A defendant's mens rea, or intent, is almost always a contested element in a criminal prosecution, particularly in criminal healthcare fraud cases that frequently arise out of complex legal and regulatory regimes....more
On June 27, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Counterman v. Colorado, No. 22-138, holding that a criminal prosecution based on a true threat of violence requires proof that the defendant subjectively understood the...more
With a few exceptions the Supreme Courts of the United States both in Washington and 50 state capitals are courts of “limited jurisdiction.” That is to say that they don’t hold trials and they essentially determine what cases...more
The Supreme Court recently issued a significant decision clarifying what it means to “knowingly” submit a false claim under the False Claims Act. At issue in United States ex rel. Schutte v. SuperValu Inc. were allegations...more
In a brush-back pitch to DOJ opioid initiatives, the U.S. Supreme Court this past June issued an important decision clarifying the mental state the government must establish to convict a licensed medical professional of...more
In Ruan v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court on June 27, 2022, dealt a blow to the U.S. Department of Justice by vacating convictions of two physicians convicted of violating 21 U.S.C. §841(a) of the Controlled Substances...more
Last week the Supreme Court ("the Court") released a decision holding that the Federal Controlled Substance Act (the "Act") provision that criminalizes the dispensing of a controlled substance “except as authorized” includes...more
The United States District Court for Minnesota, applying Minnesota law, has affirmed a magistrate judge’s decision denying an insured’s motion to amend its complaint to add a claim for bad faith....more
The climate crisis, a problem that once took the form of abstract temperature charts and projections, is now a dizzying parade of broken meteorological records and natural disasters. It therefore seemed like apt timing when,...more
The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act doesn’t ensnare just those involved in foreign corruption. It also can cover conduct in the United States that has nothing to do with either foreign officials or bribery schemes. So the...more
...On July 3, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) published the Second Edition of A Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act. A link to the Second Edition is...more
On Friday, July 3, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) Criminal Division and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published the Second Edition of A Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the...more
On July 3, 2020, the Department of Justice (“DOJ”) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) released the Second Edition of their Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “Resource Guide”). As...more
On April 23, 2020, the United States Supreme Court unanimously held that the Lanham Act does not require a showing of willful infringement to justify an award of defendant’s profits to the plaintiff. Romag Fasteners, Inc. v....more
In a recent unanimous decision in Romag Fasteners, Inc. v. Fossil, Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court brought some welcome clarity to the question of whether willfulness is required in order to recover an infringer’s profits under...more
Late last month, in a landmark decision heralded by brand owners, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Romag Fasteners, Inc v Fossil Group, Inc that a plaintiff in a trademark infringement suit is not required to show that a...more
On April 23, 2020, Justice Neil Gorsuch delivered a unanimous opinion in Romag Fasteners, Inc. v. Fossil, Inc., clarifying that a Lanham Act provision does not require a plaintiff to prove that acts of infringement are...more
The Supreme Court giveth to trademark owners—will it now taketh away? A trademark owner is not required to establish willful infringement to disgorge an infringer’s profits under the Lanham Act....more
This morning, the Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari in the following cases: California v. Texas, No. 19-840; Texas v. California, No. 19-1019: A petition for a writ of certiorari and conditional...more
This afternoon, the Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari in the following cases: Google LLC v. Oracle America, Inc., No. 18-956: 1) Whether copyright protection extends to a software interface. 2) Whether,...more
The U.S. Supreme Court today barred the government from prosecuting taxpayers for obstructing the administration of the Internal Revenue Code, unless it can show they acted in response to a pending or reasonably foreseeable...more
Bass, Berry & Sims attorney Chris Lazarini commented on a case in which a defendant – convicted in a criminal proceeding of knowingly and willfully making false statements to investors, regulators, an outside accountant and...more
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has blurred the lines between primary and secondary copyright infringement in a decision concerning hyperlinks to leaked photos of a Dutch celebrity’s Playboy photoshoot. For...more
On July 26, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed another conviction in a pair of appeals arising from insider-trading prosecutions. The decision in United States v. McPhail confirms that, under...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently held that a repossession company did not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) when it repossessed the defaulting debtor’s car, even though the loan...more