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April 14, 2015
Publication - Tax
A tax appeal from an interim assessment was properly preserved, notwithstanding that the taxpayer did not appeal a subsequent assessment that reflected a tax abatement under LERTA.
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April 14, 2015
News - Family Law
Jennifer Brandt was a guest on Fox 29 News to discuss the recent police scrutiny of the “free-range parents” in suburban Washington, D.C.
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April 13, 2015
Publication - Products Liability
John Sullivan discusses Whitener v. Pliva, in which the claim states that the manufacturer didn't warn about risks of the drug, in this instance, off-label risks.
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April 13, 2015
News - Insurance Coverage - Insurance
Leading professionals give 5 tips to insurers: look at the whole picture, humanize your case, don’t attack the policyholder, and keep it simple to win coverage.
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April 10, 2015
Publication
Thomas Wilkinson and Alexa Sebia explain how aggressive advocacy outside the confines of the courthouse may trigger potential defamation exposure for lawyers and their clients, even for lawyers who simply circulate filed pleadings to reporters or accurately summarize them via social media.
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April 09, 2015
Publication - Appellate, Labor & Employment
In an article titled “US Supreme Court Considers Religious Accommodations,” Stephen Miller, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Commercial Litigation Department, discusses an important case regarding employers' obligations to accommodate employees' religious practices under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Must the employer have actual knowledge that the applicant or employee requires a religious accommodation, or does a hunch suffice? And must that knowledge come from direct, explicit notice from the applicant or employee, or can it come from some other source? The justices will try to answer these questions in Equal Employment Opportunity Commission v. Abercrombie & Fitch Stores.
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April 08, 2015
Publication - Aviation, Aviation Litigation, Transportation & Trade - Aviation
The IASA Category 1 rating means that India’s civil aviation authority once again fully complies with the safety oversight standards of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the United Nations’ technical agency for international civil aviation. India had previously been rated by the FAA as a Category 1 country in August 1997 but was downgraded to Category 2 in 2012 after an FAA audit identified certain safety oversight deficiencies.
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April 08, 2015
Publication - Bankruptcy, Insolvency & Restructuring
Barry M. Klayman and Mark E. Felger, members in the firm's Wilmington office, published an article in the Delaware Business Court Insider titled "Non-signatory May Enforce Forum Selection Clause to Defeat Removal." The article discusses the case of Carlyle Investment Management LLC v. Moonmouth, and how the case can be instructive for its application of Delaware law to the question of when a non-signatory to an agreement will be bound by its forum selection clause and whether the forum selection clause can be enforced by another non-signatory.
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April 07, 2015
Publication
Examining the enforceability of a policy’s proof of loss provision where an undisputed amount of loss exists.
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April 03, 2015
News - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
In an article titled “You Can Complain About Work on Facebook – But You Shouldn’t,” Michael Schmidt, vice chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department, discusses the specific kinds of complaints employees can make on social media that are actually protected by law, no matter your employer’s policy. “When an employee or group of employees are speaking on social media collectively about work and conditions at work, they have a right to engage in that activity according to the NLRB,” says Michael, “The NLRB considers that kind of action — connecting with your fellow employees on social media to discuss working conditions — a 'protected, concerted activity.'"
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April 02, 2015
News - Family Law
Jennifer Brandt, a member of the firm’s Family Law Group, was a guest on Legal View with Ashleigh Banfield on CNN to Discuss the Aaron Hernandez trial, as well as the Boston bomber trial.
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April 02, 2015
Publication - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
In an article titled “Trick Or Tweet: The Perils Of Punishing Employee Posts,” Michael Schmidt, vice chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department, discusses a company’s ability to take some form of employment-related action in response to an employee’s negative social media post while maintaining compliance with guidance of the National Labor Relations Board.
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April 02, 2015
Publication - Family Law
With spring break upon us and summer just around the corner, many families are looking forward to annual family vacations. A lot of effort and money goes into vacation planning. And for divorcing or divorced parents, the possibility of a former spouse interfering with a planned vacation becomes yet another logistic to consider. Here are five tips for pleasant vacation planning.
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April 01, 2015
News - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
Jeffrey Pasek, a member of the Labor & Employment Department, discusses Indiana’s Religious Freedom Restoration Act and how the meaning of RFRA-type laws have changed.
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April 01, 2015
Publication
In an article titled “A Ticket to Sue – Pennsylvania’s Registration Requirement for Foreign Business Entities,” Thomas Wilkinson, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Commercial Litigation Department, and Thomas O’Rourke, an associate in the Commercial Litigation Department, discuss the new registration regime for foreign businesses that will come into effect on July 1, 2015. Under the new requirements, foreign businesses that are “doing business” in Pennsylvania without proper authorization will still be without legal capacity to sue in Pennsylvania. It will remain critical, therefore, for each foreign business to ensure that it is properly registered, if necessary, before seeking recovery in Pennsylvania.
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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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