Alert
Published 07/12/2012
Services Personal Wealth Estates and Trusts
Summary New Jersey Appellate Division affirms lower Court's admission of unsigned copy of Decedent's Will to probate as a writing intended as a Will under N.J.S.A. 3B:3-3. On June 29, 2012, the New Jersey Appellate Division continued to relax the formalities required for admission of a Will to probate, holding that the unexecuted copy of Decedent's Will, which had purportedly been executed by the Decedent and sent to his attorney-executor for safe-keeping, sufficiently represented the Decedent's final testamentary intent allowing for the document to be admitted to probate as a writing...
Alert
Published 07/10/2012
Services Environmental
Summary New law eliminates Stage II vapor recovery systems and requires PA DEP to meet with gasoline retailers and other interested entities to reevaluate state summer gasoline requirements. On July 5, 2012, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett signed Act 135 of 2012 (Senate Bill 1386), which repealed a section of the Pennsylvania Air Pollution Control Act that required gas stations to install and maintain Stage II vapor recovery systems on fuel pumps. Stage II vapor recovery systems capture gasoline vapors that would otherwise escape into the atmosphere during refueling. These systems are now...
Alert
Published 07/10/2012
Industries Financial Services
Summary The U. S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently affirmed the dismissal of a putative class action, which alleged the defendant title insurance companies paid illegal kickbacks in violation of the Real Estate Settlement Procedures Act ("RESPA"), on the basis that the plaintiffs failed to state a valid claim for relief. The Second Circuit found that the plaintiffs had not alleged any facts to support the elements necessary for a RESPA claim and the plaintiffs' allegations were purely speculative and conclusory. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently...
Blog Post
Published 07/10/2012
Alert
Published 07/09/2012
Industries Insurance
On July 5, 2012, Governor Tom Corbett signed into law Act 136 of 2012 making a number of significant changes to Pennsylvania's Insurance Holding Company Act (HCA), as well as an update to its credit for reinsurance law. With respect to the latter, effective immediately, insurers are now permitted to take credit on their balance sheets for risks ceded to certified reinsurers. The HCA amendments broaden the scope of the Insurance Department's regulatory authority over insurance holding company systems through expanded reporting requirements and examination authority over controlling persons and...
Alert
Published 07/09/2012
Services Public Finance
On July 5, 2012, Governor Tom Corbett signed into law Senate Bill No. 1321, designated as Act 133 of 2012 ("Act 133"), which amends the Municipalities Financial Recovery Act, P.L. 246, No. 47, as amended ("Act 47"), to (i) clarify that all arbitration settlements, including Act 111 arbitration awards, are subject to the limits of Act 47; (ii) identify when collective bargaining agreements and arbitration settlements awarded pursuant to the Policemen and Firemen Collective Bargaining Act, P.L. 237, No. 111, as amended ("Act 111"), may deviate from an approved Act 47 plan; and (iii) require the...
Alert
Published 07/09/2012
Services Intellectual Property
Summary The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has issued its first decision interpreting the new Right-to-Know Law, requiring a municipal stadium authority to produce bids in possession of its private management company, but setting forth a new, more restrictive test for requests directed to documents in the possession of state information technology vendors and all other government contractors. On May 29, 2012, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, in SWB Yankees, LLC v. Wintermantel and the Scranton Times Tribune , issued its first decision interpreting the new Right-To-Know Law ("RTKL"). The case...
Blog Post
Published 07/09/2012
Blog Post
Published 07/09/2012
Article
Published 07/07/2012
Services Bankruptcy and Restructuring
Alert
Published 07/06/2012
On June 30, 2012, Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett signed into law a bill intended to prevent state agencies from enacting new regulations that impose unnecessary burdens on small businesses. Referred to as Act 76 of 2012, the new law aims to thwart newly proposed regulations that would disproportionately burden small businesses. Act 76 requires state agencies, when proposing a new regulation to the Independent Regulatory Review Commission (IRRC), to identify numerous factors concerning how the proposed regulation will affect small businesses. IRRC is the Pennsylvania agency tasked with...
Blog Post
Published 07/06/2012
By Jason Tremblay
Alert
Published 07/03/2012
Summary The Pennsylvania General Assembly has extended the Permit Extension Law (Act 46). The extension tolls the expiration date of permits and approvals set to expire after December 31, 2008, from July 2, 2013 to July 2, 2016, giving the building industry an additional three years of relief prior to seeing applicable permits and approvals expire. On July 6, 2010 the Pennsylvania General Assembly passed Act 46 which automatically tolled until July 1, 2013, the expiration date of certain types of approvals, permits, decisions, agreements and other authorizations or decisions that were in...
Alert
Published 07/03/2012
Industries Financial Services
Summary An appellate court in Maryland recently handed down a decision that makes it easier for a creditor holding a promissory note, secured by a deed of trust and with gaps in its chain of title, to foreclose. Last week, the Court of Appeals of Maryland rejected a borrower in foreclosure's argument that gaps in a promissory note's chain of title amounts to fraud that infects a deed of trust. The Court's holding makes it easier for creditors who hold notes that are not completely traceable to the original lender, to foreclose. In Thomas v. Nadel , No. 106, 2012 WL 2368881 (Md. June 25, 2012...
Alert
Published 07/02/2012
Industries Health Care
Summary The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services has designed an Advance Payment Model for participants in the Medicare Shared Savings Program, giving them advance payments that will be repaid from the future shared savings they earn. Lost during the anticipation of the U.S. Supreme Court opinion relating to the Affordable Care Act was the regulatory notice regarding accountable care organizations (ACOs). On June 26, 2012, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) announced a new opportunity for ACOs that desire to participate in the Advance Payment Model. The Advance...
Article
Published 07/01/2012
By Robert Goodman and Miranda H. Turner
Industries Insurance