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April 01, 2015
News - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
In an article titled “What to Do About Employees’ #StupidTweets,” Michael Schmidt, vice chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department, discusses whether an employer should take action against an employee for an inappropriate tweet. Michael remarked that “assuming no outright prohibition [by the law] on disciplining the employee for the tweet, the employer also may consider both the impact that the tweet has or may have on co-workers, as well as the impact on morale if the offending employee or others perceive the employer as overly regulating employee speech and expression, particularly of a more innocuous and not patently offensive message.”
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March 31, 2015
News - Products Liability
In an article titled “Defense Focus in Risperdal Cases May Shift to Causation,” Jim Heller, chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Products Liability Practice Group, discusses the two defenses available to Janssen Pharmaceuticals following verdicts in the first two Risperdal cases: the first for failure to warn and the second for causation. As for whether Janssen should drop its failure to warn defenses entirely, Jim said, “I abandon defenses when the jury gets angry at the evidence … here I don't think that either jury has gotten angry. But I clearly would focus my defense on causation.”
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March 31, 2015
News - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
In an article titled “Indiana’s Anti-LGBT Law is Even Worse Than it Seems,” Jeffrey Pasek, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department, discusses Indiana’s new state law SB 101, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act, which is broader than existing federal law and differs from other state laws in significant ways. “Nothing like this exists under federal law,” observes Jeff; under SB 101, those claiming religious grounds to justify discrimination “are much less likely to be challenged and much more likely to prevail.”
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March 31, 2015
Press Release - Transportation & Logistics Litigation - Hospitality
Paul Leary, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Commercial Litigation Department, has recently been named to the Board of Directors of both the Police Athletic League (PAL) and the Business Leadership Organized for Catholic Schools (BLOCS).
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March 30, 2015
Publication - Products Liability
John Sullivan discusses Yotam v. Takeda Pharmaceuticals North America, Inc. and the uneven ground of ex parte interviews of treating doctors, an area in which plaintiffs' counsel too often seem to be handed the higher ground.
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March 27, 2015
News - Family Law
Jennifer Brandt, a member of Cozen O'Connor's Family Law Practice Group and editor of the blog ''Family Law Focus,'' was selected by Suburban Life Magazine as one of their 2015 ''Top Family Law Attorneys.'' Suburban Life asked their readers to share their opinions on which attorneys excel in family law, resulting in hundreds of votes that helped compile a definitive list of attorneys to turn to for help and guidance in matters of divorce, adoption and other aspects of family law.
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March 26, 2015
Publication - Labor & Employment
In a move that should remind all employers (whether unionized or non-unionized) to regularly review their employee handbooks, Richard F. Griffin, the General Counsel of the National Labor Relations Board (Board or NLRB), recently issued a memorandum addressing the kind of handbook language that could run afoul of the National Labor Relations Act.
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March 26, 2015
Publication - Real Estate Litigation
Menachem Kastner and Ally Hack, members of Cozen O’Connor’s Commercial Litigation Department, authored an article for the New York Law Journal titled “Incurable Defaults in Commercial Leases: Can You Un-Ring the Bell?” They identify the various types of commercial lease defaults that courts may find to be “incurable” as a matter of law, followed by a focus on what has been the most controversial of these defaults – the unauthorized assignment of its lease. Menachem and Ally also provide a practical tip on terminating commercial leases for unauthorized assignments, where the law and the usual lease default provisions may seem contradictory.
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March 26, 2015
News - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
In an article titled “Indiana’s ‘Religious Freedom Restoration’ Law is Far Broader Than RFRA,” Jeffrey Pasek, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department, comments on Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act. ““This bill goes far beyond the federal RFRA,” explains Jeff. “It would fall to the individual who is being discriminated against to attempt to justify an otherwise neutral law by asserting that the government has a compelling interest in enforcing the law, but nothing in this bill says the government has to get involved in those cases,” he added. “At least if someone outright challenges a governmental requirement against government enforcement, we can expect the government to make a reasoned decision about whether to support its requirement and to apply that rationale on an even-handed basis. That is totally lacking here.”
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March 25, 2015
News - Labor & Employment
Michael Schmidt, vice chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department, discusses lawyer blogging and what it means to be “part of the social media conversation.” He also talks about the issues of oversharing, setting goals and calculating marketing success, and why every lawyer should be on LinkedIn in an interview with the Legal Talk Network.
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March 24, 2015
Publication - Tax
The Philadelphia Office of Property Assessment (OPA) recently mailed notices to each owner of property listed as tax exempt on the OPA’s records indicating that the owner must file a form to certify that the property continues to be entitled to exemption.
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March 23, 2015
Publication - Products Liability
John Sullivan discusses the latest decision in Zogenix, Inc. v. Baker, in which the Commonwealth of Massachusetts has tried to regulate Zohydro ER, an extended release hydrocodone drug product that was approved by the FDA in 2013.
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March 18, 2015
News - Aviation, Transportation & Trade, Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) / Drones
David Heffernan of the Transportation & Logistics Practice Group and co-chair of the Aviation Industry Team, discusses Industry Reaction to FAA's Drone Proposals in this San Diego Daily Transcript article "Industry Has Mixed Reaction to FAA's Drone Proposals."
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March 17, 2015
Publication - Bankruptcy, Insolvency & Restructuring
When a business is in financial distress, the breaking point sometimes comes with little or no warning. An event such as a termination of funding, the falling through of a crucial transaction, or the loss of a key customer can be difficult to predict, and may result in a distressed business being forced to cease operations abruptly, without providing its workers with the advance notice required under the Federal WARN Act.
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March 16, 2015
Publication - Products Liability
John Sullivan discusses collateral litigation and companies who find themselves in difficult court battles to protect confidential, business-sensitive information from public disclosure.
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March 16, 2015
Publication - Health Care & Life Sciences - Health Care & Life Sciences
While one part of the Affordable Care Act, exchange subsidies, hangs in the balance with the Supreme Court’s upcoming decision in King v Burwell, CMS is moving forward aggressively with the evolution of a less controversial ACA-created innovation, the Medicare ACO.
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March 16, 2015
News - Sports
Cozen O’Connor’s “2015 Sports Law for Rookies and Veterans” in Eden Roc Miami Beach generated a buzz in the NBA community regarding the National Basketball Players Association interest in having the age limit to go pro lowered in the next round of collective bargaining. General Counsel for the NBPA Gary Kohlman spoke at the conference saying that it is “quite likely the union will be taking a radically different position” than the NBA on the age issue. NFL Players Association Executive Director, DeMaurice Smith, was also on hand to discuss his expectations on the upcoming NFLPA elections that took place in Hawaii on March 15, he was hoping to be elected to his third term (ESPN’s Adam Schefter confirmed DeMaurice Smith was re-elected). "I have a boring job," Smith said. "My job is far more dictated every day by law, regression analysis, budgets, salary, perspective, opinions about where the economy's going to go and the cap. That's a pretty boring job — but I dig it."
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March 13, 2015
News - Aviation, Transportation & Trade, Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) / Drones - Aviation
David Heffernan of the Transportation and Logistics Practice Group and co-chair of the Aviation Industry Team presented on drones at the Air Law Institute 2nd Annual Air & Space Law Symposium on San Diego, CA March 13-14, 2015. San Diego Channel 6 News interviewed a few of the presenters at the Symposium to discuss the future of drone regulation.
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March 12, 2015
Publication - Subrogation & Recovery
Inverse Condemnation law is a doctrine that arises out of the “takings clauses” set forth in state and federal constitutions. Specifically, Article I, Section 19 of the California Constitution prohibits private property from being taken or damaged for public use without just compensation to the owner. The “taking” or “damage” can occur when the public entity causes physical damage to the property with, or without, an actual invasion by the public entity. San Diego Gas & Electric Co. v. Superior Court (1996) 13 Cal.4th 893. Fortunately, the protections afforded by the constitutional provisions are also available to the subrogees of property owners in California.
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March 12, 2015
Publication - International, Transportation & Trade
On March 9, 2015, pursuant to authority contained in the recently enacted Venezuela Defense of Human Rights and Civil Society Act (Act), President Obama issued an executive order (EO) declaring a national emergency with respect to Venezuela. The EO cites ongoing public corruption, oppression of political opponents, curtailment of Venezuela’s free press, and violent human rights abuses in Venezuela that pose a threat to U.S. security and foreign policy and directs the imposition of targeted economic sanctions.
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