DROPLETS
Recent rulings in two federal courts of appeals narrow the limited partner exception to self-employment tax for fund sponsors, management companies and independent sponsors, pushing private fund counsel to re-test existing structures.
Two federal courts of appeals have issued recent decisions that narrow the availability of the limited partner exception to the self-employment tax, a federal tax doctrine that permits partners who are not materially participating in the trade or business to be excluded from self-employment tax. As reported in a McGuireWoods alert, the rulings represent a meaningful shift for fund sponsors, management companies and independent sponsors that have relied on, or considered relying on, the exception.
Why sophisticated counsel should care: self-employment tax exposure arises at the individual sponsor or GP/manager level, so a narrowing of the exception can change the after-tax economics of a sponsor's own vehicle even where fund-level terms, management fees and carried interest are untouched. Independent sponsors and management-company structures built on the exception are the most exposed.
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EPA's proposed sweeping revisions to federal methane standards for the oil and natural gas sector would again reset compliance planning for producers, underscoring how quickly the rules have swung with successive administrations.
EPA has proposed sweeping revisions to federal methane standards governing the oil and natural gas sector, according to a Dorsey & Whitney client alert published in November 2026. The firm's analysis frames the action as the latest swing in a decade of regulatory "ping-pong," with successive administrations alternately expanding, narrowing, and rescinded methane rules — a pattern that gives clients and counsel limited assurance that any single compliance baseline will endure.
Why sophisticated clients care: methane requirements reach drilling and production operations, and the final design of the proposal could drive equipment, monitoring, verification, and operating-cost decisions across multiple basins rather than a single asset. Because the available report characterizes the action only as a proposal, its specific operative requirements, timelines, and cost impacts are not established on this evidence, and the rulemaking remains subject to comment, revision, and possible reversal under a later administration.
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Delaware Chancery enjoined Cloudflare's founder-control recapitalization, finding the special committee likely failed Section 144's good-faith test and narrowing the statute's injunction exclusion.
Per a Foley & Lardner alert, the Delaware Court of Chancery preliminarily enjoined Cloudflare's multi-step recapitalization, which would have let co-founders Matthew Prince and Michelle Zatlyn sell economic interests without losing voting control, holding that plaintiffs showed a reasonable probability that the special committee did not satisfy Section 144's "in good faith and without gross negligence" condition. Vice Chancellor Laster rejected the other statutory arguments: the Section 144(d)(6) injunction exclusion does not reach conflicted controller transactions, board determinations of a committee member's disinterest are measured by gross negligence rather than entire fairness, and the heightened presumption of disinterest for listed-company directors meeting stock-exchange independence rules applies beyond the pleadings stage, requiring clear and convincing evidence to rebut. Because the recapitalization contained no price term and only roughly 15.6% to 17.7% of unaffiliated voting power supported the voted components (with Glass Lewis and ISS opposing), the court also found a
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The Fifth and Second Circuits both held that state-law limited partner status alone does not qualify for the Section 1402(a)(13) self-employment tax exception, but they adopted different tests for when management activity defeats it.
In August 2026 the Fifth Circuit withdrew its original Sirius Solutions opinion and substituted K Alain, L.L.P. v. Commissioner, 184 F.4th 766, holding that a "limited partner" for Section 1402(a)(13) purposes is one who "plays no significant role in managing or running a business," rejecting the Tax Court's detailed functional analysis in favor of a broader no-significant-management-control test that tolerates some participation short of control. In September the Second Circuit affirmed the Tax Court in Soroban Capital Partners LP v. Commissioner, holding that state-law limited partner designation is not sufficient and that fund principals who worked full time, managed portfolio investments, sat on governing committees and participated in hiring were not "passive investors," so their distributive shares were subject to self-employment tax. The Second Circuit said there was "little daylight" between the two definitions, but the Fifth Circuit expressly rejected the Tax Court's approach, leaving the operative threshold unsettled. Fund partners, family offices and individual investors s
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Treasury's October 2026 NPRM would bar most US investments in Chinese AI, biotech, hypersonic and quantum developers, drop notification tiers and tighten fund/LP diligence, with comments due 7 December 2026.
Treasury's 22 October 2026 NPRM (91 Fed. Reg. 67396) would implement the COINS Act, replacing 31 C.F.R. Part 850 with a new Part 851 and extending the outbound investment program to Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Russia. Most consequentially, it would drop the notification-only tier for AI, relabelled "super intelligence" under Executive Order 14434, so covered transactions in any SI developer would be prohibited regardless of computing thresholds — a choice Treasury made although the statute left the parameters open, and one likely to draw heavy comment. Biotechnology, including small molecules, vaccines, cell and gene therapies and monoclonal antibodies, would also become prohibited technology with no notification tier, potentially reaching much of China's pharma and life-sciences tools sector; licensing and procurement contracts generally stay outside, while co-development and joint ventures need structure-specific analysis. For asset managers, public securities exceptions survive, the BDC exception is dropped, LP commitments above $2 million need binding assurances covering both not
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The Ninth Circuit affirmed a preliminary injunction against California SB 399, holding the captive-audience statute content- and speaker-based and presumptively unconstitutional, in a roundup also covering COVID and Title VII rulings.
The October appellate roundup from Littler reports four federal circuit decisions. Most consequential is California Chamber of Commerce v. Bonta (9th Cir. Oct. 29, 2026), in which the Ninth Circuit affirmed a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of California SB 399, the law penalizing employers for adverse action against employees who decline employer-sponsored meetings on religious or political topics, a category that includes labor organizations. The panel read the statute as reaching speech rather than mere attendance, treated it as content-based and speaker-based and presumptively unconstitutional, and held the state had not shown it narrowly tailored to serve a compelling interest. Counsel advising California employers on mandatory captive-audience meetings should reassess meeting scripts, notice-and-consent language and attendance policies while certification is pending. The roundup also covers MacDonald v. Oregon Health & Science University (9th Cir. Oct. 2, 2026), affirming dismissal of free-exercise and Title VII failure-to-accommodate claims brought by a healthcare
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In Gilead Tenofovir Cases, 20 Cal. 5th 390 (2026), the California Supreme Court reportedly held a manufacturer cannot be liable for not developing a safer alternative sooner when the product sold is not defective.
The California Supreme Court, in Gilead Tenofovir Cases, 20 Cal. 5th 390 (2026), rejected the proposition that a pharmaceutical manufacturer may be liable for failing to bring an allegedly safer drug to market sooner when the product it already sells is not defective. Per a Husch Blackwell client alert published on JD Supra on 2 November 2026, the court declined to impose either a duty to innovate or an obligation to accelerate development of alternatives to non-defective products.
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HHS's health IT certification final rule, published October 28, 2026, trims certification requirements and steers interoperability toward FHIR, affecting EHR vendors, health systems and providers' attestations.
On October 28, 2026, HHS's Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology published the Health Data, Technology, and Interoperability: ONC Certification Criteria Updates (HTI-5) final rule in the Federal Register. Per a McDermott Will & Emery summary, the rule trims health IT certification requirements and sets a FHIR-forward course for interoperability.
Why it matters: certification criteria decide which EHRs and health IT modules are federally certified, driving vendor roadmaps, health system procurement specifications, and federal programs and attestations tied to certified software. Narrower criteria should reduce compliance cost and speed product releases, while the interoperability direction raises expectations for vendors slow to adopt FHIR-based APIs. Providers need to know whether narrower criteria affect their certified deployments, attestations, and vendor contracts.
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The FTC's October 28 Section 6(b) orders compel nine airline, ride-sharing, delivery and retail companies to show how personal data drives prices and worker pay, with responses due in 45 days.
On October 28, 2026, the FTC issued Section 6(b) orders to nine companies across the airline, ride-sharing, delivery and retail industries, directing each to document how personal data feeds pricing, job-assignment and worker-compensation decisions, with 45 days from receipt to respond. The Special Order seeks pricing methodologies, the personal-information inputs used, the tools and software involved, how outputs affect outcomes, circumstances of human override, A/B testing, and disclosures to consumers and workers. The FTC has not explained why these companies were selected, and inclusion in the study is not an allegation of wrongdoing. The orders follow the agency's August proposed policy statement warning that undisclosed use of personal data to set prices may be unfair or deceptive, and arrive alongside new state restrictions in New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland and New York's algorithmic-pricing disclosure mandate. Target, Instacart and JetBlue, said to be among the recipients, already face scrutiny, including a putative JetBlue class action alleging willingness-to-pay prici
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The National Security Division and EDNC announced the first 'near-miss' non-prosecution agreement under DOJ's revised corporate enforcement policy, turning that new policy language into an operative precedent.
On October 27, 2026, DOJ's National Security Division and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina announced a non-prosecution agreement (NPA) with a corporate entity, described as the first "near-miss" NPA under DOJ's revised corporate enforcement policy. The available report excerpt does not identify the counterparty, the underlying conduct, or the NPA's terms, so the specific factual predicates and any export-control or sanctions nexus remain unconfirmed here.
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The Civil Division and HHS opened a six-month False Claims Act self-disclosure pilot for healthcare providers, creating a new channel to report suspected overpayments — with terms and open questions still to resolve.
On October 22, 2026, the Department of Justice Civil Division and the Department of Health and Human Services announced a six-month Healthcare False Claims Act Self-Disclosure Pilot Program. The pilot opens a channel for eligible healthcare providers to self-report suspected False Claims Act violations to both agencies, and the source reporting walks through the program's terms and limits alongside questions it leaves unresolved.
Why sophisticated counsel should care: the FCA carries per-claim civil penalties, so provider clients — health systems, hospitals, physicians, and contractors billing government programs — face a recurring sequencing decision between investigating quietly and disclosing early. A dedicated DOJ-HHS channel could shift that calculus, and any resulting enforcement posture will be shaped by how the agencies treat disclosures made under it.
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Judge Gregory Williams of the District of Delaware granted in part and denied in part DISH Network's Section 101 summary judgment motion in TQ Delta, LLC v. DISH Network Corp. (No. 15-614-GBW), opinion issued October 19, 2026.
On October 19, 2026, Judge Gregory Williams of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware granted in part and denied in part a motion for summary judgment under 35 U.S.C. § 101 in TQ Delta, LLC v. DISH Network Corp., No. 15-614-GBW. The material reviewed here is a single law-firm alert; it does not identify which claims or claim limitations were held eligible or ineligible, and the slip opinion itself is not in evidence, so the precise scope of the ruling should be confirmed against the opinion before it is relied on. At that level of generality, the development still matters to sophisticated patent counsel. Eligibility screening under § 101 is one of the most consequential early-stage levers in multiparty patent disputes, and a mixed ruling ordinarily keeps the case alive and pushes it toward claim construction, validity, and infringement rather than ending it on eligibility grounds alone. Clients on both sides of § 101 motions should track the resulting case-management schedule, the start of any claim-construction phase, and any notice of appeal, and should compare the co
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HHS said on October 28, 2026 it will not enforce against pharmacies, federal facilities and physicians compounding six peptides while FDA works on its Bulks List rulemaking.
On October 28, 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued an interim policy stating it does not intend to take enforcement action against state-licensed pharmacies, federal facilities, or licensed physicians that compound a specified set of six peptides, while FDA proceeds with rulemaking on the compounding "Bulks List" under the federal drug compounding framework. The excerpt does not identify the six peptides or the precise conditions attached to the non-enforcement stance, so the scope of the safe harbor should be confirmed against the full policy text and any accompanying guidance.
Why sophisticated counsel should care: compounding enforcement posture is a recurring source of risk for telehealth and anti-aging peptide providers, 503A and 503B outsourcing facilities, and hospitals or clinics that prepare sterile and nonsterile preparations. An interim enforcement carve-out can effectively legitimize product lines that remain legally unsettled, while also creating compliance and truthful-marketing exposure where a given product falls outside the carve-out.
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The OCC's October 2026 report on large-bank "debanking" raises fresh regulatory and client-relationship questions for banks, fintechs and corporates that depend on bank relationships.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released a report titled "Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans" on October 14, 2026, drawing on a supervisory review the agency began in September 2025 of the activities of the then nine largest U.S. banks. The subject is the phenomenon firms have labelled "debanking" — the withdrawal of banking relationships or services from businesses and consumers — and the report's framing connects that conduct to questions of fair access to banking services. Only the existence, title, date and review scope are confirmed here; specific findings, data and any supervisory recommendations are not described in the available material and should be verified against the OCC text before citation.
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A Treasury NPRM issued October 22, 2026 would implement Subtitle C of the COINS Act, extending the outbound investment national security program that constrains covered U.S. investors' dealings with foreign persons.
Treasury issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on October 22, 2026 that would implement Subtitle C of the Comprehensive Outbound Investment National Security (COINS) Act, according to a Sheppard Mullin client alert published November 3. The proposal would extend the existing outbound investment security program, under which covered U.S. persons must notify or prohibit certain securities and investment transactions with foreign persons engaged in covered activities linked to national security concerns. The alert does not identify the specific covered technologies, activity definitions, transaction types, or compliance mechanics Treasury proposes to add, so the operative scope should be treated as unconfirmed until the Federal Register text is reviewed.
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Federal appeals courts now split on whether sports event contracts are CFTC-regulated swaps or state gambling, and the CFTC's October 2026 rules propose expressly redefining "swap" as courts and cert petitions collide.
Per Foley's November 2026 overview (the firm's own analysis, not independent reporting of the holdings), federal appellate courts are divided on whether sports-linked event contracts traded on CFTC-designated contract markets qualify as "swaps" under the Commodity Exchange Act and whether CFTC jurisdiction preempts state gambling law. The Third Circuit (KalshiEX v. Flaherty) held the contracts likely are swaps and that field and conflict preemption barred New Jersey from enforcing its gambling laws. The Ninth Circuit (KalshiEX v. Assad) reached the opposite conclusion, characterizing team-winner contracts as sports bets and pointing to geofencing as a workable compliance measure. On September 25, 2026, the Sixth Circuit joined the Ninth Circuit in the consolidated Ohio and Tennessee appeals (KalshiEX v. Schuler and Orgel), and Kalshi filed an en banc rehearing petition on October 9; a Fourth Circuit decision is expected. Meanwhile, on October 9 the CFTC released a proposed rule amending the "swap" definition to include event contracts and a companion interim final rule excluding casi
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The EEOC's Oct. 28, 2026 vote withdraws its 2012 guidance on criminal-history screening, signaling no race or national-origin disparate-impact enforcement — while Title VII, FCRA and stricter state fair-chance laws remain in force.
Per Jackson Lewis, the EEOC voted on Oct. 28, 2026 to withdraw its 2012 "Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions under Title VII," effective immediately. The withdrawn guidance had recommended that employers not ask about convictions on applications, limit inquiries to job-related convictions, and use targeted screens plus individualized assessment (the Green factors) before excluding candidates. Chair Andrea Lucas said the agency will not pursue Title VII disparate-impact claims based on race or national origin arising from criminal-history inquiries, framing the vote as enforcing Title VII within the limits of Congress's authority.
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The Eighth Circuit affirmed vacatur of the Federal Reserve's Regulation II debit interchange fee cap and remanded for a different cost methodology, leaving the Reserve discretion to write a workable replacement.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed the vacatur of the Federal Reserve's Regulation II debit interchange fee cap, holding that the Board's cost-based methodology for setting regulated debit transaction fees was defective, and remanded for the agency to adopt a workable replacement standard. The court left the Reserve meaningful discretion to frame that standard within the boundaries of the authorizing statute, so the ruling is a framework setback rather than an operative substitute cap or fee schedule. For banks, payment networks, and large merchants, the open questions are how much pricing latitude returns, what cost methodology commenters will urge on remand, and how issuers and processors re-price debit portfolios in the interim. Sophisticated counsel should track the remanded docket, where the new methodology and the compliance timeline will be litigated and negotiated, and monitor whether the prevailing parties seek further appellate review, including a possible certiorari petition, which would affect when any final rule arrives. Uncertainty remains concentrated in the breadth of agency
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The CFPB announced on October 14, 2026 a new initiative to investigate potentially unlawful debanking by large financial institutions, putting account-closure practices under fresh federal scrutiny.
What happened: On October 14, 2026, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced a new initiative aimed at investigating potentially unlawful debanking practices by large financial institutions. The alert (republished via JD Supra by Goodwin Procter) describes the move as signaling heightened regulatory scrutiny of account terminations, but the available source does not identify which institutions are in scope, the specific conduct elements under review, the investigative tools deployed, or any timeline for findings.
Why sophisticated counsel should care: Debanking — the termination or refusal of retail or small-business deposit relationships — has drawn repeated CFPB attention, and several state regulators have pursued parallel theories. A federal initiative directed at large institutions raises the prospect of coordinated supervisory inquiries, requests for information, or enforcement actions that reach well beyond one-off settlements, landing on banks already managing overlapping expectations across federal and state supervisors.
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OHCA emergency regulations implementing AB 1415 add state-level scrutiny to private equity and MSO transactions in California health care, creating a new approval gate for a deal class already under regulatory attention.
On October 2, 2026, the California Office of Administrative Law approved emergency regulations issued by the Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA) implementing Assembly Bill 1415 and expanding state oversight of private equity and management services organization transactions in California health care. The available source is a single law-firm alert whose description is truncated, so specific mechanics — covered transaction thresholds, notice or approval triggers, timelines, and exemptions for existing portfolio companies — are not confirmed here and should be checked against the approved regulation text and any OHCA guidance.
Why sophisticated counsel should care: California has become a gating jurisdiction for health care private equity. A transaction that clears review in other states may now require state-level notice or approval, which can move deal timelines, diligence sequencing, and risk allocation, since a regulator's sign-off is not a price item a buyer can simply waive away.
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The Commission's October 9, 2026 NPRM would amend the CEA "swap" definition to distinguish event contracts from casino-style wagers, putting prediction-market and brokerage product classification back in play.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on October 9, 2026 that would amend the definition of "swap" under Section 1(a) of the Commodity Exchange Act to expressly draw a line between event contracts and casino-style gambling, according to a Skadden alert. The stated premise is that certain event contracts treated as swaps raise questions when the instrument functions as a wager on the occurrence of an event rather than a conventional derivative exposure.
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The Fifth Circuit ruled October 16, 2026, that CFIUS neither conflicts with nor occupies the field of Texas's Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act, leaving state restrictions on foreign access to critical infrastructure standing.
On October 16, 2026, the Fifth Circuit affirmed dismissal in GH America Energy, L.L.C. v. Fohn, holding that the federal CFIUS regime neither conflict-preempts nor field-preempts Texas's Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act, which bars agreements giving companies headquartered in, owned or controlled by, or majority-owned by persons of China, Iran, North Korea, Russia or other designated states direct or remote access to Texas critical infrastructure. The court treated LSIPA as regulating intrastate grid-access agreements rather than corporate control transactions, found the two regimes complementary, applied the heightened presumption against preemption in utility regulation, and declined policy balancing. The ruling does not necessarily reach state land-ownership restrictions, since CFIUS regulates real estate under Part 802; the Eighth Circuit heard argument in Arkansas Cryptomining Ass'n v. York on October 20, 2026, on CFIUS preemption of Arkansas Act 174. Sophisticated clients should screen ownership and control through the chain against LSIPA's ERCOT 20% affiliate threshold,
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Amended cost and market impact review regulations effective Nov. 2, 2026 replace interim guidance on which private equity, hedge fund and MSO transactions must file notice with OHCA, and when.
California's Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA) issued amended cost and market impact review (CMIR) regulations that take effect Nov. 2, 2026, according to a McGuireWoods client alert. The rules replace OHCA's interim guidance on who must file notice, when notice must be filed, and what must be submitted, with the alert noting particular attention to private equity funds, hedge funds and management services organizations (MSOs).
Why sophisticated counsel and clients care: for sponsors, health systems and their advisers, the filing trigger and timing under the prior interim guidance fed directly into deal structuring — whether an acquisition required notice, how long pre-signing preparation of notice content took, and how the review obligation was allocated among parties. These amendments are now operative regulation rather than non-binding guidance, and they affect conditionality, timetable and sequencing for healthcare transactions in the state's largest healthcare market.
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Recent rulings in two federal courts of appeals narrow the limited partner exception to self-employment tax for fund sponsors, management companies and independent sponsors, pushing private fund counsel to re-test existing structures.
Two federal courts of appeals have issued recent decisions that narrow the availability of the limited partner exception to the self-employment tax, a federal tax doctrine that permits partners who are not materially participating in the trade or business to be excluded from self-employment tax. As reported in a McGuireWoods alert, the rulings represent a meaningful shift for fund sponsors, management companies and independent sponsors that have relied on, or considered relying on, the exception.
Why sophisticated counsel should care: self-employment tax exposure arises at the individual sponsor or GP/manager level, so a narrowing of the exception can change the after-tax economics of a sponsor's own vehicle even where fund-level terms, management fees and carried interest are untouched. Independent sponsors and management-company structures built on the exception are the most exposed.
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The FTC's October 28 Section 6(b) orders compel nine airline, ride-sharing, delivery and retail companies to show how personal data drives prices and worker pay, with responses due in 45 days.
On October 28, 2026, the FTC issued Section 6(b) orders to nine companies across the airline, ride-sharing, delivery and retail industries, directing each to document how personal data feeds pricing, job-assignment and worker-compensation decisions, with 45 days from receipt to respond. The Special Order seeks pricing methodologies, the personal-information inputs used, the tools and software involved, how outputs affect outcomes, circumstances of human override, A/B testing, and disclosures to consumers and workers. The FTC has not explained why these companies were selected, and inclusion in the study is not an allegation of wrongdoing. The orders follow the agency's August proposed policy statement warning that undisclosed use of personal data to set prices may be unfair or deceptive, and arrive alongside new state restrictions in New Jersey, Connecticut and Maryland and New York's algorithmic-pricing disclosure mandate. Target, Instacart and JetBlue, said to be among the recipients, already face scrutiny, including a putative JetBlue class action alleging willingness-to-pay prici
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Delaware Chancery enjoined Cloudflare's founder-control recapitalization, finding the special committee likely failed Section 144's good-faith test and narrowing the statute's injunction exclusion.
Per a Foley & Lardner alert, the Delaware Court of Chancery preliminarily enjoined Cloudflare's multi-step recapitalization, which would have let co-founders Matthew Prince and Michelle Zatlyn sell economic interests without losing voting control, holding that plaintiffs showed a reasonable probability that the special committee did not satisfy Section 144's "in good faith and without gross negligence" condition. Vice Chancellor Laster rejected the other statutory arguments: the Section 144(d)(6) injunction exclusion does not reach conflicted controller transactions, board determinations of a committee member's disinterest are measured by gross negligence rather than entire fairness, and the heightened presumption of disinterest for listed-company directors meeting stock-exchange independence rules applies beyond the pleadings stage, requiring clear and convincing evidence to rebut. Because the recapitalization contained no price term and only roughly 15.6% to 17.7% of unaffiliated voting power supported the voted components (with Glass Lewis and ISS opposing), the court also found a
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The Ninth Circuit affirmed a preliminary injunction against California SB 399, holding the captive-audience statute content- and speaker-based and presumptively unconstitutional, in a roundup also covering COVID and Title VII rulings.
The October appellate roundup from Littler reports four federal circuit decisions. Most consequential is California Chamber of Commerce v. Bonta (9th Cir. Oct. 29, 2026), in which the Ninth Circuit affirmed a preliminary injunction blocking enforcement of California SB 399, the law penalizing employers for adverse action against employees who decline employer-sponsored meetings on religious or political topics, a category that includes labor organizations. The panel read the statute as reaching speech rather than mere attendance, treated it as content-based and speaker-based and presumptively unconstitutional, and held the state had not shown it narrowly tailored to serve a compelling interest. Counsel advising California employers on mandatory captive-audience meetings should reassess meeting scripts, notice-and-consent language and attendance policies while certification is pending. The roundup also covers MacDonald v. Oregon Health & Science University (9th Cir. Oct. 2, 2026), affirming dismissal of free-exercise and Title VII failure-to-accommodate claims brought by a healthcare
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The EEOC's Oct. 28, 2026 vote withdraws its 2012 guidance on criminal-history screening, signaling no race or national-origin disparate-impact enforcement — while Title VII, FCRA and stricter state fair-chance laws remain in force.
Per Jackson Lewis, the EEOC voted on Oct. 28, 2026 to withdraw its 2012 "Enforcement Guidance on the Consideration of Arrest and Conviction Records in Employment Decisions under Title VII," effective immediately. The withdrawn guidance had recommended that employers not ask about convictions on applications, limit inquiries to job-related convictions, and use targeted screens plus individualized assessment (the Green factors) before excluding candidates. Chair Andrea Lucas said the agency will not pursue Title VII disparate-impact claims based on race or national origin arising from criminal-history inquiries, framing the vote as enforcing Title VII within the limits of Congress's authority.
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EPA's proposed sweeping revisions to federal methane standards for the oil and natural gas sector would again reset compliance planning for producers, underscoring how quickly the rules have swung with successive administrations.
EPA has proposed sweeping revisions to federal methane standards governing the oil and natural gas sector, according to a Dorsey & Whitney client alert published in November 2026. The firm's analysis frames the action as the latest swing in a decade of regulatory "ping-pong," with successive administrations alternately expanding, narrowing, and rescinded methane rules — a pattern that gives clients and counsel limited assurance that any single compliance baseline will endure.
Why sophisticated clients care: methane requirements reach drilling and production operations, and the final design of the proposal could drive equipment, monitoring, verification, and operating-cost decisions across multiple basins rather than a single asset. Because the available report characterizes the action only as a proposal, its specific operative requirements, timelines, and cost impacts are not established on this evidence, and the rulemaking remains subject to comment, revision, and possible reversal under a later administration.
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HHS said on October 28, 2026 it will not enforce against pharmacies, federal facilities and physicians compounding six peptides while FDA works on its Bulks List rulemaking.
On October 28, 2026, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued an interim policy stating it does not intend to take enforcement action against state-licensed pharmacies, federal facilities, or licensed physicians that compound a specified set of six peptides, while FDA proceeds with rulemaking on the compounding "Bulks List" under the federal drug compounding framework. The excerpt does not identify the six peptides or the precise conditions attached to the non-enforcement stance, so the scope of the safe harbor should be confirmed against the full policy text and any accompanying guidance.
Why sophisticated counsel should care: compounding enforcement posture is a recurring source of risk for telehealth and anti-aging peptide providers, 503A and 503B outsourcing facilities, and hospitals or clinics that prepare sterile and nonsterile preparations. An interim enforcement carve-out can effectively legitimize product lines that remain legally unsettled, while also creating compliance and truthful-marketing exposure where a given product falls outside the carve-out.
…
The OCC's October 2026 report on large-bank "debanking" raises fresh regulatory and client-relationship questions for banks, fintechs and corporates that depend on bank relationships.
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency released a report titled "Guaranteeing Fair Banking for All Americans" on October 14, 2026, drawing on a supervisory review the agency began in September 2025 of the activities of the then nine largest U.S. banks. The subject is the phenomenon firms have labelled "debanking" — the withdrawal of banking relationships or services from businesses and consumers — and the report's framing connects that conduct to questions of fair access to banking services. Only the existence, title, date and review scope are confirmed here; specific findings, data and any supervisory recommendations are not described in the available material and should be verified against the OCC text before citation.
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The Eighth Circuit affirmed vacatur of the Federal Reserve's Regulation II debit interchange fee cap and remanded for a different cost methodology, leaving the Reserve discretion to write a workable replacement.
The Eighth Circuit affirmed the vacatur of the Federal Reserve's Regulation II debit interchange fee cap, holding that the Board's cost-based methodology for setting regulated debit transaction fees was defective, and remanded for the agency to adopt a workable replacement standard. The court left the Reserve meaningful discretion to frame that standard within the boundaries of the authorizing statute, so the ruling is a framework setback rather than an operative substitute cap or fee schedule. For banks, payment networks, and large merchants, the open questions are how much pricing latitude returns, what cost methodology commenters will urge on remand, and how issuers and processors re-price debit portfolios in the interim. Sophisticated counsel should track the remanded docket, where the new methodology and the compliance timeline will be litigated and negotiated, and monitor whether the prevailing parties seek further appellate review, including a possible certiorari petition, which would affect when any final rule arrives. Uncertainty remains concentrated in the breadth of agency
…
The CFPB announced on October 14, 2026 a new initiative to investigate potentially unlawful debanking by large financial institutions, putting account-closure practices under fresh federal scrutiny.
What happened: On October 14, 2026, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau announced a new initiative aimed at investigating potentially unlawful debanking practices by large financial institutions. The alert (republished via JD Supra by Goodwin Procter) describes the move as signaling heightened regulatory scrutiny of account terminations, but the available source does not identify which institutions are in scope, the specific conduct elements under review, the investigative tools deployed, or any timeline for findings.
Why sophisticated counsel should care: Debanking — the termination or refusal of retail or small-business deposit relationships — has drawn repeated CFPB attention, and several state regulators have pursued parallel theories. A federal initiative directed at large institutions raises the prospect of coordinated supervisory inquiries, requests for information, or enforcement actions that reach well beyond one-off settlements, landing on banks already managing overlapping expectations across federal and state supervisors.
…
The Commission's October 9, 2026 NPRM would amend the CEA "swap" definition to distinguish event contracts from casino-style wagers, putting prediction-market and brokerage product classification back in play.
The Commodity Futures Trading Commission published a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on October 9, 2026 that would amend the definition of "swap" under Section 1(a) of the Commodity Exchange Act to expressly draw a line between event contracts and casino-style gambling, according to a Skadden alert. The stated premise is that certain event contracts treated as swaps raise questions when the instrument functions as a wager on the occurrence of an event rather than a conventional derivative exposure.
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Federal appeals courts now split on whether sports event contracts are CFTC-regulated swaps or state gambling, and the CFTC's October 2026 rules propose expressly redefining "swap" as courts and cert petitions collide.
Per Foley's November 2026 overview (the firm's own analysis, not independent reporting of the holdings), federal appellate courts are divided on whether sports-linked event contracts traded on CFTC-designated contract markets qualify as "swaps" under the Commodity Exchange Act and whether CFTC jurisdiction preempts state gambling law. The Third Circuit (KalshiEX v. Flaherty) held the contracts likely are swaps and that field and conflict preemption barred New Jersey from enforcing its gambling laws. The Ninth Circuit (KalshiEX v. Assad) reached the opposite conclusion, characterizing team-winner contracts as sports bets and pointing to geofencing as a workable compliance measure. On September 25, 2026, the Sixth Circuit joined the Ninth Circuit in the consolidated Ohio and Tennessee appeals (KalshiEX v. Schuler and Orgel), and Kalshi filed an en banc rehearing petition on October 9; a Fourth Circuit decision is expected. Meanwhile, on October 9 the CFTC released a proposed rule amending the "swap" definition to include event contracts and a companion interim final rule excluding casi
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HHS's health IT certification final rule, published October 28, 2026, trims certification requirements and steers interoperability toward FHIR, affecting EHR vendors, health systems and providers' attestations.
On October 28, 2026, HHS's Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology published the Health Data, Technology, and Interoperability: ONC Certification Criteria Updates (HTI-5) final rule in the Federal Register. Per a McDermott Will & Emery summary, the rule trims health IT certification requirements and sets a FHIR-forward course for interoperability.
Why it matters: certification criteria decide which EHRs and health IT modules are federally certified, driving vendor roadmaps, health system procurement specifications, and federal programs and attestations tied to certified software. Narrower criteria should reduce compliance cost and speed product releases, while the interoperability direction raises expectations for vendors slow to adopt FHIR-based APIs. Providers need to know whether narrower criteria affect their certified deployments, attestations, and vendor contracts.
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The Civil Division and HHS opened a six-month False Claims Act self-disclosure pilot for healthcare providers, creating a new channel to report suspected overpayments — with terms and open questions still to resolve.
On October 22, 2026, the Department of Justice Civil Division and the Department of Health and Human Services announced a six-month Healthcare False Claims Act Self-Disclosure Pilot Program. The pilot opens a channel for eligible healthcare providers to self-report suspected False Claims Act violations to both agencies, and the source reporting walks through the program's terms and limits alongside questions it leaves unresolved.
Why sophisticated counsel should care: the FCA carries per-claim civil penalties, so provider clients — health systems, hospitals, physicians, and contractors billing government programs — face a recurring sequencing decision between investigating quietly and disclosing early. A dedicated DOJ-HHS channel could shift that calculus, and any resulting enforcement posture will be shaped by how the agencies treat disclosures made under it.
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OHCA emergency regulations implementing AB 1415 add state-level scrutiny to private equity and MSO transactions in California health care, creating a new approval gate for a deal class already under regulatory attention.
On October 2, 2026, the California Office of Administrative Law approved emergency regulations issued by the Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA) implementing Assembly Bill 1415 and expanding state oversight of private equity and management services organization transactions in California health care. The available source is a single law-firm alert whose description is truncated, so specific mechanics — covered transaction thresholds, notice or approval triggers, timelines, and exemptions for existing portfolio companies — are not confirmed here and should be checked against the approved regulation text and any OHCA guidance.
Why sophisticated counsel should care: California has become a gating jurisdiction for health care private equity. A transaction that clears review in other states may now require state-level notice or approval, which can move deal timelines, diligence sequencing, and risk allocation, since a regulator's sign-off is not a price item a buyer can simply waive away.
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Amended cost and market impact review regulations effective Nov. 2, 2026 replace interim guidance on which private equity, hedge fund and MSO transactions must file notice with OHCA, and when.
California's Office of Health Care Affordability (OHCA) issued amended cost and market impact review (CMIR) regulations that take effect Nov. 2, 2026, according to a McGuireWoods client alert. The rules replace OHCA's interim guidance on who must file notice, when notice must be filed, and what must be submitted, with the alert noting particular attention to private equity funds, hedge funds and management services organizations (MSOs).
Why sophisticated counsel and clients care: for sponsors, health systems and their advisers, the filing trigger and timing under the prior interim guidance fed directly into deal structuring — whether an acquisition required notice, how long pre-signing preparation of notice content took, and how the review obligation was allocated among parties. These amendments are now operative regulation rather than non-binding guidance, and they affect conditionality, timetable and sequencing for healthcare transactions in the state's largest healthcare market.
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Judge Gregory Williams of the District of Delaware granted in part and denied in part DISH Network's Section 101 summary judgment motion in TQ Delta, LLC v. DISH Network Corp. (No. 15-614-GBW), opinion issued October 19, 2026.
On October 19, 2026, Judge Gregory Williams of the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware granted in part and denied in part a motion for summary judgment under 35 U.S.C. § 101 in TQ Delta, LLC v. DISH Network Corp., No. 15-614-GBW. The material reviewed here is a single law-firm alert; it does not identify which claims or claim limitations were held eligible or ineligible, and the slip opinion itself is not in evidence, so the precise scope of the ruling should be confirmed against the opinion before it is relied on. At that level of generality, the development still matters to sophisticated patent counsel. Eligibility screening under § 101 is one of the most consequential early-stage levers in multiparty patent disputes, and a mixed ruling ordinarily keeps the case alive and pushes it toward claim construction, validity, and infringement rather than ending it on eligibility grounds alone. Clients on both sides of § 101 motions should track the resulting case-management schedule, the start of any claim-construction phase, and any notice of appeal, and should compare the co
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In Gilead Tenofovir Cases, 20 Cal. 5th 390 (2026), the California Supreme Court reportedly held a manufacturer cannot be liable for not developing a safer alternative sooner when the product sold is not defective.
The California Supreme Court, in Gilead Tenofovir Cases, 20 Cal. 5th 390 (2026), rejected the proposition that a pharmaceutical manufacturer may be liable for failing to bring an allegedly safer drug to market sooner when the product it already sells is not defective. Per a Husch Blackwell client alert published on JD Supra on 2 November 2026, the court declined to impose either a duty to innovate or an obligation to accelerate development of alternatives to non-defective products.
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Treasury's October 2026 NPRM would bar most US investments in Chinese AI, biotech, hypersonic and quantum developers, drop notification tiers and tighten fund/LP diligence, with comments due 7 December 2026.
Treasury's 22 October 2026 NPRM (91 Fed. Reg. 67396) would implement the COINS Act, replacing 31 C.F.R. Part 850 with a new Part 851 and extending the outbound investment program to Cuba, Iran, North Korea and Russia. Most consequentially, it would drop the notification-only tier for AI, relabelled "super intelligence" under Executive Order 14434, so covered transactions in any SI developer would be prohibited regardless of computing thresholds — a choice Treasury made although the statute left the parameters open, and one likely to draw heavy comment. Biotechnology, including small molecules, vaccines, cell and gene therapies and monoclonal antibodies, would also become prohibited technology with no notification tier, potentially reaching much of China's pharma and life-sciences tools sector; licensing and procurement contracts generally stay outside, while co-development and joint ventures need structure-specific analysis. For asset managers, public securities exceptions survive, the BDC exception is dropped, LP commitments above $2 million need binding assurances covering both not
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A Treasury NPRM issued October 22, 2026 would implement Subtitle C of the COINS Act, extending the outbound investment national security program that constrains covered U.S. investors' dealings with foreign persons.
Treasury issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on October 22, 2026 that would implement Subtitle C of the Comprehensive Outbound Investment National Security (COINS) Act, according to a Sheppard Mullin client alert published November 3. The proposal would extend the existing outbound investment security program, under which covered U.S. persons must notify or prohibit certain securities and investment transactions with foreign persons engaged in covered activities linked to national security concerns. The alert does not identify the specific covered technologies, activity definitions, transaction types, or compliance mechanics Treasury proposes to add, so the operative scope should be treated as unconfirmed until the Federal Register text is reviewed.
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The Fifth Circuit ruled October 16, 2026, that CFIUS neither conflicts with nor occupies the field of Texas's Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act, leaving state restrictions on foreign access to critical infrastructure standing.
On October 16, 2026, the Fifth Circuit affirmed dismissal in GH America Energy, L.L.C. v. Fohn, holding that the federal CFIUS regime neither conflict-preempts nor field-preempts Texas's Lone Star Infrastructure Protection Act, which bars agreements giving companies headquartered in, owned or controlled by, or majority-owned by persons of China, Iran, North Korea, Russia or other designated states direct or remote access to Texas critical infrastructure. The court treated LSIPA as regulating intrastate grid-access agreements rather than corporate control transactions, found the two regimes complementary, applied the heightened presumption against preemption in utility regulation, and declined policy balancing. The ruling does not necessarily reach state land-ownership restrictions, since CFIUS regulates real estate under Part 802; the Eighth Circuit heard argument in Arkansas Cryptomining Ass'n v. York on October 20, 2026, on CFIUS preemption of Arkansas Act 174. Sophisticated clients should screen ownership and control through the chain against LSIPA's ERCOT 20% affiliate threshold,
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Recent rulings in two federal courts of appeals narrow the limited partner exception to self-employment tax for fund sponsors, management companies and independent sponsors, pushing private fund counsel to re-test existing structures.
Two federal courts of appeals have issued recent decisions that narrow the availability of the limited partner exception to the self-employment tax, a federal tax doctrine that permits partners who are not materially participating in the trade or business to be excluded from self-employment tax. As reported in a McGuireWoods alert, the rulings represent a meaningful shift for fund sponsors, management companies and independent sponsors that have relied on, or considered relying on, the exception.
Why sophisticated counsel should care: self-employment tax exposure arises at the individual sponsor or GP/manager level, so a narrowing of the exception can change the after-tax economics of a sponsor's own vehicle even where fund-level terms, management fees and carried interest are untouched. Independent sponsors and management-company structures built on the exception are the most exposed.
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The Fifth and Second Circuits both held that state-law limited partner status alone does not qualify for the Section 1402(a)(13) self-employment tax exception, but they adopted different tests for when management activity defeats it.
In August 2026 the Fifth Circuit withdrew its original Sirius Solutions opinion and substituted K Alain, L.L.P. v. Commissioner, 184 F.4th 766, holding that a "limited partner" for Section 1402(a)(13) purposes is one who "plays no significant role in managing or running a business," rejecting the Tax Court's detailed functional analysis in favor of a broader no-significant-management-control test that tolerates some participation short of control. In September the Second Circuit affirmed the Tax Court in Soroban Capital Partners LP v. Commissioner, holding that state-law limited partner designation is not sufficient and that fund principals who worked full time, managed portfolio investments, sat on governing committees and participated in hiring were not "passive investors," so their distributive shares were subject to self-employment tax. The Second Circuit said there was "little daylight" between the two definitions, but the Fifth Circuit expressly rejected the Tax Court's approach, leaving the operative threshold unsettled. Fund partners, family offices and individual investors s
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The National Security Division and EDNC announced the first 'near-miss' non-prosecution agreement under DOJ's revised corporate enforcement policy, turning that new policy language into an operative precedent.
On October 27, 2026, DOJ's National Security Division and the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of North Carolina announced a non-prosecution agreement (NPA) with a corporate entity, described as the first "near-miss" NPA under DOJ's revised corporate enforcement policy. The available report excerpt does not identify the counterparty, the underlying conduct, or the NPA's terms, so the specific factual predicates and any export-control or sanctions nexus remain unconfirmed here.
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Grade 3 — worth a glance, not the full analysis.
- Mortgage servicer challenges NY servicer fee rule as unconstitutionally vague
A complaint filed October 20 in federal court in Northern District of New York sues New York AG Letitia James and NYDFS Acting Superintendent Kaitlin Asrow, alleging a servicer fee rule is unconstitutionally vague.
- UK CMA Signals Investor-Friendly Shift and Tighter Scrutiny of Consumer Sectors
Latham & Watkins reads the CMA's new posture as smoother processes for investors and businesses, paired with firmer enforcement attention on consumer-facing sectors.
- Allegheny County signs amendments mandating employer-funded parental leave
Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato signed amendments on October 22, 2026, after an 11-4 council vote, making the county the first in the nation to require employer-funded paid parental leave, via health department rules.
- FCA Publishes AI Good-Practice and Improvement Examples for Financial Services
The UK FCA's 19 October 2026 AI-in-financial-services guidance sets out good-practice examples and improvement areas, giving UK-regulated firms a soft-regulatory reference point for AI governance.
- DOL PERM Modernization Clears OIRA Review; Scrutiny Likely to Rise
OIRA cleared a DOL proposal to update the PERM green-card labor certification process for the first time since 2004, signalling tougher recruitment standards, layoff scrutiny and heavier recordkeeping.
- UK Budget 2026: First Healey Budget Pledges Breathing Space and Reform
Goodwin Procter flags the 28 October 2026 UK Budget, John Healey's first as Chancellor and the first under the Burnham government, as combining immediate relief with bigger structural changes clients should track.
- New DOL Field Assistance Bulletin Targets 80/20 Tip Credit Enforcement
Seyfarth Shaw's employer blog says a new Department of Labor Field Assistance Bulletin effectively forecloses the 80/20 tip-credit rule, a wage-and-hour risk for restaurant and hospitality clients.
- WA mining lease renewals and the native title right to negotiate
Perkins Coie revisits Western Australian guidance following Jackson J's decision in Forrest, warning that second mining lease renewals may engage native title rights to negotiate and leaving proponents of WA projects uncertain.
- AI Chat Discoverability: A Privilege Risk in Patent Litigation
Baker Botts flags that attorney conversations with AI assistants such as Claude may be discoverable in patent litigation, raising confidentiality and privilege questions for litigators.
- Pennsylvania Enacts AI Deceptive Advertising Disclosure Law
Pennsylvania's new Artificial Intelligence Deceptive Advertising Act imposes disclosure duties on advertisements using AI-generated or AI-modified content, creating fresh compliance obligations for consumer-facing marketers.
- DOJ Antitrust Division Applies Sherman Rules to Tech-Mediated Conduct
A Q3 2026 review of DOJ Antitrust Division activity reports the Division continues to apply longstanding Sherman Act principles to conduct carried out through new technology.
- Ninth Circuit Affirms No Arbitration in Rugs.com Browsewrap Dispute
A Ninth Circuit ruling affirmed the denial of Rugs.com's motion to compel arbitration in a putative consumer class action, reinforcing that browsewrap terms alone do not establish consumer assent.
- Privilege and AI-Assisted Legal Advice: A One-Year Reassessment
DLA Piper revisits whether legal advice developed by or with AI systems remains privileged, updating its first-principles analysis from a year ago, when no case law yet addressed AI and privilege.
- Quebec dealer termination row tests notice, accepted orders and s.75 exposure
A pending Montreal motion over an 11-year dealer's termination illustrates how Quebec good-faith rules, order acknowledgments and expanded Competition Act refusal-to-deal remedies intersect.
- California Rules Non-FAA Arbitration Agreements Unenforceable
Seyfarshaw reports a California ruling that employment arbitration agreements falling outside the federal Arbitration Act are unenforceable, so Labor Code section 432.6 rather than federal preemption governs for CA workers.
- UK Data Centre Covenant Sets Extra Tests for Strategic Developers
BCLP explains the UK's new Data Centre Covenant, which layers tests on top of existing consenting rules, with strategic developers needing to meet them to qualify for preferential provisions the excerpt leaves unstated.
- UK bank and EMI direct deduction regulations now in force
New regulations under the Public Authorities (Fraud, Error and Recovery) Act 2025 are in force, setting out banks' and e-money institutions' account direct deduction obligations after a targeted consultation.
- FTC Files Two Actions Over Fake Reviews Tied to Online Scams
The Federal Trade Commission filed two enforcement actions in October 2026 alleging companies used fake consumer reviews to support online scams, extending the agency's fake-review enforcement program.
- Budget 2026 consultation: what founders' relief changes mean for investors and buy-outs
Mayer Brown analyses the Budget 2026 consultation on founders' relief and sets out what the proposed changes could mean for founders, investors and buy-out structures.
- NAD: Incentivized Reviews, Even Negative Ones, Need Disclosure
In an NAD case brought by P&G, Zuru was told to disclose material connections for any incentivized review, favorable or unfavorable, and to notify third-party retailers about affected reviews.
- New York Employment Law Changes Take Effect; One Bill Awaiting Governor's Signature
A Wilmer Cutler alert flags several changes to New York employment law taking effect imminently, with an additional measure still awaiting the Governor's signature that New York employers should prepare for now.
- Connecticut AI Law Sets AEDT Notice, Discrimination and WARN Rules
Connecticut's SB 5 makes AI use no defense to discrimination claims and adds AI disclosure to WARN notices from October 1, 2026, with employer and developer AEDT notice duties starting October 1, 2027.
- FinCEN Withdraws Long-Pending Unhosted Wallet and CVC Mixing Proposals
FinCEN has withdrawn two long-pending proposed rules on unhosted wallets and convertible virtual currency mixing, easing a compliance overhang for virtual asset service providers while leaving the US crypto perimeter unsettled.
- UAE VAT fixed establishment test back in focus after FTA guidance
Recent Federal Tax Authority guidance puts the UAE VAT fixed establishment test back under scrutiny, prompting foreign businesses with employees in the Emirates to reassess whether they are registered or liable to register for VAT.
- EEOC Position Statements Reportedly Due in 15 Days, Compressing ADA File Preparation
Duane Morris reports that multiple EEOC offices now set 15-day position statement deadlines rather than 30, making scattered accommodation and interactive-process records an urgent defensive problem for employers.
- UK Budget 2026 Highlights AI Security, Digital Sovereignty, Cyber Resilience
Hogan Lovells' alert on the first UK Budget under Prime Minister Andy Burnham flags AI security, digital sovereignty and cyber resilience as business-facing measures alongside household support.
- EU Kids Act: Delegated Acts to Set Detail on Online Rules for Minors
Hogan Lovells explains that the proposed EU Kids Act would leave minors' access limits, age assurance and safety-by-design standards to later delegated acts, pushing operative detail into future Commission acts.
- California Proposition 45 Would Set New CEQA Rules for "Essential" Projects
A California ballot measure would impose new environmental-review deadlines and narrow CEQA litigation for qualifying projects, including certain pending proceedings and suits; the source does not indicate the vote outcome.
- SDNY Lets First Prediction Market Insider Trading Case Proceed
A Manhattan federal judge on October 26, 2026 refused to dismiss the first indictment alleging insider trading through prediction market contracts, leaving open who counts as an insider in binary-event markets.
- California Signs "No Robo Bosses Act" Restricting Automated Employment Decisions
Gov. Newsom signed SB 947 on September 30, 2026, adding restrictions on employer use of automated decision systems to the California Labor Code, operative July 1, 2027.
- FDA Finalizes Prescription Drug Use-Related Software Guidance
FDA issued final guidance on October 20, 2026 on how it treats software tied to prescription drugs, closing out a September 2023 draft and giving pharma and digital-health teams a settled framework to test product plans against.
- FDA ConOps 2.0 Reworks Drug Inspection Coordination, Effective Oct. 21
FDA's updated concept of operations for human drug facility evaluations adds remote regulatory assessments and MRA inspection reports, clarifies CDER/OII roles, and took effect October 21, 2026.
- California SB 253 Emissions Reports Due November 10
Wilson Sonsini reports that initial corporate greenhouse gas reports under California's CARB SB 253 program are due November 10, 2026, a hard filing date for in-scope companies operating in the state.
- Three October 2026 jury verdicts: Parler stake, plumbing and televangelist claims
A Nevada jury awarded Parler co-founder John Matze $11.1 million, Texas homeowners won $21.6 million over sewer gas from faulty plumbing, and a Michigan jury awarded a Black televangelist $62.2 million on racial discrimination claims.
- Treasury's Proposed COINS Rule Could Reshape China-to-West Biotech NewCo Terms
Cooley reports a proposed US Treasury rule could limit Chinese licensor equity in NewCo vehicles, altering equity-vs-contractual-return terms in China-to-West biotech transactions.
- Mayer Brown Explains Waterfall Priority, Enforcement and Lender Protections
Mayer Brown's November guide breaks down payment waterfall priority, enforcement considerations and the protections lenders rely on when credit waterfalls go sideways.
- Commodity Finance Recovery: Enforcing Bank Rights in Bills of Lading
DLA Piper's practitioner note argues that for commodity finance lenders the strongest recovery asset is often the original negotiable bill of lading, and sets out enforcement steps banks can take to realise that security.
- Federal Court upholds review of cultural heritage protection approval
Perkins Coie reports that on 14 October 2026 the Federal Court upheld LFB Resources' judicial review of a cultural heritage protection decision, and that such applications are rising.
- DOL Finalizes PBM Compensation Disclosure Rule for Self-Insured Plans
DOL's October 29, 2026 final rule requires large self-insured ERISA health plans to disclose pharmacy benefit manager compensation, adding a compliance item for employer plan sponsors.
- Pa. Commonwealth Court Cuts Unpaid Wage Claims to Three Years
Reversing a trial court that applied a six-year catch-all, the Commonwealth Court held Pennsylvania's Minimum Wage Act and Wage Payment and Collection Law read as one scheme, so unpaid wage suits must be filed within three years.
- EEOC Sues Over Age-Based ESOP Divestment Requirement
The EEOC alleges Scheels All Sports' ESOP requires employees age 40 and older who miss 1,000 service hours to divest vested shares, putting plan terms under Age Discrimination in Employment Act scrutiny.
- EEOC Rescinds 2012 Guidance on Considering Criminal History
The EEOC's October 29, 2026 rescission withdraws its 2012 enforcement guidance on arrest and conviction records under Title VII, though disparate-impact analysis still governs hiring decisions.
- Foley GC panel sets out an agentic AI governance checklist for legal teams
A Foley general-counsel panel argues enterprises can no longer defer agent governance: inventory every agent, name a human owner, stage workflows with checkpoints, and map agent use cases against policies before renewal.
- UK Supreme Court: Good-Faith Belief Alone Won't Exonerate Directors
An Alston & Bird analysis of a UK Supreme Court decision for financial services litigators finds that a director's sincere belief they were acting properly is not, by itself, enough to exonerate them from liability.
- OCC Challenges California Climate Disclosure Rules for National Banks
The Comptroller of the Currency is moving against California's climate disclosure laws as applied to federally chartered banks, citing federal preemption and its exclusive authority to supervise national banks.
- Eighth Circuit rules on CAFA jurisdiction after post-removal complaint amendment
A roundup of September 2026 class action decisions highlights an Eighth Circuit holding that district courts must reassess CAFA jurisdiction when a complaint is amended after removal from state court.
- California's AB 801 Launches State Fair Lending Examinations From Jan. 1, 2027
California's signed Fair Lending Examination Act directs the DFPI to examine banks, credit unions and mortgage licensees for fair lending compliance from January 1, 2027, adding a state supervisory layer for federally tested lenders.
- Amazon Hit With Massachusetts Wage Act Final-Pay Class Action
A former warehouse worker alleges in a putative class action that Amazon failed to deliver terminated employees' final paychecks within the Massachusetts Wage Act's required timeframe; the allegations are unproven and no ruling has issued.
- CFTC Previews Federal Framework for Some Retail Crypto Trades
A Mayer Brown alert reports that the CFTC has previewed a federal framework for certain retail crypto asset transactions, a signal for digital-asset counsel on which federal regime will apply.