Article
Published 09/11/2020
Alert
Published 09/10/2020
By Melissa A. Clarke
Services Environmental
This Alert provides an update on (1) the process to extend permits and approvals from a broad range of New Jersey state and local entities that would otherwise expire during the “COVID-19 extension period” and (2) NJDEP’s extension of certain site remediation deadlines by 270 days, based on the unprecedented circumstances presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. I. Permit Extension Act of 2020 – REGISTRATION NOW OPEN By notice in the NJ Register (52 N.J.R. 1682(b)) on September 8, 2020, any government approvals eligible for tolling of running periods under the Permit Extension Act of 2020 may now...
Article
Published 09/08/2020
Alert
Published 09/04/2020
By Thomas K. Prevas
Services Environmental | Litigation
The Court of Appeals Opinion Closes Procedural Gaps and Aligns Legal Standards with Scientific Analysis The Court of Appeals of Maryland adopted the Daubert standard, overturning Maryland’s long held Frye-Reed precedent for determining the admissibility of expert opinion. Rochkind v. Stevenson , No. 47, September Term 2019 (Aug. 28, 2020); Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, Inc. , 509 U.S. 579 (1993). While the change may seem sudden, the decision should be welcomed as the end to the three decades of confusion about how to simultaneously apply both Frye-Reed and Maryland Rule 5-702 (...
Alert
Published 09/04/2020
This month’s Friday Five discusses cases that address the admissibility of an expert opinion, the calculation of pre-disability earnings, the definition of disability earnings, circumstances where a court will transfer venue in an ERISA case, and the standard for liability on the basis of a misrepresentation by an insurer or plan administrator. The Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr Employee Benefits/ERISA Litigation Team September 4, 2020 | By Amy Kline , Caitlin Strauss and Angella Middleton When is an expert not an expert? If an ERISA case is not resolved on summary judgment and proceeds to...
Alert
Published 09/03/2020
By Kevin M. Levy, Gregory L. Waterworth
Industries Real Estate
As landlords and tenants, lawyers and lawmakers alike struggle to contend with the ever-changing patchwork of state and local moratoria on residential evictions, a new sweeping federal policy is poised to redefine the housing landscape. Building on a presidential executive order to research methods to reduce or prevent evictions, on September 1, 2020, in an unprecedented move, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (“CDC”) issued an Agency Order for the Temporary Halt in Residential Evictions to Prevent the Further Spread of COVID-19 (the “Order”). The Order was issued pursuant to a...
Alert
Published 09/03/2020
By Carolyn M. Toll, Joshua W. B. Richards
Industries Higher Education
Late last week, with no apparent public discussion, the Department of Education (the “Department”) withdrew a number of Office for Civil Rights (“OCR”) guidance documents relating to Title IX in the wake of the new Title IX regulations governing institutions’ policies and procedures for adjudicating Title IX sexual harassment. In light of the Department’s previously articulated intention to move away from guidance documents, the Department’s move to withdraw existing guidance is not all that surprising. The Department had previously withdrawn guidance related to transgender students and...
Alert
Published 09/01/2020
By Kathryn Beaumont Murphy
Industries K-12 Schools
Parents forming “Learning Pods” to complement or facilitate their children’s virtual schooling should consider a few simple contracts and compacts to ensure smooth sailing – and, most important, to prioritize everyone’s health and safety. A basic agreement among families, and with the teacher/facilitator, can go a long way to preventing disagreement in an environment of unknowns. For example: What happens if a family member of a pod-student tests positive for COVID-19? Families will want an agreed-upon protocol for testing and isolation. What if the state or local government instates strict...
Article
Published 09/01/2020
Article
Published 09/01/2020
Blog Post
Published 09/01/2020
By Lisa M. Koblin
Alert
Published 08/31/2020
By Lisa M. Koblin
Services Labor and Employment
As employers nationwide continue to grapple with the longstanding impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, a looming obstacle that awaits in early Fall 2020 is an employer’s obligation to provide WARN Act notices to employees who were furloughed or temporarily laid off six months earlier due to business decline from the coronavirus. The Federal Workforce Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act requires covered employers to provide a specific kind of written notice to workers who suffer employment loss due to a plant closure or mass layoff . Generally, this notice musts be provided 60 days...
Alert
Published 08/27/2020
By Alexander R. Bilus, Kelsey Marron, Christie R. McGuinness
Services White Collar and Government Enforcement
As the country struggles with COVID-19, many companies have applied for and received funds under the CARES Act and its Payment Protection Program (“PPP”). Those companies must understand there are significant risks tied to their receipt of federal money. Indeed, in June the United States Senate confirmed Brian D. Miller as the Special Inspector General of Pandemic Recovery (the “SIGPR”). As Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr attorneys have previously explained , the SIGPR’s primary duty is to audit and investigate the distribution of funds under the CARES Act. Although the SIGPR is new,...
Alert
Published 08/27/2020
By Matthew M. Haar
Industries Insurance
On August 25, 2020, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court split 3-3, with one Justice recused, on an appeal from a trial court’s insurance bad faith decision imposing $18 million in punitive damages and $3 million in attorney’s fees which had been reversed by an intermediate appellate court. Berg v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., Inc. , No. 33 MAP 2019 (Pa. Aug 25, 2020). The dispute traces back to a car accident on September 4, 1996, and subsequent issues about whether the insured’s car was a total loss and whether the insurer acted appropriately in having the car repaired. Over the more than 20-year...
Alert
Published 08/26/2020
By Pamela J. Scott
Industries Real Estate
Governor John Carney and New Castle County Executive Matt Meyer have announced the launch of the DE Relief Grants Program, a joint initiative of the State and County to assist Delaware’s small businesses and nonprofit organizations which have been impacted by COVID-19. The funds being made available, in the amount of $100 Million, come from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act as part of more than $300 Million received by New Castle County through the CARES Act. The DE Relief Grants Program will be administered by the Delaware Division of Small Business. To qualify,...
Alert
Published 08/26/2020
By William W. Warren, Jr., Esq.
Industries Construction
Public construction in Pennsylvania and elsewhere continues to present substantial challenges to local governmental entities. While some projects have been deferred in the current health and economic climate, at some point, and we hope sooner rather than later, the normal course of public construction programs will resume. Local governments, and their architects, engineers and other design professionals can take advantage of what observations and experience have taught us about better ways to undertake and complete public construction projects. From these observations, we have developed what...