Summary The UK Supreme Court (UKSC) recently handed down a judgment of critical importance to business interruption insurers and policyholders. It affirmed Commercial Court and Court of Appeal decisions to hold that furlough payments to policyholders by the UK Government under the Coronavirus Job Retention Scheme (CJRS) are deductible from business interruption claims under standard savings clauses. This resolves one of the last major questions raised by the Covid-19 business interruption disputes. The UKSC’s ruling could also apply to other policy types, in circumstances where third-party payments are made to policyholders in connection with the subject matter of the insured… Read more
Background The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit has reversed the Southern District of New York’s (SDNY) US$16.1 billion money judgment against the Argentine Republic in Petersen Energía Inversora S.A.U. and others v. Argentine Republic and YPF S.A. The Second Circuit also vacated SDNY’s post‑judgment turnover order (which would have required Argentina to transfer its YPF shares for delivery in partial satisfaction of the judgment) following the reversal of the underlying merits judgment. Argentine President Milei described the result as “the greatest legal achievement in national history”. The decision is a reminder that sovereign cases in US… Read more
Summary Since the Court of Appeal’s ruling in Three Rivers (No 5) [2003] EWCA Civ 474, it has been considered settled law that the scope of legal advice privilege is limited to communications (or draft communications) between client and lawyer for the dominant purpose of seeking or receiving legal advice or, in limited circumstances, documents recording that advice. The recent High Court decision in Aabar SARL v Glencore Plc [2026] EWHC 877 (Comm) re‑examines the orthodox understanding derived from Three Rivers (No 5). The Court held that communications between members of the defined corporate “client group” may attract legal advice… Read more
On April 10, 2026, IBM agreed to pay over $17 million to resolve allegations that it violated the False Claims Act by maintaining workforce diversity practices the Department of Justice contends constituted illegal discrimination. The settlement is the first resolution under the DOJ’s Civil Rights Fraud Initiative, launched in May 2025. For federal contractors, the IBM settlement signals a new enforcement reality: the government now has a fully operational legal framework for treating DEI practices as fraud, and it’s using it. I. The Enforcement Framework The Trump administration has built a multi-layered enforcement architecture aimed at eliminating what it… Read more
The Federal National Mortgage Association and Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, both referred to here as “FNMA,” are federally backed companies that guarantee a majority of the mortgages made in the U.S. It has recently promulgated new guidelines for lenders making apartment purchase loans that FNMA will insure. These new guidelines may have a substantial impact upon boards, management and individual sellers and purchasers of apartments. Historically, FNMA guidelines have had limited impact in New York City, especially Manhattan, because FNMA-insured loans are limited to (at present) approximately $1.2 million and because many purchases in more upscale Manhattan buildings have… Read more
On April 6, 2026, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission released its combined FY 2027 Agency Performance Plan and FY 2025 Agency Performance Report, alongside the Office of General Counsel’s separate FY 2026 Annual Report on the agency’s litigation program. Together, these documents provide the most comprehensive public accounting to date of the EEOC’s enforcement activity during the first year of the second Trump administration. The reports reveal an agency that is simultaneously leaner, more aggressive, and more ideologically focused than at any time in recent memory. The headline number is significant: $660 million recovered for 17,680 victims of employment discrimination… Read more
On April 1, 2026, the Seventh Circuit reversed three district court decisions and held that the Illinois legislature’s 2024 amendment to the Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA)—which limits plaintiffs to a single recovery of statutory damages per person, per method of collection—applies retroactively to all cases pending when the amendment took effect. The decision in Clay v. Union Pacific Railroad Co. resolves a question with billions of dollars in consequences for Illinois employers. District courts had unanimously held that the amendment was substantive and applied only prospectively, leaving employers exposed to potentially thousands of per-scan damages claims per plaintiff. The… Read more
The Department of Labor (the “DOL”) issued a proposed rule on March 30, 2026 addressing how ERISA fiduciaries select designated investment alternatives in participant-directed defined contribution plans. If finalized, the proposed rule would create a process-based safe harbor intended to help fiduciaries defend investment selection decisions. The proposed rule emphasizes that ERISA claims typically turn on how a fiduciary made the decision and what the fiduciary documented at the time. It sets forth six non-exhaustive factors that plan fiduciaries should consider and a process for making and documenting those decisions. Under the proposed rule, fiduciaries who follow the process would… Read more
In February 2026, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued proposed regulations to implement SECURE 2.0’s requirement that retirement plans provide paper pension benefit statements in certain cases, and to make related updates to the DOL’s electronic disclosure safe harbors. The Current Electronic Disclosure Rules As a refresher, under current law, plan sponsors can rely on one of the following safe harbors to provide electronic disclosures (absent participant request to provide paper copies) to plan participants: 2002 Safe Harbor: Job Duties – Allows e-delivery of participant disclosures as the default method of delivery for current employees if access to employer’s electronic… Read more
On March 20, 2026, the White House released a National AI Legislative Framework, urging Congress to establish a uniform federal standard for artificial intelligence and preempt a growing patchwork of state AI laws. The framework is the latest step in a coordinated executive branch strategy that began with President Trump’s December 2025 Executive Order and has been building momentum ever since. Meanwhile, Senator Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee recently introduced a parallel legislative vehicle, the “TRUMP AMERICA AI Act,” a 291-page discussion draft that goes significantly further than the White House framework in ways that matter directly to employers. Her bill… Read more
