When the Supreme Court suspended a prominent Massachusetts lawyer and threatened him with disbarment, it started a Boston legal drama that took two weeks to resolve, reports the Associated Press.

Reporter Mark Sherman writes that the confusion ended on Tuesday, when the court acknowledged it had the wrong guy in an order attributing its earlier action to “mistaken identity.”

The wrongly suspected lawyer was Christopher Patrick Sullivan, a partner with the Robins Kaplan firm in Boston and the incoming president of the Massachusetts Bar Association.

The court originally intended to react to a disciplinary notice from a New York State court concerning a Christopher P. Sullivan, who is in prison in Vermont, serving a sentence for drunken driving that resulted in the death of a 71-year-old woman in 2013.

Read the AP article.

Reuters is reporting CVS Health Corp’s Omnicare unit has agreed to pay $23 million to resolve a whistleblower lawsuit alleging that it took kickbacks from a drugmaker to promote two antidepressants, according to settlement papers.

The agreement comes out of a 2007 lawsuit against the pharmacy operator by two former employees of drugmaker Organon USA Inc on behalf of the federal government and various states.

“The lawsuit claimed that from 1999 to 2005, Omnicare and certain pharmacies it acquired sought and received kickbacks from Organon in the form of discounts in exchange for promoting the antidepressants Remeron and Remeron SolTabs,” writes Nate Raymond.

Former Organon employees Richard Templin and James Banigan filed the suit, which reached a related $31 million settlement in 2014.

Read the Reuters article.

Join Our LinkedIn Group

Foley Hoag’s Energy and Cleantech practice and NECEC recently present a webinar discussion with offshore wind developers, leading public officials, investors and experts at the cutting edge of the Northeast’s emerging offshore wind market.

The recorded webinar is now available for on-demand viewing on the firm’s website.

After decades of speculation about offshore wind’s future in the United States, the industry that has long powered grids in Europe has finally arrived in the Northeast, the firm said on its website. In the last year America’s first offshore wind project — off the coast of Rhode Island — started spinning and delivering power to the grid, Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker signed into law a bill authorizing the procurement of 1,600 megawatts of offshore wind, and New York Governor Andrew Cuomo committed to 2,400 megawatts of offshore wind off the coast of New York by 2030. Meanwhile, major utilities have announced agreements with developers to purchase energy generated from the projects planned for the eastern seaboard.

Watch the on-demand webinar.

President Donald J. Trump has nominated Paul Compton, a partner in Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP’s Birmingham office, to serve as General Counsel of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The appointment is subject to Senate confirmation.

Compton currently serves as leader of the firm’s Affordable Housing and Community Development practice.

“The firm congratulates Paul Compton on his expected nomination by the President to serve as the chief legal officer of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and counsel to its Secretary, Dr. Ben Carson,” said Bradley Chairman of the Board and Managing Partner Beau Grenier. “We are tremendously proud of Paul, whose knowledge and experience in the areas of affordable housing, community development, and banking and financial services have earned him an outstanding reputation among his peers and clients.”

The Office of General Counsel (OGC) of HUD provides legal opinions, advice and services with respect to all departmental programs and activities. The General Counsel also leads the department’s efforts to enforce the Fair Housing Act and other civil rights and programmatic requirements. The OGC plays a vital role in helping HUD accomplish its mission of assuring decent and affordable housing, enabling all Americans to achieve homeownership, providing resources for communities to build strong neighborhoods, preventing homelessness, and enforcing fair housing laws.

In addition to his various Bradley practice leadership roles, Compton is a member of the firm’s Banking & Financial Services group and is Chair of the firm’s Finance Committee. He has experience in innovative commercial financing transactions, particularly those involving tax credits (federal and state Low-Income Housing Tax Credit, historic, state industrial incentive, new markets, and work opportunity) and structured finance, and in the formation and sale of regulated financial institutions (banks, insurance companies and agencies, consumer finance companies, broker/dealers and community development entities).

Compton serves as counsel for the Alabama Bankers Association, Inc., counsel of record for the Alabama Consumer Finance Association, and as general counsel for the Alabama Affordable Housing Association. He earned his J.D. from the University of Virginia School of Law and his Bachelor of Science (summa cum laude) from the University of Alabama. He also attended the London School of Economics and Political Science. He is a Truman Scholar.

Join Our LinkedIn Group

Bloomberg BNA and World Services Group are partnering to deliver business intelligence, drawn from market-leading news and data analysis, tailored for the advisers of international business.

The forum will be at Bloomberg LP’s office at 120 Park Ave., New York 10017, on Tuesday, June 20, 2017. A pre-forum briefing will be 1-3 p.m., and the forum will be 3-5 p.m.

The Cross-Border Deals Forum will explore strategies for handling business and regulatory challenges impacting the industry, including:

• Tax reform, trade agreements, and policy shifts;

• Cross-border risk assessment;

• Expanding privacy and data security requirements; and

• Market and industry opportunities to watch.

Connecting deal-makers with a global group of peers and actionable insights, the Cross-Border Deals Forum covers the market shifts, opportunities and long-term trends executives are watching, and the political and regulatory changes affecting cross-border success.

Request an invitation.

A federal judge in Seattle has temporarily blocked a Justice Department order that called on a local immigrant-rights organization to stop some of its legal work. His ruling also applies to similar groups around the country. according to The Seattle Times.

The nonprofit Northwest Immigrant Rights Project brought the lawsuit that resulted in the ruling by U.S. District Judge Richard Jones.

“In a letter last month, the Justice Department told the group it must ‘cease and desist’ providing certain legal assistance to immigrants unless it undertakes full representation of them in court,” writes reporter Nina Shapiro.

The ruling also barred the Justice Department from sending similar orders to any other organizations around the nation.

Read the Seattle Times article.

Join Our LinkedIn Group

The Littler law firm has released the results of its sixth annual survey, completed by 1,229 in-house counsel, human resources professionals and C-suite executives. The Littler Annual Employer Survey, 2017 reveals that the change occurring in Washington, D.C., and in local governments – combined with technological advances and shifts in how work is performed – is creating an unprecedented level of uncertainty in the workplace.

A release from the firm continues:

A Complex Patchwork of State and Local Laws, Deep Uncertainty at Federal Level

The vast majority of employers expect the Trump administration to prioritize reforming healthcare and employee benefits law (89 percent) and immigration policies (85 percent) in 2017. However, for most regulatory issues, the percentage of respondents who anticipate an impact on their workplace over the next year remains relatively unchanged from last year’s survey. That includes the Affordable Care Act (85 percent in 2016 to 83 percent in 2017) and enforcement by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (78 percent to 76 percent), National Labor Relations Board (56 percent to 55 percent) and Department of Labor (82 percent to 81 percent). Immigration reform was the exception as 63 percent said they expect an impact in 2017, up from 40 percent in 2016.

“With the profound changes in Washington, D.C., it may be initially surprising that respondents do not anticipate more of a near-term impact on their businesses,” said Michael Lotito, co-chair of Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute. “However, given the general climate of uncertainty and delays in appointments to government agencies, employers likely expect it to take time before they start to see how the president’s agenda is carried out and personally feel an impact in their workplaces.”

The host of new or amended labor and employment requirements at the state and local levels is creating compliance challenges for the majority of respondents (79 percent). In an effort to keep up, employers are updating their policies, handbooks and HR procedures (85 percent); providing additional employee training (54 percent); and conducting internal audits (50 percent).

“As states and municipalities continue to propose and enact a dizzying array of rules and regulations, it is no wonder employers are struggling with the increasingly fragmented landscape,” said Lotito. “With the Trump administration working to reduce federal regulations, employers can expect a growing patchwork of employment regulations as states and municipalities look to fill a perceived void at the federal level.”

Of the array of changes at the state and local levels, respondents have been most impacted by paid leave mandates (59 percent), background check restrictions (48 percent) and minimum wage increases (47 percent).

Uncertainty Surrounding Healthcare Reform

Even though survey responses were collected before Republicans withdrew the American Health Care Act in late March, more than a quarter (27 percent) were already uncertain about the impact of repealing the ACA’s employer mandate. And another 28 percent said they did not anticipate an impact at all.

“Employers face even more questions about the future of the ACA, as well as the extent to which the administrative process can and will be used to change aspects of the law, than when they responded to our survey,” said Ilyse Schuman, co-chair of Littler’s Workplace Policy Institute. “In this environment, employers can continue to expect a certain level of uncertainty surrounding employer-sponsored health coverage in the months ahead.”

Only 4 percent of respondents anticipate dropping coverage for some full-time employees if they are relieved of the ACA’s employer mandate, but 18 percent said they would allow more employees to work more than 30 hours a week.

“The responses indicate that employers are committed to providing health insurance for their full-time employees,” said Steven Friedman, co-chair of Littler’s Employee Benefits Practice. “However, they also suggest that a repeal of the mandate would give employers more flexibility to set work schedules based on the needs of their businesses, without fear of triggering a requirement to provide health insurance.”

EEOC Expected to Prioritize Hiring Practices, LGBTQ Rights and Pay Equity

Hiring practices – including the consideration of criminal or credit histories in the hiring process and pre-employment testing or screening practices – was the area where most respondents (51 percent) expected an increase in EEOC workplace discrimination claims over the next year, closely followed by LGBTQ rights (46 percent) and equal pay (46 percent).

“The transitions in Washington, D.C., appear to have curtailed employers’ expectations for EEOC enforcement activity around LGBTQ rights and equal pay, which rose sharply in the 2016 survey, when 74 percent and 61 percent of respondents, respectively, expected increased enforcement around those issues,” said Barry Hartstein, co-chair of Littler’s EEO & Diversity Practice. “Nonetheless employers continue to expect substantial enforcement over the next year as pay equity and discrimination based on sexual orientation remain priorities not only for the EEOC, but for the courts, state and local governments, the plaintiffs’ bar and the general public.”

FMLA Leave Presents Headaches

Among the employee requests that are most difficult to accommodate, leaves of absences under the Family and Medical Leave Act emerged as the presenting the greatest challenges. The majority of respondents indicated difficulty with managing intermittent FMLA leave (65 percent) and leaves that extend beyond FMLA requirements (55 percent), followed by remote or work-from-home arrangements (37 percent) and modified or reduced schedules (36 percent).

“Nothing is more disruptive to the operation of a business than unpredictability. When employees are repeatedly and unexpectedly off work, employers have to scramble to cover their responsibilities and manage potential resentment from employees who are inevitably asked to do more,” said Hartstein. “The increasingly common practice of requesting flexible work arrangements is also creating a whole new layer of legal and practical challenges for employers.”

Data Privacy and Breach Prevention Top of Mind

As the volume of data breaches originating with employees continues to grow, 63 percent of respondents said their HR and IT departments are collaborating on information security policies. Just over half (51 percent) said they were providing additional training to employees, and a smaller percentage said they were utilizing cyber-incident response plans (29 percent) and updating employee contracts to cover confidentiality obligations (23 percent).

“It is encouraging to see HR collaborating with IT to reduce the risk of data breaches that originate with employees. Information security policies prepared only by IT often focus on technical safeguards, whereas involving HR in the process helps to address the human elements of information security,” said Philip Gordon, co-chair of Littler’s Privacy and Background Checks Practice. “However, our results suggest that employers can take additional steps to guard against and prepare for employee-initiated data breaches, including ensuring all employees are trained on policies and know how to recognize and then report a security incident.”

Among respondents from large-cap organizations, the majority (56 percent) said global data privacy was a key area of concern in doing business outside of the U.S. “This concern likely stems from the significant restrictions on sharing personal data of employees in Europe and in the many countries that impose stricter rules than the U.S.,” noted Philip Berkowitz, U.S. co-chair of Littler’s International Employment Law Practice.

The survey results were released at Littler’s 34th annual Executive Employer Conference held May 10-12, 2017, in Phoenix, Arizona, and attended by many of the employers who completed the survey.

Click here for The Littler® Annual Employer Survey 2017 Report

Click here to view the survey infographic

Join Our LinkedIn Group

A new Texas “sanctuary cities” ban set to take effect Sept. 1 orders cities and counties not to stop law officers from asking about the immigration status of anyone they detain. It also would punish police chiefs, sheriffs and constables who fail to abide by the law or fail to comply with federal immigration detainer requests, according to a post on the website of Androvett Legal Media & Marketing.

On Tuesday, the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas warned visitors that their constitutional rights could be violated when they’re in the state. A federal lawsuit has already been filed in San Antonio. On the other side, Attorney General Ken Paxton has also filed suit, asking a federal judge pre-emptively to uphold the constitutionality of the law.

Dallas attorney David Coale of Lynn Pinker Cox & Hurst, a trial and appellate lawyer, says the new law is vulnerable.

“States and cities can’t be made to enforce federal law because of the 10th Amendment and federal preemption of immigration law. Period. Farmers Branch and Irving, Texas, went through similar issues several years ago with their local laws about immigration. A state law that tries to make cities enforce federal law is just as problematic.

“Procedurally, I expect the plaintiffs in the San Antonio case to seek some kind of temporary restraining order or preliminary injunction to enjoin the law. On both sides, you have to separate the policy from the law. Both sides have points about the importance of immigration enforcement, on the one hand, and local control over local law enforcement, on the other. The legal question, though, is about the structure of our government, which is defined by the Constitution.”

Reuters is reporting that the U.S. Department of Justice has begun a criminal investigation into Uber Technologies Inc.’s use of a software tool that helped its drivers evade local transportation regulators, two sources familiar with the situation said.

Reporters Dan Levine and Joseph Menn write that Uber has acknowledged the software, known as “Greyball,” helped it identify and circumvent government officials who were trying to clamp down on Uber in areas where its service had not yet been approved, such as Portland, Oregon.

“The criminal probe could become a significant problem facing the company that is already struggling with an array of recent business and legal issues,” they explain.

Some Uber employees told Reuters that the Greyball technique was used against suspected local officials who could have been looking to fine drivers, impound cars or otherwise prevent Uber from operating.

Read the Reuters article.

Join Our LinkedIn Group

Courtesy of BP Public Affairs Staff, via BOEM.gov

A recent podcast from Columbia Energy Exchange features host Bill Loveless speaking with Tommy Beaudreau, a non-resident Fellow at the Center on Global Energy Policy and partner in the Environment, Land & Resources Department of Latham & Watkins in Washington, D.C.

The podcast series is presented by Columbia University’s Center on Global Energy Policy.

In the podcast, the two discuss details of the latest executive order on offshore oil and gas drilling; what political and legal challenges the order will face; how the U.S. government have improved drilling and safety standards since the Deepwater Horizon oil spill; and next steps in the offshore review process.

Listen to the podcast.

Join Our LinkedIn Group

Image by NY Photographic

The U.S. House of Representatives voted to pass a bill that Republicans have promoted since the Newt Gingrich era, one that would allow private-sector employees to exchange overtime pay for “compensatory time” off, electing to accrue extra hours off rather than extra pay in their wallets, The Washington Post reports. The bill passed 229 to 197, largely along party lines.

“Under the proposed changes, eligible employees — if their employer decides to offer the option — would be able to voluntarily choose to receive comp time they can bank and use at a future date in lieu of immediate overtime pay in their paychecks,” reporter Jena McGregor explains. “If they change their minds and want the pay after all, employees would have the option of ‘cashing out,’ with the employer required to pay the overtime within 30 days.

Some opponents of the legislation say they worry that employers will feel pressured to choose comp time.

Read the Washington Post article.

Join Our LinkedIn Group

The U.S. Justice Department has accused UnitedHealth Group Inc. of obtaining inflated payments from the government based on inaccurate information about the health status of patients enrolled in its largest Medicare Advantage Plan, Reuters is reporting.

The accusation against the company is the latest, following separate lawsuits in two separate whistleblower lawsuits against the country’s largest health insurer.

“Medicare Advantage, an alternative to the standard fee-for-service Medicare in which private insurers manage health benefits, is the fastest growing form of government healthcare, with enrollment of 18 million people last year,” writes reporter Nate Raymond.

A UnitedHealth spokesman said the company rejects the claims and will contest them vigorously.

Read the Reuters article.

Join Our LinkedIn Group

In an episode of Kane Russell Coleman Logan’s energy law podcast, director Tom Ciarlone discusses the nation’s first legislative fracking ban.

That action came in Maryland when the legislature passed a bill that prohibits petroleum fracking across the state, Ciarlone says. The Maryland governor signed the bill that supplants a two-year moratorium that was set to expire later this year.

The podcast also discusses a lower bar for class certification in royalty underpayment actions, as well as multiple decisions out of the Texas Supreme Court that could spawn a wave of widespread mineral title disputes.

Listen to the podcast.

Join Our LinkedIn Group

The Trump administration’s losing streak in courts around the nation has in large part been a product of precedents established by conservative judges in the Obama era, reports The New York Times.

“Republican officials had great success under President Barack Obama in persuading judges to block or complicate his efforts to expand health care, shield immigrants from deportation and protect transgender students,” writes reporter Adam Liptak. “Now Democratic officials are using the principles established in those cases to frustrate President Trump’s efforts to limit travel from predominantly Muslim countries and to punish so-called sanctuary cities.”

Liptak quotes South Texas College of Law professor Josh Blackman with a warning for Democratic officials: “Whatever California can do to resist immigration law, Texas can do to resist environmental laws.”

Read the NYT article.

Join Our LinkedIn Group

Reuters tells the story of how two analysts who liked to swap notes on numbers they thought looked odd took a fateful step and tipped off U.S. regulators about a company that one of them had watched for months.

The story is illustrated with the case of Orthofix International NV, a Texas-based medical device maker that kept hitting ambitious earnings targets and many analysts had “buy” recommendations for the stock.

One of the analysts had a feeling about the company, noticing its earnings reports showed it was taking longer than usual for the company to get paid by wholesale customers, invoices were piling up and executives struggled to offer a convincing explanation, saying logistical problems at foreign offices were partly to blame.

Reporter Sarah N. Lynch tells how that analyst spent months tracking quarterly reports and earning calls, using algorithms to compare Orthofix’s ratios and patterns of sales and inventory turnover with financial data of its peers.

“By entering the SEC whistleblower program the duo showed how outsiders with analytical skills and tools and time to spare can accomplish what is typically done by those with inside access to confidential information,” Lynch writes.

The two could win as much as $2.5 million for their whistleblowing.

Read the Reuters article.

Join Our LinkedIn Group

Image by NY Photographic

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency announced Tuesday that it is ordering U.S. Bank National Association to pay a civil penalty of $15 million for what it calls “bankruptcy filing violations” that occurred between 2009 and 2014, according to a HousingWire report.

The OCC claimed that U.S. Bank “engaged in filing practices in bankruptcy courts with respect to proofs of claim, payment change notices, and post-petition fees among others that did not comply with bankruptcy rules and constituted unsafe or unsound banking practices.”

HousingWire reporter Ben Lane adds that the OCC said that as a result of the bank’s bankruptcy practices, U.S. Bank “has made or will make approximately $29 million in remediation to approximately 22,000 account-holders.”

Read the HousingWire article.

Join Our LinkedIn Group

Theranos Inc. investors accused the company of threatening to file for bankruptcy protection if they don’t agree to give up their rights to sue the firm over its flawed blood-testing business, reports Bloomberg Law.

Reporters Jef Feeley and Caroline Chen write that officials of Partner Investments LP and two other funds, which invested more than $96 million in Theranos preferred shares, said a lawyer representing the privately held medical-testing company suggested it would seek Chapter 11 protection if the investors won’t abandon their lawsuit and accept more equity instead.

Theranos officials have disputed the investors’ claims, saying they discussed the exchange offer with investors before the suit was filed.

“Having said it will no longer sell tests to consumers after running into trouble with U.S. regulators, Theranos and Chief Executive Officer Elizabeth Holmes are fighting for the company’s life,” according to Bloomberg. “It’s facing multiple suits by investors who claim they were misled about the technology and want their money back, and it is refocusing on research.”

Read the Bloomberg article.

Join Our LinkedIn Group

On April 18, 2017, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt announced that the EPA will convene a proceeding for reconsideration of certain elements of the 2016 rule establishing methane emissions standards for the oil and gas industry, reports Bracewell’s Energy Legal Blog.

Authors Whit Swift and Brittany Pemberton write that the Methane Rule applies to oil and gas facilities for which construction, modification, or reconstruction started after September 18, 2015.

“In particular, EPA will reconsider elements of the fugitive emissions monitoring and repair requirements of 40 C.F.R. § 60.5397a, including the inclusion of low-production wells, and the NSPS Subpart OOOOa provisions relating to approvals for an alternative means of compliance,” they explain.

Read the article.

Join Our LinkedIn Group

Michael I. Goldberg, the SEC appointed receiver in charge of the Jay Peak Resort and Burke Mountain Hotel in Vermont, reached a settlement agreement with Raymond James that will significantly benefit the defrauded investors and creditors of the receivership estate, according to a news release from Akerman LLP.

Under the terms of the settlement, which must be approved by the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida, Raymond James will pay $150 million to the receivership estate and the funds will be used to satisfy the claims of numerous investors and creditors while at the same time allowing the receiver to complete construction of the Jay Peak Resort. The settlement was achieved exactly one year from the date the case began.

The Akerman release continues:

The Jay Peak case involves the largest fraud in the history of the federal EB-5 Immigrant Investor Visa Program. Raymond James allegedly assisted Ariel Quiros, owner of Q Resorts and William Stenger, president and CEO of Jay Peak, a Vermont ski resort owner by Q Resorts, in stealing and misusing millions of dollars raised from hundreds of investors. Raymond James vehemently denied any liability whatsoever. Since July 2016, Goldberg and Raymond James have been engaged in good faith, arm’s-length settlement negotiations. Upon court approval, the settlement will resolve all claims brought against Raymond James and bar any future claims that may arise from the activities associated with the Jay Peak Resort and Burke Mountain Hotel.

Goldberg said, “This settlement would not have been possible without Raymond James stepping up to the plate from the very beginning of this case in an effort to do the right thing. At all times throughout our negotiations, Raymond James acted professionally and honorably in a good faith effort to resolve the litigation. The way Raymond James approached this case is a benchmark for how other firms in a similar situation should handle such a case. I want to further thank my counsel, Jeffrey Schneider of Levine Kellogg and lead class counsel, Harley Tropin and Tucker Ronzetti of the Kozyak Tropin firm for their tireless work in helping me resolve this case and benefitting hundreds of investors and creditors. Finally, I want to thank the officials at the SEC and the State of Vermont for their unwavering commitment to protecting the defrauded investors and creditors since the very beginning of the case and helping us structure a settlement that is in the best interest of the receivership estate and the investors. The SEC’s investigation and lawsuit was the catalyst for this settlement.”

The settlement amount will be utilized as follows:

• $15.3 million will be used to satisfy the promissory notes payable to the investors of Jay Peak Hotel Suites L.P.
• $5.1 million will benefit Jay Peak Hotel Suites Phase II L.P., Jay Peak Penthouse Suites L.P., Jay Peak Golf and Mountain Suites L.P., Jay Peak Lodge and Townhouses L.P., Jay Peak Hotel Suites Stateside L.P. and Q Burke Mountain Hotel and Conference Center, L.P. by satisfying past due trade debt on the Jay Peak Resort and the Burke Mountain Hotel.
• $19.6 million will be used to complete the construction of the Stateside Phase VI project of which up to $2.2 million will be used to satisfy existing contractor liens.
• $67 million will be used to return the $500,000 principal investment each investor made in the Jay Peak Biomedical Research Park L.P.
• $6.6 million will be used to satisfy contractor claims against the Q Burke Phase VIII project and to repay other debt on the Burke Mountain Hotel.
• $10 million will be posted in a separate interest-bearing escrow account and be used if needed to repay up to twenty Q Burke Phase VIII Investors who may not be eligible to apply for permanent residency through the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services’ EB-5 Immigrant Investor Program.
• $1 million will be used to refund the $500,000 investment of two investors in the Q Burke phase VIII whose I-526 petitions were denied prior to the date of the SEC Action.
• $25 million will be set aside to pay the fees of class counsel and other attorneys who brought suits on behalf of individual victims.

Goldberg is co-chair of the Fraud & Recovery Practice Group at top 100 U.S. law firm Akerman LLP. The case of Jay Peak is the largest EB-5 fraud scheme in U.S. history and the $150 million settlement represents the largest recovery of EB-5 investor losses.

Join Our LinkedIn Group