The Business Law Brief
sm (November 07, 2002)
Compiled by Donna J. Cunningham, J.D., Assistant Professor of Management, Valdosta State University. To contact Professor Cunningham,
please send e-mails to dcunning@valdosta.edu or Editor@PerfectlyLegalPubs.com. For a free subscription, click on the link at the bottom
of this page. Your comments and suggestions are always welcome. We'd love to hear from you.
- SEC Issues New Attorney Disclosure
Rules Which Go Far Beyond Sarbannes-Oxley; Public Comment Invited.
Following its Congressional mandate
to draft rules implementing the attorney disclosure requirements
of the newly-enacted Sarbannes-Oxley
Act passed in response to recent corporate scandals, the
Securities and Exchange Commission
(SEC) has issued stringent new
disclosure rules which go far beyond the provisions of the
Act. The Act requires that corporate attorneys disclose evidence
of a material violation of securities laws to General counsel,
or if no action is taken, to the company's Board of Directors.
But the new rules require, in addition, that the attorney quit
the job and disaffirm the documents filed with the SEC, - a "noisy
withdrawal" which would violate the attorney-client privilege.
In addition, the proposed new rules have been written to include
not only in-house counsel, as contemplated by the Act, but also
outside counsel and even foreign attorneys. Public
comment will be taken for the month following publication
in the Federal Register. Coverage
at law.com
- Internet I: Panama Orders Internet Service Providers
to Block Ports Providing Internet Telephone Service, Affecting
Internet Traffic.
In an attempt to eliminate competition
from internet telephony providers resulting in lost revenues
for its telephone companies, Panama has ordered all internet
service providers (ISPs) within Panama to block 24 UDP ports
- those capable of carrying voice communications. But Panama's
geographical location makes it a hub for the Internet, and the
place where many undersea cables are connected, so that the effects
of the
decree will reach far beyond the boundaries of Panama. Coverage
at linuxandmain.com
- Internet II: China's Internet Firewall Grows Stronger;
More Internet Content Censored.
China is improving its technology,
and the strength of its internet firewall, screening out access
to internet content from outside the country that authorities
deem inappropriate. China now employs 30,000 Internet police
to monitor its citizens. The news reportedly has some in Congress
thinking they might seek to encourage hacking of the Chinese
firewall. Ironically, China's improving technology comes from
equipment sold to China by US companies. Coverage
at wired.com
- Age Bias I: Were They Partners or Employees? EEOC
Wants to Know.
In an age discrimination case that
could affect law firms nationwide, the 7th Circuit Court of Appeals
has ruled that the Equal Employment
Opportunity Commission (EEOC) is entitled to additional documents
from a law firm to help determine whether federal anti-discrimination
laws apply to 32 demoted partners. The EEOC is investigating
whether the firm violated the Age
Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA) when it lowered the
mandatory retirement age for the firm, and demoted the partners
who had reached retirement age as a result of the change. The
law firm argued that those demoted were partners and not employees,
and thus not covered under the ADEA. The EEOC argued that it
could not make the determination regarding whether they were
partners or employees without the additional documents, and the
court agreed. EEOC
v. Sidley Austin Brown & Wood, No. 02-1605 (October 24,
2002).
Coverage
at abanet.org
- Age Bias II: "Stray Remarks" Made by Supervisor
With Power to Fire Actionable.
A man whose supervisor said that
he was "looking for younger, single people" and warned
the man that, because of his age, he "wouldn't be happy
there in the future," was entitled to have a jury decide
whether the supervisor was guilty of age discrimination. In the
ruling, the 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals found that age-related
comments made by a supervisor cannot be discounted as mere "stray
remarks" if they were made by the supervisor who made the
decision to fire the employee, and the supervisor made the remarks
in a conversation about the employee's prospects for continued
employment. Fakete
v. Aetna Inc., No. 01-2494, (October 24, 2002)
- Virginia Supreme Court Confirms
Order to Reveal Subscriber Identity.
AOL has been ordered to reveal
the identity and information concerning an anonymous subscriber
who allegedly posted defamatory information in a Yahoo chat room,
and engaged in unfair business practices. The anonymous poster
was traced to AOL, but AOL had refused to reveal the poster's
identity. America
Online, Inc. vs. Nam Tai Electronics, Inc., Record No. 012761
(November 1, 2002).
- AOL Offers Version of Instant
Messaging Which Employers Can Monitor.
America Online (AOL) plans to offer
(at $35/employee) a new version of its popular instant messaging
(the consumer version will remain free) which will permit employers
to monitor the instant messages sent by their employees,just
as they now monitor email. However, the new version will also
enable employees to send encrypted instant messages that can
only be read by designated, registered recipients - a feature
in which several federal agencies and some private companies
are interested. Coverage
at washingtonpost.com
- Juror's Private Web Research
Not Grounds for New Trial.
Reasoning that the information
the innovative juror found would have been admissible at trial
(the defendant's financial condition), a Philadelphia Federal
Judge has ruled that no new trial is required. The Defendant
had sought a new trial in the case against him for tortious interference
with contract after a verdict against him of nearly $2 million.
CGB
Occupational Therapy Inc. v. RHA/Pennsylvania Nursing Homes Inc.,
#00-4918 (November,2002) Coverage
at law.com.
- Spam Fighter for Business.
Read this informative article
at business2.com, and
find out what's new, and what works in the never-ending battle
against spam.
- Is Your Computer Spying on
You?
It might have been that last "free"
software you downloaded, which might have contained a surprise,
lurking in the background, following your visits to websites,
and reporting back to some unknown entity. Find out how to see
if you have spyware on your computer, and how to get rid of it.
See this report
at law.com
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