Recent News & Publications
Search News & Publications
December 19, 2013
Publication - Insurance Coverage
A Pennsylvania state judge denied Highmark Life Insurance Co.'s bid to vacate a $3.6 million arbitration award in favor of Elite Underwriting Services LLC, saying that the exclusion of testimony by the parties' reinsurance broker did not warrant a vacatur.
Tweet
December 18, 2013
Publication - Bankruptcy, Insolvency & Restructuring
Does the Bankruptcy Code allow for triangular setoffs in swap and repurchase agreements after commencement of the debtor's bankruptcy case? In Sass v. Barclays Bank (In re American Home Mortgage Holdings), Adv. Proc. No. 11-51851 (CSS) (Del. Bankr. Nov. 8, 2013), the court held that the Bankruptcy Code does not allow parties to set off non-mutual obligations, regardless of whether the agreements are subject to the safe harbor provisions of 11 U.S.C. §§ 559-661.
Tweet
December 17, 2013
Press Release - Securities Litigation & SEC Enforcement
Cozen O’Connor has further expanded the reach of its Commercial Litigation practice in New York with the recent hiring of Adam J. Schlatner, who joins the firm as a partner. Schlatner is the sixth new partner to join the practice in recent months.
Tweet
December 17, 2013
News - International
Cozen O’Connor litigators Martin Gusy and Matthew Weldon obtained a $1 million award of statutory damages, along with attorney’s fees, for C=Holdings B.V., the Dutch owner of the iconic Commodore computer brand and associated trademarks.
Tweet
December 16, 2013
Publication - Bad Faith, Insurance Coverage - Insurance
As a matter of first impression under Pennsylvania law, the court in Shannon v. New York Central Mutual Insurance Company, No: 13-cv-1432 (M.D. Pa. Nov. 20, 2013) denied a motion to strike an insurer’s defense of “bad faith set-up,” asserted in response to a bad faith claim based on the insurer’s alleged failure to settle a claim.
Tweet
December 16, 2013
Publication
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently issued a ground-breaking decision that could potentially expose employers to a wave of new lawsuits by former employees suffering from mesothelioma. In its November 22, 2013 opinion in the case Tooey v. AK Steel Corp., the court ruled that the Commonwealth’s Workers’ Compensation Act (the WCA) does not apply to claims based on occupational disease that otherwise would fall within the law’s ambit but does not manifest until after 300 weeks following the termination of a worker’s employment. Significantly, because the WCA does not apply to these claims, workers who develop mesothelioma can now sue their former employers in tort, unlike other workers whose claims fall under the Act and who can only proceed against their employers for worker’s compensation benefits.
Tweet
December 16, 2013
Publication - Transportation & Logistics Litigation
Cozen O'Connor lawyers in New York and Washington author an article for French Lexis Nexis Transportation Law newsletter. For the second year in a row, Christopher Kende, Christopher Raleigh and David Loh of the New York office and Marc Atwood and Wayne Rhode of the D.C. office have co-authored an article providing a summary review of developments in transportation law for the French Lexis Nexis publication Review of Transportation Law, which is distributed electronically to approximately 4000 registered readers in France.
Tweet
December 16, 2013
Publication - Insurance Coverage
In 1911, Oliver Wendell Holmes, writing for the majority of the United States Supreme Court, unequivocally (if unknowingly) established the legal distinction between the secondary life market and what has become known as stranger originated life insurance (“STOLI”). The common law in both England and the United States long-abhorred insurance without an interest as a “mischievous kind of gaming” and so developed the insurable interest doctrine i.e., that an owner of a policy must have an interest in that insured. However, the application of the doctrine to specific cases involving the purchase of life insurance produced varied results throughout the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. In Grigsby v. Russell, Justice Holmes established that a life insurance policy, once purchased in good faith, could subsequently be assigned or otherwise alienated by its rightful owner. Grigsby brought clear, manageable legal principles to nearly two centuries of inconsistent jurisprudence on the insurable interest doctrine, principles that were subsequently adopted by statute in all of the jurisdictions of the United States.
Tweet
December 16, 2013
Publication
Summary of state by state rescission standards for select jurisdictions.
Tweet
December 16, 2013
Publication - White Collar Defense & Investigations
Nicole Sprinzen, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations practice, discusses the trends and priorities discussed by DOJ and SEC FCPA officials at the American Conference Institute’s 2013 FCPA conference.
Tweet
December 16, 2013
News - Insurance Coverage - Insurance
Angelo Savino and Kristie Abel, members of Cozen O'Connor's Global Insurance Group, recently published an article titled “Aleynikov v. Goldman Sachs Provides Valuable D&O Insight” in Law360. The article discusses how the Aleynikov v. Goldman Sachs decision provides an interesting lesson in the differences between indemnification and advancement and who may be considered an officer for purposes of awarding indemnity and advancement.
Tweet
December 13, 2013
News
In an article titled “How past law leaders would function in today’s legal world,” Cozen O’Connor CEO Michael Heller discusses whether law firm managers of the 1990s and 2000s could thrive in today’s legal market. The business of running a law firm has changed dramatically since the recession hit in 2008 and clients have increasingly more power in the relationship between law firms and the clients, who have tightened legal budgets and demand a high level of value from the firms they employ. Law firm leaders now are faced with new challenges, including staffing, hiring, real estate, budgeting and weaker demand. Additionally, technology is ever-evolving and leaders must adapt to new advances. Michael Heller states “with technology, leaders 20 years ago did not have time to think about some of that. It’s a critical component today and changing daily. Rate pressure, efficiency, alternative fee arrangements. These issues are not new but they are more prevalent than they were back then.”
Tweet
December 13, 2013
Publication - Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation, Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) has stepped up its efforts in recent years to assert jurisdiction over more health care providers. As a result, a growing number of health care providers are struggling to comply with OFCCP's many regulatory requirements, while others are warily watching developments in this area. Now, federal contractors are faced with new regulations principally aimed at increasing employment opportunities for veterans and individuals with disabilities. These regulations, which cover an estimated 200,000 federal contractor establishments, become effective March 24, 2014, and require contractors to make additional, significant recruitment and outreach efforts to these groups.
Tweet
December 12, 2013
Publication
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia is rarely subtle when angry. And he has often been angry when evaluating the tests employed by his colleagues to resolve First Amendment religion cases. In particular, in a 1992 concurring opinion, he derided a multifactor test for evaluating the proper separation of religion and state as "some ghoul in a late-night horror movie that repeatedly sits up in its grave and shuffles abroad after being repeatedly killed and buried … frightening the little children and school attorneys" across the country.
Tweet
December 12, 2013
News - Intellectual Property
In an article titled “How Did a Conservative Colorado Preacher Get YouTube to Shut Down His Liberal Critics?” David Sunshine, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Intellectual Property Group, discusses conservative former Navy chaplain and Colorado state assembly candidate Gordon “Dr. Chaps” Klingenschmitt’s efforts to stop liberal group People for the American Way from stealing short clips from Klingenschmitt’s YouTube show and altering their titles in an extremely unfavorable manner. David states “there's little question that RWW's videos are protected under the fair-use doctrine.”
Tweet
December 12, 2013
Publication - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
So far 20 states and the District of Columbia have enacted laws permitting and regulating the use of marijuana for medicinal purposes. Colorado and Washington have gone further and legalized the recreational use of marijuana. Moreover, Americans’ tolerance for the legalization of marijuana is increasing. An October 2013 Gallup poll showed that 58% of Americans favor legalizing marijuana. What does this trend mean for retailers, especially those operating in multiple states? The answer is complex, as the law is evolving.
Tweet
December 11, 2013
Publication - Subrogation & Recovery
A recent decision in District Court in New Jersey may interest insurers subrogating transportation claims. In particular, it sets forth the legal argument to challenge target-carriers’ arguments about purported limitations of liability and the appropriate measure of damages.
Tweet
December 10, 2013
Publication - Subrogation & Recovery
International Law Digest containing the limitation periods in general, funding actions in China, privilege, bringing court proceedings, the role of experts, interim remedies, disclosure and costs.
Tweet
December 10, 2013
News
Bill de Blasio will become the 109th mayor of the city of New York. As different as de Blasio and Bloomberg are in experience and ideology, so too is the city at these points of time.
Tweet
December 05, 2013
News - Utility & Energy
Peter Fontaine, co-chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Utility, Environmental & Energy Practice Group, was interviewed by NPR on Wednesday, December 4, 2013, about SB 411, a bill to encourage greater use of acid water from coal mining to extract natural gas. Pete offers his opinion on the bill in StateImpact, a project of NPR member stations dedicated to examining how state policy and issues affect people and communities.
Tweet