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April 17, 2013
News - Products Liability - Health Care & Life Sciences
Lauren Tulli, Jill Caughie and MaryTeresa Soltis secured a summary judgment from the District Court of the Western District of Kentucky in a factually complicated and contentious pain pump case that has been in active litigation for over four years.
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April 16, 2013
Publication - Intellectual Property
On March 19, in Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc., the Supreme Court, reversing the 2nd Circuit, resolving conflicting decisions from the federal appellate courts, and rejecting the solicitor general’s arguments, held that the “first sale” doctrine applies to lawful copies of a copyrighted work first sold abroad.
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April 15, 2013
Publication
David Shimkin and Paul Zola co-authored an article that appeared in the April 15, 2013 edition of the New York Law Journal. The article, titled, "The Continuing Viability of the Assumption of Risk Defense," David and Paul discusses recent developments in sports liability case law. Legal intern Gregory Knight assisted in the preparation of the article.
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April 11, 2013
Publication - Insurance Coverage - Insurance
In Standard Fire Ins. Co. v. Knowles, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a class-action plaintiff may not avoid the effect of the federal Class Action Fairness Act (CAFA) by “stipulating” he will not seek damages in excess of $5,000,000. CAFA provides that the federal “district courts shall have original jurisdiction” over a civil “class action” if, among other things, the “matter in controversy exceeds the sum or value of $5,000,000.” 28 U.S.C. §§ 1332(d)(2), (5). The statute further states that to “determine whether the matter in controversy exceeds the sum or value of $5,000,000,” the “claims of the individual class members shall be aggregated.” § 1332(d)(6).
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April 11, 2013
News - Electronic Discovery & Practice Advisory Services, Family Law
Jennifer Brandt, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Philadelphia office, appeared on Lou Dobbs Tonight on the Fox Business Network to discuss a number of topics.
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April 08, 2013
Publication - Health Care & Life Sciences, Labor & Employment
Over the years, the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), which enforces affirmative action and equal opportunity regulations for federal contractors and subcontractors, has tried to assert jurisdiction over hospitals that provide medical care to federal employees in various controversial ways. For example, OFCCP has claimed hospitals are federal subcontractors when they provide medical services to Blue Cross/Blue Shield and/or HMO policyholders pursuant to the insurance providers’ agreements with the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia just gave the green light to OFCCP to assert its jurisdiction over hospitals, at least where HMOs covering federal employees are involved.
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April 08, 2013
News - Bad Faith, Insurance Coverage
As the name suggests, the latest blog from Cozen O'Connor will offer insight into the issues that surround allegations of bad faith or other unfair business practices.
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April 05, 2013
Publication - Bad Faith, Insurance Coverage - Insurance
Policyholders in New York and New Jersey presently have no private right of action against insurance companies for alleged violations of each state’s respective statutory claim handling guidelines – New York’s Unfair Claim Settlement Practices Act, N.Y. Ins. Law § 2601, and New Jersey’s Unfair Claim Settlement Practices Act, N.J. Admin. Code tit. 11, §§ 2-17.6 and 2-17.7. Although the New York and New Jersey statutes each prohibit insurers from engaging in unfair claim settlement practices, neither allows insureds the right to enforce the laws or seek damages for a violation by filing a lawsuit against the insurer. Rather, the Insurance Department for each state are vested with the exclusive power of enforcement, and then only when an insurer engages in a pattern of violations demonstrating that the mishandling of claims is a general business practice. That may soon change, however.
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April 02, 2013
Publication - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
On March 29, 2013, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo signed legislation that will raise the New York minimum wage in staged increases over the next three years.
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April 01, 2013
News - Corporate Governance & Securities
The Herald-Tribune reported on the settlement that saved clients significantly in this securities action brought by the Florida Attorney General and the Office of Financial Regulation.
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April 01, 2013
Press Release - Corporate
Mr. Schrier, formerly a partner with K&L Gates, focuses his practice on complex business transactions, including domestic and international mergers and acquisitions, leveraged buyouts, restructurings, and venture and growth capital investments.
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April 01, 2013
Publication - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
Disability discrimination remains a hot button issue in the workplace. Employees and applicants file more disability discrimination charges with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) each year, totaling some 25,000 charges in fiscal year 2011 alone.
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March 27, 2013
Press Release - Antitrust & Competition, Construction Law, Insurance Coverage, Intellectual Property, Labor & Employment, Private Client Services, Products Liability, Real Estate, Subrogation & Recovery, White Collar Defense & Investigations
Ian Blum, Alphonso Collins, Kathryn Crary, Lynnette Espy-Williams, Elizabeth Featherman, Matthew Glazer, Nelsy Gomez, Andrea Hammel, Keenya Harrold, Charles Jesuit, Jr., Lezlie Madden, Marilyn Neiman, Tracey Nguyen, Cartherine Rosato Reilly, Megan Scheib, Daniel Schuch, John Schwartz, Shari Shapiro, Marko Stamenkovic, and Norasha Williams have been elected to membership in the firm.
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March 27, 2013
Publication - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
One of Barack Obama’s first actions when he became president was to sign the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009, resetting the statute of limitations each paycheck for equal-pay gender discrimination lawsuits and making it easier for employees to pursue them.
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March 27, 2013
Publication
Two recent decisions prove that nothing is as simple as it seems — especially removal. The opinions by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in February illustrate hidden traps in the removal process. Given the importance of forum to the outcome, litigation counsel should understand not just the letter of removal statutes, but the nuances developed by recent case law.
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March 26, 2013
News - Antitrust & Competition
In an article titled, "How Antitrust Authorities View Mergers and Acquisitions," Jonathan Grossman (Washington, D.C.) of the firm's Antitrust Practice Group discusses the complaints of Bazaarvoice Inc., and a matter involving the company's acquisition of its competitor PowerReviews.
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March 26, 2013
Publication - Insurance Coverage, Technology, Privacy & Data Security
Last week, in Tyler v. Michaels Stores, Inc., the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts responded to certified questions presented by the district court and interpreted a Massachusetts statute to reflect the state’s interest in protecting consumer privacy. No. SJC-11145, 2013 Mass. LEXIS 40 (Mass. Mar. 11, 2013). In particular, the court held that a consumer’s zip code constitutes personal identification information, and that a consumer can bring an action under the relevant statute absent a claim of identify fraud.
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March 25, 2013
News - Business
Fisher of the Business Law Department discusses Marty Markowitz, the Borough President of Brooklyn, NY.
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March 20, 2013
Publication - Insurance Coverage, Professional Liability Insurance Coverage - Insurance
In a recent unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held that the Securities Exchange Commission (SEC) has five years from the date when an alleged fraud begins – not from the date when the SEC uncovers the fraud – to bring an action seeking penalties. It is likely this decision will have a large-scale impact, including an impact on D&O insurers, by spurring the SEC to complete its investigations and bring enforcement actions sooner rather than later.
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March 19, 2013
Publication - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
The New York City Council continues to grow the chasm that exists between New York City employment law and its state and federal counterparts. Specifically, on March 13, 2013, the council overwhelmingly enacted (by a 43-4 vote) a local law that precludes employers and employment agencies from refusing to consider or hire an applicant because he or she is unemployed, and from posting advertisements that require job applicants to be employed. This comes less than a month after New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg initially vetoed the legislation, which now is set to become effective on June 11, 2013.
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