On July 10, 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (“BIS”) published a new guidance document addressing risks associated with the export, reexport, and transfer of controlled items under the Export Administration Regulations (“EAR”). The guidance outlines both (1) methods by which BIS informs affected parties about export diversion risks, outside of its public screening lists and (2) BIS-recommended practices to comply with related regulations and mitigate diversion risks.

It has been another busy year for developments under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, 740 ILCS 14 et seq. (BIPA), with three recent decisions providing key insight into the scope and contours of the statute - specifically concerning what constitutes a biometric identifier/biometric information.

On July 25, 2024, in a unanimous decision, California’s Supreme Court ruled it was constitutional for companies such as Lyft, Uber and DoorDash to classify their drivers as gig workers, commonly referred to as independent contractors.

Lewis Brisbois is pleased to welcome David Hendrix to its Tampa office as a partner in the firm’s Complex Business & Commercial Litigation and Banking & Finance Practices. With 34 years of legal experience, Mr. Hendrix joins Lewis Brisbois from GrayRobinson, where he founded the firm’s Banking & Finance Practice more than 20 years ago. Mr. Hendrix focuses his practice on commercial and business litigation – including extensive trial work – as well as banking litigation. He also regularly handles regulatory and compliance matters for financial institutions. Mr. Hendrix has tried well over 100 jury trials and has successfully represented large banks in dozens of high-exposure cases, including complex class actions.

In the United States, cyber insurance underwriters have historically been concerned with assessing first-party exposure when a policyholder sustains a data security incident requiring crisis management, remediation, and computer system restoration; or assessing third-party exposure via data breaches or regulatory defenses and fines resulting from financial or health services sectorial privacy regulations. However, the very recent passing of numerous state general privacy laws, as well as the FTC‘s continued dedication toward exercising its Section 5 powers against “unfair or deceptive acts or practices,” may be broadening the scope of exposure to cyber insurance underwriters and forcing them to reconsider future cyber insurance coverage and exclusions. The FTC in particular has recently focused on one particular subcategory of privacy violation: “dark patterns.”

Northwest Indiana Partner Tricia Bellich recently published an article in CLM Magazine titled, “Coming Soon to a Workplace Near You,” which discusses leading trends in the area of workers’ compensation.

On May 31, 2024, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) listed four entities and one individual for promoting Iran’s unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) program. U.S. Under Secretary of the Treasury for Terrorism and Financial Intelligence Brian E. Nelson stated that Iran’s UAV program was supplying Russia’s arsenal in Ukraine, and OFAC’s latest move is part of ongoing efforts to counter Iran’s destabilizing actions.

Los Angeles Partners Donald Forgey and Nicholas Koumoulis secured a complete defense verdict on behalf of their client, a nightclub owner/operator in Los Angeles. The case, which had been litigated for over five years, involved a then-25-year-old female patron who alleged that she was physically and sexually assaulted, battered, and falsely imprisoned by the security staff inside and outside of the venue.

New Orleans Partner James W. Hailey III will join a panel on investigating automotive cases at the International Association of Special Investigation Units' (IASIU) Annual Conference, hosted in Orlando on August 27 at 8:30 a.m. CT.

Expanding upon prior decisions that support the use of insurance adjusted rates when mitigating future medical damage claims, the Fourth District Appellate Court recently ruled that in a personal injury action the defense is permitted to ask questions regarding future eligibility for Medicare without violating the collateral source rule. This decision allows the defense to introduce evidence of Medi-Cal and Medicare eligibility along with anticipated future costs at those significantly reduced rates. The Fourth District reasoned in its ruling that the collateral source rule was not violated because such evidence pertained to the value of future medical services, which is permitted according to well-established precedent.

On June 11, 2024, in its decision in the Celestial Aviation Services Limited v. UniCredit Bank GmbH case, the Court of Appeal for England and Wales ("Court") issued a significant ruling on the impact of U.K. and U.S. sanctions on payment obligations under letters of credit (“LCs”). While the court below found that UniCredit was obligated to pay the LCs, on appeal the Court determined that the imposition of sanctions imposed by the United Kingdom and the United States prevented payment on the LCs. 

On June 20, 2024, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) took several steps against Kaspersky Lab, Inc. (“Kaspersky”), a U.S. subsidiary of a Russian company and its affiliates

Courts across the country continue to bolster transportation brokers’ defense against state law tort claims, as seen by another favorable ruling in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit this week.