Features
Practice Tip: The SPILL Act
Thanks to a recent act of Congress, the oil spill may be seeping into product liability law. Meet the SPILL Act.
Features
Sentencing of Individuals in FCPA Cases
The DOJ exercises virtually unlimited discretion in deciding who gets charged in FCPA cases and, for all practical purposes, in deciding the amount of the financial penalty imposed against corporate violators. But sentencing of individual defendants is ultimately a matter of judicial, not prosecutorial, discretion.
Features
NLRB Action in the Age of Facebook
Questions of discoverability in litigation of social media interactions are constantly evolving. A look at a recent, disturbing case.
Features
<b>BREAKING NEWS:</b> SEC Proposed Rule 21F-13: A Hidden Whistleblower Tax?
Corporate Counsel take note: on Nov. 3, the SEC published proposed Regulation 21F, establishing a program designed to reward individuals who provide the SEC with information leading to successful enforcement actions. The proposal was mandated by Dodd-Frank and sets out procedures under which whistleblowers could qualify for significant monetary awards by providing information to the SEC regarding violations of the federal securities laws.
Features
Child Pornography On Workplace Computers
Possessing child pornography is such a potentially serious crime that institutions take pains to keep it off their premises. e-Commerce firms, whether they have significant physical premises or not, are no different.
Features
New York Internet Tax Law Does Not Violate Commerce Clause
An appeals court ruled last month that a state law requiring most online retailers to collect sales taxes on purchases by New Yorkers is constitutional on its face, though the panel ordered the reinstatement of claims that the tax law may violate the Commerce and Due Process clauses as applied to Amazon.com and Overstock.com.
Features
The Changing Landscape of Compensation Equity Enforcement
The last two years have seen major changes in the legal and regulatory environment regarding compensation discrimination, and there are even more on the horizon.
Features
The Products Liability Dilemma for Pharmaceutical and Medical Device CEOs
Failure to comply with government regulations, and inactivity if a company falls out of compliance, can lead to serious product liability issues in the long term. Unfortunately, CEOs often do not consider the potential cost of product liability enforcement when they evaluate whether or not to act.
Features
Child Pornography on Workplace Computers
What are the implications of having child pornography on the premises? In businesses, child pornography generally is discovered by IT personnel. Or, if a corporation undergoes an unrelated internal investigation in which all computers, hard drives, e-mail servers, etc. are frozen and searched for responsive material, such a search can to lead to the discovery of child pornography stored on the corporation's server or on an individual's hard drive. What can/must/should be done as a result?
Features
The Courts: Active Players in White-Collar Cases
In June, the Supreme Court unanimously held that Enron's former CEO Jeffrey Skilling did not commit "honest services" fraud, ruling that the statute under which he was convicted must be limited to bribery and kickback schemes to avoid constitutional concerns over vagueness. The decision should curtail prosecution of a variety of conduct that the government would otherwise seek to criminalize through the statute. In contrast, the courts are expanding the reach of other criminal statutes to encompass conduct previously regarded as outside their scope.
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