All Perspectives

On April 26, 2016, United States Steel Corporation filed a massive trade case accusing Chinese steel producers and their distributors of conspiring to fix prices, steal trade secrets and use false labeling to avoid trade duties.

The Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently began its second round of audits of covered entities and business associates for compliance with the HIPAA Privacy Rule, Security Rule, and Breach Notification Rule (the “Phase 2” audits).

On Monday, the US Supreme Court sent a potential class action case back to the Ninth Circuit for reconsideration, marking an intermediary win for Spokeo Inc., which uses a “people search engine” to find, compile, and sell publicly available personal information.

Starting January 1, 2017, larger employers with employees working in San Francisco will have to provide employees with paid parental leave to bond with a new child. On July 1, 2017, the ordinance expands to cover smaller employers.

The California Office of the Attorney General (OAG) recently released a report detailing a comprehensive analysis of the data breaches reported to the OAG between 2012 and 2015.

On May 15, 60 Minutes featured two high-profile cases successfully defended by white collar partner Peter Zeidenberg involving Americans wrongly accused of espionage-related crimes.

FDA announced Tuesday that it will begin reevaluating how it regulates the use of the term “healthy” on food labeling.

The Federal Trade Commission recently issued warning letters to companies whose mobile applications contain cutting-edge software that can monitor consumers’ television viewing habits.

The legally mandated paid sick leave landscape is ever-changing, with new leave laws and legislation developing at the state, federal, county, and city levels.

On May 6, 2016, CMS published in the Federal Register a request for comments on proposed revisions to the information to be collected pursuant to the CMS Voluntary Self-Referral (Stark) Disclosure Protocol (SRDP).

In March 2012, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) enhanced its Medicare enrollment screening for new and existing enrollees to the Medicare program. Providers not meeting CMS’s enhanced enrollment screening risk denial, revocation, or deactivation of Medicare billing privileges.

In fact, the House passed the DTSA by a vote of 410-2 on April 27, 2016, and today, May 11, President Obama signed it into law. The DTSA is codified at 18 U.S.C. 1836(b).

Last September, we published an alert warning retailers of a looming expansion in the reach of Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act that would impose requirements on e-commerce websites to make themselves more accessible to users with a wide variety of disabilities.

Arent Fox Health Care partner Linda A. Baumann was quoted extensively in Bloomberg BNA’s Health Care Fraud Report in an article on recent concerns surrounding the Stark Law that prohibits physician self-referrals.

The FTC final order against a video game marketing company highlights that advertising partners must monitor influencer disclosures and performance.

Texas Health and Human Services Commission (HHSC) has finally issued final regulations transitioning to the use of the National Average Drug Acquisition Cost (NADAC) to establish Medicaid ingredient cost reimbursement instead of utilizing manufacturer-reported prices.

The Washington Business Journal announced that three projects that Arent Fox LLP advised on were honorees in its Washington-DC area’s Best Real Estate Deals of 2015.

FDA recently issued its final guidance on restaurant menu labeling intended to help restaurants and similar retail food establishments understand nutrition labeling requirements under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act that may apply to them.

The Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 was voted and approved on April 27, 2016 and is now on its way down Pennsylvania Avenue to the President’s desk for signing.

In a surprising move that could dramatically impact government enforcement actions against life science companies, the health care industry, and government contractors, a federal board has increased federal False Claims Act penalties by more than 100 percent. 

Store credits not redeemable for cash are not unclaimed property under California’s Unclaimed Property Law.

The Drug Enforcement Agency recently approved a first-ever randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial to study the use of botanical (“whole plant”) marijuana (rather than an extract made thereof) to treat post-traumatic stress disorder in veterans.

A recent lawsuit filed against GNC serves as a reminder that companies need to ensure that prices listed as “regular prices” are substantiated.

The Department of Justice recently announced it has reached a more than $780 million settlement with Pfizer Inc. and its subsidiary Wyeth to resolve reported false pricing allegations.