The Indiana Court of Appeals (the “Court”) reversed a trial court’s temporary commitment order, holding the evidence did not clearly and convincingly establish the patient was gravely disabled. Although the evidence supported the patient suffered from mental illness and exhibited symptoms associated with a manic episode, the Court concluded the evidence did not demonstrate those symptoms resulted in an inability to function independently. In re Civil Commitment of E.R., No. 26A-MH-1878, 2026 WL 2427159 (Ind. Ct. App. Aug. …
Continue Reading Indiana Court of Appeals Reverses Temporary Commitment Where Evidence Did Not Establish Grave Disability

Entry to the Wisconsin Supreme Court in the Capitol in Madison. Photograph by Margo Kirchner. By Alexandria Staubach The Wisconsin Supreme Court opens its session with oral arguments next week, including a case concerning the constitutionality of Wisconsin’s reverse waiver statute. “Reverse waiver” is used to describe a case that begins in adult court but is later transferred to juvenile court. Under the pertinent statute, adult circuit courts exercise original jurisdiction over various homicide charges for any child alleged to have…
Continue Reading Wisconsin Supreme Court opens term with case of child charged in adult court

Can Employers Restrict Union Pins and Shirts? Lessons From the Starbucks DecisionEmployers may have more flexibility to enforce neutral dress code and uniform policies, even when those policies affect employees’ display of union insignia.On September 2, 2026, in a decision involving Starbucks’ New York Reserve Roastery, the Second Circuit rejected the NLRB’s stringent standard to workplace rules that restricts employees’ ability to display union insignia under its Tesla decision. The court concluded that the Board’s Tesla standard did not…
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Decision

Elizabeth Tucker and Brett Travers join the firm’s health care regulatory and real estate practices, signaling rapid investment in the Missouri market.
Hall Render, the nation’s leading law firm focused exclusively on health care, is pleased to welcome Elizabeth (“Ellie”) Tucker and Brett Travers as shareholders to its recently opened office in St. Louis, Missouri. Ellie is a health care operations and regulatory attorney primarily representing clients in the post-acute care sector, while Brett advises health care clients on…
Continue Reading Hall Render Recruits Two New Shareholders Within a Month of Launching St. Louis Office

By Alexandria Staubach The State Legislature’s Legislative Council created a study committee to evaluate the district attorney funding formula, and the first of four committee meetings occurred at the Capitol last week.For almost four decades Wisconsin has struggled with the model used to allocate prosecution resources across the state’s many offices. The current funding formula assigns the available number of full-time employment positions based on caseload as an empirical measure of need. According to some, the evolution of a prosecutor’s practice has…
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By Attorney Stephen E. Mays
A first offense OWI in Wisconsin is a civil violation, not a crime — no jail, no criminal record. That is the part most people hear first, and it is true. What almost nobody tells you at the roadside is that the deadlines that decide your driver’s license start running within days of the arrest, and that this “civil ticket” follows you for the rest of your life if you simply pay it.
Our…
Continue Reading First Offense OWI in Wisconsin: Penalties, Your License, and What Happens Next

By Attorney Stephen E. Mays
The court date printed on a Wisconsin OWI citation is rarely immediate — and for a first offense, that first appearance is short, procedural, and, if you understand what it is for, nothing to fear. But two things about it surprise almost everyone: the most important deadlines in your case expire before that date, and what you say at the appearance can lock in or give away your right to a jury.
Here is…
Continue Reading What Happens at Your First Court Appearance for a Wisconsin OWI

By Attorney Stephen E. Mays
Most first-time OWI defendants in Wisconsin assume there is nothing to defend — the machine said 0.08, so pay the ticket. After three decades practicing in Dane County’s courts — on both sides of OWI cases — I can tell you that assumption gives away real defenses in a surprising number of cases. The state’s evidence is built by human beings following detailed rules at every step — the stop, the roadside tests, the…
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NLRB Successor Bar Under Fire: What Employers Buying Unionized Businesses Need to KnowEmployers acquiring a business with a unionized workforce may soon have more flexibility to challenge the incumbent union’s status than they have had for decades. On July 21, the D.C. Circuit held in Hospital Menonita de Guayama, Inc. v. NLRB that the National Relations Labor Board (NLRB ) never had the authority to impose its “successor bar” doctrine, a rule that generally requires a successor employer to…
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Need to Know

On May 20, 2026, the Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) posted a favorable opinion, AO 26-11, regarding an arrangement in which a precision oncology company (“Requestor”) offers eligible patients undergoing a colorectal cancer screening test (“CRC Screening Test”) a free supplemental report (“Supplemental Report”) to identify risk of other cancer types (the “Arrangement”). Although the Arrangement could generate prohibited remuneration under the Beneficiary Inducements Civil Monetary Penalty Law (“CMP”) and the federal…
Continue Reading When Free Is Permissible: OIG Allows Free Supplemental Cancer Screening Reports for Eligible Patients

On August 27, 2026, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) announced that the moratorium on accepting Medicare supplier enrollment applications for Durable Medical Equipment, Prosthetics, Orthotics, and Supplies (“DMEPOS”) suppliers, which went into effect on February 27, 2026, has expired.

The National Provider Enrollment Contractors are once again accepting initial enrollment applications from DMEPOS suppliers.
Practical Takeaways

  • DMEPOS suppliers seeking to submit applications to CMS should submit as soon as possible before the bidding window opens for

…
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On August 11, 2026, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced a final rule that permanently terminated the Corporate Transparency Act’s (CTA) beneficial ownership reporting requirements for U.S. companies and citizens.

FinCEN also stated that it will delete all information U.S. citizens previously submitted to the beneficial ownership information database.

This development likely marks the end of the CTA’s tumultuous enforcement history.

If you have questions about this update, please contact your Ruder Ware attorney or the article authors,…
Continue Reading Closing Time for the Corporate Transparency Act

The Indiana Court of Appeals (the “Court”) affirmed a trial court’s temporary commitment order, holding that clear and convincing evidence supported the trial court’s findings that the patient’s persistent paranoia, inability to manage her medications, impaired ability to communicate and provide for her basic needs, and continued need for emergency medication supported the commitment despite her history of voluntarily seeking treatment. In the Matter of the Civil Commitment of S.W., No. 26A-MH-1933 (Ind. Ct. App. Aug. 18, 2026) …
Continue Reading Indiana Court of Appeals Affirms Temporary Commitment Where Paranoia Impaired Patient’s Ability to Function Independently

Effective January 1, 2027, Illinois employers with 26 or more employees must pay employees at their regular hourly rate for their existing job-protected jury duty leave. The change, enacted through House Bill 4844 and signed by Governor J.B. Pritzker on July 31, 2026, amends the Illinois Jury Act and Illinois Jury Commission Act. Crucially, there are no caps or limitations on the new paid leave.

While Illinois employers have long been required to provide employees with protected time away…
Continue Reading Illinois Employers Must Provide Paid Jury Duty Leave Beginning January 1,2027

On August 4, 2026, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) published the Fiscal Year (“FY”) 2027 Inpatient Prospective Payment System (“IPPS”) Final Rule (the “Final Rule”), which can be found here. The Final Rule is effective October 1, 2026, and includes several updates affecting Graduate Medical Education (“GME”) and Nursing and Allied Health (“NAH”) education programs under Medicare. These updates include: (i) modifications to the criteria for determining whether a residency program qualifies as a “new…
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When short-term disability (STD) benefits are about to end, many workers assume long-term disability (LTD) will simply pick up where STD leaves off. That assumption can create a costly gap.
The transition from short-term to long-term disability is a new benefit determination, not an automatic continuation of an approved claim. The insurer may require updated medical evidence, new claim forms, occupational information, and proof that you satisfy a different definition of disability.
That makes the final weeks of short-term…
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