Recent News & Publications
Search News & Publications
May 03, 2010
Publication - Business, Tax
Exemption Denied For Lack Of Free Services - Tax Law Alert! - A panel of the Commonwealth Court reversed a trial court
and held that a nonprofit corporation that provided student
housing was not entitled to a charitable exemption
because it did not give free or discounted services to the students.
CHF-Kutztown, LLC v. Berks County Board of Assessment Appeals, No.
1663 C.D. 2009 (Pa. Cmwlth. Apr. 13, 2010) (unreported).
Tweet
May 03, 2010
Publication - Construction Law, Insurance Coverage - Real Estate & Construction
Colorado Legislature Poised to Alter Landscape of Insurance Coverage for Construction Defects - Insurance Coverage Alert! - Later this week the Colorado State Legislature is expected to pass HB 1394, a bill that will dramatically change the insurance coverage available for construction professionals arising out of faulty construction. The stated purpose of HB 1394 is to reverse General Security Indem. Co. of America v. Mountain States Mut. Cas. Co., 205 P.3d 529 (Colo. App. 2009), which held that claims for damages arising from poor workmanship, standing alone, do not allege an accident that constitutes a
Tweet
May 02, 2010
Press Release - Antitrust & Competition
Cozen O’Connor Continues Expansion of Antitrust Practice in Washington, D.C.
Tweet
May 01, 2010
Publication - Employee Benefits & Executive Compensation, Insurance Coverage - Insurance
Health care costs continue to rise, forcing a commensurate rise in the cost of traditional group insurance. Employers continue to seek affordable benefits for their employees in an effort to maintain a productive and competitive workforce. Inspired entrepreneurs enter the market to supply low-cost programs to meet this demand. Many of these programs qualify as insurance.
Tweet
April 30, 2010
Press Release
Cozen O’Connor Returns to the Am Law 100
Tweet
April 28, 2010
Publication - Subrogation & Recovery - Insurance
Update on Florida's Implied Waiver Doctrine in Landlord-Tenant Cases - Subrogation and Recovery Alert! - A recent Florida case clarifies an insurer's subrogation rights in the landlord-tenant context. When a tenant causes fire and landlord's insurer pays, the question in Florida has been: Can the landlord's insurer subrogate against the tenant? In many states, the answer is no -- not unless the lease agreement expressly says so. Those states followed the so-called Sutton rule. Florida's stance on the Sutton rule has been unclear over the years.
Tweet
April 26, 2010
Publication - Business, Tax
Irrevocable Trust Is an Ordinary Trust - Tax Law Alert! - Adivided panel of the Commonwealth Court rejected
the position of the Department of Revenue and held
that a transfer to an irrevocable trust qualified as a transfer to a living trust excluded from realty transfer tax. Miller v. Commonwealth, No. 757 F.R. 2007 (Pa. Commw. Apr. 8, 2010). A living trust is a qualifying trust intended as a will
substitute. 72 P.S. §8101-C. A transfer to a qualifying living trust is excluded from tax. 72 P.S. §8102-C.3(8.1).
Tweet
April 23, 2010
Publication
The United States Supreme Court Clarifies a Corporation's 'Principal Place of Business' - General Litigation Alert! - On February 23, 2010, the United States Supreme Court announced its decision in Hertz Corp. v. Friend, 559 U.S. __, 130 S. Ct. 1181 (2010). Justice Breyer, writing for the Court, settled a split among the circuit courts as to which test to apply when determining a corporation’s “principal place of business” for the purpose of federal diversity jurisdiction.
Tweet
April 19, 2010
Publication - Business, Health Care & Life Sciences - Health Care & Life Sciences
Medicare Secondary Payer Update - CMS Delays Reporting Deadlines - Health Law Alert! - In December 2007, Congress amended the Medicare Secondary Payer law (MSP) through Section 111 of the Medicare, Medicaid and SCHIP Extension Act (MMSEA). The amendment imposes mandatory reporting obligations on Responsible Reporting Entities (RREs), including liability, self-insured, no-fault and workers’ compensation insurers (collectively referred to as “non-Group Health Plans” or “Non-GHPs”) regarding settlements with Medicare beneficiaries.
Tweet
April 19, 2010
Publication - Insurance Coverage - Insurance
Ken Levine discusses market conduct regulation in New Appleman on Insurance Law Library Edition. Specifically, this chapter discusses the manner in which market conduct regulation addresses certain market practices.
Tweet
April 12, 2010
Publication - Business
House Approves 10-Year Minimum for GRATs - Private Client Services Alert! - The Small Business and Infrastructure Jobs Tax Act of 2010, approved by the House, includes a provision which sets a minimum 10-year term for Grantor Retained Annuity Trusts (GRATs).
Tweet
April 11, 2010
Publication
INDEMNITY AND INFIDELITY: ADVANCEMENT OF DEFENCE COSTS IN ACTIONS - Canadian Business Law Journal - Indemnification of corporate directors refers to the financial protection provided by the corporation to its directors.1 It shields directors from expenses and liability of legal proceedings alleging breaches of their duty to the corporation.2 This is of concern for directors because, in addition to the potential liability they face if found blameworthy, the cost of funding an adequate defence can be staggering.
Tweet
April 05, 2010
Publication
Congressional Bills Attempt to Level the Playing Field Between Domestic and Foreign Manufacturers - General Litigation Alert! - On August 6, 2009, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), introduced the Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act of 2009 (S. 1606) in the Senate and on February 24, 2010, Rep. Betty Sutton (D-Ohio) introduced the Foreign Manufacturers Legal Accountability Act of 2010 (H.R. 4678) in the House. These substantially identical bills are designed to address perceived inequities in product liability litigation between domestic and foreign manufacturers.
Tweet
April 01, 2010
Publication - Construction Law - Real Estate & Construction
Who's At Fault? - Construction Today Quarterly -
Tweet
April 01, 2010
Publication - Real Estate Litigation
Tips for the Office Landlord Doing a Retail Lease - Development Magazine - As an owner or manager of office buildings you may well be a brilliant negotiator and crafter of office leases and know your market inside and out But when it comes to attracting and putting deals together for retail tenants you may be
treading beyond your core competencies which could cause business head
aches and worse yet cost you money down the road
Tweet
April 01, 2010
Publication - Construction Law - Real Estate & Construction
Winning The Bid - Construction Today Quarterly - With the proliferation of public / private partnership, the potential launching of the PPIP program as part of the Federal Government’s Stimulus Plan and the need to plug financing holes with public funds on what in the past were exclusively privately funded deals, there are many pitfalls for the unwary developer / owner. One of the more unique aspects of publicly funded projects (whether in whole or in part) is the selection of contractors.
Tweet
March 23, 2010
Publication - Antitrust & Competition, Business, Health Care & Life Sciences - Health Care & Life Sciences
Highmark, Inc. Challenges PA. Insurance Department Investigation - Health Law Alert! - Highmark, Inc. has filed a lawsuit in the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania challenging the legality of an ongoing Pennsylvania Insurance Department investigation involving potential anticompetitive conduct and/or unfair trade practices by Pennsylvania’s Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies.
Tweet
March 23, 2010
Publication - Insurance Coverage
To Avoid Bad Faith in Washington State, Insurers Must Provide a Defense if any Court Articulates an "Arguable Legal Interpretation" that a Claim is "Conceivably Covered" - Insurance Coverage Alert! - On March 18, 2010, the Washington State Supreme Court decided American Best Food, Inc. v. Alea London, Ltd.,1 --- P.3d ----, 2010 WL 963933 (Wash., Mar. 18, 2010), holding that (1) a complaint alleging injuries caused by an assault, and conduct by the insured following the assault, triggers a duty to defend, despite the policy’s exclusion for claims “arising out of assault and/or battery,” and regardless of whether the post-assault conduct is alleged to have resulted
Tweet
March 22, 2010
Publication - Government & Regulatory, Government Relations - Cozen O'Connor Public Strategies
Government Ethics Reform: A Work in Progress - New York Law Journal - The late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King observed that, “Morality cannot be legislated but behavior can be regulated.” Officials at all levels of government continue to struggle with the rules governing their own behavior as well as those with whom they regularly interact to avoid at least the appearance of immorality.
Tweet
March 22, 2010
Publication - Electronic Discovery & Practice Advisory Services
At this point in the discovery revolution, there is no question that savvy litigants have become sensitive to the need to preserve documents and, particularly, electronically stored information (ESI). While the cost of even marginal preservation steps can be quite high, the failure to act promptly can lead to the unintentional loss of documents (through the recycling of disaster recovery backups or the operation of automatic deletion routines in e-mail mailboxes) and unpleasant litigation consequences.
Tweet