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Alabama Legislature Expands Scope Of Home Builders Licensure Board Act To Clarify Scope Of Licensure Requirement For Home Improvements And Now Governs All Residential Roofing Companies

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The Alabama legislature recently amended provisions of the Home Builders Licensure Board Act (the “HBLB Act”) to expand the scope of home building projects and companies required to comply with the HBLB Act.  The HBLB Act was originally enacted to protect individual homeowners when engaging a Construction company to either build a new home or…
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Court Reduces $50 Million Punitive Damages Award In Hog Farm Nuisance Case

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A federal judge in North Carolina has reduced a $50 million punitive damages award in a nuisance suit against a hog farm that stored the animal waste in open-air lagoons and sprayed it on nearby fields.  McKiver, et al. v. Murphy-Brown, LLC, 7:14-CV-180 (May 7, 2018, E.D.N.C.).  The Court relied on North Carolina’s law capping…
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Recent Changes In Department Of Labor Tip Pool Rule

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The recently passed Consolidated Appropriations Act (“CAA”) put an end to an ongoing controversy over the status of a proposed Department of Labor (“DOL”) tip rule and the underlying dispute over whether employers who do not claim the tip credit against the federal minimum wage may be prohibited from including non-tipped employees in mandatory tip…
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Fourth Circuit Holds Indirect Discharges Actionable Under Cwa As Ongoing Violation

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The Fourth Circuit reversed a District Court’s dismissal of a lawsuit over a Kinder Morgan Energy Partners LP subsidiary’s gasoline pipeline spill in South Carolina, holding the Clean Water Act covers claims that the spill contaminated nearby creeks and wetlands after traveling through groundwater.  Upstate Forever v. Kinder Morgan Energy Partners, L.P., 887 F.3d 637…
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Finra Revises The Sanction Guidelines

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FINRA revised its Sanction Guidelines to instruct adjudicators in the disciplinary process to consider customer-initiated arbitrations that result in adverse arbitration awards or settlements when assessing sanctions. As a result, when a Respondent’s disciplinary history, and history of arbitration awards and arbitration settlements, together with the violation found in a disciplinary case, form a pattern,…
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U.S. Appeals Court Vacates Obama Era ‘Fiduciary Rule’ Requiring Financial Advisors To Act In Customers’ Best Interest

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On March 15, 2018, the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans voided the U.S. Department of Labor’s “fiduciary rule” adopted by the Obama administration in 2016 as a means to limit and reduce conflicts of interest among financial advisors providing retirement planning advice. The majority found in the case, Chamber of Commerce…
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Fourth District Court Of Appeal Of Florida Determines Duty Of Subcontractor To Defend And Indemnify General Contractor Did Not Extend To Project Owner

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In Blok Builders, LLC v. Katryniok, No. 4D16-1811, 2018 WL 637399 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. Jan. 31, 2018), the District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District, overturned a trial court’s decision requiring a subcontractor to defend and indemnify a project owner based on a reference in the Subcontract which adopted and incorporated by reference…
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