Taxpayers seeking to contest the values established by the local assessor have a short time-to contest their new valuation.

Since the last edition of The Evaluator, there have been several notable legislative developments and decisions from courts and tax boards in jurisdictions across the country.

On March 20, 2019, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Obduskey v. McCarthy & Holthus LLP, unanimously holding that a business engaged in nonjudicial foreclosure proceedings is not a “debt collector” under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (the “FDCPA”), except for the limited purpose of one section.

The U.S. Supreme Court has vacated the Ninth Circuit’s decision approving a settlement between Google and a class of its users, based on unresolved questions regarding the users’ standing to bring their federal privacy claim.

The Sixth Circuit recently held that Baker Botts, L.L.P. v. ASARCO, L.L.C., 135 S. Ct. 2158 (2015) does not apply to contempt sanctions.

Property taxes are frequently the largest non-productive expense incurred by property owners, and proactive management of this expense may result in increased profitability.

Is a surviving spouse responsible for her deceased spouse’s medical bills if the creditor did not properly submit a claim against his estate?

Every six years the State of Ohio requires counties to reappraise real estate.

On February 6, 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) published a proposed rule that would amend the “Discounts” safe harbor under the Anti-Kickback Statute and create two new safe harbors respectively protecting “Point-of-Sale Reductions in Price for Prescription Pharmaceutical Products” and “PBM Service Fees.”

As of January 1, 2019, Connecticut became one of the latest jurisdictions to prohibit employers from inquiring into applicants’ salary history.

Every six years the State of Ohio requires counties to reappraise real estate.

Taxpayers seeking to contest real property tax values established by assessing jurisdictions across the country often have a short window of opportunity to contest their new valuation.

On December 18, 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) adopted a final rule implementing Section 955 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act which required the SEC to establish rules requiring companies to disclose whether their employees or directors are permitted to hedge the market value of equity securities granted as compensation to, or held by, employees or directors.

On December 20, 2018, President Trump signed the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018, popularly known as the “Farm Bill” of 2018, into law.

On October 31, 2018, the Internal Revenue Service and the Department of the Treasury released proposed regulations under Section 956 of the Internal Revenue Code (Proposed Regulations) that, for certain U.S. corporate shareholders, generally undo the “deemed dividend” rules that have applied to foreign corporate subsidiaries for decades.

On November 19, 2018, Institutional Shareholder Services Inc. (ISS) released updates to its proxy voting guidelines for 2019 (2019 Updates).

Michigan becomes the most recent state to legalize the recreational use of marijuana with the passage of Proposal 18-1 on November 6, 2018.

Lisa Babish Forbes, a partner in the litigation group in the Vorys Cleveland office, authored an article in the September/October 2018 issue of the Probate Law Journal of Ohio titled, "Online Notaries Are Coming (And Why You Should Care)."

Effective October 1, 2018, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) implemented important changes to the Medicare Inpatient Prospective Payment System (IPPS) affecting the documentation of hospital inpatient admissions.

Jeff Marks, a partner in the Vorys Cincinnati office, and Jeff Bieszczak, an associate in the Vorys Cleveland office, co-authored the feature article for the Cleveland Metropolitan Bar Association’s Bankruptcy and Commercial Law Section Newsletter Fall 2018 Edition