Harris Beach attorneys Abbie Eliasberg Fuchs, Bradley M. Wanner and Daniel R. Strecker review and analyze key judicial holdings and legal developments in New York, the federal arena and across the country that have affected...more
With COVID-19, employers are receiving and processing an ever-increasing amount of their employees' confidential health information. From COVID-19 test results to vaccination status, many employers are routinely collecting...more
UPMC’s employment records were hacked by criminals in 2014. A civil class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of approximately 66,000 employees, and criminal cases were filed by federal prosecutors against a number of...more
Q. What is the standard for determining whether an individual is an independent contractor under Pennsylvania’s unemployment compensation law? ...more
Another week brings another round of COVID-19-related lawsuits. Even after a month, we already can identify some early trends: refund lawsuits and second amendment claims continue to boom. A rise in takings claims may signal...more
The oil and gas industry in Pennsylvania attained a narrow victory after the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania endorsed the application of the rule of capture, the century-old legal principle shielding drillers from trespassing...more
Herein, highlights from the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in Briggs, et al. v. Southwestern Energy Production Company. The rule of capture applies to oil and gas produced from wells completed using hydraulic fracturing and...more
Sonder Reaches Unicorn Status - ("Airbnb competitor Sonder says after new funding round it’s now worth $1B," Real Deal - LA Real Estate News on Jul 11, 2019) Congratulations is well-deserved for Sonder, which just...more
Now a business that was hacked may be successfully sued under state common law by data subjects whose information was compromised in the crime. For the first time, a state supreme court has held that a company that was...more
Data breach liability for Pennsylvania employers of all sizes expanded with a recent Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision in Dittman v. UPMC. __ A.3d __, No. 43 WAP 2017, 2018 WL 6072199 (Pa. 2018). The Pennsylvania Supreme...more
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently held that employers have “a legal duty to safeguard” the personal data of their employees which is stored on internet-accessible computer systems and that the economic loss doctrine...more
Pennsylvania’s highest court recently issued a major decision that impacts employers and their storage of sensitive employee information in two important ways. First, the court imposed a new duty on employers to use...more
In a landmark decision with far-reaching implication, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently held that employers have an affirmative duty to protect their employees’ personal information from criminal hacking. In particular,...more
In a groundbreaking decision published on November 21, 2018, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court held, for the first time, that employers must exercise reasonable care to safeguard employee personal information stored on an...more
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court has drastically changed the data breach litigation landscape by holding that an employer has a common law duty to use reasonable care to safeguard its employees' personal information stored on...more
While most Americans prepared for the Thanksgiving holiday, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued an opinion that establishes new precedent in the ever-developing area of cybersecurity law, and also limits a longstanding tort...more
As much of the country’s workforce traveled on Wednesday for the Thanksgiving holiday, the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania issued a decision that some may view as a turkey: under Pennsylvania law, employers have an independent...more
Pennsylvania law limits the amount of damages recoverable in tort actions against Commonwealth agencies and local agencies under the Sovereign Immunity Act and the Political Subdivision Tort Claims Act, respectively. Pursuant...more
Gas Drilling Not Damaging Forests' Waterways, State Finds - "Pennsylvania's state forests agency says it isn't finding damage to waterways amid the expansion of natural gas drilling in recent years, although it is reporting...more
The body of cybersecurity case law continues to grow. On April 10, 2018, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is set to hear arguments regarding employers’ liability for data breaches in Dittman v. UPMC....more
In a case that will have an impact on the owners of property that has been devalued as a result of environmental conditions, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently agreed that contaminated real estate could be appraised at 5...more
Creating a private cause of action in negligence for data breaches could result in the filing each year of possibly hundreds of thousands of lawsuits by persons whose confidential information may be in the hands of third...more