On January 4, the Colorado Attorney General announced that his office entered into assurances of discontinuance (available here and here) with two credit unions that will result in $4 million being refunded to Colorado borrowers who were entitled to refunds of guaranteed automobile protection (“GAP”) fees. These settlements follow an investigation by the Consumer Protection Section of the Colorado Department of Law, which found that the credit unions historically failed to refund unearned GAP fees owed to consumers.…

Continue Reading Colorado AG Secures Latest Settlement over Unearned GAP Fees

On January 12, the CFPB released a report that identified an uptick in identity theft reported by servicemembers. The report found that military consumers (defined as active duty servicemembers, veterans, and military family members) reported almost 50,000 cases of identity theft to the FTC in 2021. Additionally, military consumer complaints to the CFPB for debts resulting from identity theft increased from about 200 in 2014 to more than 1,000 in 2022.…

Continue Reading CFPB Report: ID Theft Among Servicemembers Increasing

On January 19, the CFPB issued Circular 2023-01 to affirm that companies offering “negative option” subscription services are required to comply with federal consumer financial protection laws. According to the Circular, “negative option” refers to a term or condition under which a seller may interpret a consumer’s silence, failure to take an affirmative action to reject a product or service, or failure to cancel an agreement as acceptance or continued acceptance of the offer (see our previous blog posts on negative option marketing here and here). The CFPB warns that negative option marketing practices may violate the prohibition on unfair, deceptive, or abusive acts or practices in the CFPA where a seller:…

Continue Reading CFPB: Negative Option Marketing Practices May Violate CFPA

To conclude our series of cybersecurity areas to focus on in 2023 for those who do business with the Federal government, we look at the FedRAMP and StateRAMP developments from 2022. For the rest of this series, see our prior articles (Part One, Part Two, Part Three, and Part Four).…

Continue Reading Do Business With the Federal Government? Here’s a 2022 Cybersecurity Recap: Part Five- Further Adoption of FedRAMP & StateRAMP

Introduction: Defining Interprofessional Consultation

In a January 5, 2023, letter to state health officials, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) clarified a Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program (“CHIP”) policy on the coverage and payment of interprofessional consultations (the “Guidance”). An interprofessional consultation occurs when the patient’s treating physician requests the opinion and/or advice from a specialist practitioner without the patient making face-to-face contact with the specialist practitioner. The new CMS guidance clarifies that it is permissible for Medicaid and CHIP to provide reimbursement for an interprofessional consultation when the consultation is for the direct benefit of the patient without the patient’s presence.[1]…

Continue Reading CMS Issues Interprofessional Consultation Guidance

1. Higher Jurisdictional Thresholds For HSR Filings

On January 23, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission announced revised, higher thresholds for premerger filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976. The jurisdictional thresholds are revised annually based on the change in Gross National Product (GNP).…

Continue Reading Higher Jurisdictional and Filing Fees Thresholds for HSR Act Premerger Notifications and Interlocking Directorates Announced

The federal government has continued its efforts to fulfill the requirements set forth in Executive Order 14028, Improving the Nation’s Cybersecurity. For companies that do business with the Federal government, beyond looking at the other issues raised in this series of posts (see here, here and here), these efforts will be important to keep in mind in 2023. There are three efforts underway by the FAR Council to amend the Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR) related to the Executive Order (in addition to the Secure Software efforts discussed in Part Three).…

Continue Reading Do Business With the Federal Government? Here’s a 2022 Cybersecurity Recap: Part Four – Cybersecurity Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) Updates

1. Higher Jurisdictional Thresholds For HSR Filings

On January 23, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission announced revised, higher thresholds for premerger filings under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976. The jurisdictional thresholds are revised annually based on the change in Gross National Product (GNP).…

Continue Reading Higher Jurisdictional and Filing Fees Thresholds for HSR Act Premerger Notifications and Interlocking Directorates Announced

Courts and state legislatures continue to take aim at post-employment non-competes. In a companion blog, we recently detailed the Federal Trade Commission’s proposed rule banning post-employment non-competes. However, for years (and even under the FTC’s overreaching proposed rule), non-competes in the sale of business context have generally received less scrutiny.…

Continue Reading Buyer Beware: Delaware Declines to Enforce Sale of Business Non-Compete

A new set of California laws will require online marketplaces to gather verifiable identifying information about high volume third party sellers, or else boot them off the platform. The laws, which seek to combat the resale of stolen goods online, call for marketplaces and sellers to ramp up their consumer disclosures around sellers’ identities and options for consumers to report suspected stolen goods. …

Continue Reading Online Marketplaces: It’s Time to Track, Verify and Disclose Seller Info

On January 1, 2023, California enacted SB1155, a law setting parameters for reasonable time-limited settlement demands. In a prior blog post, Jordan Derringer and Michael Bean discussed the statute and its potential impact on California law. In this post (originally published in Bloomberg Law), Jordan and Michael have expanded their discussion on the issue of time-limited settlement demands outside of California. They explore similar statutes enacted in Georgia and Missouri, their similarities with SB1155, and how these statutes may be interpreted by the courts.

Click here to read more.
Continue Reading New Time-Limited Settlement Demand Laws Need Testing in Court

Today we continue our series (see here and here) with the Office of Management and Budget’s September 2022 memorandum requiring federal agencies to only use software from software producers that attest compliance with secure software development guidance issued by the NIST. The new requirements will apply to any third-party software that is used on government information systems or that otherwise “affects” government information. You can read our article about the guidance here.…

Continue Reading Do Business With the Federal Government? Here’s a 2022 Cybersecurity Recap: Part Three – Secure Software Development Attestation Requirements

The new year begins with one of the most anticipated labor cases on the high court’s docket in decades. On January 10, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral argument in Glacier Northwest, Inc. v. International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local Union No. 174 to decide whether the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA” or the “Act”) preempts state court lawsuits for tort damages caused by unions during strikes. Employers should gain much greater clarity into whether they can seek relief from such conduct via a damages lawsuit. If the U.S. Supreme Court finds that such conduct is not preempted and may be litigated in state court, such a ruling would go far in protecting employers’ interests in contentious labor disputes and potentially shift the balance of power toward employers during these disputes. …

Continue Reading SCOTUS Hears Oral Argument on Whether NLRA Preempts State Court Lawsuits Against Unions for Property Damage Caused During Labor Disputes

Social determinants of health (“SDOH”) consider the non-clinical factors that can profoundly impact an individual’s well-being. They are extensive and often overlap, including housing instability, food insecurity, the inability to afford and obtain medications and more. Research has indicated that healthcare systems that connect patients to basic resources have observed improvements in population health metrics, fostered trust with their patient base, and experienced reduced hospitalization costs.…

Continue Reading CMS Augments “In Lieu Of Services” Medicaid Guidance to Support State Medicaid Managed Care Efforts to Address Social Determinants of Health

The Food and Drug Administration (the “FDA”) has approved a modification to the Mifepristone Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy (“REMS”) Program, increasing the accessibility of mifepristone for patients with a prescription. [1], [2] …

Continue Reading FDA Approval Mifepristone REMS Program Modification Expands Patient Access to Abortion Care

In this second in our series, we look at the long awaited update to NIST SP 800-171, “Protecting Controlled Unclassified Information in Nonfederal Systems and Organizations,” which is expected to be released in late spring 2023. NIST SP 800-171 forms the backbone for contractor security requirements in Department of Defense regulations and the CMMC program. It remains unclear if this update will impact the rollout of the CMMC program. …

Continue Reading Do Business With the Federal Government? Here’s a 2022 Cybersecurity Recap: Part Two – NIST SP 800-171, Revision 3

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