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April 26, 2013
News
Bob Hayes, Jordan Fox, and Rebecca Brodey were successful in persuading the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia to dismiss Grammy nominated rapper Wiz Khalifa’s claim that our concert promoter client breached a promotional agreement by cancelling a Washington area concert.
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April 24, 2013
Publication
The theory of recovery for unjust enrichment is based on a contract implied-in-law, or a quasi-contract. Generally, a claim for unjust enrichment cannot be based on an express contract, and thus, by definition, there is an absence of privity between the parties. There must, however, be a connection between the parties, such as a benefit conferred on the party to be charged.
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April 24, 2013
Publication
Most in-house lawyers, if they're fortunate, haven't bumped up against the Fifth Amendment and its related issues since the bar exam. After all, the so-called "nickel" typically arises solely in the criminal context, and corporations don't have the right to plead the Fifth Amendment at an organizational level. However, with governmental investigations of varying types on the rise, and in-house counsel advising the corporation and preparing witnesses for participation in these investigations, the Fifth Amendment and its protections are an important tool in protecting the company and its employees from self-incrimination.
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April 24, 2013
Publication - Insurance Coverage, Professional Liability Insurance Coverage - Insurance
Earlier this month the 7th Circuit affirmed a district court order that held an insurer properly denied coverage to the insured law firm based on its failure to comply with the reporting requirements under its claims-made professional liability policy.
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April 24, 2013
Publication
Where an express contract exists, a claim exists for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing, but the claimant cannot also recover under a theory of unjust enrichment. Although a claimant cannot recover for both breach of the implied covenant and unjust enrichment, both claims may be pled separately and simultaneously as alternate forms of relief.
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April 24, 2013
Publication
If no express contract for services exists, the party providing services has two potential remedies. First, if the party receiving the benefit of the services had not assented to an agreement, the party providing services nevertheless may receive restitution for the unjust enrichment of the other by bringing an action in quasi contract (a contract implied-in-law) for services rendered, where there was an expectation that the service would be paid for and it would be unjust for the other party to receive the benefit of the services without paying compensation. Second, if the parties lack an express contract but there is a partial agreement, which for some reason falls short of being an enforceable contract, a party may recover in quantum meruit on a (contract implied-in-fact) for the reasonable value of the services rendered.
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April 24, 2013
Publication - Appellate
Most of the federal government's authority is exercised, on a day-to-day basis, through its administrative agencies. Central to the efficiency of those agencies — such as it is — is the judiciary's substantial deference to agency decision-making. Without that deference, people and corporations would often have an incentive to try to impair (or at least delay) agencies' actions through court challenges.
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April 23, 2013
Publication - Insurance Coverage, Professional Liability Insurance Coverage
Angelo Savino, chair of the professional liability practice in Global Insurance, was quoted in Law 360’s article, “News Corp.’s $139M Deal May Make for Pricier D&O Coverage.” The article by Bibeka Shrestha discusses the record-breaking settlement by News Corp which has its insurers picking up the tab for the $139 million settlement that ends shareholder derivative litigation over its phone hacking scandal, likely sending other carriers scrambling to rethink the pricing and design of their directors and officers policies. Click here to read the full article and Angelo’s comments.
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April 23, 2013
News
In an article titled, "Co-Client Relationship Between Insurer and Insured Not Automatic," Thomas G. Wilkinson of the firm's Commercial Litigation Department discusses the circumstances to which the co-client privilege applies, as well as the implications of the CAMICO Decision.
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April 22, 2013
Press Release - Government Relations - Cozen O'Connor Public Strategies
Dwayne Andrews has joined the New York office of Cozen O’Connor Public Strategies, bringing with him public policy experience in education, transportation and telecommunications.
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April 19, 2013
News - Subrogation & Recovery
O’Connor will be awarded an honorary degree from Villanova University in recognition for both his personal and professional achievements, as well as the generosity and commitment he has shown to the broader Villanova community.
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April 19, 2013
News - Condominiums & Cooperatives, Real Estate
Leni Morrison Cummins, a member in the firm's Real Estate Group, participates in a Q&A in the New York Times regarding whether a co-op board can prevent someone who inherited a co-op from transferring the shares into their name.
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April 19, 2013
News - Subrogation & Recovery
As part of its 170th Anniversary, the Legal Intelligencer chose some of the most important members of the legal community who have helped shape the law in Pennsylvania, including one of the firm's founders Stephen Cozen.
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April 18, 2013
Publication - Real Estate, Real Estate Litigation
The voluntary payment doctrine has been long applied to prevent tenants from recovering payments made to the landlord which were tendered “voluntarily”—to wit, without dispute or inquiry—over a lengthy period of time. For example: a tenant tenders payment of real estate taxes to the landlord for over 10 years pursuant to what the tenant later claims to be an erroneous method of calculation, resulting in an overbilling. With this newfound knowledge, the tenant brings suit against the landlord to recover the amounts overpaid. By virtue of the voluntary payment doctrine, under this scenario, the tenant is, in essence, out of luck.
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April 17, 2013
News
In Genesis Healthcare Corp v. Laura Symczyk, the Court ruled that the case against the nursing and rehabilitation provider should be dismissed because its offer to Symczyk of the unpaid wages to which she alleged she was entitled effectively ended her stake in the case. The 5-4 decision, split along the court's ideological fault lines, will likely have limited practical applicability but could spark further debate about whether the justices treat collective actions brought under the 1938 Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) differently from traditional class actions.
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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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