Article
Published 05/17/2021
Services Employment Litigation | Labor and Employment
Alert
Published 05/14/2021
This month’s Friday Five covers cases relating to disputes between beneficiaries to life insurance policy proceeds, an insurer’s use of independent medical reviewers and in-house nurses to evaluate claims, the preexisting condition limitation, and shifting attorney’s fees to counsel for the parties (as opposed to the parties themselves). The Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr Employee Benefits/ERISA Litigation Team May 14, 2021 | By Amy Kline, Caitlin Strauss and Michael Joyce Tenth Circuit Refuses to Drag Insurer Into Dispute Between Life Insurance Beneficiaries. In a dispute over life insurance...
Alert
Published 05/14/2021
By Pamela Goodwin, Kathleen Gilligan and John Dixon
Industries Real Estate
Services Environmental
While not all states allow local governments to regulate air pollution, Illinois does. The City of Chicago, following the lead of several east coast municipalities and the City of Los Angeles, has recently established a bold plan that will likely cause industrial project developers to incur additional costs and extended timelines for their projects involving construction and expansion of existing facilities whose uses will now be regulated for their impact on air quality. City of Chicago Air Quality Zoning Ordinance On March 24, 2021, the Chicago City Council passed an air quality zoning...
Alert
Published 05/14/2021
By William W. Warren
Services Regulatory Compliance and Government
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s April 29, 2021, decision in a Right-to-Know Law (the “RTKL”) case has broad ramifications in matters where a state or local governmental agency has contracted with a private consultant and seeks to protect records the parties have exchanged while the agency deliberates. Chester Water Authority v. Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development , Nos. 44 & 45 EAP 2019, ___ Pa. ___, ___ A.3d ___, 2021 WL 1740596. The majority opinion was authored by Justice Saylor, [1] joined by Justices Todd, Donohue and Mundy. Justice Dougherty concurred, and...
Blog Post
Published 05/13/2021
Services : Labor and Employment
Alert
Published 05/07/2021
By Christina D. Riggs, Levi R. Schy
Industries Higher Education
In a second attempt to pass a COVID-19 liability shield, the Pennsylvania House of Representatives passed House Bill 605 on April 6, 2021. If signed into law, H.B. 605 would protect (among others) colleges, universities, and K-12 schools from civil liability for damages or personal injury relating to actual or alleged COVID-19 exposure. This shield would apply to acts or omissions throughout the duration of the ongoing disaster-emergency period, which began on March, 6, 2020 when Governor Wolf signed the first disaster-emergency proclamation. Sweeping Protection for COVID-Exposure Cases Under...
Article
Published 05/07/2021
Services Cybersecurity and Privacy
Alert
Published 05/04/2021
By Pamela Goodwin, John Dixon
Services Environmental | Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG)
Late last week, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced its latest environmental justice initiative aimed at expanding Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) reporting requirements to include additional types of chemicals and facilities. Environmental Justice is intended to ensure fair treatment and involvement of people regardless of race, color, origin or income in environmental regulation and enforcement. The TRI is a publicly available database that includes information on toxic chemical releases and waste management activities. The EPA announced its proposal to expand...
Article
Published 05/04/2021
Services Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs)
Alert
Published 05/03/2021
By Joshua Richards, Samantha Gross
Industries Higher Education
Background On December 13, 2016, the 21st Century Cures Act (the “Cures Act”) was signed into law and made changes to the Public Health Service Act related to health information technology. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology (“ONC”), at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”), is the principal federal entity charged with coordination of efforts to implement advanced health information technology and the electronic exchange of health information. On May 1, 2020, ONC issued the Cures Act final rule, which implements provisions of the Cures...
Alert
Published 05/03/2021
By Frederic M. Garsson, Christie R. McGuinness
Industries Insurance
On April 29th, a New York Court struck down as unconstitutional the 2017 Amendment to Insurance Regulation 189. The Amendment, commonly referred to in New York as the “best interests” rule, expanded the scope of Regulation 187 from merely requiring the application of a “suitability” standard to the sale of annuity contacts, to requiring the application of a “suitability and best interests” standard to both annuity contracts and life insurance policy sales. Specifically, the Amendment required “insurers, including fraternal benefit societies, to implement standards and procedures to address,...
Article
Published 04/29/2021
Services Bankruptcy and Restructuring
Article
Published 04/28/2021
Industries Real Estate
Article
Published 04/28/2021
Alert
Published 04/28/2021
By James Morsch, Michael Finio and Kayleigh Keilty
Services Antitrust
On April 22, 2021, the Supreme Court resolved a circuit split as to the Federal Trade Commission’s authority to seek restitution in a federal court action under the Federal Trade Commission Act (“Act”) without first obtaining a final cease and desist order in an administrative proceeding under the Act. In a unanimous opinion authored by Justice Breyer, the Court held in AMG Capital Mgmnt., LLC v. FTC , No. 19-508, that § 13(b) does not authorize the FTC to seek equitable monetary awards in addition to injunctive relief in stand-alone federal court litigation. Such restitution is only...
Article
Published 04/28/2021
Industries Financial Services