Most ridiculous lawsuits USA: Judge tosses out lawsuit seeking freedom for orcas at SeaWorld

Publiziert am 4. März 2012 von NIETZER . Rechtsanwälte

Orca at SeaWorld in San DiegoA federal judge in San Diego on Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals that had sought an order forcing SeaWorld to free five orcas.

U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller ruled that a lawsuit on behalf of the orcas could not be brought under the anti-slavery 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution because the amendment pertains to human beings, not animals.

Even in defeat, PETA hailed its lawsuit as a victory, „one more step taken toward the inevitable day when all animals will be free from enslavement for human amusement.“ Weiterlesen →

Veröffentlicht unter Allgemein, Klage | Verschlagwortet mit , , , , , , , | Schreib einen Kommentar

FCPA, Code of Conduct – The Cornerstone of a Compliance Program

Publiziert am 3. März 2012 von NIETZER . Rechtsanwälte

The cornerstone of a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) compliance program is the US Federal Sentencing Guidelines (FSG). They contain seven (7) basic compliance elements that can be tailored to fit the needs and financial realities of any given organization. From these seven compliance elements the Department of Justice (DOJ) has crafted its minimum best practices compliance program which is now attached to every Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) and Non-Prosecution Agreement (NPA). Weiterlesen →

Veröffentlicht unter Allgemein | Verschlagwortet mit , , , , , , , , , | Schreib einen Kommentar

ILR: BP Trial Delayed by Settlement Talks

Publiziert am 2. März 2012 von NIETZER . Rechtsanwälte

Institute for Legal Reform, News Daily

Read more:

ILR BP Trial Delayed by Settlement Talks

Veröffentlicht unter Allgemein, Klage | Verschlagwortet mit , , , , , , | Schreib einen Kommentar

FCPA: McNulty’s Maxims, the Deepwater Horizon and FCPA Internal Controls

Publiziert am 1. März 2012 von NIETZER . Rechtsanwälte

I often write about what I call Paul McNulty’s three maxims of a Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) compliance program:

1) What did you do to prevent it?

2) What did you do to detect it?

3) What did you do to remedy it?

I had generally thought that the internal controls component of a minimum best practices FCPA compliance program applied to maxim number 2, detection. However, in a recent guest post regarding internal controls entitled “Controls to Prevent Violations of Anti-Bribery Laws, my colleague Henry Mixon explained that “A specific focus is needed to ensure there are control procedures in place to ensure compliance with” maxim number 1, prevention.

Weiterlesen →

Veröffentlicht unter Allgemein, Compliance USA | Verschlagwortet mit , , , , , | Schreib einen Kommentar

Most Ridiculous Lawsuits USA: Facebook can be sued over use of ads liked by friends, rules court

Publiziert am 29. Februar 2012 von NIETZER . Rechtsanwälte

Facebook has landed in some legal hot water over its use of ads that snatch the names of members of the social network to promote a product or business. In a ruling issued Friday, U.S. District Judge Lucy Koh in San Jose, Calif., denied Facebook’s request to dismiss a lawsuit over the practice of so-called sponsored stories. Such „stories,“ which started popping up this past January, create an ad based on the „likes“ of a member’s Facebook friends. The ads typically display the friend’s name, photo, and a caption asserting that the person likes a certain advertiser. The ads are generated when a Facebook member clicks on the „like“ button for a particular page, product, or company.

Weiterlesen →

Veröffentlicht unter Allgemein, Klage | Verschlagwortet mit , , , , , | Schreib einen Kommentar

FCPA: Smith & Nephew DPA: Lessons Learned in Using Distributors

Publiziert am 28. Februar 2012 von NIETZER . Rechtsanwälte

A distributor can be generally defined as a company or individual who purchases a product from an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and then independently sells that product to an end user. A distributor takes title, physical possession and owns the products. The distributor then sells the product again to an end-using purchaser. The distributor usually receives the product at some discount from the OEM and then is free to set the resell price at any amount above what was originally paid for the product. A distributor is often used by the US manufacturing industry to act as a sales force outside of the US. Weiterlesen →

Veröffentlicht unter Allgemein | Verschlagwortet mit , , , , , , , , , , , | Schreib einen Kommentar

FCPA: The Saga of MF Global – Don’t Shoot the Messenger, Fire the Chief Compliance Officer

Publiziert am 27. Februar 2012 von NIETZER . Rechtsanwälte

In a post last week on his site, Corruption, Crime and Compliance, Mike Volkov named the Chief Compliance Officer (CCO) his “Person of the Year”. He did so because “There is no other position in a company which has taken on more significance.” This significance was foretold, in part, by the Department of Justice’s (DOJ) minimum best practices compliance program, where they have listed in each Deferred Prosecution Agreement (DPA) and Non-Prosecution Agreement (NPA) released beginning in 2010 and continuing into 2011,  the following:

Weiterlesen →

Veröffentlicht unter Allgemein, Compliance USA | Verschlagwortet mit , , , , , , | Schreib einen Kommentar

ILR: Obama’s Overseas Corruption Busting Efforts Target Corporations, Executives

Publiziert am 26. Februar 2012 von NIETZER . Rechtsanwälte

Institute for Legal Reform, News Daily, more to read […]

ILR Obama’s Overseas Corruption Busting Efforts Target Corporations, Executives

Veröffentlicht unter Allgemein | Verschlagwortet mit , , , , , , | Schreib einen Kommentar

Most Ridiculous Lawsuits USA: Chunk in Skippy peanut butter causes tooth to split, suit says

Publiziert am 25. Februar 2012 von NIETZER . Rechtsanwälte

 A St. Clair County man claims he lost a tooth after he bit into a peanut butter sandwich containing a hard substance the size of a pencil eraser. Roger Benson filed a lawsuit Dec. 13 in St. Clair County Circuit Court against Unilever United States, Wal-Mart and Unilever Illinois Manufacturing. In his complaint, Benson alleges he purchased Skippy peanut butter manufactured by defendant Unilever from defendant Wal-Mart in late October or early November. On Nov. 18, Benson made a peanut butter sandwich at his home. He bit into the sandwich, and his tooth struck a hard, nut shell-like substance that caused his tooth to split, according to the complaint.

Weiterlesen →

Veröffentlicht unter Allgemein, Klage | Verschlagwortet mit , , , , , , , | Schreib einen Kommentar

FCPA: Marc Anthony Redux-We Come Not to Praise Daimler, But to Acknowledge It

Publiziert am 24. Februar 2012 von NIETZER . Rechtsanwälte

Yesterday I discussed the apparent inaction of MF Global’s Board of Directors, when the former Chief Risk Officer left the company after “repeated clashes” with company CEO Jon Corzine, over Corzine’s risk strategy. Today we take a look at a Board of Directors which performed its duty in acting to stave off a potential compliance issue. In the December, 2011 issue of the Compliance Week Magazine, entitled, “Daimler Gets This One Right” author Richard Steinberg reviewed the actions of the Daimler Board of Directors regarding its recent termination of the head of Mercedes-Benz United States operations.

Weiterlesen →

Veröffentlicht unter Allgemein, Compliance USA | Verschlagwortet mit , , , , , , | Schreib einen Kommentar