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October 30, 2011
News - Bankruptcy, Insolvency & Restructuring
Mark Felger quoted in The News Journal
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October 28, 2011
News - Labor & Employment
David Barron of the Houston office was quoted in Bloomberg Businessweek in an article titled, ''Promoting Employees Without Increasing Pay,'' regarding the legal problems potentially involved with the practice, specifically in the form of wage-and-hour lawsuits.
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October 28, 2011
Publication - Insurance Coverage - Insurance
Eleventh Circuit Rejects Office Depot's Claim for Defense Costs Incurred During Voluntary Compliance with an Informal SEC Investigation - Insurance Coverage Alert! - In an unpublished per curium opinion, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 11th Circuit affirmed that Office Depot’s Executive and Organization Liability policy did not cover defense costs incurred in voluntarily responding to an informal Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) inquiry, nor costs incurred in conducting an internal investigation and audit triggered by a whistleblower complaint over alleged accounting improprieties. Office Depot, Inc. v. National Union Fire Ins. Co. et al.,
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October 25, 2011
Publication
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October 24, 2011
Publication - Subrogation & Recovery - Insurance
State Immunity Laws and the FTCA - Subrogation and Recovery Alert! - Have a claim involving a federal government agency under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA)? Is the federal agency asserting an immunity defense under state law? If so, it's necessary to analyze whether a state law immunity defense can be raised by a federal agency. This Alert discusses state immunity laws in the context of FTCA tort claims.
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October 24, 2011
Publication - Labor & Employment
The National Labor Relations Act was enacted in 1935 to protect trade unionists from unfair labor practices by employers, and afford employees a greater ability to organize and collectively bargain. Social media entered the scene approximately 60 years later, when society (including the labor work force) recognized the ease and benefit of engaging in collective activity without ever leaving one's computer keyboard.
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October 21, 2011
Publication - Business
Act Now On Favorable Gift and Estate Tax Planning Rules - Private Client Services Alert! - Estate, gift, and GST exemptions were increased to $5,000,000 for 2011 and are scheduled to increase to $5,120,000 in 2012 due to an inflation adjustment. Also, the transfer tax rate was reduced to 35 percent. However, the 2010 Act contains a “sunset provision” which will reset the exemptions to $1,000,000 and the tax rate to 55 percent effective January 1, 2013 unless Congress takes further action.
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October 19, 2011
Publication - Insurance Coverage - Insurance
Tenth Circuit 'Dishes Out' Important Opinion Addressing the Scope of Advertising Injury Coverage for Patent Infringement Claims - Insurance Coverage Alert! - On October 17, 2011, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit issued a much anticipated decision addressing the scope of “Advertising Injury” (AI) coverage for patent infringement claims. Dish Network Corp. v. Arch Specialty Ins. Co., No. 10-1445, __ F.3d __ , 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 20955 (10th Cir. 2011), rev’g, 734 F. Supp. 2d 1173 (D. Colo. 2010). The court, applying Colorado law, reversed an order from the District of Colorado that granted summary judgment to the insurers.
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October 19, 2011
Publication
Blockbusters Loom as Supreme Court Term Begins - The Legal Intelligencer - It is surely tempting to summarize the Supreme Court's upcoming term in the voice of Charlie Brown's teacher: " Wah wah, wah wah wah wah , health care, wah wah wah wah , health care." The court's anticipated consideration of challenges to the Affordable Care Act would be momentous in any term; it becomes especially important when it occurs in the midst of the next presidential election.
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October 18, 2011
Publication - Insurance Coverage - Insurance
Court Issues Significant Ruling Regarding Personal Injury Claims in the Deepwater Horizon Litigation - Insurance Coverage Alert! - In a recent Alert, we advised of an important decision affecting maritime interests and their insurers in the multidistricted Deepwater Horizon litigation currently pending before Judge Barbier in federal court in New Orleans. (In re: Oil Spill by the Oil Rig “Deepwater Horizon” in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20, 2010, MDL No. 2179.) On October 4, 2011, Judge Barbier rendered yet another significant decision, this time relating primarily to personal injury claims.
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October 17, 2011
Publication - Insurance Coverage - Insurance
I'm . . . Too Faxy For the Courts: "Blast Faxers" Face Substantial Uninsured Damages - AVVO.COM - In these difficult economic times, businesses are seeking inexpensive, time-efficient ways to market their products and services to prospective customers. Ostensibly as one such alternative, some businesses have resorted to “blast faxing,” i.e., sending advertisements en masse to prospective customers’ fax machines.
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October 17, 2011
Publication - Insurance Coverage, Professional Liability - Insurance
New York Court Upholds Denial of Coverage Where Policyholders Breached D&O Policy's Consent-to-Settle Provision - Insurance Coverage Alert! - In Federal Ins. Co. v. Safe Net, Inc., 2011 WL 4005353 (S.D.N.Y. Sept. 9, 2011), a New York federal judge granted partial summary judgment in favor of Federal Insurance Company (Federal), holding that SafeNet, Inc. (SafeNet) and its vice president and chief financial officer failed to comply with the consent-to-settle provision in their D&O policy and were thus precluded from recovering under the policy with respect to their settlement of a securities fraud class action.
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October 12, 2011
Press Release
Cozen O’Connor Expands Executive Management Team
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October 12, 2011
Publication - Insurance Coverage - Insurance
Law Firm Disqualified After Its Client’s Party-Appointed Arbitrator Provided It With Panel Deliberations - Insurance Coverage Alert! - On October 3, 2011, the U.S. District Court for Southern District of New York disqualified a law firm from acting as counsel in a reinsurance arbitration. Northwestern National Ins. Co. v. Insco, Ltd., No. 11 Civ. 1124 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 3, 2011).
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October 10, 2011
News
Ken Fisher quoted in the Capital
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October 07, 2011
Publication - Environmental Regulatory & Due Diligence
News Concerning Recent Developments in Energy and Environmental Law - Energy, Environmental and Utilities Alert! - We are pleased to present the latest edition of the Energy, Environmental and Utilities Alert. We hope you find this information beneficial and informative
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October 06, 2011
Publication - Labor & Employment
Postponement of Mandatory Poster for Union and Non-Union Employers Regarding Employee Rights Under NLRA - Labor and Employment Alert! - In an August 30, 2011 ALERT, we advised you that the NLRB had promulgated a Final Rule requiring all employers subject to the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) to conspicuously post an 11-inch-by-17-inch notice advising employees of their rights under the NLRA, including the right to organize a union, and providing contact information for the NLRB in the event that any of these rights are violated.
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October 04, 2011
Publication
'Trial by the Clock': Has the Time Come? - The Legal Intelligencer - A few weeks ago, we had a trial in federal court. The case involved alleged misrepresentations in connection with the sale of auction rate securities and was relatively complex. There had been 25 depositions, and over 500,000 documents were exchanged. Liability was vigorously contested, and damages were complicated because the principal damage was lost liquidity -- not a readily calculated drop in the security's price.
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October 04, 2011
Publication - Insurance Coverage - Insurance
Texas Supreme Court Issues Important Opinion Concerning Plaintiff's Burden of Proof in Products Liability Matters - Insurance Coverage Alert! - The Texas Supreme Court recently issued an important opinion concerning products liability. Merck & Co. v. Garza, 2011 Tex. LEXIS 638 (Tex. 2011) stemmed from litigation involving the diet drug Vioxx. The court held that plaintiffs seeking to prove general causation with epidemiological evidence must provide at least two independent case studies demonstrating that subjects who used the product under circumstances substantially similar to those encountered by the plaintiff doubled their
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October 03, 2011
Publication - Subrogation & Recovery - Insurance
General Jurisdiction Over Foreign Manufacturers of Defective Products - Cozen O'Connor White Paper - In our increasingly globalized economy, there is a growing need to establish jurisdiction in U.S. courts over foreign manufacturers of defective products. Recent legal developments will, in some cases, make that task more
daunting.
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