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December 04, 2014
News - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
In an article titled ''The Secularization of the Holidays,'' David Barron, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department, discusses the Montgomery County (Maryland) Board of Education’s decision to remove mention of any religious holidays from its 2015/16 calendar and the implications for employers. Government employers and schools operate under different rules than private companies, explained David. Governments must be careful to separate church and state, while private companies must not discriminate based on religion under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
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December 02, 2014
Press Release - Subrogation & Recovery
Cozen O’Connor is pleased to announce that Michael J. Heller has been unanimously re-elected to a second, three-year term as president and chief executive officer of the firm.
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December 01, 2014
News - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
Michael Schmidt, vice chair of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department, offers 10 tips employers can follow to avoid potential legal trouble during the office holiday parties.
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December 01, 2014
Publication - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
In an article titled “Steps to a Company Party? Eat, Drink and Be Wary,” A. Martin Wickliff, Jr., a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department, suggests a number of steps employers should take to minimize potential legal problems when hosting office happy hours and holiday parties.
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December 01, 2014
Publication - Immigration Policy & Strategy, Labor & Employment
On November 20, 2014 President Obama announced a series of executive actions to reform the “broken” immigration system after Congress failed to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill this year. These initiatives have not been implemented, and U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) is not accepting any requests or applications at this time. We have been informed that over the next few months, USCIS will issue detailed explanations, instructions, regulations and forms as necessary. While USCIS is not currently accepting requests or applications, anyone who believes that he or she may be eligible for one of the immigration initiatives should prepare by gathering documents that establish his or her: (1) Identity; (2) Relationship to a U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident; and (3) Continuous residence in the United States over the last five years or more.
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November 26, 2014
Publication - Family Law
Adopting a child is a monumental decision. And if that child is a brother or sister, this situation is further complicated. The relationship changes from sibling to parent and takes on all the responsibilities that accompany that new role.
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November 23, 2014
News - Family Law
Jennifer Brandt, co-chair of the Cozen O'Connor Family Law practice, will appear on Behind the Scenes with an Avvo Attorney.
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November 23, 2014
News - Insurance Coverage, Subrogation & Recovery - Insurance
Cozen O'Connor was ranked third in Law360's list of 10 Largest Insurance Practice Groups with 117 attorneys. Law360 ranked 100 firms with the “most insurance partners globally.” They state, “With a highly competitive market for the full array of insurance legal services — as varied as litigation defense, regulatory work and subrogation — having a deep bench of insurance partners is crucial to securing the business of insurers and financial services companies, according to experts.”Cozen O'Connor was ranked third in Law360's list of 10 Largest Insurance Practice Groups. Cozen O'Connor's Global Insurance Department contains 117 attorneys in
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November 20, 2014
Publication - Commercial Litigation
Shelby Riney, of Cozen O'Connor's Commercial Litigation department, and Kara McCall published, "Spoliation in Complex Litigation: Lessons Learned," for ABA's The Women of the Section.
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November 18, 2014
Publication - Bad Faith, Insurance Coverage - Insurance
In Santacruz v. Allstate Texas Lloyds, Inc., 2014 WL 5870429 (Nov. 13, 2014), the 5th Circuit allowed a policyholder to pursue a claim for common law and statutory bad faith even though the policyholder repaired the alleged damage before the insurer was able to observe that damage.
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November 18, 2014
Publication - Utility & Energy
On October 22, 2014, Governor Corbett signed Act 155 into law. The Act will go into effect 60 days from the date the governor signed it or approximately December 21, 2014. Among other things, this Act revises Section 510 and Chapter 14 of the Pennsylvania Public Utility Code to implement funding changes for the Public Utility Commission (the Commission), expands the types of entities subject to the “responsible utility customer protection[s]” contained within Chapter 14 and extends Chapter 14’s expiration through 2024. These changes will be discussed in more detail below.
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November 18, 2014
Publication - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
In an article titled “Pay Transparency: The New Way of Doing Business,” Debra Friedman, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department, discusses the federal government’s recent Executive Orders mandating pay transparency for the federal contracting community. This new way of doing business has potentially profound implications for all employers. Companies must be prepared for employees, the federal government and third parties to closely scrutinize their compensation systems and decision-making practices.
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November 14, 2014
News - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
In an article titled “EEOC Targets Wellness Programs,” Debra Friedman, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Labor & Employment Department, discusses the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission’s recent actions against employers for violating the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) with their company wellness programs. “The EEOC describes it as ‘you can’t penalize employees,’ but they have not defined what constitutes a penalty,” observed Debra. “Employers need to understand this is an evolving area, and there’s a lack of guidance from the EEOC, so we need to wait and see whether EEOC and courts will find wellness programs that are compliant with the ACA regulations to be compliant with ADA and GINA,” she added.
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November 14, 2014
Publication - White Collar Defense & Investigations
Nicole Sprinzen, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Criminal Defense & Internal Investigations practice, discusses the Supreme Court’s decision to decline to review a Third Circuit ruling finding that the privilege typically recognized for attorney-client communications is broken where a client indicates that he will undertake potentially unlawful action after being advised about the contours of the law.
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November 12, 2014
Publication - Environmental Regulatory & Due Diligence - Climate Change
In a surprise announcement last evening from Beijing, President Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping committed to ambitious cuts in carbon emissions over the next 15 years with the hope of preventing catastrophic global warming. The joint announcement calls for the United States, by 2025, to reduce carbon emissions by 26-28 percent below 2005 levels and for China to reduce net carbon emissions starting in 2030 or earlier and to increase the overall share of non-fossil fuels in primary energy consumption to around 20 percent by 2030.
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November 10, 2014
News - Intellectual Property, Patents
In an article titled "Protecting Your Idea: Should You Patent It?" Edward Weisz, a member of the Intellectual Property Department, discusses the timing of filing a patent application or a provisional patent application.
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November 10, 2014
Publication - Family Law
During a recent custody trial, I was privy to an interview between the judge and a child who was the subject of the matter. Although the judge tried to make the interview as painless as possible, asking the child mundane questions about school and activities like a well-meaning relative or adult friend, no one in the room, the child included, could evade the tension and heaviness in the air.
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November 10, 2014
Publication - Insurance Coverage, Professional Liability Insurance Coverage - Insurance
In Shamoun & Norman, LLP v. Ironshore Indemnity, Inc., Cause No. 3:14-1340, In the U.S. District Court, Northern District of Texas, the federal district court construed a professional liability policy issued by Ironshore to require a defense of the law firm policyholder in a fee dispute, despite an absence of allegations that the insured law firm negligently provided any legal service.
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November 09, 2014
Publication - Appellate, Securities Litigation & SEC Enforcement, White Collar Defense & Investigations
In an article titled “Supreme Court Takes on Knowledge Standard in Securities Suits,” Stephen Miller, a member of Cozen O’Connor’s Commercial Litigation Department, and Kaitlin DiNapoli, an associate in the Commercial Litigation Department, discuss Omnicare v. Laborers District Council Construction Industry Pension Fund, in which shareholders invoked the securities laws to sue Omnicare for proclaiming in its U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission registration statement that its contracts with drug companies were lawful. This term, the U.S. Supreme Court will explore the pleading standard necessary to proceed on such a securities claim: May the plaintiffs merely allege that such a statement was objectively wrong, or must the plaintiffs also allege that the speaker did not believe that the statement was true?
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November 07, 2014
News - Family Law
Jennifer Brandt, of the firm's Family Law practice, appeared on Fox 29 News to discuss the story of the Chester County boy beaten to death by his parents. The couple, Jillian Tait, 31, and Gary Lee Fellenbaum, 23, were charged with the murder of Tait’s three-year-old son.
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