A California jury in federal court ruled on Tuesday, June 20, that TransUnion violated the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) by erroneously linking certain consumers with similarly named terrorists and criminals in the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC’s) database.  The jury awarded statutory and punitive damages in excess of $60 million,...… Continue Reading

Have ideas to lighten the load for complying with consumer product safety regulations? The Consumer Product Safety Commission (“CPSC” or “Commission”) wants to hear about them.  The Commission has asked for comments and suggestions for ways it could potentially reduce burdens and costs of its existing rules, regulations or practices without harming consumers. CPSC requests...… Continue Reading

In Millenium Lab Holdings, Delaware District Court Judge Leonard Stark, on an appeal from a bankruptcy court order confirming a plan of reorganization, recently upheld a challenge to the bankruptcy court’s constitutional authority to release claims against non-debtor third parties under the plan.  Judge Stark’s opinion demonstrates the extent to which the constitutional questions raised...… Continue Reading

Judge Kevin Gross of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware handed down an important ruling last week that turned aside most of an unusual challenge to the fees and expenses of an indenture trustee in the long-running Nortel chapter 11 case.  The dispute has been watched closely by financial institutions that serve...… Continue Reading

At its June 22, 2017 Open Meeting, commissioners of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to start a proceeding that will consider proposed changes to the agency’s rules regarding Caller ID privacy. Specifically, the FCC’s notice of proposed rulemaking (“NPRM”) proposes to revise its rules in section 64.1601 to allow law enforcement and interested parties...… Continue Reading

At its June Open Meeting the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) unanimously adopted a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) to create a new “Blue Alert” code for the nation’s Emergency Alert System (EAS).  This code is modeled on the highly successful Amber Alerts used during instances of child abduction.  Blue Alerts would notify the public when...… Continue Reading

The Texas Fifth Court of Appeals in Dallas recently dismissed defamation claims against a Dallas magazine, finding that although a headline and article could be interpreted as criticism of a former symphony orchestra volunteer, the statements functioned as non-actionable opinions. In September 2013, D Magazine published an article titled: “The Talented Mr. Reyes: How a...… Continue Reading

First Lady Melania Trump reportedly has settled her lawsuit against the British tabloid newspaper, Daily Mail, for about $2.9 million plus costs. Mrs. Trump originally filed her lawsuit in September 2016 in Maryland based on allegations that Daily Mail, among others, had republished defamatory statements when it reported rumors that she had previously worked as...… Continue Reading

Vigorous food safety enforcement for basic violations continues under the leadership of new FDA Commissioner, Dr. Scott Gottlieb. On June 20, on the heels of an adverse FDA inspection, FDA announced that the U.S. Marshals Service had seized the food products held by Professional Warehouse and Distribution, Inc., at a food warehouse facility in St....… Continue Reading

The FDA announced today that it was delaying implementation of the final rule promulgated in May 2016 that revised regulations governing Nutrition Facts labels on food and dietary supplements.  The rule initially set a general compliance date of July 26, 2018, although manufacturers with annual food sales of less than $10 million were given an...… Continue Reading

Senate Appropriations  Subcommittee on Interior, Environment and Related Agencies hearing on the proposed budget estimates and justification for FY2018 for the Environmental Protection Agency. Date: Tuesday, June 27, 9:30 a.m. Place: 124 Dirksen Bldg. Draft Bill — Fiscal 2018 Interior-Environment Appropriations (Senate) Witnesses: Scott Pruitt – administrator, Environmental Protection Agency Holly Greaves, senior adviser to...… Continue Reading

The post Energy Hearings This Week appeared first on Fracking Insider.

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, “Gross inputs to U.S. petroleum refineries, also referred to as refinery runs, averaged a record high 17.7 million barrels per day (b/d) for the week ending May 26, before dropping slightly to 17.5 million b/d for the week ending June 2 and 17.6 million b/d for the week...… Continue Reading

The post EIA: U.S. Refineries Are Running at Record-High Levels appeared first on Fracking Insider.

In the era of the ever-present cell phone, where many people seem to video and record (and then post to social media) virtually everything that goes on in their lives, employers have tried to limit such activity in the workplace with blanket “no recording” policies. These were just dealt a blow last week, when the...… Continue Reading

The Second Circuit has announced that it is scheduling en banc review and has asked the EEOC to weigh in on the controversial question of whether Title VII covers discrimination on sexual orientation.  The court has invited the EEOC to brief and participate in oral argument in the case of Zarda v. Altitude Express, Inc....… Continue Reading

Federal Trade Commission Acting Chairman Ohlhausen and Commissioner McSweeny recently gave two very different speeches on algorithmic pricing. Commissioner McSweeny’s speech seemed to express concern that algorithms would lead to price fixing, coordination and higher prices.  The Chairman seemed less concerned.  The Chairman is likely correct.  Pricing bots are not a new, sinister specter haunting...… Continue Reading

The Economist recently announced that the world’s most valuable resource is now data, displacing oil for the top spot.  The “titans” of the digital era—Alphabet, Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Microsoft—look “unstoppable” as they are now the five “most valuable” firms in the world.  Amazon captures “half of all dollars” spent online, and Google and Facebook...… Continue Reading

Labor Secretary Acosta has dubbed Wayne Palmer his new Chief of Staff. Following Acosta, Palmer is the first major political hire at the Department of Labor (“DOL”). Palmer’s considerable experience in Washington includes holding a senior position at the Center for Presidential Transition and his tenure as Chief of Staff to former Senator Rick Santorum....… Continue Reading

This post was written by Barbara E. Hoey and originally posted on Kelley Drye’s Labor Day Blogs. In the era of the ever-present cell phone, where many people seem to video and record (and then post to social media) virtually everything that goes on in their lives, employers have tried to limit such activity in...… Continue Reading

Commerce Secretary Ross and the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security held a public hearing on Thursday, June 22, 2017 in the ongoing Section 232 investigation into whether aluminum imports are a threat to U.S. national security. Witness testimony covered several topics including the negative effects of China’s aluminum overcapacity, the coverage and...… Continue Reading

Late last week, President Trump issued a directive that would purportedly “cancel” the recent changes in the Cuban Assets Control Regulations made under President Obama’s administration.  This announcement caused confusion in the business community, which had relied on the Obama administration’s changes to begin commercial engagement in Cuba.  Even though the directive actually leaves many...… Continue Reading