Articles

12.29.16

FTC Pressure Mounts, App Maker Settles

The marketers behind an app designed to measure blood pressure reached a deal with the Federal Trade Commission over allegedly deceptive claims about the app's accuracy.Aura Labs, along with founder and co-owner Ryan Archdeacon, were charged with touting that the Instant Blood Pressure app ...


12.28.16

Why Takings Law Matters

"Why, you might ask, is takings law important enough to warrant a monthly column on the subject, let alone the stream of court decisions that seems unceasing? Let’s start with the fact that it deals with property, a subject that touches us all in one way or another. Are you a homeowner ...


12.22.16

White Collar Enforcement 2016 Roundup

What do the Avalanche network, FIFA coins, AML violations, and a couple of Big Four accounting firms have in common? They all figured prominently in white collar enforcement actions and resolutions announced by government agencies in the last quarter of 2016. For a recap of these announcements and ...


12.22.16

Paid Online Reviews Cost Companies $175K

Two companies have settled with the New York Attorney General’s Office after being accused of paying consumers for positive reviews by agreeing to increase their transparency and pay a total of $175,000. MedRite Care, LLC, a medical emergency care service, paid thousands of dollars to ...


12.21.16

California's Coming $20 Billion Healthcare Emergency

California is facing a $20 billion healthcare emergency. That’s how much the state stands to lose in annual federal spending if Republicans repeal the Affordable Care Act.   Putting this in perspective, $20 billion represents nearly 18% of all state general fund spending, projected at ...


12.19.16

No Class Certification Where Employer Lacked Uniform Policy

An employer’s lack of a uniform policy necessitated the reversal of class certification, a California federal court judge recently ruled, refusing to reconsider his decision to decertify the class. Several AutoZone employees filed suit in 2010, accusing their employer of failing to provide ...


12.15.16

License or Lease? The Contractual Limits of the Sharing Economy

As tech innovators find new ways for people to share and swap living and working spaces, a legal question remains unanswered: what rights do these sharers have to the spaces they occupy? Is the shared desk in a co-working space treated like an office lease? Is a monthlong rental of a mansion the ...


12.15.16

1,166 Pieces of Evidence and No Due Process

Judges are well known for admonishing lawyers not to try their cases in the press. And with good reason: the procedures worked out by courts and legislatures over the years are expressly designed to ensure fairness. The second installment, issued December 9, of the so-called McLaren Report on ...


12.15.16

Supreme Court to Weigh in on Disparaging Trademarks

On September 29, 2016, the Supreme Court granted certiorari in Lee v. Tam, where it will review the question of whether Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act—which bars the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office from registering "disparaging" trademarks—is an unconstitutional restriction ...


12.08.16

BSA/AML Violations Trigger $215M Consent Order With New York's DFS

Violations of state anti-money laundering laws tripped up the Agricultural Bank of China, which recently entered into a consent order with New York's Department of Financial Services for $215 million.What happenedThe New York branch of the Agricultural Bank of China was hit with a $215 million ...