FMG’s BlogLine features an array of articles written by our attorneys who cover recent legal trends and developments both locally and nationally. Explore our blogs on a multitude of legal and industry topics.
Responding to a Growing Investment Advisor Industry
3/9/23
By: Andrew Iles The fields of investment management and financial advising are ever growing. For example, the Securities and Exchange Commission recently stated that the number of Registered Investment Advisors (“RIAs”) has ballooned by 25% since 2016, and now covers more than 15,000 RIA firms. Such growth and constant progress present the Commission with the…
Supreme Court Limits Liability for Failure to Accurately Report Foreign Bank Accounts
3/6/23
By: Nancy Reimer and Cara Alexiou In a 5-4 decision, the Supreme Court limited an individual’s liability under 31 U.S.C. § 5314 for failure to accurately report foreign bank accounts to the government. Bittner v. United States, No. 21-1195, 598 U.S. __ (slip op.) (2023). The Bank Secrecy Act requires United States citizens with foreign…
Massachusetts Appeals Court Clarifies Scope of the Statute of Repose
3/3/23
By: David Slocum In a recent decision, the Massachusetts Appeals Court has clarified the scope of the significant protections afforded by the Massachusetts statute of repose to design professionals, contractors, subcontractors, and others involved with improvements to real property. Background: Affording an important protection to design and construction professionals, the Massachusetts statute of repose limits…
3/2/23
By: Kevin Ringel and Lisa House On January 30, 2023, the Biden Administration announced that the Covid-19 public health emergency will end on May 11, 2023. The public health emergency has been in effect since the start of the pandemic and allowed for provisions to ease the burden on health care providers and patients during the…
To Arbitrate or Not to Arbitrate: That Is The Question
3/1/23
By: Jessica Farrelly and Jessica Cauley How broadly can an employer apply an arbitration agreement? In Espinoza v. Peoplease, LLC, the United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida recently evaluated the right to compel arbitration of claims under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) and to preclude an employee from pursuing a…
Supreme Court of Texas upholds order erroneously drafted by legal counsel as final judgment
2/28/23
By: Robert Chadwick In Texas state courts, legal counsel are generally asked to draft proposed orders and judgments for execution by district and county court judges. A February 10, 2023 per curiam opinion by the Supreme Court of Texas in Patel v. Nations Renovations, LLC, is a cautionary tale of why it is important for…
Overview of Midwest Sanitary, Inc. v. Sandberg, Phoenix, and Von Gontard, P.C.
2/27/23
Chicago partner, Donald Patrick Eckler, was published in the Winter Edition of Association of Defense Trial Attorneys commenting on the recent decision of the Illinois Supreme Court in Midwest Sanitary, Inc. v. Sandberg, Phoenix, and Von Gontard, P.C., 2022 IL 127327. The state high Court held that punitive damages assessed against a defendant in an…
Illinois Supreme Court Find BIPA Claims Accrue Upon Each Scan and/or Disclosure
2/23/23
By Pat Eckler, Amy Frantz, Glenn Klinger, Michael Sanders, and Jonathan Schwartz The long-awaited decision from the Illinois Supreme Court on how claims accrue under Subsections 15(b) and 15(d) of the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act, 740 ILCS 14/1 (“BIPA”), brings no better a result for businesses and their insurance carriers than the Court’s recent…
2/16/23
By Thomas K. McCraw, Jr., Esq. and Alexandra F. Held, Esq. Both federal and state law impose an affirmative duty on defendants to preserve relevant evidence to a legal action involving their organizations—but when exactly does this duty begin? On remand from the Massachusetts Appeals Court, the Business Litigation Session of the Superior Court recently…