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January 01, 2010
Publication - Insurance Coverage - Insurance
The definitive source for 126 checklists covering virtually every aspect of insurance regulation and type of insurance, preceded by author commentary for context and application.
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December 18, 2009
Publication
Much has been written about the Second Circuit’s decision (by a panel that included now-Associate Justice Sonia Sotomayor) to affirm the district court’s grant of summary judgment to the City of New Haven in Ricci v. DeStefano. Ricci was subsequently reversed by the U.S. Supreme Court and became a major topic of discussion during Justice Sotomayor’s confirmation hearing. Commentators and senators cited Judge Jose Cabranes’ forceful dissent from the Second Circuit’s decision not to grant a rehearing en banc, particularly his comment that the case raised “novel questions of constitutional and statutory law” that the Second Circuit’s decision had “failed to grapple with.”
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December 18, 2009
Publication - Business, Tax
Pennsylvania Tax Changes - 2009/2010 Budget Bill - Tax Alert! - More than 100 days after the due date mandated by law, the Pennsylvania budget for fiscal year 2009/2010 budget was finally passed and signed into law by Governor Rendell.
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December 17, 2009
Publication - Real Estate Litigation
Signage for Your Practice: Negotiating the best options to draw attention - medicalofficetoday.com - Signage may not be your top priority when reviewing a medical lease, but it is an important element in how your practice is perceived. Signage is usually the first thing people see when approaching your office, so you want it to
appropriately represent who you are and what your practice offers, as well as lead people to your door. Nailing down
your signage specifications in your lease will assure that these needs are met.
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December 17, 2009
Publication - Labor & Employment
The United States Supreme Court has agreed to hear an appeal of a case in which a federal appeals court ruled that an employer violated an employee’s right to privacy when it audited his text messages and found sexually explicit and otherwise personal messages. The implications of the Supreme Court’s ruling will be significant.
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December 16, 2009
Publication - Business, Tax
Self-Storage Facilities Correctly Valued - Tax Alert! - In an unreported decision, a panel of the Commonwealth Court concluded that certain self-storage facilities were correctly valued for real estate tax purposes based on the actual financial results from the property, since the trial court had found that the properties were optimally managed and a buyer could not reasonably expect to improve the financial performance. Guardian Self Storage WD v. Board of Property Assessment Appeals & Review, No. 119 C.D. 2009 (Pa. Cmwth., Nov. 16, 2009).
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December 15, 2009
Publication - Business, Tax
Investment Loss Disallowed - Tax Alert! - A panel of the Commonwealth Court disallowed a claimed business loss of over $21 million on the grounds that a settlement with the Internal Revenue Service regarding the same loss amounted to an admission that the investment was not made with the intention of making a profit. Hvizdak v. Commonwealth, No. 739 F.R. 2006 (Pa. Cmwlth., Nov. 19, 2009).
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December 09, 2009
Publication - Insurance Coverage
Slim-Fast and Ground Beef Recalls - Food Contamination Coverage Alert! - On December 3, 2009 Unilever U.S. Inc. conducted a nationwide voluntary recall of all canned Slim-Fast ready-to-drink products due to the possibility of contamination by a microorganism. The recalled products may be tainted by bacillus cereus, a mild disease which can cause diarrhea, nausea and vomiting. The probability of serious adverse health consequences is remote.
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December 07, 2009
Publication - Business
End-of-Year Estate Planning - Private Client Services Alert! - As we move quickly toward year end, consider the following for this year and for 2010"End-of-Year Estate Planning".
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December 01, 2009
Publication - Electronic Discovery & Practice Advisory Services
Fessing Up to Facebook: Recent Trends in the Use of Social Network Websites for Civil Litigation - CANADIAN JOURNAL OF LAW AND TECHNOLOGY - In December 2008, after several failed attempts to serve a couple with court documents by email by and text messaging their mobile phones, an Australian lawyer won the right to serve a default judgment by posting the terms of the judgment on the defendants’ Facebook “Wall.” In a ruling that appears to be the first of its
kind anywhere in the world, Master Harper of the Supreme Court of the Australian
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December 01, 2009
Press Release
Jeffrey G. Weil and Robert A. Chu’s Article Addressing Email Theft is Posted by The Metropolitan Corporate Counsel
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November 30, 2009
Publication - Labor & Employment
FMLA Expanded Yet Again - Labor and Employment Alert! - Certainly by now, all covered employers should have revised their Family and Medical Leave Act policies to include the military-related leaves that were enacted under the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2008:
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November 27, 2009
Publication - Environmental Regulatory & Due Diligence
Comments on United States Environmental Protection Agency Proposed Rulemaking to - The Federal Register - The stated purpose of the proposed Light-Duty Vehicle Greenhouse Gas Emission Standards
and Corporate Average Fuel Economy Standards (the “Rule”) is to address the urgent and
closely intertwined challenges of energy independence and security and global warming by
increasing the fuel economy of the nation’s light duty vehicle fleet. Vehicle electrification
technology, including plug-in hybrid electric...
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November 23, 2009
Publication - Real Estate Litigation
Teach Business Basics - The National Law Journal -
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November 23, 2009
Publication - Labor & Employment
The Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) has determined to perform its most expansive and widespread audit initiative in recent history. Beginning in early 2010, the IRS will audit the federal tax returns of 6,000 companies to assess compliance with tax and labor regulations. This new audit initiative will be conducted in three phases, with the IRS studying the tax returns of 2,000 companies in each of 2010, 2011 and 2012.
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November 20, 2009
Publication - Real Estate Litigation
Trouble in the Safe Harbor -- The Requirement of Mechanics' Lien Coverage in Lenders' Title Policies in Pennsylvania - Real Estate Alert! - Financing your construction project is not getting any easier. Lenders are increasingly taking a "check the box" approach with respect to their closing requirements, which adds cost and complexity to the closing from the borrower's perspective. One such closing hurdle is the requirement that the lender's policy of title insurance contains "mechanics' lien coverage," which essentially insures the priority of a lender's mortgage lien against mechanics' liens
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November 17, 2009
Publication - Business, Tax
Electricity Delivery and Stranded Cost Charges are Taxable - Tax Alert! - The Pennsylvania Supreme Court held that after deregulation of the electricity industry, charges by a distribution company for the transmission of electricity and for stranded costs are taxable for Sales and Use Tax purposes. Spectrum Arena Limited Partnership v. Commonwealth, No. 42 MAP 2008 (Pa. Nov. 5, 2009). This was a hard case, and it made bad law.
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November 10, 2009
Press Release - Family Law
Cozen O’Connor Family Law Attorney Jennifer A. Brandt Appears On TV Guide Network
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November 09, 2009
Publication - Subrogation & Recovery - Insurance
North Carolina Extends Statute of Repose for Product Defects to Twelve Years - Subrogation and Recovery Alert! - Statutes of repose often are subject to misunderstanding, causing leakage and lost opportunities. The North Carolina General Assembly recently extended the North Carolina Statute of Repose from 6 to 12 years. We are taking the opportunity of this amendment to discuss the application of statutes of repose - and statutes of limitation - in the context of subrogation and recovery claims.
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November 05, 2009
Publication
On March 13, 2008, the Tenant Protection Act (also known as Local Law 7 of 2008; hereinafter Local Law 7) took effect, giving tenants yet another avenue to pursue ''landlord harassment'' claims. The issues and inconsistencies raised by Local Law 7 are subtle, and could easily be overlooked by even the most careful of practitioners.
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