The president and his climate negotiating team seem most like the high-wire artist Philippe Petit, who improbably strung a wire between the towers of the World Trade Center and mustered reserves of guts and grace— leavened by intense focus, preparation, and a mild amount of lunacy— to walk between the twin towers.
In order for…
Last week, the chairmen and ranking members of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions and the Senate Committee on Finance sent a letter to Andy Slavitt, Acting Administrator for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”), and Jocelyn Samuels, Director of the Health and Human Services (“HHS”) Office for Civil Rights…
Note: This post is the second in a series of posts on the final text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) by Covington’s International and Public Policy lawyers. The final TPP text, which was released on November 5, 2015, is available here. TPP is not expected to enter into force until at least 2016, with the…
On Friday, November 13, Federal Trade Commission (FTC) Chief Administrative Law Judge Chappell issued an Initial Decision dismissing the FTC’s complaint against LabMD, on the ground that the Commission’s staff had failed to carry its burden of demonstrating a “likely substantial injury” to consumers resulting from LabMD’s allegedly “unfair” data security practices. While Judge Chappell’s…
Last week, the Third Circuit revived a multi-district privacy lawsuit against Google, finding that the trial court erred in dismissing the plaintiffs’ privacy claims under California state law. The case centers around the plaintiffs’ allegations that Google violated state and federal law by circumventing the Safari browser’s default “cookie blocker” settings to track users’ online…
On October 31, 2015, the U.S. Court of Federal Claims (CoFC) in Horn & Associates, Inc. v. United States (No. 08-415C) rejected three fraud-based counterclaims that were filed by the U.S. Government in response to a breach of contract action brought by the plaintiff, Horn & Associates (Horn), through a certified claim under the Contract…
After a short respite to observe Veterans Day, members return to Capitol Hill today with Fiscal Year (FY) 2016 appropriations on the agenda and a looming highway authorization deadline on the calendar.
Negotiations over a long-term federal highway and infrastructure bill are headed into the final phase of congressional negotiation. Congress faces a Friday deadline…
Note: This is the first of a series of posts on the final text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) by Covington’s International and Public Policy lawyers. The final TPP text, which was released on November 5, 2015, is available here. TPP is not expected to enter into force until at least 2016, with the timeline…
Five months after his inauguration, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has sworn thirty-six ministers into his cabinet. Set out below is an overview of the four appointments that will be of particular interest to foreign investors: Babatunde Fashola (Minister of Power, Works and Housing), Kemi Adeosun (Minister of Finance), Okechukwu Enelamah, (Minister of Industry, Trade and…
Zimbabwe has begun to implement economic reforms that, if continued, could help the struggling nation improve the quality of life for the vast majority of its citizens. The nascent reform movement also suggests that government leaders have realized that reliance on China alone will not solve the country’s economic ills.
The efforts by Finance Minister,…
