Schnader Harrison Segal & Lewis LLP

In the American legal system, attorneys’ fees and costs are not recoverable as damages unless expressly authorized by statute. Legal fees are simply a cost of doing business unless the parties to a contract agree otherwise…more

The Privacy Rights Clearinghouse’s Chronology of Data Breaches lists 3,671 incidents affecting 607,295,463 records since 2005,1 including these three: - A worker steals customer records containing credit card, bank…more

The Superior Court recently held that an attorney’s failure to make timely or effective objections to the composition of a jury prevented a trial court from vacating a judgment and granting a mistrial. The Superior Court’s April…more

In the last two weeks, both the IRS and Congressional officials announced major milestones in the increasing regulatory focus on colleges and universities. First, the IRS emphasized misreported taxable income and…more

Rarely do dissenting Justices advise practitioners to ignore a majority opinion. But, because the five-Justice majority in Genesis Healthcare Corp. v. Symczyk, No. 11- 1059, 569 U.S. __ (2013), assumed without deciding an issue…more

In November 2012, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York preliminarily approved a settlement agreement in the In re Payment Card Interchange Fee and Merchant Discount Antitrust Litigation. As a result,…more

On April 24, 2013, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Butler v. Powers held that Marcellus shale “natural gas is presumptively not a mineral for purposes of private deeds.” The Court reaffirmed the “Dunham Rule,” which applies…more

A plaintiff cannot succeed in whistleblower litigation against his former employer without demonstrating a specific, objectively reasonable belief that the employer violated a law or public policy, according to a recently…more

The Superior Court’s recent decision in Vietri v. Delaware Valley High School, No. 648 EDA 012 (March 22, 2013), brings into sharp focus the intricacies of Pennsylvania post-trial practice and the need to proceed cautiously in…more

On March 27, 2013, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania promulgated a set of significant rule changes that will affect everyone who practices in a Pennsylvania appellate court. The new amendments require that briefs and some…more

In a recent decision likely to significantly expand the use of tort law in areas previously restricted to contract law, the Supreme Court of Florida limited application of the economic loss doctrine to product liability cases…more

The U.S. Supreme Court has sent mixed signals this term regarding when courts can address merits issues at the class certification stage. On March 27, 2013, in Comcast Corp. v. Behrend, the Court reaffirmed that lower courts may…more

Beginning March 25, 2013, community organizations and other nonprofits will find it easier to become registered community organizations for Philadelphia zoning purposes. Community organizations have informally…more

On March 13, 2013, the New York City Council voted to override Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s veto of Bill Number 814-A, which prohibits employers from discriminating against job applicants on the basis of employment status. Although…more

In a recent decision, the Third Circuit took sides in a split between U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeal over what action borrowers must take to exercise their right to rescind a loan under the Truth in Lending Act (TILA). It ruled…more