The full library in alphabetical order, across every area of law.
A regulated utility seeking to change its rates files an application containing the existing schedule, the proposed schedule, a statement of the property claimed to be used and useful, an operating statement and supporting testimony. The commission sets a schedule, publishes notice and rules on interventions. The applicant carries the burden of proving that the proposed rates are just and reasonable.
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.
A commission determining just and reasonable rates computes the revenue the utility must be permitted to collect. The formula adds prudently incurred operating expenses, an annual depreciation allowance, taxes, and a return calculated by multiplying the rate base by an allowed rate of return. Each component is tested separately, and nearly every contested issue in a rate case attaches to one of the four.
A professional must exercise the knowledge, skill, thoroughness and preparation ordinarily brought to comparable work by members of the same profession. The measure is objective and does not require a correct outcome. Because the content of the standard is not within common experience, most jurisdictions require expert testimony to establish it, subject to a narrow exception for failures obvious to a layperson. Holding out as a specialist raises the measure to that of the specialty.
When a broker-dealer or an associated person makes a recommendation of a securities transaction or investment strategy to a retail customer, the firm must act in the customer's best interest without placing its own interest ahead. The rule is discharged through four component obligations covering disclosure, care, conflicts of interest and compliance. None of the four is satisfied by disclosure alone.
A surety that pays under a bond has a right to recover from its principal, arising both from the general law of suretyship and from the general indemnity agreement executed before the bond issued. The agreement typically extends to losses, costs and fees, permits the surety to settle claims at its discretion, requires collateral on demand once exposure appears, and binds affiliated companies and individual owners personally. Its reach is far wider than the common law right alone.
A rate case is built on a test year, a twelve-month period whose revenues, expenses and rate base are used to compute the revenue requirement. Jurisdictions use a historic year, a historic year updated to a later date, or a forecast year. Because no actual period is representative, the raw figures are adjusted, and the traditional limit is that a change must be known and measurable.
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.
Before bidding for or selling municipal securities, a dealer must obtain and review an official statement the issuer deems final, and must reasonably determine that a continuing disclosure undertaking is in place. Board rules impose a duty of fair dealing and prohibit deceptive practices, and require disclosure to the issuer of the arm's length nature of the relationship and of material conflicts. The two duties run to different parties and are satisfied differently.
An intracompany transfer requires a qualifying organization, meaning an entity that meets exactly one of the parent, branch, subsidiary or affiliate relationships and is doing business as an employer in the United States and in at least one other country for the duration of the stay. The employee must have one continuous year of full-time employment abroad with a qualifying organization within the preceding three years, in a managerial, executive or specialized knowledge capacity.
An employer participating in electronic verification creates cases for new hires, not for existing employees. Running a current worker outside the recognized exceptions is misuse of the system and evidence of selective treatment. The principal exception belongs to federal contractors, who verify employees assigned to a covered contract and may elect to verify the entire existing domestic workforce instead of tracking assignment.
An approved employment-based petition is automatically revoked on written withdrawal by the petitioner where the withdrawal is filed less than 180 days after approval, unless an associated adjustment application has been pending 180 days or more. A petition withdrawn after either of those points remains approved unless revoked on other grounds. In every case the job offer is rescinded, and the beneficiary needs a new petition unless the portability provision applies.
