New Florida Law Change Allows Property Owners to Challenge Lapsed Covenants
11/30/18
By: Melissa Santalone
A recently enacted section of the Florida Statutes allows property owners to seek court intervention to prevent their community associations from revitalizing lapsed covenants and restrictions as to their parcels. Property owners can commence an action for …
Supreme Court Revisits Interplay Between First and Fourth Amendments
11/29/18
By: Wes Jackson
Imagine you commit a minor crime and an officer approaches you. The interaction goes south when you call the officer a “pig” and remind him that your tax dollars pay his salary. He then arrests you. Were …
Protecting In-House Correspondence from Disclosure: The Troublesome “CC”
11/28/18
By: Jake Carroll
Commercial disputes present complex issues of causation—what caused the accident, who is responsible, what is impacting company revenue. But before the dispute even arises, in-house attorneys are frequently copied on correspondence with team members and employees evaluating …
HOA’s Situated in California’s Coastal Zone May Not Unilaterally Ban Airbnbs
11/27/18
By: Frank Olah
In the past few years, online booking sites such as Airbnb have predominated the short-term vacation rental market. As a result, many of California’s traditional vacation destinations have seen a surge in short-term rental (STR) activity causing …
Court Rules No Coverage For Pa. Law Firm's Malpractice Suit
11/26/18
By: Barry Brownstein
An insurer does not have to cover a Pennsylvania law firm in a professional malpractice suit that a client filed after the firm allegedly used privileged information to benefit its attorneys’ side business in a real estate …
Eleventh Circuit Holds That Debt Collector Did Not Violate FDCPA Even Though It Misstated Name of Creditor In Collection Letter
11/19/18
By: Bill Buechner
The Eleventh Circuit very recently affirmed a district court’s ruling that a debt collector did not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act even though the collection misstated the name of the creditor to whom the consumer …
Arbitration Agreements in New Jersey Need More Details
11/16/18
By: Chris Curci
On November 13, 2018, the Superior Court of New Jersey, Appellate Division, issued an important decision holding that an arbitration agreement between the employer and employee was not enforceable. Flanzman v. Jenny Craig, Inc., Docket No. …
80/20 Hindsight: The DOL Issues Opinion Letter That Concludes The 80/20 Side Work Rule For Tipped Employees No Longer Applies
11/15/18
By: Michael Hill
Navigating the laws for paying tipped employees just got a little easier. In a new opinion letter, the U.S. Department of Labor (“DOL”) effectively nullified the “80/20 Rule,” which divided courts throughout the country and became …
The Cannabis Industry Takes Another Step Towards Mainstream
11/12/18
By: David Molinari
In 1996, the People of the State of California first passed an initiative to legalize medicinal cannabis. The legislature toyed with drafting the statutory framework regulating the medical cannabis industry. Finally, in 2014 the first “legal” medicinal …
U.S. Supreme Court Holds All Public Employers Are Covered By The ADEA
11/9/18
By: Brent Bean
On November 6, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its long-anticipated opinion in Mount Lemmon Fire Dist. v. Guido, 586 U.S. __ (2018), which FMG previously discussed here. At issue was whether the Age Discrimination …
Come See the Debtor Side of Sears – Legal Issues for Creditors
11/7/18
By: Matthew Weiss
On Monday October 15, Sears Holdings filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the Southern District of New York, claiming approximately $7 billion in assets and $11 billion in liabilities. The bankruptcy of what was at one time …
Office of Inspector General Approves Warranty Program for Medical Device Manufacturer
11/5/18
By: Ali Sabzevari
The Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General recently approved a medical device manufacturer’s proposed warranty program, which provides a refund to the hospital at which a patient underwent joint replacement surgery using the …