Commercial Law & Contracts, Civil Procedure, Labor & Employment Law

Beware of Choice of Law When Drafting Independent Contractor Agreements

by Renee Inomata | Burns & Levinson LLP on 5/24/2013

As we have previously posted in Choice of Law in a Contract Can Be Critical, Ensuring Your Dispute Is Resolved in the Forum You Want Is Not Always Easy, and Selection of Forum Other Than Massachusetts May Not Avoid Wage Act...more

Law360 Quotes Lloyd Chinn on the U.S. Supreme Court’s Granting of Certiorari in Lawson

by Harris M. Mufson, Daniel Saperstein | Proskauer - Whistleblowing & Retaliation on 5/22/2013

In a Law360 article (subscription required) today, Lloyd Chinn, Co-head of Proskauer’s Whistleblower & Retaliation Group, commented on the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear its first-ever whistleblower case under the...more

A Catch to a Release

by Laura Buckingham | Field Law on 5/22/2013

A signed release provides peace of mind that all disputes are resolved and there will be no further claims, complaints, or legal action. Or does it? Two recent Ontario cases remind us that a signature alone is not a...more

Retired County Employees Can Amend Their Complaint In An Attempt To Prove Existence Of A Contract for Health Benefits

by Laura Izon Powell, Bruce A. Scheidt, Kristianne Seargeant, David W. Tyra | Kronick, Moskovitz, Tiedemann & Girard on 5/22/2013

In 2008, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors (“County”) acted to cap the county’s contributions for health care benefits for retired employees at $500 per month. The Sonoma County Association of Retired Employees...more

U.S. Supreme Court to Decide Whether SOX’s Whistleblower Provision Protects Employees of Publicly Traded Company’s Contractors

by Noa Baddish, Lloyd B. Chinn, Harris M. Mufson | Proskauer - Whistleblowing & Retaliation on 5/21/2013

On May 20, 2013, the United States Supreme Court granted a petition for a writ of certiorari to review the United States Court of Appeals for the First Circuit’s decision holding that SOX’s whistleblower protection does not...more

SuperVision Today - 2nd Quarter 2013

by Erin Jones Adams, R. Scott Adams, Alyesha Asghar Dotson, Carrie Harris, Eric W. Iskra, Eric E. Kinder, Richard Wallace | Spilman Thomas & Battle, PLLC on 5/16/2013

In This Issue: - Notes from the Chair & Executive Editor - The Board Plays On: The NLRB Clarifies Its Position on At-Will Disclaimers - Interns This Summer? Evaluating Your Unpaid Internship Programs...more

New FIDIC Guidance: Should a party to a FIDIC contract be able to enforce a ‘binding’ DAB decision before the decision has become...

by Gordon Bell, Elinor Crowther | Reed Smith on 5/13/2013

On 1 April 2013, FIDIC issued guidance on how to deal with a contracting party who has failed to comply with a ‘binding’ decision of a Dispute Adjudication Board - The standard FIDIC form of contract contains a tiered...more

Court Upholds Validity of ERISA Fiduciary Indemnification

by David Ackerman, John Kober | Morgan Lewis on 5/7/2013

Ruling rejects DOL challenge of an agreement by a 100% ESOP-owned company to advance defense costs and indemnify a trustee....more

Chinese Supreme Court Guidelines Make It Easier for Employers to Enforce Non-Compete Covenants

by Ron Cai, Victoria Ding | Davis Wright Tremaine LLP on 5/6/2013

On Jan. 18, 2013, the Supreme People’s Court of China promulgated Judicial Interpretation IV on Several Issues Concerning the Application of Law in Hearing Labor Dispute (the “Interpretation”). The Interpretation went into...more

Business Law Newsletter - May 2013

by Rachelle E. Hill, James V. Irving, Alecia Schmuhl | Bean, Kinney & Korman, PC on 5/6/2013

In This Issue: - Subpoenas: What Are They and What Do You Do If You or Your Business Receives One? - Sequestration and the Continuing Resolution’s Effect on Government Contracting - New I-9 Creates Risk...more

NFL Concussion Lawsuits in Philadelphia

by The Rothenberg Law Firm LLP on 5/2/2013

Earlier this month, a federal court in Philadelphia heard arguments about concussions in the National Football League (NFL). More than 4,100 plaintiffs, who are part of 222 consolidated lawsuits, are at the beginning of the...more

One-Sided Arbitration Agreement Found Unconscionable By California Court

by Thomas McInerney | Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart,... on 4/30/2013

Compton v. American Management Services LLC, No. B236669 (March 19, 2013): A California Court of Appeal recently held that an arbitration agreement was unenforceable because it was unconscionably one-sided. The agreement,...more

Florida Court Reverses Preliminary Injunction On Restrictive Covenant

by Peter C. Vilmos | Burr & Forman on 4/24/2013

If you have followed this blog, then you likely already know that restrictive covenants are legal and enforceable in Florida. You should also know that – although enforceable – restrictive covenants are strictly construed...more

The Illinois Supreme Court 2012: The Year in Review

by Kirk Jenkins | Sedgwick LLP on 4/22/2013

During 2012, the Illinois Supreme Court filed seventy-one written opinions, thirty-nine in civil cases. Although the total opinion output was down somewhat from recent years, this represents the Court's highest number of...more

Lawyers Claim Carnival Nightmare Cruise Employees Overworked

by Aaron Kase | Lawyers.com on 4/22/2013

At the root of an uptick in cruise ship mishaps and disasters may be overworked and fatigued crew members, a maritime law firm is claiming. The spread of foreign arbitration clauses in employee contracts that prevent workers...more

Supreme Court Ruling Limits Extraterritorial Application Of Alien Tort Statute

by Joseph Mamounas, Rafael R. Ribeiro, Marty Steinberg | Bilzin Sumberg Baena Price & Axelrod LLP on 4/22/2013

U.S. companies with, or that were seeking to acquire, foreign operations often fretted over the possibility that plaintiffs in the foreign jurisdiction would seek to invoke the Alien Tort Statute ("ATS"), 28 U.S.C. § 1350,...more

Creditors Can Reach Benefits under "Top Hat" Plan, United States District Court of Maryland Rules

by Katherine Lange | Womble Carlyle Sandridge & Rice, PLLC on 4/17/2013

Executive Summary: ERISA “top hat” plan’s anti-alienation provision does not trump state garnishment laws. A familiar feature of ERISA is its protection of a participant’s retirement savings from creditors; ERISA...more

Supreme Court Forbids Rewrite Of ERISA Plan

by Fisher & Phillips LLP on 4/17/2013

The supremacy of a written ERISA -governed plan still reigns as the U.S. Supreme Court reversed the ruling of an appellate court which had held that a court in equity can ignore unambiguous subrogation reimbursement language,...more

View From Proskauer: U.S. Supreme Court Provides Defendants With More Ammunition for Defeating Class Certification by Requiring...

by Jacklina Len | Proskauer - ERISA Practice Center on 4/16/2013

The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled in Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, 2013 WL 1222646 (U.S. Mar. 27, 2013) that, in order to obtain class certification, plaintiffs carry the burden of establishing not only that they have proof...more

Software Vendor Challenges Massachusetts’ Restrictive Policy on Multiple Points of Use Certificates

by Michael Jacobs, Robert Weyman | Reed Smith on 4/15/2013

Software purchasers that have paid Massachusetts sales tax on the full purchase price for software that was also concurrently available for use by employees outside Massachusetts, should consider filing protective refund...more

Federal Appeals Court Holds That Supplemental Unemployment Compensation Benefits Are Not ‘Wages’ Subject To FICA Taxation,...

by Robert Hertzberg, Lisa B. Petkun, Michael Reed | Pepper Hamilton LLP on 4/15/2013

In an important recent decision, United States v. Quality Stores, Inc., et al., Case No. 01-1563, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 18820 (6th Cir. Sept. 7, 2012), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held that supplemental...more

Buyer Beware: Seventh Circuit Upholds Application of the Federal Common Law Standard of Successor Liability in an Asset Sale

by Bill Berger, Adam Duerr, Gino Maurelli, Matthew Nyberg | Brownstein Hyatt Farber Schreck on 4/15/2013

One of the benefits to structuring an acquisition as an asset deal is that the buyer has the ability to choose the liabilities that it will assume and the liabilities that will remain with the seller, including contingent...more

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Commercial Law & Contracts › Civil Procedure › Labor & Employment Law