On July 1, 2016, an interim final rule adjusted the amounts of civil penalties assessed by OSHA. (Link) The penalties are being modified pursuant to the Federal Civil Penalties Inflation Adjustment Act, which requires federal agencies to adjust their penalties for inflation each year. As a result of this rule, OSHA is increasing its maximum penalties.  Until now, OSHA has been exempted from this law, and so OSHA’s maximum penalties have not been raised since 1990.  The result of these changes is a significant increase in penalty exposure for OSHA violations.

In response to twenty petitions for rulemaking submitted by the Chlorine Institute, Compressed Gas Association, and other members of the regulated community, the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration (“PHMSA”) issued a notice of proposed rulemaking on June 30, 2016 that, if finalized, will amend its hazardous materials regulations to update, clarify, or provide relief from the following miscellaneous regulatory requirements:

July 1, 2016
New Developments
Fifth District Ordered to Hear Ford Motor Company’s Appeal on Personal Jurisdiction Motion
By Jenna Marie Stupar and Nicho Kelly

In November, the Madison County Circuit Court denied a motion by Ford Motor Company to dismiss an asbestos case for lack of personal jurisdiction. The court found that Ford’s “substantial” business

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As we informed you on June 22, 2016, the Department of Labor (DOL) “persuader rule” was to go into effect on July 1, 2016.  However, on June 27, the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas granted a nationwide preliminary injunction on the rule.  The so-called persuader rule required employers and law firms to file a Form LM-20 detailing expenditures on common legal services, such as supervisor training, drafting union avoidance materials, and providing other labor advice.

On May 11, 2016, President Obama signed the Defend Trade Secrets Act of 2016 (DTSA), which amended the Economic Espionage Act of 1996 to create a federal civil remedy for trade secret misappropriation. The DTSA governs misappropriations occurring after the effective date of May 11, 2016.

Although trade secret theft has been a federal crime since 1996, civil claims for trade secret misappropriation were almost always governed by state law. A corporation unable to establish a basis for federal jurisdiction was thus limited to state court. Although every state but two has adopted a variation of the Uniform Trade Secrets Act, these statutory variations and differing court interpretations created uncertainty in the application of trade secret law, an area of growing importance for companies increasingly dependent on electronic security.

June 7, 2016
New Developments
Driverless Cars and the Law
By Mark Pratzel

As driverless car technology evolves, questions continue to arise regarding its legal repercussions. Google, one of the leading forces behind autonomous cars, predicts that they will be available to the public by 2020.  Nissan and Tesla are also developing self-driven car technology.  And

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On April 20, 2016, the U.S. Senate passed the Energy Policy Modernization Act of 2016 (the Act) by a vote of 85-12. If signed into law, the bipartisan bill would impact manufacturing operations across industries by promoting energy efficiency; encouraging renewable energy development; facilitating improvements in infrastructure, including grid storage; removing certain hurdles to the development and export of oil and gas, critical minerals, and other resources; and making other changes intended to keep pace with the nation’s rapidly changing energy industry.

May 2, 2016
New Developments
Northern District of Illinois Decision on Take-Home Exposure Liability has Limited Application
By Lindsay McClure-Hartman

The Northern District of Illinois in Neumann v. Borg-Warner Morse Tec LLC, No. 15-C-10507, 2016 WL 930662 (N.D. Ill. March 10, 2016), recently granted a motion to dismiss on the basis that a product manufacturer

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