A federal judge on Wednesday reduced a jury’s punitive damages award against Equifax from more than $18 million to $1.62 million, after finding that the jury’s award was unconstitutionally excessive despite Equifax’s “reprehensible” conduct in violating the Fair Credit Reporting Act.
Plaintiff Julie Miller sued Equifax under FCRA for failing to correct mistakes in the
January 2014
SEC Exams of Asset Managers to Include Focus on Cybersecurity
Routine SEC examinations of investment advisers and investment companies this year will include scrutiny of these entities’ cybersecurity policies, an SEC official told attendees Thursday at a national agency-hosted compliance seminar.
The SEC’s Regulation S-P, which implements the federal Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, requires brokers, dealers, investment companies, and registered investment advisers to “adopt policies and…
MyRAs: Why Sophisticated Plan Sponsors Ought to Consider Them
As many of you have no doubt heard, President Obama introduced a new retirement savings vehicle, known as a myRA, in his State of the Union address. At first blush, the program appears aimed exclusively at employees with no company-sponsored retirement plan and therefore of little interest to employers with sophisticated retirement programs already in…
New Guidance Clarifies Minimum Essential Coverage Rules
By Amy N. Moore
Starting in 2014, most individuals must maintain minimum essential health coverage or pay a penalty. (Please see our post here for a description of the health coverage mandates that apply to individuals and their families.) The Internal Revenue Service recently issued a proposed regulation clarifying the minimum essential coverage rules and other aspects of the…
California AG Sues Company for Slow Breach Response, “Public” Display of Social Security Numbers
California Attorney General Kamala Harris has sued the Kaiser Foundation Health Plan for failing to promptly notify employees about a 2011 data breach. California’s breach notice law requires breaches of personal information to be disclosed “in the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay.” Harris alleges that Kaiser violated this requirement after taking too…
President Obama’s State of the Union Continues a Central Focus on Energy and the Environment
By Gary S. Guzy
Tonight’s State of the Union highlighted that energy and environmental issues will continue to play a central role in the Washington agenda over the next year. From the President’s early reference to workers building fuel efficient cars, to his extensive discussion of next steps on energy and the environment, it is clear that the President…
Industry Grapples With Implementing “Do Not Track” Disclosures; IAB Outlines “Guiding Principles” for a Post-Cookie World
California’s recent amendments to the California Online Privacy Protection Act require certain online services to make additional disclosures about how they respond to browser-based Do Not Track signals―new obligations that went into effect on January 1. Along with Joanne McNabb of the Office of the California Attorney General, Kurt Wimmer and I will be discussing…
Update #2: Appeals Court Reinstates Legal Challenge to Ban on Lobbyists Serving on Advisory Committees
On January 17, 2014, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals reinstated a legal challenge to President Obama’s ban on lobbyists serving on advisory boards and commissions in federal agencies. The appellate decision overturned a lower court judgment, issued in September 2012, that dismissed the claims of several lobbyists who alleged that the ban violated their…
FDA Issues Draft Guidance on Postmarketing Requirements for Promotion on Social Media
On January 13, 2014, FDA issued a draft guidance document entitled “Fulfilling Regulatory Requirements for Postmarketing Submissions of Interactive Promotional Media for Prescription Human and Animal Drugs and Biologics.” This draft guidance addresses the procedural topic of submitting Forms FDA 2253 and 2301 when firms use social media such as blogs, microblogs, social…
The New European Commission’s Communication and Recommendation on Shale Gas
On January 22, 2014, the European Commission published its Communication and Recommendation on Shale Gas. The documents finally published are essentially the same as the draft versions that we reported in our blog post of January 17, 2014 and only introduce minor changes.
Among other things, the Recommendation now confirms that it “neither implies that…