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Pinnacle Law
    Pinnacle Law

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      Pinnacle Law Review — Plain-language reference for demanding areas of American law

      Securities Enforcement

      Industry Arbitration of a Customer Dispute

      A customer dispute with a member firm is usually heard by a panel of three arbitrators rather than by a court. The forum is chosen at account opening or by the customer's election, and the award that results is very difficult to disturb.

      6 min readFederal law

      Three empty upholstered chairs set behind a long table in a plain conference room with closed blinds

      Latest

      All briefs
      Campaign Finance

      When a Group Becomes a Political Committee

      A group becomes a federal political committee when it receives contributions or makes expenditures above a statutory threshold in a calendar year. Courts have narrowed that trigger for groups engaged in other activity by requiring that federal campaign activity be the organization's major purpose. Crossing the line compels registration, a treasurer, segregated funds, contributor records and periodic reporting, and the duties run from the crossing rather than from registration.

      6 min readFederal and state

      Class Actions

      Predominance and Superiority in a Damages Class

      Certification of a damages class requires findings that common questions predominate over individual ones and that a class action is superior to other available methods of adjudication. Predominance is a qualitative weighing of the issues that would be tried, not a count of them. Superiority considers members' interests in separate control, litigation already begun, the desirability of the forum, and the manageability of a class trial.

      6 min readFederal law

      Workplace Immigration

      What an Employer May Not Do While a Case Is Contested

      While a verification mismatch is being contested, an employer may not terminate, suspend, delay training, withhold or lower pay, or take any other adverse action against the worker because of the mismatch. The standstill lasts until the case reaches a final result. Ordinary personnel decisions unconnected to the mismatch remain available, but the employer carries the burden of showing that the decision had an independent basis.

      6 min readFederal law

      Professional Liability

      The Affidavit or Certificate of Merit

      Merit screening statutes require a claimant suing a professional to file a supporting statement from a qualified practitioner, or a certification that expert proof is unnecessary. The statutes vary in who may sign, what the statement must assert, when it is due and whether the underlying expert must be identified. Non-compliance commonly produces dismissal, and in several states that dismissal operates with prejudice or after the limitation period has expired, ending the claim.

      6 min readState law

      Workplace Immigration

      What an employer must verify, record and produce when the government asks.

      All articles

      Recruitment Advertising That Excludes Lawful Workers

      The prohibition reaches recruitment, which means an advertisement can violate the statute before any candidate applies. Phrasing that filters by status rather than by authorization is the pattern enforcement has consistently pursued.

      6 min readFederal law

      Campaign Finance

      Who may give, how much, and what must be disclosed about it.

      All articles
      Campaign Finance

      A Complaint and the Enforcement That Follows

      A federal campaign finance enforcement matter opens on a sworn complaint, an internally generated referral or a referral from another agency. The respondent is notified and may respond in writing before any finding. The Commission then votes on whether there is reason to believe a violation occurred, may investigate, votes again on probable cause after a brief from the General Counsel and a reply, and must attempt conciliation before authorizing suit.

      6 min readFederal and state

      Campaign Finance

      The Reporting Calendar and What Each Report Covers

      Federal committees file on a schedule determined by their type and by the election cycle. Authorized committees elect between quarterly and monthly filing in an election year; other committees follow their own sequence. Reports covering a period before an election are due on a compressed deadline, and post-election reports close the cycle. Each report states cash on hand at both ends of a defined period, itemizes receipts and disbursements above the threshold, and lists outstanding debts.

      6 min readFederal and state

      Campaign Finance

      Refunding, Redesignating or Reattributing an Excess Contribution

      A committee that receives a contribution exceeding an applicable limit must resolve it within a defined period. It may refund the excess, redesignate it to another election in which the candidate participates, or reattribute it to a contributor with authority over the funds. Redesignation and reattribution each require a written instruction signed by the contributor. The committee must keep funds sufficient to cover the excess while the question is open, and each disposition is disclosed.

      6 min readFederal and state

      Ethics & Lobbying

      Registration, disclosure and the rules on what an official may accept.

      All articles
      A round banquet table set with folded napkins, water glasses and a small unlit candle, chairs pushed neatly in.
      Attendance at an event is analyzed as carefully as an object handed across a desk.

      Public Finance

      How a public body borrows, what it promises, and what it must keep telling the market.

      All articles

      Material Event Notices and the Ten Business Days

      Sixteen events sit on the list in the federal disclosure rule. Some require notice whenever they happen; others only when they are material. The period for filing runs from the occurrence of the event, not from the moment someone in the finance office learns of it.

      7 min readFederal law

      Class Actions

      Getting a group certified, keeping it together, and ending it in a way a court will approve.

      All articles
      Class Actions

      The Four Threshold Requirements

      Rule 23(a) permits representative litigation only where the class is so numerous that joinder is impracticable, questions of law or fact are common to the class, the representatives' claims or defenses are typical, and the representatives will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class. A court must conduct a rigorous analysis, which frequently overlaps with the merits, and the party seeking certification bears the burden on each element.

      6 min readFederal law

      Class Actions

      The Three Routes to Certification

      Rule 23(b) supplies three categories. The first covers cases where separate actions would risk incompatible standards for the party opposing the class or would impair the interests of absent members. The second covers cases where the opposing party acted on grounds applying generally to the class so that final injunctive or declaratory relief is appropriate. The third covers cases where common questions predominate and a class action is superior.

      6 min readFederal law

      Class Actions

      Adequacy of the Named Plaintiff and Counsel

      Adequacy asks whether the representative parties will fairly and adequately protect the interests of the class. It examines conflicts between the representative and absent members, the representative's engagement with the litigation, and separately the qualifications of counsel. A court certifying a class must appoint class counsel, considering the investigation done, counsel's experience and knowledge, and the resources to be committed.

      6 min readFederal law

      Professional Liability

      Suing a professional for the way the work was done, and defending that claim.

      All articles
      A handwritten meeting note on lined paper beside a printed letter and a desk telephone on a wooden surface
      A contemporaneous note of what was explained is usually worth more than any later recollection of it.

      Surety & Payment

      The bonds that stand behind a construction project, and how a claim on one is made.

      All articles

      Proving the Claim and the Records That Support It

      A bond claim is an accounting exercise before it is a legal one. The claimant must show what was furnished, that it went into the bonded work, what it was worth, and what remains unpaid once every payment and credit has been applied to the account.

      6 min readFederal and state

      Trusts & Fiduciaries

      Running a trust properly, and what happens when a beneficiary says it was not.

      All articles
      Trusts & Fiduciaries

      Removing a Trustee

      A settlor, cotrustee or beneficiary may ask a court to remove a trustee, and a court may act on its own initiative. The statutory grounds are a serious breach of trust, a lack of cooperation among cotrustees that substantially impairs administration, unfitness or persistent failure to administer effectively, and in most states a substantial change of circumstances or a request by all qualified beneficiaries. The last grounds also require a suitable successor.

      6 min readState law

      Trusts & Fiduciaries

      Self-Dealing and the No-Further-Inquiry Rule

      A trustee must administer the trust solely in the interests of the beneficiaries. A sale, encumbrance or other transaction involving trust property entered into by the trustee for the trustee's own account, or otherwise affected by a conflict between fiduciary and personal interests, is voidable by an affected beneficiary. Proof that the price was fair does not save it. The exceptions are narrow and specific.

      6 min readState law

      Trusts & Fiduciaries

      Decanting, Consent and Changed Circumstances

      The terms of an irrevocable trust may be altered by agreement, by court order, or by the trustee's own exercise of a distributive power. Consent modification requires the settlor and all beneficiaries, or all beneficiaries alone where the change respects a material purpose. A court may modify for circumstances the settlor did not anticipate. Decanting lets a trustee with discretion over principal distribute it to a second trust.

      6 min readState law

      Securities Enforcement

      Registration, examination and discipline of the people who sell and manage investments.

      All articles
      Two parallel footpaths worn into short grass diverging around a low stone marker on open ground
      The paths run alongside each other for much of the way, which is what makes the fork easy to miss.

      Utility Ratemaking

      How a regulated utility's prices are set, contested and changed.

      All articles

      Designing the Rate Once the Revenue Is Set

      Rate design converts a class revenue target into the charges a customer actually sees on a bill. The same class total can be collected in very different ways, and the choice among them decides who within the class pays more.

      6 min readState law