On January 22, 2008, Representative Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) introduced legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives that would require the Department of Justice (DOJ) to meet specific guidelines, and obtain judicial approval, prior to entering into deferred prosecution agreements (DPA) with corporations under federal criminal investigation.

On January 28, 2008, the President signed the National Defense Authorization Act into law.

When added to the MSAs included in the first phase of the program, there will be eighty MSAs involved in competitive bidding, including the three largest MSAs- New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.

On Friday, September 10, 2004, the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative ("USTR") published notice of possible tariff increases on certain imports. Under international trading rules, the United States is entitled to "compensation" because the European Union ("EU") raised tariffs above their so-called "bound" (i.e., negotiated) levels.

The Internal Revenue Service has recently released its new 2005 Form 990 that includes some significant changes from the previous year. Most notably, Part V of the form, regarding current officers, directors and key employees, has been renamed Part V-A, and it now includes four new questions:

In March of 2005, the Financial Accounting Standards Board announced FIN 47, "Accounting for Conditional Asset Retirement Obligations. FIN 47 changes the way companies must report their environmental liabilities, requiring that companies account for the value of retirement obligations when the responsibility itself incurs, not only at the final act of settlement. FIN 47 is effective for fiscal years ending after December 15, 2005, which for most companies is the calendar year 2006. As such, com

On July 6, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) released a final rule pertaining to the reimbursement of prescription drugs under the Medicaid program. The rule will be published in the Federal Register on July 17, 2007.

In an opinion filed July 31, 2007, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eight Circuit rejected Minnesota’s appeal of a Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) decision to deny a Medicaid state plan amendment (SPA) as a result of inadequate responses to the agency’s increased scrutiny of Medicaid reimbursement and state funding mechanisms.

Under the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 ("BAPCPA"), a number of special provisions were enacted for "healthcare businesses". One provision in particular requires the appointment of a patient care ombudsman in a case under chapter 7 (liquidation) or chapter 11 (reorganization) if the debtor is a healthcare business.

On August 15, 2007, Department of Homeland Security published its final “No-Match” regulation, entitled “Safe Harbor Procedures for Employers Who Receive a No-Match Letter”, which was scheduled to become effective on September 14, 2007.

Copyright owners may only receive a single recovery for a single injury regardless of the number of infringers under the Eleventh Circuit’s recent holding in BUC International Corporation v. International Yacht Council, Ltd., et. al.

On April 26, 2007, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a memorandum to state survey agency directors clarifying the regulatory requirements for hospitals’ emergency capabilities.

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a report to Congress on November 21 which provides a framework for how Medicare hospital payments can be linked to performance measures.

The Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") recently approved an amendment to a rule under Section 18 of the Securities Act of 1933 (the "Securities Act") that will designate securities listed on the Nasdaq Capital Market as "covered securities" for purposes of Section 18.

On February 21, 2008, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington ruled that a joint bidding arrangement between competing private equity funds in a contest for corporate control did not violate the Sherman Act.

On September 7, 2007, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) disapproved the State of New York’s proposed amendment to the State’s Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) plan.

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) announced that it has received enough H- 1B petitions to meet the congressionally-mandated cap for fiscal year 2005. Congress has set an annual H-1B cap of 65,000 of which 6,800 are set aside for the H-1B program under terms of the U.S.-Chile and U.S.-Singapore Free Trade Agreements.

Two recent cases involving fraudulent conveyance actions brought under section 548 of the Bankruptcy Code demonstrate the importance of words spoken and written by the parties contemporaneously with the transaction.

the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services issued a proposed rule that would grant the Secretary of HHS new authority to overturn or remand certain decisions of the Departmental Appeals Board.

On May 20, 2005, Diagnostic Products Corp. ("DPC") and a wholly-owned Chinese subsidiary reached an agreement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC") to settle a probe of alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the "FCPA"), and agreed to pay disgorgement of $2,038,727 and prejudgment interest in the amount of $749,895.