TYLER, Texas – Fourteen Attorneys General, including West Virginia’s Patrick Morrisey, have filed an amicus brief opposing a new rule implemented by the federal Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.
CHARLESTON – An amended bill that would create a new intermediate appellate court has passed the House of Delegates and now heads back to the state Senate.
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) – Congress has the authority to pass protections for businesses that are worried reopening during the coronavirus pandemic will lead to costly litigation initiated by personal injury lawyers, says a memorandum written by attorneys at Jones Day.
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - The U.S. Chamber Litigation Center has filed an amicus brief in support of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost’s fight against a proposed "negotiation class" of private attorneys representing cities and counties in the massive opioid multidistrict litigation.
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) – An American free enterprise advocacy group has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a federal appeals court decision made earlier this year in the case of a blind man suing a nationwide pizza delivery chain over an alleged violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) - Class action lawyers who see arbitration as a mortal threat to their business have found unlikely allies among some of the nation’s most conservative state officials.
JACKSON, Miss. (Legal Newsline) – As the Mississippi Supreme Court decides whether to allow class action lawsuits in state courts, a legal reform group has filed its opposition.
Joe Rubin, who recently was named senior vice president of government relations and public affairs at Washington, D.C.-based public relations firm MWWPR and who previously served as senior counsel at Arnall Golden Gregory LLP, said the plaintiff groups’ arguments are “very strong.”
The order, released in June, holds, among other things, that punitive damages awards are no longer deferred for cases placed on the trial calendar after the CMO’s effective date.
More than a dozen groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, American Financial Services Association and Financial Services Roundtable, filed a lawsuit Sept. 29 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, Dallas Division, against the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s new rule, finalized in July.
Gov. Doug Ducey, a Republican, signed the legislation, Senate Bill 1406, last week. The amendment to the Arizonans with Disabilities Act will allow businesses up to 90 days to fix access violations before a lawsuit can be filed. The amendment originally had included a 30-day compliance period.
A group of associations have filed an appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit and a Kansas-based company has filed an appeal in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit over the controversial new rule. The rule mandates financial professionals who service individual retirement accounts, including IRAs and 401(k) plans, to serve the “best interest” of the savers and disclose conflicts of interest.
WASHINGTON (Legal Newsline) – On Nov. 21, a California appeals court reversed a
trial court’s previous class action decertification on Lubin v. Wackenhut Corp.
Judge Barbara M.G. Lynn, in a detailed 81-page order released Wednesday, shot down each of the plaintiffs’ major arguments, most notably deciding that the rule does not exceed the U.S. Department of Labor’s authority.
The Washington Legal Foundation is among those calling on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit to overturn a Pennsylvania federal court’s decision that, they argue, would undermine class-wide settlements by permitting plaintiff states to file copycat lawsuits despite benefiting from a settlement.
The Department of Labor, in a lawsuit brought by a group of trade associations in June, contends its conflicts of interest rule, despite the cost, better serves investors and aligns with other federal retirement laws. The department is asking a Texas federal court to rule in its favor.
The DOL released its final rule in April. The rule, sometimes referred to as the conflicts of interest rule, mandates financial professionals who service individual retirement accounts, including IRAs and 401(k) plans, to serve the “best interest” of the savers and disclose conflicts of interest.
Some federal lawmakers argue the bill is needed to keep the Department of Justice from directing millions, even billions, of dollars to certain groups. They contend only Congress has the power to make such decisions.
Petitioners, intervenors recently filed final reply briefs in their case against the Federal Communications Commission in a federal appeals court. They argue in their filings that the commission’s July omnibus ruling interpreting the Telephone Consumer Protection Act expanded the law beyond its intended meaning.
