Florida's Proposal For Settlement (PFS) provision was created to encourage early settlement of litigation and is governed by Florida Statute 768.79 and Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.442. In Florida, a PFS can be a strategic move that carries financial consequences if rejected.

As previously reported, on October 10, 2019, California enacted AB 51, which prohibited employers from requiring employees to submit to binding agreements that waived “any right, forum or procedure” available under the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and Labor Code for resolving employment-based claims. Labor Code § 432.6 (a). Last week, in a divided 2-1 panel decision, the Ninth Circuit reversed in part the district court’s conclusion that AB 51 is preempted by the FAA and vacated the preliminary injunction, holding that the core of AB 51 – the prohibition of mandatory employment arbitration agreements – is not preempted.

On September 9, 2021, in a significant victory for California employers, the California Court of Appeal issued the first published appellate opinion in Wesson v. Staples the Office Superstore, LLC holding that trial courts have authority to ensure the manageability of PAGA claims, which includes the power to strike unmanageable PAGA claims as necessary.

In May 2021, Colorado Governor Jared Polis signed HB21-1188, which explicitly overturned the Colorado Supreme Court’s ruling in Ferrer v. Okbamicael, 390 P.3d 836 (Colo. 2017). This law went into effect on September 7, 2021.

Today, in a highly-anticipated opinion, the Illinois First District Appellate Court ruled in Tims v. Black Horse Motor Carriers, Inc. that different statutes of limitations apply to different provisions of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA, or the Act). This ruling has far reaching implications for all pending BIPA litigation and is likely to be appealed.

In Qaadir v. Figueroa (2021) 67 Cal.App.5th 790, the plaintiff sued the defendants for negligence arising from a car accident defendants caused. During trial, both parties had billing experts testify about the reasonableness of the medical bills. Neither of the billing experts relied upon plaintiff’s unpaid medical bills to determine the reasonableness of the plaintiff’s medical expenses. On appeal, the defendants argued that the trial court erred by admitting the plaintiff’s unpaid medical bills.

On September 15, 2021, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published a report summarizing its findings from a study it performed regarding acquisitions made by five large technology firms over a 10-year period that were not reported to the federal U.S. antitrust agencies under the Hart-Scott-Rodino (HSR) Act.

Late in the night on Sunday, September 12, 2021, Democrats on the House Ways & Means Committee leaked changes spanning much of federal tax law. On September 13, Ways & Means officially released a summary of the proposed changes and 645 pages of draft legislative text.