NewsWire

Despite Baseball Success, Rangers Must Watch Spending
It's hard to imagine that it was just a little more than a year ago when the Texas Rangers were being auctioned off to the highest bidder in a Fort Worth bankruptcy court. Now that the club has repeated as American League West Division champions and set a club record for attendance, it appears that the team's revenue picture has improved dramatically, says Dallas bankruptcy attorney and Rangers fan Derek Rollins, a partner at Shackelford, Melton & McKinley, LLP. "Their growing fan base and second consecutive appearance in post-season play make it easier for the Rangers organization to sell box seats, advertising and team merchandise. Winning teams sell," he adds. "It's what the ownership does with the money that can get them into trouble. If you start to spend like George Steinbrenner, but don't have that kind of money, you can land back in bankruptcy court." For more information, contact Dave Moore at 800-559-4534 or dave@androvett.com.

New Swipe Fee Limits for Paying With Plastic
New financial regulations that cap the amount banks can charge for debit card transaction "swipe fees" promise to send ripples through the economy, from the very largest card-issuing banks to merchants to individual checking account holders. Card-issuing banks expect they stand to lose $9 billion annually as a result of the cap on transaction swipe fees that start Saturday. "Bank customers accustomed to free checking and rewards perks will see those incentives disappear as banks try to recoup the lost revenue," says Zahara Alarakhia, a partner in Dallas-based Munck Carter. "Merchants stand to gain by not having to pass along the higher fees, but it remains to be seen whether that will translate to lower prices for consumers." For more information, contact Robert Tharp at 800-559-4534 or robert@androvett.com.

‘No Nicotine' Hiring Policy May Create Hurdles
The new "no nicotine" hiring policy at Dallas-based Baylor Health Care System may stand up in court, but it should make other employers uneasy, according to executive employment lawyer Joe Ahmad of Houston's Ahmad Zavitsanos, Anaipakos, Alavi & Mensing P.C., or AZA. "Not only could employers be cutting themselves off from good future employees, but also hurting the morale of current workers who are grandfathered in but now may feel like second-class citizens," says Ahmad. "There could be legal issues down the road too, including whether this policy retaliates against smokers with higher health care costs. Also, someone could raise the potentially hard-to-win argument that nicotine addiction is a disability protected from discrimination." For more information, contact Mary Flood at 800-559-4534 or mary@androvett.com.

Tight Job Market Brings More EEOC Complaints
Almost 100,000 employment discrimination claims were filed with the EEOC in 2010, a record that could be eclipsed this year. "Given the economic climate, employers now face a greater chance of receiving complaints, not just from terminated employees but from existing ones as well. It appears that more employees believe they don't have the option of leaving their current job, and are choosing to file a complaint instead," says Dallas attorney Mark Shank of Gruber Hurst Johansen Hail Shank LLP. "There is also a growing body of employment laws and regulations, coupled with outreach by state and federal agencies, to raise awareness of workplace rights. Employers need to recognize the increased potential for discrimination claims, and take steps to educate managers and supervisors about avoiding legitimate complaints." Shank notes that for the first time, reports of retaliatory firing are exceeding racial discrimination as the most common type of complaint. For more information, contact Barry Pound at 800-559-4534 or barry@androvett.com.

Transfer Pricing is Critical in Deficit Reduction
The financial press is appropriately full of stories about deficit reduction and the role of corporate tax reform. From a government standpoint, these discussions relate to the need to close corporate loopholes that allow income to be earned in low-tax foreign countries. From a multinational standpoint, the issue is elimination of the competitive handicap that U.S. law imposes on U.S.-based multinationals. The current Obama Administration deficit reduction proposal anticipates a 7:1 return from further investment in IRS enforcement programs. Congressional hearings are addressing the potential benefits of a new "territorial" tax system. "The common element in all of these elements is the role of the U.S. transfer pricing provisions," advises Dallas transfer pricing lawyer Cym H. Lowell of Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP. "Our clients examine each of these developments in terms of achieving their global effective tax rate strategy," adds Lowell, who is the lead author of international tax and transfer pricing treatises of Thomson Reuters, which demystify the ambiguous world of transfer pricing. For more information, contact Rhonda Reddick at 800-559-4534 or rhonda@androvett.com.

New Texas Law Tightens Medical Record Security
While Texas has passed a tough new law to protect personal medical information, a new survey reveals that 80 percent of Americans are still concerned about an increased reliance on electronic health records because of the risk of identity theft and the potential they may be viewed by unauthorized health care workers, as well as current or potential employers. "Electronic records are generally more secure than paper records, but lax security controls can still exist, even with encrypted data," says Wilson Jones of the Dallas office of Thompson & Knight. Jones says the new Texas law goes beyond federal HIPAA regulations in setting heightened requirements for employee training and fulfilling patient requests, and dramatically expands enforcement penalties. "Third-party organizations that may have access to personal health information, but have never been subject to privacy regulations, could face prosecution and fines under this new law." For more information, contact Barry Pound at 800-559-4534 or barry@androvett.com.

Cracking Down on Health Care Fraud
Federal prosecutions for health care fraud are expected to reach almost 1,400 this year, an 85 percent increase from 2010. Texas, Florida and Alabama lead the nation in enforcement actions in 2011. "Resources are being applied on a number of fronts that are leading to these kinds of numbers," says Rose Romero of the Dallas office of Thompson & Knight. "There are new rules and tougher screenings of companies allegedly providing services, more funding for investigations, and greater cooperation among federal and state agencies in collecting evidence and completing prosecutions." Romero recently joined Thompson & Knight after more than 20 years in government service as an Assistant U.S. Attorney and as the Regional Director of the SEC in the Northern District of Texas. She has investigated and prosecuted all types of corporate fraud and securities law violations, and personally tried more than 60 federal criminal cases to favorable verdicts. For more information, contact Barry Pound at 800-559-4534 or barry@androvett.com.

Car Bombing Underscores Family Law Risks
A Michigan lawyer and his two teenage sons narrowly survived a car bombing last week, and investigators are closely examining the possibility that the attack could have been the work of the opposing party in a contentious child-support dispute the attorney was handling. The bombing underscores the perils particular to attorneys who handle family law cases, says Dallas-based family law attorney Brad LaMorgese. "More than any other area of the law, family law generates intense emotions that sometimes spill out of the courtroom in the form of violence and threats of violence," says LaMorgese, a partner in McCurley Orsinger McCurley Nelson & Downing. LaMorgese notes that his firm has implemented security precautions in response to such threats. For more information, contact Robert Tharp at 800-559-4534 or robert@androvett.com.