Newsletters

08.16.16

FCC Issues Report and Order on Budget Act Exemptions

On August 11, 2016, the Federal Communications Commission issued a Report and Order implementing Section 301 of the Bipartisan Budget Act of 2015, which amended the Telephone Consumer Protection Act by excepting from the Act's consent requirement robocalls "made solely to collect a debt ...


07.28.16

Take Two: EEOC Amends Pay Data Collection Proposal

Tweaking its initial plan, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) released an updated proposal about the collection of pay data from employers.


07.27.16

Steering and Its Broad Implications for Payer-Hospital Negotiations

Last month, the U.S. Department of Justice's Antitrust Division (DOJ) and the North Carolina Attorney General sued Carolinas HealthCare System (CHS) in North Carolina District Court alleging that CHS exercised its dominant market power to prevent insurers from steering patients to its ...


07.27.16

California Supreme Court Clarifies Constitutional Limits on Punitive Damages

In Brandt v. Superior Court, the California Supreme Court held that when a plaintiff proves that an insurance company withheld policy benefits in bad faith, attorneys' fees reasonably incurred to compel payment of the benefits are recoverable as an element of damages.


07.27.16

Scalia's Death Has Limited Impact on Major Healthcare Cases

Justice Antonin Scalia's death apparently impacted only one of the four major healthcare cases pending before the United States Supreme Court this term.


07.27.16

The FCA: Escobar Means More Than You Think

On June 6, 2016, the Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision in the Medicaid case of Universal Health Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar, adopting a form of the "implied certification" theory of knowingly fraudulent representations under the False Claims Act (FCA).


07.21.16

“Official Acts”—What They Are… and Are Not

On June 27, 2016, the Supreme Court decided McDonnell v. U.S., holding that, for purposes of the federal public corruption statutes, an “official act” consists of a concrete decision or action taken with respect to a proceeding pending before a court, agency or committee, and that ...


07.19.16

FCC: U.S. Government Is Not a Person Under TCPA

In response to petitions filed by three government contractors seeking clarification that the federal government and its agents were exempt from liability under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the Federal Communications Commission issued a declaratory ruling on July 5, finding that the ...


07.15.16

Patchwork Expands as More Cities Adopt Paid Sick Leave

Following the recent example of Los Angeles and adding to the current patchwork of jurisdictions providing paid sick leave across the country, two other cities have enacted mandatory sick leave for employees.


07.07.16

Supreme Court: Status Quo in Cuozzo

On June 20, 2016, the Supreme Court decided Cuozzo Speed Technologies v. Lee, where it rejected challenges to the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) inter partes review (IPR) process and held that (1) PTAB decisions regarding whether to institute IPR proceedings are by statute not subject to ...