Know What's Happening in Legal
Know What's Happening in Legal
Delaware Supreme Court lets insurers pursue contract claims against Blackbaud over ransomware breach
The Delaware Supreme Court reversed lower‑court dismissals, permitting insurers to bring breach‑of‑contract actions against Blackbaud for its 2020 ransomware incident. Blackbaud had previously paid a $3 million SEC fine and $49 million to state attorneys general for misleading breach disclosures.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Oil majors acquire $164M of Alaska oil leases
Everlaw released a 151‑page guide titled “Mastering Ediscovery,” detailing every stage of the eDiscovery process from data preservation to generative AI. The guide breaks down legal hold duties, FRCP Rule 26(f) protocols, predictive coding workflows, and the latest AI‑driven tools for document review. It also outlines emerging challenges such as big‑data volume, mobile privacy, and cross‑border data transfers. Readers can access the guide online chapter‑by‑chapter or download the full PDF for offline reference.
The Bank of Canada ordered fintech XTM and its affiliates to stop all retail payment activities after customers of its Everyday Payments subsidiary reported missing funds. Simultaneously, the Canadian Investment Regulatory Organization halted trading of XTM’s PAID stock, causing the...
In a BioCentury interview, RA Capital Managing Partner Peter Kolchinsky warned that staffing cuts and a growing conservative stance at the FDA are adding at least a three‑month delay to even the most promising drug programs. He says sponsors are now...
Influencers: “Rent your house to your business and boom — tax-free money.” What they don’t tell you: 📂 Fair market rent. 📝 Real agendas and minutes. 👥 Actual humans in attendance. 💼 A separate legal entity. 📸 Documentation that doesn’t look like it was created during...
The FCC’s Public Safety and Homeland Security Bureau issued two waivers this month allowing broadcasters to temporarily take Emergency Alert System (EAS) equipment offline while relocating it. Fort Myers Broadcasting received approval to move EAS gear for three Florida stations,...
Utah lawmakers are evaluating a bill to create a third law school, tasking Utah Valley University with a feasibility study for a campus at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi. The study, due Nov. 30, will examine accreditation routes, including ABA approval, and...
Utah Governor Spencer Cox publicly denounced the CFTC’s push to regulate prediction markets, calling them pure gambling and vowing to fight the agency in court. CFTC Chairman Mike Selig responded that the commission is prepared to litigate to preserve federal preemption over...
Governor Hochul signed a chapter amendment to New York’s Trapped at Work Act, narrowing its coverage to employees and redefining repayment obligations. The amendment postpones the law’s operative provisions to December 19 2026, effectively delaying compliance for a year. It introduces targeted...
The interview with Signal Peak founder Lauren Harrison highlights a critical shortage of trial‑ready talent in IP law firms, noting that fewer than 10% of litigators have ever tried a case. She explains that funders favor firms that can confidently...
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit ruled that Papa Texas, a Papa John’s franchisee, cannot compel arbitration after it failed to pay its share of the American Arbitration Association fees. The company missed multiple payment deadlines despite settlement...
The Seventh Circuit upheld the dismissal of religious‑accommodation claims by three Illinois school employees who refused COVID‑19 vaccination and weekly testing. The court ruled that invoking a vague moral conscience without linking the objection to a specific religious belief does...
A Pennsylvania federal judge ruled that TEKsystems misclassified its recruiters as exempt, finding they perform core sales functions and are therefore entitled to overtime. The decision highlights that actual job duties, not titles, determine exemption status under the Fair Labor...
The episode examines the ongoing lawsuit by American Airlines employees who claim the airline’s 2016 uniform change caused skin rashes, a case now before the Seventh Circuit. It outlines the timeline of complaints, the inconclusive testing by Intertek and NIOSH,...
The Delaware Supreme Court reversed a lower‑court dismissal and revived insurers’ claims against Blackbaud for costs incurred after the 2020 ransomware breach. The insurers, who paid more than $2 million for forensic, legal, and credit‑monitoring services, met the state’s notice‑pleading standard...
Microsoft Copilot is rapidly being deployed across enterprises, prompting a deep dive into its legal ramifications. Noah Koerner, director of information governance at Lighthouse, highlighted how AI‑generated content can blur attorney‑client privilege and complicate e‑discovery. He warned that vendor‑provided logs...
Anchor Health, a California hospice provider, adopted Vitalis’s Ray tool to meet the Medicare‑mandated HOPE compliance requirements. Ray pulls real‑time data from the HOPE dashboard, delivering roughly 99% accuracy while cutting manual tracking effort by about 75%. In a pilot,...
A Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals decision rejected Cedar Springs Hospital's claim that Medicare compliance shields it from OSHA workplace‑violence citations. The Colorado psychiatric facility was cited for seven safety deficiencies and fined $13,494. The court clarified that CMS regulations...
Two law professors have filed a lawsuit against the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission seeking the release of secret settlement agreements the agency reached with several major law firms over their diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs. The settlements, signed between...
Washington state senators approved a 9.9% income tax on earnings above $1 million, marking the first legislative hurdle for the so‑called “millionaires tax.” The measure, passed 27‑22, is projected to generate about $3.5 billion annually and would affect roughly 30,000 high‑income taxpayers....
The Department of Justice has launched a wide‑ranging investigation into Netflix’s planned $82.7 billion merger with Warner Bros., citing antitrust concerns over media consolidation. Critics argue the probe is a political maneuver to aid billionaire Larry Ellison’s competing bid for Warner’s...
San Jose’s police department has logged more than 261,000 automated license‑plate reader (ALPR) searches in just over a year—roughly 700 daily—without warrants, raising privacy alarms. Neighboring jurisdictions such as Mountain View, Los Altos Hills, Santa Cruz, East Palo Alto and...
The Federal Trade Commission finalized a rule banning most non‑compete agreements, approved by a 3‑2 vote and set to take effect 120 days after publication. The regulation spares only senior executives earning over $151,164, preserving existing clauses for that group....
The UK government has revised the Employment Rights Act 2025 rollout, moving six flagship reforms—including doubled redundancy awards, whistleblowing updates and menopause guidance—to 6 April 2026 and establishing the Fair Work Agency on 7 April 2026. Electronic and workplace balloting will now debut in...
CME Group announced a $40,000 fine and a 30‑business‑day suspension for broker Kevin Milan after he disclosed material non‑public information about large crude oil futures orders in April‑May 2020. Milan shared order quantity, side, and contract months before the trades...
California Chamber of Commerce (CalChamber) is hosting a virtual HR Boot Camp on February 26‑27, 2026, offering two half‑day seminars to help employers navigate California’s complex employment laws. The curriculum spans hiring, wage‑and‑hour rules, paid‑time‑off policies, protected leaves, reasonable accommodations, harassment prevention,...
The Nevada district court rejected plaintiffs’ motion to deem all privileges waived because the insurer’s privilege log was filed late. While the court affirmed the ongoing duty to supplement disclosures under Rule 26(e), it declined to impose a strict 30‑day rolling...
About SBF's retrial motion: One debate is, what was wrong about how Gensler regulated crypto? The other is: "Is it legal to steal customer funds and lie about it?" "Even if you agree that crypto enforcement was politicized, that is...
Bitcoin doesn’t need mass retail adoption to prove utility. It needs regulated distribution. That’s what SoFi Technologies just demonstrated with Bitcoin. This isn’t a “crypto comeback” story. It’s a regulatory arbitrage story. After exiting crypto in 2023 due to bank charter constraints, SoFi re-entered through...
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) has proposed a new appeals board that would review supervisory decisions using a de novo “fresh look” standard. The rule expands appeal rights to uninsured institutions such as national trust banks and...
"The SEC dismissing cases that should not have been brought is not corruption." 🦾 -- Jessi Brooks https://t.co/jdHAEKYBe9
SBF's "not using a lawyer to file this motion, and could mean he doesn't have the money to pay for it or none of the lawyers he spend a gazillion dollars on would do it." -- Jessi Brooks https://t.co/jdHAEKYBe9
French authorities released the oil tanker GRINCH after its owner paid a multi‑million‑euro penalty for sanctions evasion. The vessel, seized in the Alboran Sea in January, was suspected of operating under a false Comoros flag as part of Russia’s shadow...
A webinar hosted by ACEDS will explore how traditional eDiscovery tools lag behind today’s collaborative, cloud‑native data environments. Speakers from Walgreens, Cloudficient, and KLDiscovery will explain a context‑aware approach that leverages behavior, identity, and data lineage to improve custodian identification...
Littler Mendelson is hosting a live webinar on March 12, 2026 to demonstrate Littler Edge, its new employment‑and‑labor‑law compliance platform. The 45‑minute session, led by Knowledge Management Director Katherine R. Hinde, will walk participants through the tool’s search, guidance, and...
University of British Columbia’s Peter A. Allard School of Law has created an AI‑driven legal aid tool that generates targeted questions instead of direct answers when students input case scenarios. The project, led by lecturers Jon Festinger and Nikos Harris,...
The European Court of Justice launched a redesigned InfoCuria portal in January, but lawyers and scholars quickly labeled it a “disaster.” The new search engine omits fundamental filters such as case number, language, and judge rapporteur, forcing users to rely...
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration ordered two Houston construction firms, Rise Construction LLC and Niko Group LLC, to reinstate two workers they fired for raising asbestos safety concerns during a hotel repair after Hurricane Beryl....
The Basel III regulatory package, delayed to a full 2027 rollout, tightens capital quality, leverage and liquidity requirements for banks worldwide. African banks risk higher capital costs because their sovereign debt is risk‑weighted more heavily, potentially limiting credit to the...
Bayer AG is set to announce a $10.5 billion settlement initiative to resolve Roundup litigation, combining a $7.5 billion class‑action proposal in Missouri with $3 billion for existing U.S. cases. The German conglomerate has already spent more than $10 billion on verdicts and settlements...
The CAN in Automation (CiA) group warns that all CAN‑based products sold in the EU now fall under the European Union Cyber Resilience Act (EU CRA) unless covered by sector‑specific rules. Compliance hinges on achieving the appropriate IEC 62443 security level (SL),...
The 2007 Supreme Court decision instructed the EPA to evaluate whether greenhouse gases endanger public health, prompting the agency’s 2009 Endangerment Finding that vehicle emissions pose a significant risk. The D.C. Circuit upheld that finding, yet the current Trump administration...
Judicial Notice (02.16.26): An Embarrassing Distraction The resignation of Kathy Ruemmler, a grand-jury rejection for the Trump DOJ, a judge’s acknowledgment of an ‘abusive’ workplace, and a smart move by Cooley. LINK: https://t.co/X8bQgPNjOb https://t.co/msTs5LcupA
The EU Pay Transparency Directive, one of the most comprehensive pay‑equity laws, will take effect in 2026 across all member states. It requires employers to publish gender‑pay gap data and detailed compensation breakdowns. To help organizations prepare, HRtechBot is hosting...
Regulatory bodies are reshaping medical‑device oversight to prioritize usability, interoperability, and cybersecurity, accelerating adoption in both hospitals and homes. New human‑factors guidelines, AI/ML lifecycle controls, and post‑market surveillance tools ensure devices are safe, intuitive, and adaptable to real‑world conditions. Manufacturers...
The Brazilian Senate launched an artificial‑intelligence platform that automatically matches citizen proposals from the e‑Cidadania database with draft legislation. Unlike the previous system, the tool surfaces ideas even when they lack the traditional endorsement threshold, allowing consultants to embed public...
The CFTC is pushing to get CRYPTO market structure done. The American economy is hurting and this will allow a new sector to contribute. https://t.co/mjyG0H8Ln0
NEW: CFTC chair Selig says the agency has exclusive authority over prediction markets and will defend its jurisdiction against state challenges. https://t.co/lOKfXA8tzw
On February 12, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration revoked nine electronic logging devices—GTS ELD, UTruckin, ELD365 ELOG, Ironman ELD, Factor ELD, and four AirELD versions—after they failed to meet Title 49 CFR technical standards. Motor carriers have a 60‑day...
The article explains how litigants highlight “circuit splits” in petitions for Supreme Court review. It defines clean versus messy splits and percolating versus persistent splits, showing which types attract the Court’s attention. The Court prefers clear, evolving disagreements that can...
Former shareholders of Valtech Cardio have sued its parent, Edwards Lifesciences, in the Delaware Chancery Court, alleging the medical‑device giant deliberately stalled development of a heart‑valve repair system. The lawsuit claims Edwards is avoiding payment of up to $300 million in...
