The Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that the conduct of a county commissioner who responded to a constituent’s criticisms during a virtual public meeting by brandishing a rifle at the camera was sufficient to support an unconstitutional retaliation claim that could not be immediately dismissed based on qualified immunity.

If your Michigan business issues promissory notes or other evidence of indebtedness, or if you purchase such debt instruments, it is important to understand whether in a legal dispute those notes or debt instruments could be considered “securities” under the Michigan Uniform Securities Act (“MUSA”).

The IRS issued Notice 2023-43 to provide taxpayers with interim guidance on part of the to-be-revised EPCRS, particularly addressing Section 305 of SECURE 2.0. 

On May 25, 2023, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Tyler v. Hennepin County, Minnesota, holding that a state tax foreclosure violates the “Takings Clause” of the U.S. Constitution when it “provides no opportunity for the taxpayer to recover the excess value” beyond the amount of taxes owed.

In a closely-watched decision, the United States Supreme Court substantially narrowed the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s authority to regulate non-traditional wetlands as "waters of the United States" under the Clean Water Act.

Technological advances have provided employers with a variety of algorithmic decision-making tools that may assist them in making employment decisions, including recruitment, hiring, retention, promotion, transfer, performance monitoring, demotion, dismissal, and referral. As a result, the EEOC issued guidance on employers' use of artificial intelligence during the hiring process.

As Michigan public schools navigate the preparation of their 2023-2024 budgets, we wanted to again provide you with a reminder of the short-term borrowing options available to cover projected operating cash-flow shortfalls.

For the first time in almost 20 years, the United States Supreme Court has issued a ruling that has prompted vigorous debate over the future of the fair use doctrine under the Copyright Act. On May 18, 2023, in Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts, Inc. v. Goldsmith, the Supreme Court issued a 7-2 decision and held that Andy Warhol’s Prince series containing silkscreen renditions of preexisting photographs was not “transformative” under the first fair use factor.

The government released Revenue Procedure 2023-23 outlining the 2024 inflation adjusted limits for health savings accounts (HSAs) and high deductible health plans (HDHPs).

A taxpayer against whom the IRS determines—not "assesses" but "determines"—a tax deficiency must decide whether to make a remittance to the IRS and if so, whether the remittance is to be treated as a "deposit" or as a "payment" of the determined deficiency. Both, when remitted, stop the accrual of daily compounding interest on the deficiency, which is the reason for making a remittance, but each has different consequences.

In this third part of our series, we continue our analysis of Housing Act 2023. We begin by discussing a few remaining points regarding Safe Mortgage 2%. We then proceed to analyse Home Account and Home Deposit.

The U.S. Supreme Court has agreed to decide the continued validity of the so-called Chevron doctrine. National corporations that may currently be operating under a uniform administrative agency interpretation could potentially face increased compliance costs and differing court interpretations across jurisdictions if Chevron were to be overruled.

The Supreme Court issued its opinion in MOAC Mall Holdings, LLC v. Transform Holdco, LLC, which has implications for sales of property in bankruptcy cases.

Consistent with federal courts’ recent pattern of limiting the reach of administrative agencies, the Supreme Court held that a challenge to the constitutional authority of an administrative law judge in administrative proceedings involving the FTC and SEC can be heard by a federal court without first being adjudicated through the administrative process, which significantly deviates from the typical rule requiring strict compliance with an administrative process before an issue can be taken to federal court.

The Department of Education Office for Civil Rights has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking relating to Title IX, which would amend the Title IX athletics regulation to prohibit schools from categorically banning transgender students from sports teams that correspond to their respective gender identity, as opposed to their assigned birth sex.

The Federal Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, in Little Sandy Coal Company v. Commissioner, affirmed the United States Tax Court’s disallowance of federal income tax credits for a taxpayer’s research expenses.

Companies with workers who travel to other states for work (mobile workers) or those who work permanently from another state (remote workers) face unique state tax compliance challenges.

The U.S. Supreme Court held in 2014 that the Lanham Act’s false advertising provision governs only commercial, not consumer, injuries. On April 4, 2023, while acknowledging that the distinction between commercial and consumer injuries is “nebulous,” the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that “even commercial businesses that sell goods to end users may qualify as ‘customers’ who cannot sue under the Act—depending on the nature of their injuries.”

This is the second article in our series that looks at existing and planned government measures and programmes designed to help young households buy a flat or house.

Tarion, the consumer protection organization which oversees builder warranties for new homes built in Ontario, is formalizing a Temporary Relocation Warranty (“TRW”). The TRW will provide mandatory compensation for owners of newly built homes that become uninhabitable due to a breach of the new home warranty within the warranty period.

On March 24, 2023, Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed into law two significant pieces of legislation amending Michigan labor laws eliminating "right-to-work" statutory language that previously allowed public and private employees to refuse to join a union. The new laws allow public and private employers to require employees to pay union dues as a condition of employment.

Can public school children with disabilities sue their schools for violations of the federal antidiscrimination statutes and collect compensatory damages before exhausting their administrative remedies under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act? In a unanimous decision issued on March 21, 2023, the U.S. Supreme Court answered in the affirmative.

A recent decision by the U.S. Court of International Trade ("USCIT") means that tariffs on imports from China under Section 301 of the Trade Act of 1974 will remain in place for now.

On March 8, 2023, the Michigan Legislature passed an amendment to the state’s Elliot-Larsen Civil Rights Act (ELCRA) that explicitly includes protections against discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, or expression. The bill will now head to Governor Gretchen Whitmer’s desk for her expected signature.

Bipartisan bills have been introduced in the House and Senate to grant federal income tax relief to motor vehicle dealers using the LIFO accounting method for their inventories of new motor vehicles. If enacted, dealers using the last-in-first-out inventory (“LIFO”) method of accounting may elect to claw back taxable income that they reported for 2020 and 2021 on inflated profits.

This article is the first in a new series that will look at recent and planned measures and programmes designed to help young households buy a flat or house. The issue is all the more topical given the government’s pledge to offer a 2% fixed-rate mortgage for first-time home buyers from mid-2023.

A construction lien is a legal mechanism that helps protect contractors, subcontractors, and suppliers (collectively the “Lien Claimant”) from non-payment for their work on a construction project.

Equipped with full funding, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) now looks to heighten enforcement of the Uyghur Forced Labor Prevention Act (UFLPA) with automotive suppliers squarely in sight.

In a ruling that will impact both union and non-union employees, the National Labor Relations Board (“NLRB”) held that standard non-disparagement and confidentiality provisions contained in a severance agreement were invalid and that the mere proffer of the agreement containing the terms was an unfair labor practice.  

A debt “for money, property, services, or an extension [. . .] of credit, to the extent obtained by [. . .] actual fraud,” is not dischargeable in a chapter 7 bankruptcy case.[1] Courts have questioned whether this applied if the debtor did not commit the fraud or even have knowledge of it. On February 22, the Supreme Court in Bartenwerfer v. Buckley, No. 21-908, 2023 WL 2144417 (U.S. Feb. 22, 2023), resolved that question, holding that a debtor’s knowledge of the fraud is not relevant. What matters is that the debt arose because of fraud, not whether the debtor was a direct participant in or even knew of the fraud.

In today's world of technology and communications, communities are increasingly reaching their residents and marketing their services through social media. It has become common for cities, villages, and nearly all forms of local, state, and federal government to have an active presence on Facebook, Twitter, lnstagram, LinkedIn, and other popular social media sites.

The landscape of biometric privacy just became both more settled and unsettling for companies using biometrics. On February 17, 2023, the Illinois Supreme Court held that each scan or transmission of a person’s biometric identifiers is a separate violation of Illinois' Biometric Information Privacy Act (BIPA).

Taxpayers who are not parties to an action voiding an IRS Notice published without notice and comment should carefully consider the risk that the IRS may nonetheless treat the Notice as valid as to nonparties.

The new year has brought with it some important tax changes for businesses and residential property owners in Canada.

Michigan bankruptcy exemptions increase every three years to adjust for inflation, and on March 1, 2023, they will increase by 14%.

Employers seeking to sponsor candidates for initial H-1B sponsorship (commonly known as "H-1B CAP") should begin preparing for the H-1B electronic registration process.

A Treasury regulation provides that a researcher performing technological research for its customer is not entitled to federal income tax credits for the cost of the research if the researcher does not retain substantial rights in the research.

In a unanimous decision, the Michigan Court of Appeals overturned a July 2022 Court of Claims ruling that the Michigan Legislature lacked the constitutional authority to adopt and subsequently amend two 2018 ballot initiatives raising the minimum wage and requiring employers to offer paid medical leave.

The U.S. Treasury may now provide direct payments to Tax-exempt entities (including non-profits, states, local governments and public schools) that are planning energy-efficient projects, such as solar improvements to existing buildings or improvements to provide for electric vehicles. New regulations provide clarification for the rules on how to qualify for these increased direct pay credits under the prevailing wage and apprenticeship requirements. 

Business owners will occasionally express a desire to protect their brand without much knowledge as to the purpose of a trademark or the intricacies involved in the trademark application process. 

The government of Canada recently passed legislation that effectively bans non-Canadian individuals and corporations from purchasing residential real estate under the Prohibition of Purchase of Residential Real Estate by Non-Canadians Act.

The judge in the Celsius Network bankruptcy case ruled that Celsius users who had deposited cryptocurrency in Celsius’s “Earn Accounts” had transferred ownership of their cryptocurrency to Celsius. Thus, at the time it filed for bankruptcy protection, Celsius owned any cryptocurrency in the Earn Accounts; depositors had nothing more than an “I.O.U.”–the same as any other creditor.

In 2023, Registered Investment Advisers (“RIAs”) who are registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) should be prepared for regulatory changes. These include proposed changes to rules governing RIA outsourcing and cybersecurity risk management. Although some key proposed rules are not yet final, RIAs should consider taking preliminary steps to prepare for the new requirements.

Eagerly anticipated comprehensive retirement plan legislation commonly known as the "SECURE 2.0 Act" was signed into law on December 30, 2022, as part of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023.

On January 5, 2023, the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") issued a notice of proposed rulemaking that would render all non-compete agreements, other than those entered into in connection with the sale of business, unlawful "unfair competition" under Section 5 of the Federal Trade Commission Act. 

A draft bill is designed to help communes provide sufficient housing for war refugees from Ukraine by enabling swift conversion of unutilized non-residential properties into housing. More specifically, its provisions apply two types of non-residential properties: offce buildings, and retail buildings bigger than 2,000 square meters of selling area.

Cities with a population of 15,500 or more now may specially assess for police and fire services under a new law, Public Act 228 of 2022, that becomes effective on March 28, 2023, that amends Act 33, Public Acts of Michigan, 1951, as amended. Previously, generally only townships, villages, and cities with a population of less than 15,500 could exercise special assessment powers.

On December 8, 2022, a 3-0 panel of the Michigan Court of Appeals answered the question in the negative. The court found that a policy adopted by Meridian Township, Michigan violated a 2015 state law known as the Local Government Labor Regulatory Limitation Act (LGLRA), which forbids local governments from requiring contractors to pay their own employees union-level wages.

On December 13, 2022, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) expanded the remedies that may be awarded in unfair labor practice cases. In a separate 3-2 decision on December 14, 2022, the NLRB ruled that a union's proposed bargaining unit in which it seeks representation can be expanded to include more employees only if the employer proves that the additional employees share an "overwhelming" community of interest with the employees in the union proposed unit.

Recently, on November 22, 2022, the Department of Labor released its final amendment to the ESG/Proxy Voting rules, providing greater flexibility for plan fiduciaries to consider climate change and other environmental, social, and governance factors when they select retirement investments and provides a renewed emphasis on exercising shareholder rights, such as proxy voting.

The Internal Revenue Service recently announced the 2023 cost of living adjustments for the estate and gift tax exclusion amounts.

The Bankruptcy Code saw many changes in 2020 and 2021. Some of the changes that were enacted under the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 ("CAA") will soon end.

The Notice proposes to replace the January 7, 2021, Independent Contractor Status Under the FLSA rule with a rule that seeks to reduce the risk that employees are misclassified as independent contractors, while attempting to provide added certainty for businesses that engage with individuals who are in business for themselves. The DOL states the new rule would preserve essential worker rights and provide consistency for regulated entities.

The proposed revisions to the program would allow self-correction of de minimis late participant contributions or loan repayments—easily two of the most prevalent VFCP issues—if certain criteria are met. Fiduciaries would still be required to notify the Department of Labor regarding any self-correction action taken pursuant to this new opportunity but would no longer need to secure Department approval.

November 11, 2022, brought news of yet another massive crypto bankruptcy filing. One of the largest crypto exchanges, FTX, filed a petition for bankruptcy protection in Delaware. 

Plan sponsors of individually designed 403(b) plans will soon be able to submit determination letter applications to the IRS. This change is important for 403(b) plan sponsors that were unable to transition their complicated legacy documents to preapproved plan documents because they can now obtain their own determination letter.

The Sixth Circuit recently held that even where a supplier has a right to terminate a contract without cause, the supplier still must give the buyer reasonable notice of termination.

Miller Canfield's recently released practice guide Sales Tax Obligations of Michigan  Public Schools discusses generally the sales tax obligations of public schools under the Michigan General Sales Tax Act and the applicable exemptions.

The IRS recently issued its annual cost-of-living adjustments for the 2023 tax year for retirement plans and health and welfare benefit plans. These COLAs reflect significant increases in the consumer price index (CPI).

The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s 2017 Payday Lending Rule. Although the holding is narrow, its rationale suggests—at least according to one court—that the CFPB cannot constitutionally act.

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has released an updated poster that employers with more than 15 workers are required to display.

The IRS published Revenue Procedure 2022-19 providing taxpayers with liberalized procedures for resolving common S corporation issues. Previously, taxpayers would have needed costly IRS letter rulings for certainty on their S corporation status. The new procedures are simpler and less expensive.

The coming midterms in Michigan will be the first election since the state legislature passed a series of changes that will impact how communities manage their elections. The Miller Canfield Michigan Election Law Guide offers a comprehensive summary of changes to election law since 2018, in one easy-to-navigate resource.

The IRS has extended additional deadlines for required retirement plan amendments. Notice 2022-45 extends the deadline for amending qualified retirement plans to comply with certain provisions of the CARES Act and the Taxpayer Certainty and Disaster Tax Relief Act of 2020.

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) that would, if adopted, make it much easier for the NLRB to find a company to be a "joint employer" of persons directly employed by its contractors, vendors, suppliers and franchisees.

The Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) announced on August 26, 2022, that it has signed a Statement of Protocol (SOP) Agreement with the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) and China’s Ministry of Finance. The SOP, together with two protocol agreements governing inspections and investigations (together, the “SOP Agreement”), establishes a framework for the PCAOB to conduct complete inspections and investigations of PCAOB-registered public accounting firms based in mainland China and Hong Kong.

On Aug. 24, 2022, the IRS released Notice 2022-36 providing automatic relief from failure to file penalties for the 2019 and 2020 tax years for a significant number of individuals and businesses that were late in filing their 2019-2020 tax returns.

The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, which passed both chambers of Congress on Aug. 12, 2022, includes tax provisions meant to raise government revenues and subsidize green energy initiatives.

The IRS has issued a notice extending the deadline for retirement plan sponsors to make certain amendments required by recently passed legislation.

When an entity in financial distress is declared bankrupt or placed under a court-supervised rescue mechanism under the Restructuring Law, among the many legal consequences are those pertaining to real estate assets that it owns. The inclusion of such assets can prove a blessing or a burden.

Three courts—the Supreme Court, the Sixth Circuit, and the Tax Court—recently rejected administrative guidance in tax cases because the guidance was either wrong as applied, unnecessary, or inapplicable.

On June 23, 2022, the Michigan Court of Appeals ruled that an arbitration agreement contained in a personnel manual was not enforceable because the associated disclaimer indicated that the manual did not create a “contract of employment.”

The Michigan Supreme Court has ruled that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity is discrimination because of sex prohibited by the Michigan Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act (“ELCRA”). The 5-2 decision was issued on July 28, 2022, in the case of Rouch World, LLC, v. Department of Civil Rights.

On July 19, 2022, the Michigan Court of Claims held that two voter-initiated laws that were passed and later amended by the state legislature in 2018 should be restored. If the decision stands, the minimum wage in Michigan will increase to $12.00 per hour, tipped employees will need to be paid the regular minimum wage by 2024, and employers of all sizes will be required to provide Michigan employees with one hour of paid sick leave per 30 hours worked, up to 72 hours per year.

The Office of the Inspector General of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (OIG) issued a Special Fraud Alert regarding transactions between practitioners and telemedicine companies, which urges practitioners to exercise caution when entering into telemedicine-related transactions and alerts them to traits that could result in criminal, civil, or administrative liability under federal and state laws.

Employees who presented an expired List B Identity document between May 1, 2020, and April 30, 2022, must present an unexpired document that establishes identity by July 31, 2022, to update their Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification.

The Michigan Uniform Assignment of Rents Act (“MUARA”), which takes effect on September 22, 2022, strengthens both the right to obtain a receiver and the power of the receiver to collect past due rent. The MUARA also confirms the right to foreclose by advertisement at the same time that a receiver is appointed.

Preference defense received an important boost this week when the Eleventh Circuit decided that invoices paid under 11 U.S.C. § 503(b)(9) can count as "new value" in defending against preference claims. It is the first circuit court to consider the question, making its decision in favor of creditors' rights that much more significant.

When a landlord defaults on its loan, its lender may notify the tenants that rents must be paid to the lender instead of the landlord. The MUARA provides a form of notice that the lender may use; however, the lender can use a different form if it includes detail on how and where the tenant must deliver those payments as well as other related information, and the lender must notify the tenant that it may consult with a lawyer about any questions.

While three recent Supreme Court decisions do not overrule or even mention Chevron deference – the doctrine that courts generally should defer to a federal agency's interpretation of an ambiguous statute – they open the door to more aggressive examination by the courts of agency interpretations that arguably stray from the underlying statutory language.

Secured lenders whose commercial loans are in default often face a serious question: should they allow a commercial property’s expenses to be paid, potentially increasing their losses? Or should they minimize their immediate pain by collecting all gross rents? To answer, lenders must consider both practical and legal factors. On the legal side, Michigan’s Uniform Assignment of Rents Act (MUARA) allows a lender to require that all rents be paid to it, even if that means shorting operating expenses. This differs from the approach in some other states, like Illinois.

On June 24, 2022, Michigan passed the Michigan Uniform Assignment of Rents Act (MUARA). When it did, Michigan became the first state with a Uniform Assignment of Rents Act that expands the definition of "rents" to include hotel revenues.[1] This distinction makes a significant difference and, perhaps surprisingly, is not clear in many states.

Previously, we alerted you that Michigan had passed its version of the Uniform Assignment of Rents Act (MUARA). Among other things, this law clarifies that an assignment of rents is not extinguished by a foreclosure sale itself, but instead terminates either at the end of the redemption period or when the property is redeemed.

On June 15, 2022, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed legislation amending Act 57, Public Acts of Michigan, 1988 (“Act 57"), to authorize an emergency services authority, established under Act 57 by municipalities to provide emergency services, to incur debt for the purposes of purchasing real or personal property or financing the costs of buildings and facilities. The legislation cures an omission that had limited Act 57 authorities from efficiently financing needed emergency response capital assets.

Congress has made some small but important changes to the Bankruptcy Code through its enactment of the Bankruptcy Threshold Adjustment and Technical Corrections Act. The most important of these are the increases in the debt limits for debtors under chapter 13 and under the Small Business Reorganization Act (the “SBRA”)—increases that will continue for at least two years.

In May 2017, we highlighted the Sixth Circuit’s opinion in Town Center Flats. Briefly, Town Center Flats held that ownership of a commercial property’s rents transferred to a lender when (1) a commercial loan is secured by a recorded assignment of rents, (2) the borrower defaults, and (3) a lender follows Michigan’s statutory procedure to enforce the assignment of rents. Subsequently, a bankruptcy court held that tenants need not receive notice of the borrower’s default for ownership to transfer.[1] Without rents being part of the bankruptcy estate, some borrowers could not finance a bankruptcy proceeding.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued a ruling which will have wide-ranging effects on the ability of governmental entities to react to religious and other speech of public employees. In Kennedy v. Bremerton Schools, the Court ruled that a public high school could not discipline or disfavor a football coach for his practice of kneeling on the 50-yard line and praying at the conclusion of each game, eventually growing to include most of the football team and opposing players as well.

Silver v. Internal Revenue Service will provide insight, when decided, of the view of the Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit on the scope of judicial review of administrative regulations that apply to small business. Small businesses should be vigilant in demanding that administrative agencies observe the requirements of the Regulatory Flexibility Act (“RFA”).

Parties involved in litigation outside the U.S. have long had a useful information-gathering tool at their disposal: a U.S. statute allowing them to obtain by court order testimony and documents from persons located in the U.S. The statute, 28 U.S.C. § 1782(a), or “Section 1782,” authorizes U.S. district courts to order persons “resid[ing] or found” in their district to give testimony or produce evidence for use in a proceeding in a “foreign or international tribunal.” Courts in the U.S. have long disagreed about whether and when parties to international arbitrations can use Section 1782. The U.S. Supreme Court has now held they generally cannot. On June 13, the Court issued a unanimous opinion in ZF Automotive US, Inc., v. Luxshare, LTD, holding that Section 1782 applies “only [to] governmental or intergovernmental adjudicative bodies.” Accordingly, Section 1782 cannot be used to obtain evidence for private commercial arbitrations or for investor-state arbitrations, unless a foreign government has conferred governmental authority upon the arbitral panel. 

It is only weeks now before the New Developer Act (NDA) comes into effect on July 1. Having looked at what NDA means for developers and home buyers, in this third and final part of our series we focus on the role of banks, and finish with overall conclusions.

In Boechler P.C., v. Commissioner, the Supreme Court held that the thirty-day period to petition the Tax Court for review of an adverse determination by the IRS Appeals Office in a collection due process hearing could be equitably tolled but not if it should be equitably be tolled. It is likely that the Tax Court will toll the filing period if the taxpayer shows that it pursued its rights diligently and that extraordinary circumstances prevented it from filing timely.

If a Michigan property owner rents part of his or her home, can the property owner still claim 100% principal residence tax exemption (PRE) on the home? Yes, declared the Michigan Court of Appeals in Keith W. DeForge v Township of Allouez, decided May 26, 2022.

In Morgan v. Sundance, Inc., decided May 23, a unanimous Supreme Court addressed the standard for determining whether a party has waived its right to arbitrate a controversy by first engaging in litigation. Overruling decisions in nine circuits, the Court held that waiver can occur whether or not the adverse party has suffered prejudice.  The Court explained, but left standing, its previous opinions holding the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA) adopts a “policy favoring arbitration.” The Court’s analysis presages issues for future litigation under the FAA.

The U.S. Supreme Court is poised to hear cases that may curtail the administrative powers of the SEC. These rulings may portend greater limits on federal administrative agencies.

Like many jurisdictions around the world, the Qatar Financial Centre (QFC) has established compliance procedures that require legal entities registered or formed in the QFC to identify their ultimate beneficial owners (UBO). The purpose of beneficial ownership disclosure requirements is to increase transparency in business transactions and to curb illegal activity such as corruption and money laundering.

In Lowry v. Southfield Neighborhood Revitalization Initiative, the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a taxpayer in bankruptcy could challenge a Michigan tax foreclosure sale under federal bankruptcy fraudulent transfer law, opening the door for other challenges to tax foreclosures. A recent decision from the Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Michigan eases this concern.

When the government allows a private group to display its message on public property, the message does not necessarily become government speech, and the private speaker may remain entitled to First Amendment protections. Shurtleff v. Boston, 596 U.S. ___ (2022). Whether a message is held to be government or private speech has significant implications in cases involving the display of religious messages on public property.

The U.S. Supreme Court issued its 6-3 decision in Cummings v. Premier Rehab Keller, P.L.L.C., holding that emotional distress damages are not recoverable in a lawsuit brought under the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 (Section 504) or the Affordable Care Act (ACA).

Hawkins, et al. v Cintas Corp. demonstrates the scrutiny placed upon arbitration of ERISA claims. Although employees may have signed a broad arbitration agreement, that does not necessarily mean that certain ERISA claims are subject to arbitration.

On April 12, 2022, the Sixth Circuit decided Chelf v. Prudential Ins. Co. of Am., __ F.4th __ (6th Cir. 2022), which involved breach of fiduciary duty claims against an employer. The district court dismissed the claims, concluding that the alleged wrongdoings were purely ministerial functions or fell outside of ERISA's fiduciary requirements.