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July 10, 2014
Publication - Insurance Coverage, Professional Liability Insurance Coverage
Over the past year, directors and officers have been anticipating the Supreme Court’s ruling in Halliburton Co. et al. v. Erica John Fund, Inc., No. 13-317. In its recent 9-0 decision, the Supreme Court retained the fraud-on-the-market presumption of reliance adopted more than 25 years ago in Basic, Inc. v. Levinson, yet also held that defendants may rebut the presumption at the class certification stage. 573 U S. ___ (Slip Op. June 23, 2014) (Roberts, C.J.). This ruling signals that securities fraud class actions will continue unabated for the foreseeable future. Justice Ginsburg concurred in a separate opinion, joined by Justice Breyer and Justice Sotomayor. Justice Thomas also concurred in a separate opinion, joined by Justice Alito and Justice Scalia.
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July 10, 2014
Publication - Insurance Coverage, Professional Liability Insurance Coverage
On June 25, 2014, the Supreme Court of the United States, in Fifth Third Bancorp v. Dudenhoffer, declared that no “presumption of prudence” applied to fiduciaries of “employee stock ownership plans” (ESOPs). In rejecting the defense-friendly standard, the high court noted that ESOP fiduciaries are subject to the same duty of prudence as any other ERISA fiduciary except that ESOP fiduciaries are not liable for losses that stem from a failure to diversify. The decision is also noteworthy in that it set forth guidelines for lower courts to follow at the motion to dismiss stage that will impact how plaintiffs are able to satisfy pleading requirements in cases against ESOP fiduciaries.
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July 09, 2014
Publication
In an article published in InsideCounsel, Dexter Hamilton and Thomas Leonard, attorneys in Cozen O’Connor’s Commercial Litigation Department, discuss distracted driving and the potential impact on employers. Despite the risk and possible financial consequences, distracted driving is likely to continue. The proliferation of personal electronic devices (which are referred to collectively as “cell phones”) has placed fierce pressure on businesses to always be available for both internal and external communication. The quest to remain competitive, the emergence of a younger work force that expects to be connected at all times, and the growing use of technology to facilitate working from remote locations force employers to grapple with cell phone use policies and enforcement.
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July 09, 2014
Press Release - Health Care & Life Sciences - Health Care & Life Sciences
Cozen O’Connor continues to strengthen its focus on health care with the recent hiring of R. Christopher Raphaely, who will serve as co-chair of the firm’s Health Care Practice Group. Previously deputy general counsel for the Jefferson Health System, and general counsel to the system’s accountable care organization and captive professional liability insurance companies, Raphaely will be resident in the Philadelphia office.
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July 09, 2014
Publication
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently issued two decisions regarding the use of social science experts in criminal cases. As noted by University of Pittsburgh law professor David Harris, however, the opinions appear to “come from two different worlds.”
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July 08, 2014
Publication - Family Law
In an article published in The Legal Intelligencer, Jennifer Brandt and Megan Feehan, attorneys in Cozen O'Connor's Family Law Department, discuss a recent case involving actor Jason Patric and his former girlfriend Danielle Schreiber. Patric, a sperm donor, is now looking to have custody rights to the child he helped conceive four years ago. The California courts are grappling with competing statutes in searching for a resolution. The broader issue, however, is how technology is changing the definition of a family in our modern world and how our law is trying to adapt to these changes.
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July 08, 2014
News - Business, Tax
Joe Bright, of the Tax Practice Group, was recently quoted on Philly.com in an article titled, "City of Philly Defends Wiping Clean SEPTA's $22M Tax Bill in Letter to Bill Green, Darrell Clarke." In the article, Joe offers his thoughts regarding the history of litigation over similar arguments by stating, "There are a couple of very well known Pennsylvania Supreme Court cases that say that a commercial hotel located at an airport and located on city or state or county ground is not taxable because you need hotels to operate an air transit system."
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July 07, 2014
News
Andrea Hammel and Jared Bayer, members of Cozen O’Connor’s Commercial Litigation Department, obtained another favorable ruling on behalf of Anadarko Petroleum Corp. On Monday, July 7, the Pennsylvania Superior Court backed a lower court ruling that nixed a drilling rights dispute involving Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Anadarko Petroleum Corp., rejecting a landowner’s argument that oil and gas leases were governed by the Keystone State’s landlord-tenant law.
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July 07, 2014
Press Release - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
A. Martin Wickliff, Jr., a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department, has authored a chapter focusing on employment law in American Lawyer Media’s newly released book, Texas Business Litigation.
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July 03, 2014
Publication - Appellate, Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
In an article published in The Legal Intelligencer, Stephen Miller and Kaitlin DiNapoli, attorneys in Cozen O’Connor’s Litigation Department, discuss the U.S. Supreme Court’s exploration of two Fair Labor Standards Act cases that have far-reaching consequences for employers, since back pay, overtime and double damages for employees are on the line. The cases involve the compensability of certain activities—donning and doffing protective gear in the case decided in January and going through a security screen in the new case—that employees must complete to perform their jobs, but are not necessarily the crux of the jobs themselves.
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July 03, 2014
Publication - Family Law
In an article published in Zillow Blog, Jennifer Brandt, a member of Cozen O'Connor's Family Law Department, discusses dividing the marital home in a divorce, one of the most difficult aspects of property distribution. The house is often the most valuable asset owned by the parties, and it is the one that often has the most sentimental meaning as well. Couples spend a lot of time and effort choosing a home and filling it with memories, and frequently neither side wants to move from the home even while a divorce is pending.
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July 02, 2014
Publication - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
The U.S. Supreme Court this week issued its long-awaited decision in Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc., regarding the ability of for-profit corporations to refuse to abide by regulations that require them to provide cost-free contraception to their female employees. The Court ruled in favor of Hobby Lobby, holding that the regulations imposing the contraception mandate of the Affordable Care Act violated another federal law, the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA). Although the Court seemed to emphasize the limited nature of its holding, this case has broad implications for all corporations and all types of government regulations.
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July 02, 2014
News - Family Law
In an article titled “For Richer, For Poorer – Before Exchanging Those Vows, Couples Should Evaluate Their Financial Futures,” Jennifer Brandt, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Family Law Department, discusses the importance of discussing financial obligations before marriage to avoid resentment in the future. “The new spouse needs to understand and accept that these obligations can cause a serious financial impact on cash flow and may affect their lifestyle,” says Jennifer.
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July 02, 2014
News
Sean Carter discusses the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that gives the go-ahead to a lawsuit by victims of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks against the government of Saudi Arabia, alleging it indirectly financed al-Qaeda in the years before the hijackings.
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June 30, 2014
Publication - Tax
A panel of the Commonwealth Court held that the Westmoreland Tax Claim Bureau had the discretion under the Real Estate Tax Sale Law (RETSL) to allow an owner of a tax delinquent property (Rowe) to redeem the property through the payment of all tax and costs after the property failed to sell at a tax sale and a judicial sale and had been placed in the bureau’s repository of unsold property. Consequently, the court dismissed a complaint for mandamus and declaratory judgment filed by an individual (Sanders) seeking to force the bureau to accept his bid for the property.
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June 30, 2014
Publication - Tax
A panel of the Commonwealth Court held that an owner of property was entitled to pursue a base year evaluation appeal, notwithstanding that the initial appeal was taken by a school district. Corey v. Washington County Board of Assessment Appeals, No. 370 C.D. 2013 (Pa. Commw. May 13, 2014) (unreported).
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June 30, 2014
Publication - Tax
A panel of a Commonwealth Court held that a mortgagee is not an aggrieved party for purposes of standing to take an appeal of the assessment of real property. Mountain Manor Development Company LP v. Monroe County Board of Assessment Appeals, No. 1187 C.D. 2013 (Pa. Comm. May 22, 2014) (unreported).
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June 30, 2014
Publication - Tax
A divided Commonwealth Court panel vacated an order of the Court of Common Pleas of Lackawanna County dismissing a property owner’s (Pascal) set aside petition to void the judicial sale of her property and remanded the case for an evidentiary hearing.
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June 30, 2014
Publication - Tax
A panel of the Commonwealth Court held that a pro se taxpayer waived all issues on appeal because he failed to comply with the lower court’s order directing him to file a statement of matters complained of on appeal. City of Philadelphia v. Tax Review Board, Appeal of Samuel Cook, No. 1070 C.D. 2013 (Pa. Commw. May 21, 2014) (unreported). Issues not stated in a statement are waived. Commonwealth v. Castillo, 888 A.2d 775 (Pa. 2005). Since the taxpayer filed no statement, all issues were waived.
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June 25, 2014
Publication
In a recent case, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit addressed the Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA)'s amount in controversy requirement. In Hoffman v. Nutraceutical, No. 13-3482, slip op. (3d Cir. March 27, 2014), the Third Circuit affirmed the district court's denial of the plaintiff's motion to remand the case back to state court. The court held that the CAFA jurisdictional requisites, including the amount in controversy requirement, were satisfied and supported federal jurisdiction. Embedded in the decision is an interesting operational assumption: Instead of the burden being on the defendant to prove that the CAFA amount in controversy requirement had been met—as is true in most CAFA cases—the burden was placed on the plaintiff to show that the jurisdictional amount had not been met.
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