The Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC) nationwide ban on post-employment noncompetition agreements is no more following a Northern District of Texas judge’s ruling imposing a nationwide permanent injunction. Although a long and...more
8/22/2024
/ Administrative Procedure Act ,
Arbitrary and Capricious ,
Employees ,
Employer Liability Issues ,
Employment Litigation ,
Federal Bans ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
Lack of Authority ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Preliminary Injunctions ,
Statutory Authority ,
Texas
Health insurer Humana was sued in a class action challenging the process by which it made claim determinations and alleging that it knowingly used a “highly inaccurate” artificial intelligence model, nH Predict, to improperly...more
Restrictive covenants have traversed a tumultuous road since the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on January 5, 2023, purporting to ban noncompetition agreements throughout the...more
4/24/2024
/ Biden Administration ,
Employment Contract ,
Executive Orders ,
Federal Bans ,
Federal Trade Commission (FTC) ,
Final Rules ,
NLRB General Counsel ,
Non-Compete Agreements ,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) ,
NRLA ,
Restrictive Covenants ,
Unfair Competition
Plaintiff Jeremy Jong filed a putative class-action complaint against Blue Shield of California (Blue Shield), one of the largest medical insurance companies in the United States....more
Plaintiff zvelo is a Colorado-based organization that has developed a database of category-based website URLs that is incorporated into various network security and web filtering vendor offerings....more
3/18/2024
/ Artificial Intelligence ,
Breach of Contract ,
Defend Trade Secrets Act (DTSA) ,
Injunctive Relief ,
Intellectual Property Protection ,
IP License ,
Natural Language Processing ,
Proprietary Information ,
State Law Claims ,
Trade Secrets ,
Trademarks ,
Unjust Enrichment
Eversheds Sutherland presents periodic updates to inform companies entering or already established in the US market about newly enacted rules or trends that may be traps for the unwary. The purpose of these updates is to...more
In the United States, consumer-facing companies must comply with not just one set of laws but the laws of all 50 states. Eversheds Sutherland presents periodic consumer-related updates to inform companies entering or already...more
On November 27, a landmark PFAS decision by the Sixth Circuit effectively dismissed a statewide class action for lack of standing. This potentially sets the stage for a new era of PFAS litigation, where historically general...more
12/8/2023
/ Class Action ,
Class Certification ,
Dismissals ,
Firemen ,
Jurisdiction ,
PFAS ,
Pleading Standards ,
Remand ,
Standing ,
Toxic Chemicals ,
Toxic Exposure
Fashion retailers remain a top target of greenwashing lawsuits. Retailers are under scrutiny for their sustainability representations (discussed in our earlier legal alerts here) and are being targeted by class action...more
6/2/2023
/ Advertising ,
Class Action ,
False Advertising ,
Fashion Industry ,
Greenwashing ,
Marketing ,
Popular ,
Product Labels ,
Sustainability ,
Sustainable Business Practices ,
Unfair or Deceptive Trade Practices
PFAS litigation is on the rise. The catalyst is the rapidly developing patchwork of proposed municipal, state, and federal regulations seeking to find and hold accountable PFAS users. State attorneys general are taking an...more
5/15/2023
/ Contamination ,
Discharge of Pollutants ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Environmental Policies ,
Hazardous Substances ,
PFAS ,
Public Health ,
Regulatory Agencies ,
Regulatory Standards ,
State Attorneys General ,
Toxic Chemicals ,
Toxic Exposure
In March 2023, the Administration took another major step in its strategic roadmap to combat and hold PFAS users accountable for PFAS contamination by proposing new rules establishing the first-ever national drinking water...more
3/30/2023
/ Biden Administration ,
CERCLA ,
Compliance ,
Contamination ,
Drinking Water ,
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) ,
Hazardous Substances ,
PFAS ,
Public Health ,
Regulatory Reform ,
State and Local Government ,
Toxic Chemicals
Last week the US Supreme Court heard arguments regarding whether the interlocutory appeal of a denial of a motion to compel arbitration should also automatically stay proceedings in the trial court such as discovery. The...more
On February 22, 2023, the US Department of Justice issued a nationwide policy for all US Attorney’s Offices (USAOs) outlining the circumstances in which a company may receive credit for voluntary self-disclosure (VSD)....more
On January 17, 2023, Assistant Attorney General Kenneth A. Polite, Jr. (AAG Polite) announced changes to the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) FCPA Corporate Enforcement Policy (CEP). The CEP, which applies to all Criminal...more
1/25/2023
/ Compliance ,
Cooperation ,
Corporate Crimes ,
Corporate Misconduct ,
Criminal Prosecution ,
Declination ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Disgorgement ,
Enforcement Priorities ,
Forfeiture ,
Restitution ,
Voluntary Disclosure ,
White Collar Crimes
As consumer interest in climate change and sustainability continues to evolve, an increase in “greenwashing” claims directed towards fashion retailers has generated a series of headline-grabbing lawsuits. Over the last year,...more
1/24/2023
/ Advertising ,
Business Strategies ,
Class Action ,
False Advertising ,
Fashion Industry ,
Greenwashing ,
H&M ,
Marketing ,
Putative Class Actions ,
Sustainability ,
Trademarks
On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proposed a New Rule to ban noncompete clauses, which “hurt workers and harm competition.” The FTC’s proposed new rule builds upon President Biden’s Executive Order on...more
Recently, US companies are experiencing a surging wave of consumer class action lawsuits alleging businesses and their software providers are violating state anti-wiretapping statutes and invading consumers’ privacy rights...more
On September 15, 2022, Department of Justice (DOJ) Deputy Attorney General (Deputy AG) Lisa Monaco announced new guidance for the DOJ’s corporate enforcement policies, which is memorialized in the Memorandum on Further...more
Citibank’s balance sheet is likely breathing a sigh of relief. A Second Circuit panel held that the bank may finally recoup nearly $500 million in funds that it inadvertently wired to lenders almost two years ago. US...more
As investors have piled into ESG-friendly mutual funds over the past several years, the SEC has begun ratcheting up scrutiny of the representations made by the advisers of those ESG investment funds. This week, the SEC...more
5/26/2022
/ Climate Change ,
Corporate Governance ,
Disclosure Requirements ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Environmental Social & Governance (ESG) ,
Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) ,
Greenwashing ,
Investment Funds ,
Mutual Funds ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
UK
Recent legislation in California may increase legal costs, make settlements more difficult, and risk confidential business information being released to the public. The Public Right to Know Act of 2022 seeks to prohibit...more
5/25/2022
/ Compliance ,
Contract Terms ,
Enforcement ,
Environmental Violations ,
Hazardous Substances ,
New Legislation ,
Product Defects ,
Rebuttable Presumptions ,
Right To Know ,
Settlement Agreements ,
State Bar Associations
On March 7, 2022, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) issued an alert calling on financial institutions to be “vigilant” in guarding against attempts to evade the recent imposition of expanded Russia sanctions....more
3/21/2022
/ Anti-Money Laundering ,
Compliance ,
Economic Sanctions ,
Financial Institutions ,
FinCEN ,
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) ,
Reporting Requirements ,
Risk Management ,
Russia ,
Terrorist Financing Regulations ,
Virtual Currency
In an Executive Order (EO) issued March 9, 2022, President Joseph Biden set out the guiding principles for US policy on digital assets and digital asset regulation, including US policy with respect to a US Central Bank...more
On December 17, 2021, a financial institution agreed to pay $200 million in fines to the Securities and Exchange Commission and Commodities Futures Trading Commission for allowing employees to discuss business on their...more
1/7/2022
/ CFTC ,
Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) ,
Compliance ,
Corporate Fines ,
Department of Justice (DOJ) ,
Discovery ,
Electronic Communications ,
Enforcement Actions ,
Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) ,
Government Investigations ,
Instant Messaging Apps ,
Internal Controls ,
Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) ,
Securities Exchange Act ,
WhatsApp ,
White Collar Crimes
As companies continue to focus on improving their ESG credentials, they are constantly assessing their environmental management systems and compliance programs for potential areas of ESG-related risk. The reason is...more