The Secretary may prove the inadequacy of safety procedures by showing the employer did not follow them or properly communicate them to employees. Substantial evidence on the record supported an administrative law judge’s conclusion that a trucking company violated the Occupational Safety Act’s general duty clause after an employee was fatally struck by a truck while moving an oil rig, ruled the Eighth Circuit. The employer argued that its existing safety measures were adequate and that OSHA…

Kalshi is seeking to block what it says is an imminent Louisiana enforcement action and a Missouri cease-and-desist demand. KalshiEX LLC has filed separate complaints in federal courts in Louisiana and Missouri seeking to stop state gambling and sports-wagering laws from being applied to event contracts traded on its federally regulated exchange ( KalshiEx LLC v. Murrill , No. 1:26-cv-04476 (W.D. La. filed Oct. 23, 2026)) and (Kalshiex LLC v. Hanaway , No. 4:26-cv-1860 (E.D. Mo. filed Oct. 27,…

The top Democrats on three House committees have asked leading AI (artificial intelligence) developers to tell lawmakers within 48 hours about incidents involving autonomous hacking and other misbehavior by AI models. The Democrats made their request in letters sent yesterday to the chief executive officers of Anthropic, Google LLC, Meta Platforms, Inc., OpenAI, and SpaceXAI. The letters were signed by Reps. Frank Pallone Jr. (D., N.J.), ranking member of the Energy and Commerce Committee; Zoe…

The drugmaker’s attempt to rely on a corrected FDA approval letter failed because the original approval triggered the statutory 60-day filing period, leaving its patent term extension applications one day late. A pharmaceutical company lost its bid to extend two patents associated with a cancer drug after a federal district court in New Jersey has upheld the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office’s (USPTO) rejection of its applications as untimely. The court held that the 60-day filing period under…

The plaintiffs also seek to stop FinCEN from deleting previously collected beneficial-ownership data. Oregon and 20 other plaintiff jurisdictions have sued to vacate the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network’s (FinCEN) 2025 interim and 2026 final beneficial-ownership reporting exemptions, alleging the agency exceeded its authority by excluding almost all companies covered by the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). They also seek an injunction and an Administrative Procedure…

The court also weighed in on anti-SLAPP statutes, concluding that the use of logos and trademarks does not transform into good-faith communications related to the public interest simply because the target market is government employees. The federal district court in Nevada has issued an opinion in a case that clarifies both the sufficiency of pleadings in a trademark-infringement claim and application of Nevada's anti-SLAPP (Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation) statute in such a…

Two recent successful settlements secured by local authorities in asphalt industry mergers were commended by the Division. The Department of Justice provided an update on the Antitrust Division’s collaboration with state Attorneys General regarding investigations of mergers with predominantly intrastate effects. In the update, Antitrust Division officials Woodward and Beller provided insights into how the Division exercises its responsibility and discretion in merger enforcement maters that…

The plaintiffs' allegations fall short of showing that Best Buy knew of the hazard before the recall. A federal court in Norfolk, Virginia allowed negligence and implied warranty claims to proceed against Samsung Electronics America, Inc. over an alleged range design defect that caused a fire, while dismissing the claims against Best Buy and its related entities. The court held that the complaint plausibly alleged a design defect and causation as to the manufacturer, but did not allege facts…

“The FLSA’s silence does not resolve the issue.” A public official may not invoke qualified immunity in an FLSA retaliation suit, the Fifth Circuit held in a matter of first impression. The common law did not immunize malicious retaliation when Congress authorized private FLSA retaliation suits, and the policies underlying qualified immunity do not justify extending the defense to such claims, the federal appeals court found. The underlying case involved an academic advisor at Texas A&M…