The North Carolina Court of Appeals recently released two cases that raise the question of whether a covenant amendment containing rental restrictions may be adopted by a condominium association or homeowners association....more
The North Carolina Court of Appeals waded into territory that has become increasingly challenging for developers and homeowners' associations (HOAs) to navigate: the regulation of short-term rentals....more
One of the most anticipated decisions of the Supreme Court’s recent term was Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo. While the specific underlying dispute in Loper Bright isn’t relevant to the trade community—did fishermen...more
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s (EEOC) first updated enforcement guidance on workplace harassment in 25 years is broken down into the three components of a harassment claim: (1) the covered bases and causation;...more
In an expected but still potentially paradigm-shifting move for employers, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued a “Final Rule” banning most noncompete agreements nationwide. The FTC justified its position by...more
In Colonial River Wealth Advisors, LLC v. Cambridge Investment Research, Inc., No. 3:22cv717, 2024 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 3058 (E.D. Va. Jan. 5, 2024), Judge Young granted the prevailing defendant’s fee petition, awarded $227,357...more
In a bombshell ruling last year that upended longstanding Delaware law, the Delaware Chancery Court ruled in Ainslie v. Cantor Fitzgerald, L.P., 2023 WL 106924 (Del. Ch. Jan. 4, 2023), that forfeiture-for-competition clauses,...more
The Delaware Supreme Court yesterday upheld the enforceability of forfeiture-for-competition provisions in limited partnership agreements, reversing the Court of Chancery, which had reasoned that such provisions should be...more
On October 4, 2023, Deputy U.S. Attorney General Lisa O. Monaco announced that the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) is implementing a new nationwide Mergers & Acquisitions Safe Harbor Policy (the “M&A Policy”)....more
A U.S. District Court in the Western District of Wisconsin recently denied both the defendant and plaintiff’s summary judgment motions in a Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) case, holding that the reasonableness of the...more
On June 1, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously settled a long-standing dispute over a subjective versus objective standard for scienter under the False Claims Act (FCA), holding that a defendant’s own subjective belief...more
An employee complains to human resources, “I am a hamster from Venus and filing unfair labor practice charge because the pay policy of paying bi-weekly is chilling my Section 7 rights!” No, this is not a bizarre scene out of...more
In one of the most closely watched False Claims Act (FCA) cases in years, the Supreme Court unanimously decided on June 1 that when determining intent under the statute, courts must consider the state of mind of the defendant...more
The Court of Appeals of Washington affirmed a trial court decision approving an $8 million stipulated judgment over a carrier’s challenges to the structure and reasonableness of the settlement. Starr Indem. & Liab. Co. v. PC...more
On April 3, 2023, in Ironburg Inventions Ltd. v. Valve Corp., Nos. 21-2296, 21-2297, 22-1070 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 3, 2023), the Federal Circuit for the first time defined the standard for determining the scope of estoppel set...more
The Supreme Court recently decided to take a closer look at the False Claim Act’s (FCA) Scienter Standard after two contentious Seventh Circuit case panel rulings. See U.S. ex rel Schutte v. SuperValu Inc., No. 21-1326, and...more
Scenario 1: A pharmacy chain hires a value consultant to review its Medicare and Medicaid billing practices for ways to optimize the coding of drug reimbursements to maximize profits. Drugs that had historically been charged...more
For those embroiled in Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) class action litigation, the sum of the damages may not necessarily equal the whole. In Wakefield v. ViSalus, Inc., the plaintiff and certified...more
“So, you’re telling me there is a chance” is the iconic line from the 1994 blockbuster movie “Dumb and Dumber” starring Jim Carey (as “Lloyd Christmas”) and Lauren Holly (as “Mary Swanson”). In the film, Lloyd is enamored...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit recently rendered a decision on a common issue in cases against consumer reporting agencies (and furnishers) under the Fair Credit Reporting Act, 15 U.S.C. Section 1681 et seq....more
I have seven children, and two of them have flown the coop. I also have two grandchildren who are ripe for spoiling. You see, grandchildren are a different type of kid, which means I get to treat them different than the...more
Non-competition agreements have been a political hot-button issue for the last year out of growing concern, on both sides of the aisle, that these agreements are overused to the detriment of employees. On the final day of...more
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit on Monday issued a decision that clarifies its precedent on the exercise of personal jurisdiction in patent cases. In a precedential decision, the court held that there is no...more
Last Monday, the Eleventh Circuit ruled that the Middle District of Florida’s sentence of probation for former physician Nicole Bramwell in a $4.4 million Tricare fraud case was substantively unreasonable. The district...more
Introduction: If you haven’t heard the news, a recent article published by CNN Business reported that the Director of the United Nations’ World Food Programme (“WFP”), David Beasley, declared that “2% of Elon Musk’s wealth...more