Justices appear sympathetic to insurance company in asbestos bankruptcy

Justices appear sympathetic to insurance company in asbestos bankruptcy

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Tuesday’s argument in Truck Insurance Exchange v. Kaiser Gypsum Co. considered a technical question under the Bankruptcy Code, how to decide when an entity is a “party in interest” under the statute, which gives it a right to “be heard on any issue” in a Chapter 11 proceeding. The debtor, a failed asbestos company, claims that it will perform its insurance contracts in full: It will pay all the deductibles it owes, 100 cents on the dollar. Accordingly, it … Read the rest

Never Beyond the Law – the Spanish AEPD’s Position on the Processing of Whistleblower Data

In February 2023, Spain implemented Directive (EU) 2019/1937 (although it did not become fully applicable until December of that year) by means of Law 2/2023, of February 20, 2023, regulating the protection of persons who report regulatory violations and the fight against corruption (the “Law”). The Law, which requires all public and private organizations (with more than 50 employees or simply operating in certain sectors, even if they have fewer employees) to implement a whistleblowing system, has raised … Read the rest

Supreme Court limits “safety valve” in federal sentencing law

Supreme Court limits “safety valve” in federal sentencing law

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Justice Elena Kagan’s opinion for a sharply divided court in Pulsifer v. United States resolves an ambiguity in the provisions added to federal sentencing law in the First Step Act of 2018, coming down firmly on the side of the government. The problem involves how to read a “safety valve” in federal criminal sentencing laws, which allows defendants to avoid the often lengthy mandatory minimum sentences scattered throughout the federal criminal code. The safety valve requires the defendant to … Read the rest

Fraud on the PTO

LEDO PIZZA SYSTEM, INC. & LEDO PIZZA CARRYOUTS, INC., Plaintiffs,
v.
LEDO’S INC., Defendant.

No. 20 CV 7350.

United States District Court, N.D. Illinois, Eastern Division. March 7, 2024.

The defendant’s fraud claim fails even to get out of the starting blocks, because the defendant has failed to adequately establish standing to assert the claim.[5] A petition to cancel a mark must “be filed . . . by any person who believes that he is or will be damaged, … Read the rest

Acting Comptroller of the Currency Hints About Possible Operational Resilience Regulations

On March 12, at the Institute of International Bankers Annual Washington Conference, Acting Comptroller of the Currency Michael J. Hsu discussed the importance of operational resilience in the banking sector and hinted that potential regulations aimed to promote the same may be forthcoming.

Comptroller Hsu defined operational resilience as a bank’s ability “to prepare for, adapt to, and withstand or recover from disruptions.” These disruptions can stem from external events like natural disasters, bad actors, pandemics, or global conflicts, or … Read the rest