Alert
Published 12/22/2020
By Ruth A. Rauls, Lelia F. Parker, Jessica L. Meller
Industries Cannabis Law
Services Labor and Employment
Over the past month, Pennsylvania courts have issued a series of decisions clarifying employee rights for medical cannabis patients—one related to unemployment compensation and others related to private rights of action under its medical cannabis statute. Most recently, in Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority v. Unemployment Compensation Board of Review , the Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court affirmed a decision by the Unemployment Compensation (“UC”) Board of Review finding that Terrance Suber, a former employee, was entitled to UC benefits following his termination in 2019 for a positive drug...
Alert
Published 12/21/2020
By Patrick F. Nugent
Industries Energy
On December 9, 2020, the Acting Solicitor General filed a brief on behalf of the United States, as amicus curiae, in support of PennEast Pipeline Company’s petition for a writ of certiorari seeking review of a decision of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in a closely-watched eminent domain case that has significant ramifications for interstate natural gas pipelines. Left undisturbed, the Third Circuit’s ruling – as the Third Circuit itself acknowledged – risks disrupting how the natural gas industry has operated for decades in constructing interstate pipelines over...
Blog Post
Published 12/21/2020
By Jonathan A. Havens, Lauren A. Farruggia
Blog Post
Published 12/18/2020
By Jonathan A. Havens, Lauren A. Farruggia
Alert
Published 12/15/2020
By Marshall B. Paul, Rick Carroll
Services Corporate
Congress took a significant step on Friday, December 11 to prevent the owners of “shell” limited liability companies, corporations and “similar entities” from using those entities to disguise their identities and transactions by passing the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA). The CTA was part of a defense bill that was passed by Congress by what has been termed a “veto-proof margin” and is expected to be signed by President Trump in the coming days. The CTA had previously been endorsed by the Delaware Secretary of State, who called it a “fair, bipartisan compromise” that would make it the...
Podcast episode
Published 12/15/2020
Host Kermit Nash, co-chair of Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr’s Food, Beverage and Agribusiness (FBA) Practice, speaks with Anthony Sepich, CEO of Firm client Pipeline Foods, a supplier of organic and non-GMO food and feed ingredients for the consumer packaged goods and livestock industries. They discuss Anthony’s long career in the food industry and how trends have changed over the past several decades, particularly with organic food and clean labels. Anthony addresses how consumer demand for organic products is on the rise, a trend which is only expected to grow. He also addresses topics such as mislabeling of foods imported into the U.S. (e.g., “organic” products that don’t meet USDA’s organic standard), and how communication about disruptions in the supply chain has recently gotten much better. Finally, Anthony explains how a global database that does a quick mass balance and is shared across the supply chain would go a long way in reducing fraudulent product.
Article
Published 12/14/2020
Services Labor and Employment
Alert
Published 12/14/2020
By Michael A. Finio
Industries Health Care
Services Antitrust
Faced with a December 8, 2020, Memorandum and Order by Eastern District Judge Pappert ( link ) denying the Federal Trade Commission’s (FTC’s) request to enjoin the proposed Jefferson-Einstein merger, and the resulting right of the parties to complete the merger after 11:59pm on December 15, 2020 pursuant to the terms of a February 2020 temporary restraining order, the following procedural steps were taken: On December 9, 2020, the FTC filed an Emergency Motion for Injunction Pending Appeal ( link ) in the District Court. On December 11, 2020, the FTC made a similar filing in the Third Circuit...
Article
Published 12/14/2020
Industries Higher Education
Services Labor and Employment
Alert
Published 12/11/2020
By Andy J. Daly, Dasha G. Brockmeyer
Services Employee Benefits and Executive Compensation | Tax
Federal agencies recently announced cost-of-living adjustments on Social Security taxable earnings and maximum benefits, limits on compensation and deferrals for retirement plans, and limits on health and welfare plans. Additionally, excise tax penalties for failure to offer minimum essential health care coverage and failure to offer coverage that provides minimum value or is affordable, and penalties for failure to file correct information returns have also been announced. Below is a chart comparing the dollar limits and penalties for 2020 and 2021. Additionally, 1983 amendments to the...
Article
Published 12/11/2020
Services Litigation
Alert
Published 12/10/2020
By Brandon Brauer
Industries Construction
On December 1, 2020, the Court of Appeals of Texas (1st District) reversed a lower court decision and held that where a party fails to show that a public university defendant has expressly breached a contractual provision, Texas sovereign immunity law shields the public university from a lawsuit See Texas Southern University v. Pepper Lawson Horizon International Group, LLC, No. 01-19-00395, 2020 WL 703584 (Court of Appeals (Tx. 1st District) December 1, 2020). General contractor, Pepper Lawson Horizon International Group, LLC (“Pepper Lawson”) entered into a construction contract (the “...
Alert
Published 12/07/2020
By Michael Gold, Justin B. Ettelson, Christian Kaiser, Guzel Sadykova
Services Securities Transactions and Regulations
On November 2, 2020, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “ Commission ”) adopted amendments to its rules under the Securities Act (the “ Securities Act ”) in an effort to harmonize, simplify and modernize the exempt offering framework (the “ Amendments ”). The Commission noted that the goal of the Amendments is to promote capital formation and expand investment opportunities in offerings exempt from the registration requirements under the Securities Act while continuing to protect investors. The Amendments revise several of the exemptions that are frequently relied upon by small and...
Alert
Published 12/07/2020
By Bruce D. Armon, Justin C. Danilewitz, Samantha R. Gross, Lauren A. Farruggia
Industries Health Care
Services White Collar and Government Enforcement
​On November 16, 2020, the Office of Inspector General (“OIG”) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), issued a Special Fraud Alert highlighting the Anti-Kickback Statute (“AKS”) risks for pharmaceutical and medical device companies providing remuneration for speaker programs they sponsor. In addition to being important to industry, this Special Fraud Alert should be of interest to physicians, community hospitals and academic medical centers who engage with pharmaceutical and medical device companies. The AKS imposes criminal penalties for those who knowingly and...
Alert
Published 12/04/2020
By Anthony P. Forte, Kevin M. Levy
Industries Real Estate
Responding to calls from Philadelphia’s housing advocates to generate tax revenue for affordable housing, Philadelphia City Council adopted a trio of ordinances on December 2, affecting most new construction projects throughout the City. Mayor Jim Kenney is expected to sign the legislative package before the end of the year. New “Development Impact Tax” on Residential Developers Most impactful among the new Philadelphia tax legislation is a new “Development Impact Tax,” which will be imposed on the construction of “any structure for human occupancy for residential purposes, or making any...