Law.com - Business Law Practice CenterReceive current business law headlines, decisions and news summaries. Law.com Practice Center subscription required.null: In re Ballard- (Found September 22, 2008 ) Federal law did not preclude auto manufacturer from filing unsecured deficiency claim based on state law where Chapter 13 consumer debtor proposed to surrender "910 vehicle" whose value was less than balance remaining on auto loan (applying "hanging paragraph" to cases involving surrender of 910 vehicle).http://www.law.com/jsp/LawDecision.jsp?id=1202421661891&rss=null null: Siepel v. Bank of America, N.A.- (Found September 22, 2008 ) Securities Litigation Uniform Standards Act preempted state-law claims that trustee breached fiduciary duty by failing to disclose conflicts of interest in selection of nationally-traded investment securities.http://www.law.com/jsp/LawDecision.jsp?id=1202421661122&rss=null SEC Is Dealt Some Setbacks By Enforcement Dismissals- (Found September 22, 2008 ) The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has recently run into tough headwinds in a spate of hard-fought enforcement actions around the country that have been dismissed outright by federal judges or at least partially tossed. The defense lawyers involved agree something is in the air. Individual defendants have successfully defended cases, despite challenges that include acknowledged errors, accounting restatements and former employers who cooperate with regulators.http://www.law.com/jsp/LawArticleCorp.jsp?id=1202424272929&rss=null Corporate Law Firms See Dark Days Ahead- (Found September 22, 2008 ) The nation's top law firms are facing an uncertain new landscape following the demise of two of Wall Street's biggest and most established investment banks -- Lehman Brothers and Merrill Lynch. For most large corporate law firms, which depend on financial institutions as the cornerstones of their client lists, these developments, combined with the earlier demise of Bear Stearns and the possible imminent collapse of insurance giant American International Group, portend dark days ahead.http://www.law.com/jsp/LawArticleCorp.jsp?id=1202424546691&rss=null New York Hospital to Pay $89 Million to Settle Fraud Claims- (Found September 22, 2008 ) Staten Island University Hospital will pay $88.9 million to settle allegations brought under the New York and federal False Claims Acts. In one of the largest civil fraud recoveries ever against a single U.S. hospital, the federal government will receive $74 million, New York state will receive $14.9 million, and two whistleblowers will receive a total of $9.9 million. In part, the hospital is alleged to have committed Medicare and Medicaid fraud by keeping a secret, locked wing to conceal...http://www.law.com/jsp/LawArticleCorp.jsp?id=1202424550654&rss=null Nudity and the SEC- (Found September 22, 2008 ) "Naked" short selling is discouraged, but not prohibited. Indeed, the level of current discouragement is probably accurately described as only a mild chill. Still, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is considering proposed rules to deepen the chill that "nudist" short sellers must endure to engage in an activity that seems to be increasingly popular. This column will review the options.http://www.law.com/jsp/LawArticleCorp.jsp?id=1202424537647&rss=null In Price-Fixing Probes, All Eyes on Samsung- (Found September 22, 2008 ) When the Justice Department dropped its price-fixing hammer on the computer memory market three years ago, Samsung Electronics got hit hardest. That was then. For more than a year, antitrust prosecutors based in San Francisco have been probing suppliers of LCD flat panels and cathode ray tubes. The new probes haven't yet led to the announcement of any criminal charges. But the common belief among several defense lawyers involved in LCD is that the government has bestowed amnesty on Samsung in...http://www.law.com/jsp/LawArticleCorp.jsp?id=1202424444492&rss=null GCs See Major Changes in Company Risk Management in Wake of Wall Street Meltdown- (Found September 22, 2008 ) Corporate general counsel expect increased company risk management and more regulatory enforcement in the wake of collapsing financial institutions, such as Fannie Mae, Lehman Bros Holdings Inc. and American International Group. State government regulatory oversight will rise with more attorney general probes, and federal oversight will expand in step with the next presidential administration, said some general counsel attending the Argyle Executive Forum in Chicago.http://www.law.com/jsp/LawArticleCorp.jsp?id=1202424627625&rss=null FTC Approves Consent Order Requiring Reed Elsevier to Divest Some Public Record Services- (Found September 22, 2008 ) The Federal Trade Commission, finding that Lexis-Nexis owner Reed Elsevier's proposed $4.1 billion acquisition of commercial data broker ChoicePoint would be anti-competitive and violate antitrust laws, approved Sept. 16 a consent order requiring Reed Elsevier to divest certain ChoicePoint electronic public record services to Thomson Reuters Legal Inc. within 15 days after the purchase is completed.http://www.law.com/jsp/LawArticleCorp.jsp?id=1202424590541&rss=null |