On January 11,2024, the EPA issued the final version of a new significant new use rule (SNUR) applying to 329 PFAS chemicals designated as inactive on the Toxic Substance Control Act (TSCA) Chemical Substance Inventory (the “Inventory”). A number of PFAS chemicals are already subject to SNURs. This rule omits those to avoid redundancy. The…
Read More
On Wednesday, January 10, 2024, the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) approved the first U.S.-listed exchange traded funds (ETFs) to track bitcoin. The SEC approved 11 applications, including from BlackRock (BLK.N), Ark Investments/21Shares (ABTC.S), Fidelity, Invesco (IVZ.N) and VanEck. The approvals come a day after an unauthorized person published a fake post on the SEC’s…
Read More
On January 9, 2024, the United States Department of Labor (“DOL”) released its final rule that revises the DOL’s determination of whether a worker is an employee or independent contractor under the Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). The final rule goes into effect on March 11, 2024. The new rule replaces the Trump Administration’s Independent…
Read More
FINRA recently announced new sanctions filed against M1 Finance LLC, Open to the Public Investing, Inc., SoFi Securities LLC, and SogoTrade, Inc. for supervisory and advertising violations. The fines for these violations totaled $1.6 million. In addition to the substantial fine, FINRA also ordered the firms pay over $1 million in restitution. During its investigation,…
Read More
Environmental groups in the United States and Europe have filed complaints against Coca Cola and other companies accusing them of “greenwashing” their environmental sustainability claims. Companies are accused of greenwashing when they make claims that something is more eco-friendly, green, or sustainable than it really is. In 2021, Earth Island Institute brought a lawsuit against…
Read More
In Rivas v. Purvis Holdings, LLC, the owner/general contractor of a 28-story building project was sued by an employee of a masonry contractor in an attempt to recover damages for injuries suffered at the construction site. 2023 WL 8440738. The trial court denied the plaintiff’s motion for summary judgment on the cause of action alleging…
Read More
Most, if not all, labor and employment statutes require an employee to show some kind of adverse action on behalf of the employer to prevail, especially when seeking monetary compensation. While what constitutes an adverse action can often get murky, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has clarified that an “adverse employment action” includes, but is…
Read More
In Bonilla v. Verges Rome Architects, 2023 WL 3371559 (La. App. 5th Cir. 2023), the Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that an architect could be liable to an injured worker for failing to address a known safety issue, despite contractual language establishing site safety as solely a contractor responsibility. The City of New…
Read More
The Court of Appeals of Georgia, in Blevins v. PECGA, LLC, 890 S.E. 2d 109 (Ga. Ct. App. 2023), recently reversed summary judgment in favor the design engineer in a lawsuit for defective construction of a home because the homeowners raised a sufficient dispute of fact regarding whether mistakes in the engineer’s plans caused defects…
Read More
On October 26, 2023, the National Labor Relations Borad (“NLRB”) issued a new standard for determining when two employers are considered “joint employers” under the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”). While the standard was issued in regard to the NLRA, businesses should expect that plaintiffs will use the new standard with regard to claims outside…
Read More
Our locations in Birmingham and Pensacola are conveniently located for clients in the Southeast.
Get In Touch