6/5/2015 Talks are underway for what could potentially be the third gigantic cross-platform communications merger this year. Dish Network, the nation’s second-largest satellite provider and America’s fourth-largest wireless company, T-Mobile; have begun preliminary negotiations for a merger. This follows the nearly finalized AT&T’s $49 billion acquisition of leading satellite provider, DirecTV, and Charter Communications recent
6/2/2015 Knowing how to kick a law when it’s down, Facebook unveiled a new encryption component to its website, which allows users to send and receive emails as well as Facebook notifications that organizations like the National Security Agency (NSA) are unable to view. In the wake of the temporary halting of the NSA spying
6/1/2015 Somehow, some way, incumbent FIFA president Sepp Blatter was re-elected on Friday, May 29th despite Wednesday’s U.S. Justice Department’s 47-count indictment and the arrests by Swiss authorities of several executives at FIFA’s Zurich headquarters. The shocking nature of Blatter’s election to a fifth term is the fact that it wasn’t really very shocking. This
5/29/2015 A federal judicial panel in Alabama has consolidated two lawsuits into a single claim, alleging that the networked structure of insurance group Blue Cross/Blue Shield violates federal antitrust law. Both suits, one filed on behalf of healthcare providers, and the other on behalf of individuals and small-business customers claim that the 37 separate entities
5/28/2015 In what looks to be the most widespread and lucrative corruption scandal in the global history of sport, the U.S. Justice Department has unsealed a 47-count indictment against 14 executives of the worldwide soccer governing body, FIFA. The executives are being charged with racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering. The Justice Department alleges that
5/27/2015 In a decision that helps to define the statute of limitations for whistleblower cases, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled Tuesday, May 26th that whistleblowers do not get extra time to file false claims complaints during a time of war. The case revolves around former Iraq contractor, Benjamin Carter, whose 2011 complaint under review alleges
5/26/2015 Perhaps no industry besides investment banks has been hit as hard by the federal court system than tobacco over the past several years. A pair of recent appeals rulings, however, indicates a substantial turn in the industry’s decades-long financial flogging. On Friday, the D.C. Court of Appeals delivered a mixed-ruling, in which some
5/26/2015 Charter Communications is expected to announce on Tuesday that the company has reached an agreement to purchase Time Warner Cable. If the deal passes regulatory scrutiny, the third and second largest cable providers, respectively, will provide heavy competition to industry leader Comcast, as well as other companies like DirecTV and Netflix. The estimated $55
5/25/2015 A lawsuit will continue in U.S. District Court in Minnesota regarding Target’s widespread 2013 pre-holiday data breach as banks rejected a $19 million settlement proposed last month. Over 40 million debit and credit cards were compromised during the breach, putting millions of cardholders’ information at risk. The settlement set aside by Target would have
5/21/2015 As the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) “fast track” debate continues its push through the congressional gauntlet, my fellow colleague Jay and I have analyzed hundreds of texts and perspectives surrounding the trade deal. We have covered labor, patent and trademarks, mass-torts, environmental concerns, and the highly controversial Investor State Dispute Resolution (ISDS) system, and little