Administrative Law

Meet the lawyers behind high-profile investigations

Before former FBI Director Robert Mueller was named special counsel, the NFL called on him. to assess how it dealt with the Ray Rice domestic abuse incident. Read our feature on lawyer-investigators.

May 1, 2015 5:30 AM CDT

Hedge fund manager aims to profit by contesting patents and shorting stock in targeted company

A process created in 2011 to help companies fight patent trolls is being used by a hedge fund manager who contests patents and bets against the targeted company’s stock through short sales. The hedge fund manager is Kyle Bass, head of Hayman Capital Management, who made money through short sales…

Apr 9, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

AT&T to pay record $25M to settle with FCC over privacy breach at call centers

Telecommunications giant AT&T has agreed to pay $25 million to settle a FCC probe over privacy breaches at call centers in Colombia, Mexico and the Philippines. The FCC said the settlement is the largest it has ever obtained in a privacy case, reports the Los Angeles Times (sub. req.). The…

Apr 8, 2015 3:15 PM CDT

California issues first-ever water reduction to handle drought

In the face of a long, fierce drought, California Gov. Jerry Brown has ordered the mandatory reduction of water usage for the first time in state history. On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that Brown had issued an executive order directing the State Water Resources Control Board to decrease…

Apr 2, 2015 12:39 PM CDT

Major US contractor settles first SEC case over confidentiality pacts that silence whistleblowers

In what is being hailed as a landmark federal enforcement action protecting the rights of whistleblowers, the Securities and Exchange Commission on Wednesday announced a settlement with a major federal contractor over provisions in its confidentiality agreements for workers. Overly broad language in the Kellogg Brown & Root confidentiality pacts…

Apr 1, 2015 2:40 PM CDT

Report: DOJ is investigating mental-health screening of bar applicants by Florida’s top court

The U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the mental-health screening imposed by the Florida Supreme Court on bar applicants. In a December letter, the DOJ notified Chief Justice Jorge Labarga of the probe and asked for information about the mental-health questions posed to applicants, conditional admission procedures and whether hearings…

Mar 26, 2015 4:20 PM CDT

Chicago camera ticketing violates notice rules, suit says; seeks refund of money paid by motorists

An Illinois lawsuit filed Monday doesn’t challenge the authority of the city of Chicago to issue tickets for red-light and speed violations based on camera enforcement. But it does say the city is violating legal rules about how the tickets are supposed to be enforced, reports the Chicago Tribune. The…

Mar 24, 2015 2:30 PM CDT

Federal appeals court agrees with FTC that Pom Wonderful ad claims were deceptive

Rejecting Pom Wonderful’s free-speech argument, a federal appeals court on Friday agreed with the Federal Trade Commission that the pomegranate juice marketer made deceptive advertising health claims which weren’t backed by sufficient medical evidence. However, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit said that one clinical…

Jan 30, 2015 5:25 PM CST

Posner ruling tosses Social Security judges’ grievance claim, compares them to assembly line workers

The Chicago-based 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled that administrative law judges for the Social Security Administration can’t pursue a grievance against their agency. As the National Law Journal (sub. req.) reported, Judge Richard Posner compared the ALJs to workers on “a poultry processing assembly line” in rejecting…

Jan 26, 2015 9:00 AM CST

Record fine of up to $1.6M imposed on Southwest over planes sitting for hours on tarmac

In the stiffest penalty yet imposed over passenger-filled airplanes stranded for hours on the tarmac during stormy weather, the U.S. Department of Transportation on Thursday announced a fine of up to $1.6 million against Southwest Airlines. However, as part of an agreed consent decree, the government agreed to credit against…

Jan 16, 2015 12:30 PM CST

Close ‘mind-boggling’ loophole, screen airline workers for guns, lawmaker tells TSA

A federal lawmaker from New York and a Big Apple prosecutor jointly called Wednesday for the U.S. to start screening airline workers for weapons on a daily basis. Currently, passengers, flight attendants and pilots are screened, but many employees who work in secure sections of airports aren’t, under what Sen.…

Jan 8, 2015 5:45 AM CST

Citing loss of judicial independence, Iowa judge takes early retirement

An Iowa unemployment appeals judge is about to join the ranks of the jobless. According to the Associated Press, Judge Marlon Mormann announced that he was taking early retirement. Mormann’s act came several months after warning legislators that he and his fellow administrative law judges at Iowa Workforce Development believed…

Jan 6, 2015 12:14 PM CST

Fast-food sellers must list calories ‘clearly and conspicuously’ on menus within a year, FDA says

Setting new rules Tuesday despite opposition from food sellers, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said menus and billboards from which customers order must “clearly and conspicuously” list calorie counts by next November. The purpose of the new rules, which were imposed under a little-known provision of the Affordable Care…

Nov 25, 2014 3:55 PM CST

FDA restricts use of device blamed for spreading uterine cancer, after news of patient deaths

Robotic surgery, including the use of an instrument known as a laparoscopic power morcellator, made it possible for many women to undergo hysterectomies with minimal pain and scarring and make a rapid recovery. But for Linda Interlichia, who turned out to have an aggressive form of cancer rather than the…

Nov 25, 2014 11:25 AM CST

Regulator fines utility $1.05M over emails lobbying for preferred administrative judge in rate case

A gas company has been fined $1.05 million by the California Public Utilities Commission over ex parte emails in which it successfully lobbied to have the judge its officials preferred preside over an administrative rate-setting case. A spokesman said Pacific Gas & Electric would appeal the penalty, which also includes…

Nov 20, 2014 3:35 PM CST