered with words of caution. In Chicago v. Fulton, the Court held that a secured creditor does not violate Section 362(a)(3) of the Bankruptcy Code by merely continuing to hold property of its debtor after that debtor files a bankruptcy petition. The 8-0 opinion written by Justice Alito, and particularly the separate concurring opinion written by Justice Sotomayor, cautioned that a creditor…
On January 12, 2021, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit vastly changed the landscape for collective action wage and hour claims under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
In Swales v. KLLM Transport Services, L.L.C., the Fifth Circuit rejected the lenient standard typically employed by federal district courts for “conditionally certifying” collective actions and ruled that courts must, instead, do the difficult work to rigorously scrutinize whether workers are similarly situated to…
Buried in the 5,500-page Consolidated Appropriations Act for 2021 among various COVID-19 relief was the Trademark Modernization Act of 2020 (“TMA”). The TMA, which will become effective on December 27, 2021, makes several important amendments to federal trademark law (the Lanham Act) intended to modernize trademark application examinations and clean house of trademark registrations for marks not used in commerce. For litigants, the TMA also adds important clarity to the Lanham Act’s standard for obtaining…
The Louisiana First Circuit Court of Appeal once again recognized the primacy of legislation as a source of law in the state and that the power to tax is reserved to the Legislature alone, not the Louisiana Department of Revenue (the “Department”). In Davis-Lynch Holding Co., Inc. v. Robinson, 2019-1574 (La. App. 1 Cir. 12/30/20), ___ So.3d ___, the court invalidated a regulation that had the effect of increasing the corporate taxpayer’s Louisiana apportionment…
On December 27th, the President signed into law a second pandemic relief package as part of a larger government funding bill passed by Congress entitled The Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (“CAA”). In March of this year, President Trump signed the first pandemic-related stimulus bill: H.R. 748, the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (Public Law No: 116-136, the “CARES Act”). The tax provisions in the CAA, are numerous, but for the most part, extend certain…
On December 21, 2020 Congress passed the lengthiest piece of legislation in its history—nearly 5600 pages. While most Americans are focused on the provisions of the “Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021” related to coronavirus response and recovery, it also included provisions that will directly impact pipeline operators.
The “Protecting Our Infrastructure of Pipelines and Enhancing Safety Act of 2020” appears at page 2634. The Act contains two provisions which will expand federal regulation of the…
On Monday, December 21, 2020, Congress passed another stimulus package to provide certain coronavirus relief for individuals and businesses, among other things. One looming question was whether Congress would extend the emergency paid sick leave (EPSL) and emergency paid family leave (EFMLA) provisions of the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) into next year?
The answer is – no. The FFCRA paid leave laws have not been extended, and thus the paid leave law mandates…