On September 27, 2024, California Governor Newsom signed into law Senate Bill 219, which effects important new requirements on U.S. companies “doing business” in California to report on a wide range of greenhouse gas (GHG)-related emissions. While these amendments adjust deadlines for the new reporting requirements, they further establish fines of up to $550,000 per year for larger companies “doing business” in California for failing to submit detailed GHG emissions data on all factors of a companies’ operations to the California Air Resources Board (CARB) Sacramento Office.

On October 2, 2024, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri addressed the Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section’s Symposium on Artificial Intelligence (AI). Argentieri’s speech outlined the promise and peril of AI. Argentieri noted that while the Department of Justice (DOJ) uses AI tools to facilitate the prosecution of federal crimes, AI can be misused by bad actors — including in cyberspace — to commit crimes against individuals and entities.                

As Lewis Brisbois previously highlighted, the duality of AI requires companies to both supervise their own use of this innovative technology to guard against internal misuse and to utilize appropriate defenses to limit the likelihood of becoming victims of crimes facilitated by AI. Argentieri acknowledged as much when she stated, “AI is a double-edged sword. It can be used to detect, disrupt, and deter criminal activity. But it can also facilitate criminal activity by bad actors who exploit it and lower the barriers to entry for criminals.”

Customers are going to need to pay extra attention when eating at Ohio restaurants from now on due to a recent ruling by the Ohio Supreme Court.

In its recent opinion Berkheimer v. REKM, L.L.C., Slip Opinion No, 2024-Ohio-2787, the Court determined that an Ohio restaurant was not responsible for a customer’s injury caused by a bone in a boneless chicken wing. This ruling stems from a lawsuit filed by the customer after “he suffered serious medical problems” resulting from a chicken bone becoming lodged in his throat

In a surprising turn of events, the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida recently dismissed a False Claims Act (FCA) lawsuit brought by relator Clarissa Zafirov against Florida Medical Associates, LLC, and other defendants. U.S. District Judge Kathryn Kimball Mizelle ruled that the FCA’s qui tam provisions, which allow private individuals to bring lawsuits on behalf of the government, violate the Constitution’s Appointments Clause.

On September 29, 2024, California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law AB 98: Planning and zoning: logistics use; truck routes. AB 98 (Juan Carrillo and Reyes) responds to the recent expansion of warehouse uses throughout California by imposing state-wide building design and location regulations on new or expanded “logistics use” developments, including standards for parking, truck loading bays, landscaping buffers, entry gates, and signage, and requiring local agencies to update the circulation elements of their general plans.
 

On September 23, 2024, in a speech to the Society of Corporate Compliance and Ethics, Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Nicole M. Argentieri emphasized that a corporation’s compliance program must consider risks associated with the use of artificial intelligence (AI), both in commercial operations and the compliance program itself.

On September 4, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued an Alert warning foreign jurisdictions and financial institutions of “Russia’s attempts to evade sanctions by opening new overseas branches and subsidiaries of Russian financial institutions.” OFAC has found that Russia continues to use third countries to evade sanctions that limit procurement to supply its military-industrial base. The Alert is a warning to both U.S. and foreign financial institutions to increase their vigilance over these Russian tactics.

On September 4, 2024, New York Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law the Retail Worker Safety Act. The Act amends the New York Labor Law to require businesses with at least 10 employees working at a retail store to implement workplace violence prevention requirements for their retail employees.

The law becomes effective on March 3, 2025, at which time covered employers must adopt and provide to all employees a written workplace violence prevention policy, and additionally they must conduct workplace violence prevention training upon hire and annually thereafter. The Act defines a retail employee as “an employee working at a retail store…that sells consumer commodities at retail and which is not primarily engaged in the sale of food for consumption on the premises.” Based on this definition, restaurants are exempt.