In a case of first impression, the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled in Spring Valley Produce, Inc. et al. vs. Forrest, ____ F.3d____(11th Cir. Case Number 21-12133) on August 31, 2022, that the right to a discharge in bankruptcy trumps the longstanding language of the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act (“PACA”)(7 U.S.C. §499a-499t) which purports to bar bankruptcy relief under theories of fiduciary duties owed to certain sellers of agricultural products.

In the wake of the recent Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published guidance on June 29, 2022, regarding an individual’s privacy rights for reproductive health and abortion services under the Health Information Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA). Shea Luna takes a look at the guidance in this client alert.

In recent years, the capabilities of, and applications involving, artificial intelligence (“AI”) have dramatically increased, so much so that AI systems are now able to produce works of creativity and ingenuity once thought only to be possible through human efforts. The U.S. Copyright Office has already wrestled with the question of whether creative works authored by AI are eligible for federal copyright protection and determined that they are not in an opinion letter dated February 14, 2022.

In a recent win for healthcare practitioners, the Supreme Court in Ruan v. United States held that, to convict individuals of violating the Controlled Substances Act, the government must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant knowingly or intentionally acted in an unauthorized manner. The decision resolves a split among federal circuit courts. As a result of the split, healthcare practitioners were held to different standards related to the requisite state of mind for conviction under the CSA solely based on the location of their practice. In other words, a physician convicted in one state could have avoided conviction in another. The Supreme Court’s adoption of a universal standard cures this injustice.