Alert
Published 10/19/2021
By Ashley Miller
Services Labor and Employment
In a case of first impression, the federal court in Matias v. Terrapin House, Inc ., denied an employer’s motion to dismiss an employee’s suit that alleged she was terminated in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) after testing positive for COVID-19—providing a potential roadmap for future COVID “regarded as” ADA claims. What You Need to Know : Employee had plausibly alleged a “regarded as” disability claim under the ADA where she claimed that her employer knew that she was suffering a loss of taste and smell due to...
Alert
Published 10/18/2021
By Levi Schy, Patrick Nugent, Josh Richards, Candace McLaren, Kathryn Beaumont Murphy and James Keller
Industries Higher Education | K-12 Schools
On October 13, 2021, in connection with World Mental Health Day (October 10), the U.S. Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division (“CRT”) jointly issued a fact sheet , entitled, Supporting and Protecting the Rights of Students at Risk of Self-Harm in the Era of COVID-19 . OCR also released a letter to educators , outlining the civil rights obligations of K-12 and postsecondary schools to students with mental health disabilities. These documents provide important insight into the Biden-Harris Administration’s view on the...
Videos
Published 10/14/2021
Industries Video Gaming and Esports
In this episode of "Lawyers With Game," host Darius Gambino and Leah Leyendecker from Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Video Gaming and Esports Practice sit down with Nicole DuCane Spencer, Vice President of Sales at the Wisdom Gaming to talk advertising and activations in esports and video games. They discuss Wisdom’s long-term partnership with Riot Games and their recent selection as North American tournament organizer for League of Legends: Teamfight Tactics, Wisdom’s new studio venture at the Mall Of America in Minneapolis, Nicole’s experiences with brand activations in games; co-...
Blog Post
Published 10/13/2021
By Gregory M. Boucher
Blog Post
Published 10/13/2021
By Rohit Kapuria, Jay Rosen
Alert
Published 10/12/2021
By Justin Crotty
Services Intellectual Property
Generic pharma and companies interested in new uses for old drugs alike include skinny labels – labels which do not recite uses for the drug that remain covered by a competitor’s patent – as part of their intellectual property strategy. However, in GlaxoSmithKline LLC v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA, Inc. , 7 F.4th 1320 (Fed. Cir. 2021), the Federal Circuit provided a stern reminder that a skinny label is not a talisman that wards off liability if the conduct of the accused infringer supports a finding of induced infringement. What You Need to Know : Situations in which some of the patents...
Article
Published 10/12/2021
Industries Real Estate
Alert
Published 10/11/2021
Industries Energy
At the Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr Symposium in Houston in March 2020, a session was dedicated to reviewing steps the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission had taken to expand the Minimum Offer Price Rule (MOPR) applicable in PJM’s Base Residual Auction for electric capacity. On September 29, 2021 a new PJM MOPR took effect, as explained below. The general view at that time was that a FERC December 2019 Order would largely eliminate the possibility of state-subsidized renewable generation sources from receiving PJM capacity payments. FERC’s inaction has allowed the new PJM MOPR to take...
Alert
Published 10/08/2021
By Thomas Prevas, Gregory Waterworth and Pamela Goodwin
Services Environmental
On October 6, 2021, the White House Council on Environmental Quality (“CEQ”) proposed modifications of its regulations for implementing the provisions of the National Environmental Policy Act (“NEPA”). The proposed rule can be found here . Following the call of President Biden’s Executive Order 13990, Protecting Public Health and the Environment and Restoring Science to Tackle the Climate Crisis , available here , the CEQ proposed rule would undo most of the regulatory modifications CEQ made in the Trump Administration’s 2020 Rule. As explained in the proposed rule itself, it is CEQ’s view...
Alert
Published 10/07/2021
By Bruce D. Armon, Joshua W.B. Richards and Kevin M. Levy
Industries Health Care
On October 6, 2021, the Philadelphia Department of Public Health (DPH) announced a series of extensions designed to allow healthcare employers and institutions of higher education to comply with the City’s vaccine mandate (See announcement here ) . Approximately two months earlier, on August 13, the DPH announced that all healthcare workers and people at colleges and universities in Philadelphia needed to be fully vaccinated against COVID by October 15, 2021 (See the Firm’s alert here ) . What You Need to Know : Workers in hospitals and long-term care facilities and higher education personnel...
Alert
Published 10/04/2021
By Carolyn A. Pellegrini, Zachary M. Kimmel and Amy L. Piccola
Industries Higher Education
On September 29, 2021, Jennifer Abruzzo, General Counsel for the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”), made headlines with the issuance of a memorandum clarifying the GC’s position that certain college athletes are employees under the National Labor Relations Act (“Act”). Perhaps more notable was GC Abruzzo’s warning that should “an employer misclassify Players at Academic Institutions as ‘student-athletes’ and lead them to believe they do not have statutory protections,” the Agency will “pursue independent violations of Section 8(1)(1) of the Act.” Under Section 8(a)(1), an employer...
Blog Post
Published 10/04/2021
By Jason Tremblay, Elizabeth Thompson
Alert
Published 10/01/2021
Services Employee Benefits and ERISA Litigation
This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to implied terms in disability definitions, retrieving mistakenly paid pension payments, claims from former beneficiaries who were allegedly and improperly excluded from collecting benefits, whether a drug overdose triggers accidental death and dismemberment benefits, and personal jurisdiction issues. The Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr Employee Benefits/ERISA Litigation Team October 1, 2021 | By Amy Kline , Caitlin Strauss and Michael Joyce Sixth Circuit Grants Plan Leeway to Evaluate Definition of Disability With Implied Terms. In a recent long-...
Article
Published 09/28/2021
Services Intellectual Property | Patents
Alert
Published 09/28/2021
By Melissa A. Clarke
Services Environmental
On September 22, 2021, New Jersey Commissioner of Environmental Protection Shawn M. LaTourette issued an Administrative Order (AO 2021-25) setting new environmental justice-focused requirements for the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) to consider in assessing permit applications for facilities located in or proposed to be located in overburdened communities . These new requirements are a stopgap measure, pending NJDEP’s promulgation of regulations to implement the landmark Environmental Justice Law , N.J.S.A. 13:1D-157 (“EJ Law”). What You Need to Know : NJDEP is in...
Alert
Published 09/28/2021
Services Personal Wealth Estates and Trusts
In 2018 the gift and estate tax exemption was doubled from $5 million to $10 million (per person). The exemption is adjusted for inflation every year. In 2021 the exemption as adjusted for inflation is $11.7 million. The exemption applies to both gift tax and estate tax. It is first used against gifts made during life that exceed the annual exclusion (currently $15,000), and any remaining exemption not used against gift tax is applied against estate tax at death. In the case of a couple, each has an exemption of $11.7 million, so with the right planning a couple’s combined estate would not be...
