Has The SEC Put The Proverbial Horse Before The Cart?

In a recently settled administrative proceeding, the Securities and Exchange Commission took the position that an employer took action to impede potential whistleblowers when as a condition of receiving separation pay, the employer required its...

Vote To Dissolve LLC Defeats Buy-Out Option

The California Revised Uniform Limited Liability Company Act provides procedures for both voluntary and judicial dissolution. When a member or members of a California limited liability company files an action for its judicial dissolution, the other...

A Cloak Secrecy That Unbecomes The SEC

Readers of this space will know that I was an early critic of the SEC's whistleblower program.  In 2016, for example, I observed that the SEC had awarded $136 million to only 37 individuals.  Earlier, I posted five theses regarding the SEC's program:

California Allows Attorney's Fees Award To Successful Whistleblowers

California's Labor Code currently prohibits employers, or persons acting on their behalf, from retaliating against employees who "blow the whistle". Cal. Lab. Code § 1102.5. The same statute also prohibits employers, or persons acting on their...

Is A Breach Of Fiduciary Duty A Violation Of State Law?

California Labor Code Section 1102.5 protects employees from certain retaliatory acts by their employers.  Subdivision (b) of the statute provides:

Court Rules That Whistleblower Must Face Trial On Former Employer's Claims

Life is not necessarily all skittles and beer for whistleblowers.  Sometimes, they are sued by the very companies on which they blew the whistle.  Such is the case in the ongoing row in Erhart v. Bofi Holding, Inc., 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 57137.  Judge ...

Mirabile Dictu: 9th Circuit Holds FCPA Is Not A "Rule Or Regulation" Of The SEC

In 2013, Sanford Wadler, the General Counsel of Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc., delivered a report to the company's audit committee. His report expressed his belief that the company had engaged in serious and prolonged violations of the Foreign Corrupt...

Court Allows Whistleblower Case To Proceed Even Without Access To Tax Returns

Several prior posts have discussed California's whistleblower protection statute - Labor Code Section 1102.5.  See Court Extends California Whistleblower Protection To Third Party ViolationsCan A Whistleblower Disclose What Has Already Been...

Exactly What Part Of "To The Commission" Is Ambiguous?

The Dodd-Frank Act gave us many things, including Section 21F of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Section 21F, prohibits employers from retaliating against a "whistleblower". 15 U.S.C. § 78u-6(h)(1)(A). We need not guess about the definition of...

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