On March 1, 2024, the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama (Northeastern Division) issued a decision declaring the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA” or the “Act”) unconstitutional.[1]
As we have previously reported, the CTA is part of the Anti-Money Laundering Act of 2000 and was adopted with the intent of providing law enforcement with beneficial ownership…
On January 26, 2024, the United States District Court for the Northern District of West Virginia issued an Order dismissing claims made against Jackson Kelly’s clients under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) in Wyatt v. A&B Sales, Inc., et al., Case No. 5:23-cv-303. In doing so, the court adopted the “reason to believe” standard with respect to the accessing of consumer credit reports under…
We recently provided an overview of the Corporate Transparency Act or the “CTA,” which will go into effect on January 1, 2024 and require most businesses to report information about themselves and their owners to the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). That article is linked here. The article notes that a proposed amendment to the CTA would extend the…
The Corporate Transparency Act or the “CTA,” which requires businesses to report information about themselves and their owners to the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN), goes into effect January 1, 2024. The volume of information and articles currently available about the Act may make it seem overwhelming, so to make this manageable, here is an…
On Tuesday, October 31, a federal jury in Missouri delivered a ruling that may impact the real estate industry throughout the country. In Burnett v. N.A.R., et al., a class of home sellers brought an action against several real estate firms claiming that listings contained artificially inflated broker commissions. Here, the jury deliberated, found for the plaintiff homeowners, and ordered…
In the United States, copyright law safeguards original works of authorship that are fixed in a tangible medium, allowing them to be perceived for more than a fleeting moment. This doesn't mean the work must be directly visible; it can be perceived with the help of a machine or device. Here's what can be protected:
Literary Works: This includes characters within the works.
In a recent webinar, the Copyright Office provided crucial guidance on registering works that incorporate AI-generated material, a topic of growing importance as AI becomes increasingly integrated into creative processes.
This guidance builds on the Office's March 2023 statement, which clarified that AI-generated works are not eligible for copyright protection due to the absence of human…
Last week, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a wave of opinions. Included with those cases is an under-the-radar opinion that should put companies on notice. In Mallory v. Norfolk Southern Railway Co., No. 21-1168, the Supreme Court held that a Pennsylvania statute subjecting foreign corporations to general personal jurisdiction because they registered their business in Pennsylvania…
During the 2023 regular session, the West Virginia Legislature passed House Bill 3270 amending the state’s deliberate intent law. HB 3270 became law without the Governor’s signature and will apply to injuries occurring on or after July 1, 2023.
HB 3270 made two changes. First, a requirement was added to § 23-4-2(d)(2)(B)(v)(IV) that when an employee asserts deliberate intent with respect to…
Recently, the Supreme Court issued a ruling in the case of Jack Daniel’s Properties, Inc. v. VIP Products LLC, which provides significant implications for trademark law and its intersection with the First Amendment. This landmark decision affects clients who have trademark concerns, as it provides guidance on when a trademark claim can be protected by the First Amendment.
The U.S. Supreme Court will review two cases concerning public officials who removed comments and restricted users from accessing their social media accounts. Both cases will be heard during the upcoming term starting in October 2023. These cases offer an opportunity to establish a clear criterion for determining when a public official's social media activity constitutes state action, which…
Key Take-Away: What is the difference between “a” and “the”? Quite a lot if you are in-house counsel for a company that wants to assert attorney-client privilege for dual-purpose communications made by you as in-house counsel. The Supreme Court of the United States (“SCOTUS”) granted cert in In re Grand Jury and recently heard oral arguments regarding dual-purpose communications, giving hope that…
