With the clock ticking and the federal government hours away from closing it’s doors, the Senate voted 74-26 to raise the debt ceiling and cut trillions of dollars in spending. After months of partisan bickering, backroom deals, and constant media coverage both houses of Congress agreed to pass the Budget Control Act of 2011 (S.365) (the “Act”), essentially raising the debt ceiling by $2.1 trillion and reducing spending by nearly the same amount.
In June of 2010, the Saint Barnabas Healthcare System in West Orange, New Jersey, was informed by its business associate that a breach had occurred, affecting thousands of patients at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey, and Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, in Newark, New Jersey. The breach had occurred the previous month when an employee of the business associate lost an unencrypted flash drive that may have contained patient information. Although the breach was reported last year, news regarding the breach appears to have begun circulating this past week, most likely due to the new role of the business associate in question. Full Story
This blog previously noted that the Sixth Circuit (the federal circuit that includes Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, and Tennessee) would likely change its standard for analyzing claims under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) from a stricter standard to a less demanding standard that favors employees. Americans with Disabilities Act: The Times They are (likely) a Changin.’
—James E. Lukaszewski ABC,APR, Fellow PRSA, President of the Lukaszewski Group Division of Risdall McKinney Public Relations
Following up on this blog’s earlier post on the Sixth Circuit’s recent treatment of large jury awards, we investigated the Sixth Circuit’s recent treatment of punitive damages awards. Over the last two years, approximately 65 cases mention punitive damages, but of those, only 5 address a challenge to the award of punitive damages. Full Story
Indemnification is a key component of most retail patent litigation. Whether the accused technology is internet-based or focused on a product, there is almost always an indemnitor somewhere in the supply chain. And indemnification can be a $1M+ responsibility. For what is often a seven-figure decision, many companies are surprisingly haphazard about indemnification. Here are five simple steps for ensuring your best indemnification outcomes… Full Story
As a lawyer, you’re either a conversationalist, a counselor, a writer, a storyteller, or some mixture of them all. I spend a fair amount of my time reading or writing pleadings and briefs, a fair amount of time either preparing a story (through discovery and depositions) or telling a story (at a court hearing or at trial), and the remainder of my time counseling clients.
One of the Interim Final Rules released by the CFPB, Disclosure of Records and Information Rules, sets forth the CFPB’s position with regard to sharing information that it gathers and obtains though its activities.
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