Client Alerts

April

• 4/10/2018
  Labor and Employment Alert: West Virginia Now Permits Employees to Keep Guns in Their Cars at Work
  West Virginia law allows property owners and employers to prohibit carrying firearms on any property “under his or her domain,” which previously included parking lots.
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• 4/9/2018
  Labor and Employment Alert: New Jersey Enacts a Sweeping Equal Pay Law
  New Jersey recently enacted the “Diane B. Allen Equal Pay Act” to significantly expand the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (LAD) with respect to pay equity.
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• 4/5/2018
  Oil and Gas Alert: Pennsylvania Appellate Court Rejects Rule of Capture for Hydraulic Fracturing
  In Briggs v. Southwestern Energy Production Co. (Apr. 2, 2018), the Superior Court of Pennsylvania held that trespass and conversion claims concerning hydraulic fracturing were not precluded by the rule of capture.
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• 4/4/2018
  Client Alert: Ethical Considerations in Outsourcing Patent-Related Tasks
  Intellectual property (IP) attorneys (both in-house and outside counsel) are increasingly turning to outsourcing and offshoring to complete many patent-related tasks, such as prior art searches, patent drafting, formalizing patent drawings, and general patent prosecution.
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March

• 3/28/2018
  Client Alert: Supreme Court Cert Denial Leaves Confusion in Determining Standing in Class Action Data Breach Cases
  The United States Supreme Court denied a petition for a writ of certiorari last month in CareFirst, Inc. v. Attias permitting a data breach class action to proceed against a medical insurer. 
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• 3/23/2018
  Client Alert: New PUCO Online System for Annual Reporting
  The Public Utilities Commission of Ohio (PUCO) recently rolled out a new system, called the “PUCO Community,” that must be used for submitting annual reports and eventually it will have additional uses.
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• 3/20/2018
  Client Alert: D.C. Circuit Narrows FCC’s Broad 2015 TCPA Order
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• 3/12/2018
  Client Alert: Ohio General Assembly Expands the Ohio Department of Taxation’s Authority in Connection with Liquor License Renewals and Transfers
  Last summer the Ohio General Assembly passed Ohio’s biennial budget and, in connection with doing so, expanded the Ohio Department of Taxation’s authority relative to the state’s processing of liquor license renewals and transfers.
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• 3/12/2018
  Labor and Employment Alert: California Supreme Court Changes Overtime Calculation and Gives a Huge Bonus To Employees
  For California employers, no good deed goes unpunished. Dart Container Corporation paid its employees, in addition to their normal hourly wage, a flat sum $15 attendance bonus if they were scheduled to work on a Saturday or Sunday.
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• 3/12/2018
  Client Alert: Not So Fast: Factual Questions Preclude Early Resolution of Patent Invalidity Contentions
  In addressing issues of subject matter eligibility, the Federal Circuit recently reached a potentially momentous decision in Berkheimer v. HP, Inc.
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• 3/8/2018
  Labor and Employment Alert: Department of Labor Encourages Employers to Self-Report Their Wage-Hour Violations
  The U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division (WHD) recently announced a pilot program to encourage employers to self-report their wage-hour violations.
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• 3/7/2018
  Client Alert: FTC Reaches Settlement with Paypal over Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act and FTC Act Violations
  The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has announced a settlement with PayPal, Inc., operating as Venmo, over alleged violations of the Federal Trade Act and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA). 
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• 3/7/2018
  Labor and Employment Alert: $50 reduction of 2018 Limit on HSA Contributions for Family HDHP Coverage
  The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act changed the indexing of numerous dollar amounts under the Internal Revenue Code effective in 2018.
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• 3/5/2018
  Client Alert: Employment Agreements must ‘Presently’ Assign IP Rights
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently addressed IP assignment clauses in employment agreements.
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• 3/2/2018
  Labor and Employment Alert: New Ban-The-Box Laws Take Effect in June
  Effective June 2018, Kansas City, Missouri, and Spokane, Washington, will become the latest cities to have ban-the-box laws for private employers.
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• 3/2/2018
  Client Alert: It’s That Maddening Time of Year Again: March
  Now that March is here we want to take a moment to remind you that MARCH MADNESS is a registered trademark of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA).
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February

• 2/28/2018
  Labor and Employment Alert: Second Circuit Holds That Title VII Protects Sexual Orientation
  On February 26, 2018, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals held that discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation is a form of sex discrimination prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.
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• 2/27/2018
  Labor and Employment Alert: Austin, Texas, Adopts a Paid Sick Leave Law Covering All Employers
  On February 16, 2018, Austin, Texas became the latest jurisdiction to adopt a paid sick leave ordinance.
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• 2/19/2018
  Client Alert: Additional Guidance Available Regarding Selection of “Qualified Opportunity Zones” Ahead of Imminent Deadline
  As part of federal tax reform, Congress created a new program to encourage investment in businesses that are located in low-income communities that are designated as “Qualified Opportunity Zones.” This program creates a new potential source of capital for businesses and real estate developments located in Qualified Opportunity Zones, while at the same time creating a new tax benefit for investors seeking to reduce their tax burden on taxable asset dispositions.
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• 2/13/2018
  Client Alert: IPR Institution Decisions are not (Entirely) Immune from Appeal
  The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently opened the door to reviewing one aspect of decisions to institute Inter Partes Review (IPR) under the America Invest Act (AIA).
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