Weathering the Storm: When Hurricane Damage Leads to Construction Defect Claims
10/22/20
By: Jennifer Adair
With recent decades bringing an uptick in hurricane activity and increasingly strengthening storms, builders must brace for a swell of claims. Insurers typically anticipate the traditional claims for property damage caused by wind and water. However, such …
Federal Court Addresses Georgia Restrictive Covenant Rules
10/21/20
By: Ken Menendez
Employers regularly grapple with the interpretation and application of the law regarding restrictive covenants. Court rulings in such cases are often drawn narrowly to address the specific facts of the case at issue and therefore can be of …
California Lawyers Who Ignore Lienholders Do So At Their (Disciplinary) Peril
10/20/20
By: Greg Fayard
In personal injury law, California lawyers regularly must deal with medical liens. For example, lienholders have certain rights to proceeds from a settled case and expect to be paid. In the past, if a California lawyer ignored …
Seeking Sanctions Against a Dishonest Plaintiff
10/19/20
By: Jennifer Adair
Sanctions for discovery abuses are not a weapon reserved for the plaintiff, and defense attorneys should not shy away from pulling this arrow from their quiver when misrepresentations by the plaintiff are so egregious that a vigorous …
Eleventh Circuit Rejects Class Action Representative’s Incentive Award
10/12/20
By: Matthew Foree
The Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit recently confronted the issue of incentive awards commonly given to class representatives as part of class-wide settlements. The court held in Johnson v. NPAS Sols., LLC, which can be …
10/12/20
On October 1st—the first day of National Cybersecurity Awareness Month—the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) and Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) warned companies working with victims of ransomware attacks …
FMG Attorneys Assist Prevailing Insurer in a COVID-19 Business Loss Claim
10/8/20
FMG attorneys Phil Savrin and Shawn Bingham secured a favorable outcome for Allied Insurance Company of America who was sued for rejecting a claim for lost business income after the insured shuttered its restaurant during the COVID-19 pandemic. The insured, …
10/6/20
By: Wayne Melnick and Christopher Lee
One of the currently hottest areas of general liability law is the effect of medical-legal funding companies on litigation and the admissibility of evidence of this funding to undercut a plaintiff’s claims. Recently, the defense …
U.S. Employers Face Threat of Exposure to New COVID “Take Home” Lawsuits
10/6/20
By: Sean Riley
Take-home or household exposure lawsuits have been a facet of asbestos litigation for years, allowing mesothelioma victims who came into contact with asbestos that was brought into their homes on the clothing of their spouses, parents, or …
COVID-19 Related Tort Lawsuits On The Rise? Not So Fast, My Friend
9/29/20
By: Gregory Blueford
As summer turns to fall and football returns to fill our weekends, the unwelcome reality of COVID-19 still has a firm grasp on day-to-day life across the globe. Earlier this month, we outlined the HEALS Act’s Tort Immunity …
Tax Court Finds that a Rejected E-Filed Tax Return Satisfies the Beard Test
9/29/20
By: Lee Whatling
The IRS’ software automatically rejects e-filed tax returns that do not meet certain criteria. Paper tax returns are generally not subject to the same treatment. This disparity came to a head in Fowler v. Commissioner, 155 …
9/28/20
By: Janeen Smith
The risk posed by failing to timely file an answer in Georgia keeps defense counsel up at night. While no defendant nor defense counsel intends to cause a case to be in default, things happen. The Georgia Supreme …