Executive at Generic Drug Manufacturer Indicted on Price-Fixing Charges
A federal grand jury indicted Ara Aprahamian, an executive at Taro Pharmaceutical Industries, for violating the antitrust laws and for lying to FBI investigators. Aprahamian is now the third executive charged in the DOJ's investigation into the generic drug industry, with the other two executives having already pled guilty. Two manufacturers, ...
PROPOSED FEDERAL BUDGET WOULD TRANSFER THE AUTHORITY OF THE PCAOB TO THE SEC
The Trump administration released its proposed fiscal year 2021 federal budget on February 10, 2020. Under the proposed budget, the authority of the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board ("PCAOB") would be transferred to the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") beginning in 2022. According to the budget, this would eliminate the ...
Third Circuit Protects Philly Workers from Improper Salary History Inquiries
On February 6, 2020, the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, the highest federal court in Pennsylvania, upheld the constitutionality of a city ordinance prohibiting Philadelphia employers from asking job applicants about their salary histories. The Third Circuit determined that Philadelphia lawmakers relied on substantial evidence that banning ...
SEC Proposal to Modernize Shareholder Proposal Rule Met with Criticism
On November 5, 2019, the SEC announced two proposed rules, the first of which proposed amendments to its rules governing proxy voting advice businesses (the "Proxy Advisory Amendment") and the second of which proposed amendments to modernize the rule governing the process for submitting shareholder proposals to be included in a company's proxy ...
Federal Courts Field Legal Challenges to California Law Expanding “Employee” Status
2020 has already proven to be an exciting year for the California employment bar, with two recent, high-stakes challenges to new legislation signed into law by Governor Gavin Newsom. The new law, A.B. 5, codifies and expands upon the three-prong "ABC test" adopted by the California Supreme Court in its landmark Dynamex v. Lee decision. Rather ...
Update: Disgraced Congressman Sentenced to 26 Months in Prison For Insider Trading
After pleading guilty to insider trading charges in 2019, Ex-New York Congressman Christopher Collins ("Collins") was sentenced to 26 months in prison (and an additional one year of supervised probation) and ordered to pay a $200,000 fine. This sentence comes after Collins admitted that—while serving on the Board of Directors of Innate Immunotherapeutics ...
The California Consumer Privacy Act Takes Effect
After its adoption in 2018, the California Consumer Privacy Act ("CCPA") took effect on January 1, 2020. Like the General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR"), which took effect in the European Union in 2018, "the CCPA creates new consumer rights relating to the access to, deletion of, and sharing of personal information that is collected by ...
State AGs Oppose Pfizer’s Attempt to Exit Generic Price-Fixing Litigation
On January 28, 2020, attorneys general for more than 40 states opposed defendant Pfizer Inc.'s motion to dismiss in the Generic Pharmaceuticals Pricing Antitrust Litigation, arguing that, contrary to Pfizer's position, the branded drugmaker cannot be separated from its generic subsidiary, Greenstone LLC, the company from which the allegations ...
Florida’s New Business Corporation Act Establishes the State as a “Demand Futility” State for Shareholder Derivative Actions
On January 1, 2020, the new Florida Business Corporation Act (the "Act") became effective. The Act contains provisions establishing Florida as a "demand futility" state in relation to shareholder derivative litigation. Specifically, the revised statute provides: A complaint in a proceeding brought in the right of a corporation must be verified ...
SEC Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations Announces Its 2020 Examination Priorities
Earlier this month, the SEC's Office of Compliance Inspections and Examinations ("OCIE") announced its examination priorities for 2020. According to the SEC, the OCIE publishes its examination priorities every year "to enhance the transparency of its examination program and to provide insights into its risk-based approach, including the areas ...