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November 25, 2013
News - Subrogation & Recovery - Insurance
Cozen O’Connor is pleased to announce the continued expansion of its internationally recognized Subrogation & Recovery Department with the recent addition of four attorneys. Lawyers who have joined the firm’s Subrogation & Recovery Department in 2013 include Virginia Markovich, member in the New York office; Philip J. Berens, an associate in Los Angeles; Richard J. Maleski, an associate in the Miami office; and Marie-Pier Nadeau, an associate in the Toronto office.
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November 25, 2013
Publication - Professional Liability Insurance Coverage - Insurance
On November 12, 2013, in Quellos Group LLC v. Federal Insurance Company, the Washington Court of Appeals affirmed summary judgment in favor of two excess professional liability insurers because the excess policies “require[d] exhaustion of the underlying liability limits by actual payment by the insurer before excess coverage is triggered ...” even though the insured “filled the gap” by paying the difference between the value of the settlement with the primary carrier and the primary policy's limits. This holding represents the latest in a growing line of cases finding that an insured cannot settle with an underlying insurer for less than policy limits, absorb the difference between the settlement value and the limits, and then trigger excess coverage.
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November 25, 2013
Publication - Products Liability
Does a company expose itself to liability in California when it boasts that its products are the “safest in the business?” The answer will depend on whether courts will consider that statement to be a misleading claim or mere advertising puffery.
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November 25, 2013
News
Ken Fisher, of the New York City office and Real Estate Practice Group, was mentioned in a Capital New York article titled, "Controversial Magnate Pokes Holes in Bloomberg's Styrofoam Ban." The article explains the financed lobbying effort the City Council successfully pushed to alter Michael Bloomberg's bill to ban the use of styrofoam in food establishments.
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November 21, 2013
Publication
Every year millions of Americans attempt to navigate the legal system without the
assistance of a lawyer. For a growing number of citizens, private counsel is unaffordable, free legal services are unavailable and they are forced to represent themselves in civil cases. In fact, each year less than 20 percent of low-income individuals with civil legal problems obtain legal assistance. Yet these legal issues involve the most basic rights that lawyers are sworn to protect, including cases involving but not limited to housing, health care, child custody and protection from abuse.
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November 20, 2013
Publication - Antitrust & Competition, Government & Regulatory, White Collar Defense & Investigations
Recent settlements in civil enforcement proceedings brought by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) suggest that cover-ups, not crimes, may invite the stiffest penalties. Frequently, companies that cooperate with OFAC investigations, admit wrongdoing and take remedial actions to prevent future violations escape the enforcement process with mild punishments. Indeed, even companies that eventually cooperate after some initial resistance fare well in OFAC’s administrative enforcement process and often avoid criminal penalties altogether — penalties that, aside from the reputational damage, carry much more severe consequences, including prison time for individuals and massive financial impact.
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November 20, 2013
News
Jennifer Brandt, a member of the firm’s Family Law practice, appeared on Happening Now on Fox News to discuss the arraignment of NYPD Detective Wojciech Braszczok, who was indicted as one of the bikers involved in the SUV-motorcyclist confrontation that happened on the West Side Highway in September.
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November 15, 2013
Publication
According to some estimates, discovery costs account for between 50 and 90 percent of
total litigation costs. Discovery also represents one of the major causes of delay and congestion in the judicial system. Indeed, in many ways, “[discovery] has become the focal point of litigation instead of means to an end.”
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November 15, 2013
News - Government & Regulatory, Health Care & Life Sciences - Health Care & Life Sciences
On November 14, President Obama announced that health insurers will be able to extend existing plans for individuals through 2014 that would have been otherwise cancelled due to changes under the Affordable Care Act. This proposed fix does not guarantee that extensions will be available, but rather allows insurers to offer the extension and for state regulators to approve it.
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November 14, 2013
Publication - Appellate
The jurisdiction cases reviewed by the U.S. Supreme Court are rarely headline-grabbing. Nonetheless, those cases exert a significant effect on the civil litigation that fills the nation's dockets. This fall, the justices are considering two interesting cases from the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit that may limit the ability of federal courts to exercise jurisdiction over parties in foreign districts.
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November 14, 2013
Publication - Insurance Coverage, Professional Liability Insurance Coverage - Insurance
In Stewart Title Guar. Co. v. Sterling Savings Bank, et al., Wash. No. 87087-0 (October 3, 2013), the Washington Supreme Court held that a nonclient insurer may not pursue a malpractice claim against appointed defense counsel for failure to assert defenses favorable to the insurer, unless the insurer could show it was an intended beneficiary of the legal services provided by appointed defense counsel. The court reasoned that neither an alignment of interest between an insurer and policyholder nor appointed counsel’s duty to inform the carrier regarding case activity, equated to a duty of care owed by appointed defense counsel to the appointing insurer. The court declined to reach the parties’ equitable subrogation arguments that formed the basis of the actual legal malpractice claim.
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November 14, 2013
News - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
In an article titled ''Oh no, not the office party again!'' David Barron, a member of Cozen O'Connor's Labor & Employment Department, offers advice on how to limit the potential fallout from an office party gone horribly wrong.
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November 13, 2013
Publication - Bankruptcy, Insolvency & Restructuring
Is electricity a good for purposes of establishing an administrative priority claim under Section 503(b)(9) of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code? That is the question that U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Sontchi of the District of Delaware answers in In re NE Opco, Case No. 13-11483 (CSS) (Bankr. D. Del. Nov. 1, 2013). Faced with a split in authority from other jurisdictions and no written opinions on the subject in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, Sontchi, in a fascinating opinion, holds that electricity is not a good for purposes of Section 503(b)(9).
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November 12, 2013
News - Family Law
Jennifer Brandt, a member of the firm’s Family Law Practice, was a guest on Fox 29 news to discuss the case of the New Jersey Powerball winner, Pedro Quezada, v. his ex-girlfriend, Ines Sanchez, who is trying to claim half of his lottery winnings of $338 million.
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November 12, 2013
Publication - Professional Liability Insurance Coverage - Insurance
Recently, in IBEW Local 90 Pension Fund v. Deutsche Bank AG, No. 11-cv-4209, 2013 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 155136 (S.D.N.Y. Oct. 29, 2013), District Judge Kathleen Forrest declined to certify a class of securities plaintiffs and granted the defendant, Deutsche Bank’s (DB), Daubert motion to exclude all testimony of the plaintiffs’ market efficiency and damages expert. This relatively rare ruling is significant for securities defendants and their D&O insurers. As the court observed, because the vast majority of securities cases settle once a class is certified, class certification has come to mark a “crucial inflection point in securities litigation.” The case highlights a significant hurdle that securities plaintiffs may face at the class certification stage. Moreover, the decision illustrates how foreign issuers in a post-Morrison environment may be further insulated from U.S. liability even as to that portion of their securities traded on a domestic exchange.
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November 11, 2013
News - Employment Litigation, Labor & Employment
In an article titled ''Out with Mistletoe, Spiked Punch and 'Santa's Little Helpers,''' David Barron, a member of Cozen O'Connor's Labor & Employment Department, discusses misconduct at company holiday parties.
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November 11, 2013
Publication - Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation
The IRS has issued IRS Notice 2013-71, allowing limited carry-over of amounts in employees’ flex plan accounts to the following plan year. Under the guidance employers may permit participants to carry over up to $500 of unused amounts in their health care flexible spending account into the next plan year.
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November 06, 2013
News - Health Care & Life Sciences
Mark Gallant, chair of the Health Care Practice Group, and Robert Chu, of the Health Care Practice Group, were recently mentioned in a Law360 article for representing UPenn Health Systems.
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November 05, 2013
News - Securities Litigation & SEC Enforcement, White Collar Defense & Investigations
In an article titled “SAC Agrees to Plead Guilty to End Insider Trading Case,” Stephen Miller, of Cozen O’Connor’s Commercial Litigation Department, discusses SAC Capital Advisors LP, the hedge fund accused of fostering a culture of rampant insider trading. SAC has recently agreed to plead guilty to securities fraud and wire fraud, pay a record $1.8 billion and shutter its investment advisory business.
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November 05, 2013
Publication - Tax
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court reversed the Commonwealth Court and held that property owned by the Board of City Trusts acting as trustee under the will of Stephen H. Girard was immune from real estate taxation because the trust is a state agency. City of Philadelphia, Trustee v. Cumberland County Board of Assessment Appeals, No. 902 MAP 2011
(Pa. Oct. 30, 2013). The court was unanimous in the result; two justices filed a concurring opinion.
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