Publications
Collective action lawsuits alleging violations of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) continue to proliferate at a dizzying rate. Many, if not most, of these suits challenge the classification of mid-level, white-collar jobs as exempt from the FLSA’s overtime pay requirements. While no employer is immune from this ongoing scourge of FLSA litigation, some […]
In the past two years, the Obama Administration has shifted immigration enforcement policy from stemming illegal immigration by targeting undocumented workers through workplace raids to targeting employers who employ undocumented workers through I-9 audits, fines and debarments. This strategy was announced in 2009 by Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, who said that the new worksite […]
Prior to passage of the Bayh-Dole Act in 1980, ownership rights of federally funded inventions were often retained by the U.S. government. As a result, prior to enactment of the act, the government had amassed a portfolio of over 25,000 patents, fewer than 4 percent of which were ever commercialized. Commercialization of federally funded inventions […]
Business losses resulting from data breaches, computer system malfunction, employees’ Internet usage, computer viruses, and other risks relating to information technology infrastructure and activities have grown exponentially with the evolution of the internet and the ability to collect, store, and use electronic data on a mass scale. For many years, companies had traditional insurance policies […]
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has signaled that it is renewing its emphasis on combating systemic discrimination. In 2006, the EEOC adopted recommendations from an internal task force report that focused on strengthening the EEOC’s nationwide approach to investigating and litigating systemic cases. The task force defined systemic cases as “pattern or practice, policy […]
Acting within the scope of the Congressional mandate to “Promote the Progress of Science and useful Arts”,1 Congress has given to inventors a limited monopoly in the form of a right to exclude others from making, using or selling the invention2 in exchange for public disclosure sufficient to enable one skileld in the relevant art […]
Writing for a unanimous Connecticut Supreme Court in a decision dated August 8, 2000, Justice Katz found that a report prepared by an environmental consultant, retained by a corporation’s outside counsel to help respond to a Department of Environmental Protection inquiry, is protected by the attorney-client privilege. Olson v. Accessory Controls and Equipment Corporation et […]
Over time, particular courts often develop reputations, for better or for worse. For example, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals has a reputation for being the most liberal of the federal appellate courts. The 4th Circuit has a reputation for being quite conservative. That’s what happens when a panel of justices uphold the constitutionality of […]
Companies, and their owners, often choose franchising as a business model because of the promise of great expansion opportunities. It is, therefore, a rare franchise system that does not have national and even international aspirations. As a system expands, however, issues regarding the best way to support the system’s expansion take on greater importance. The […]
[Reprinted with permission from The Connecticut Law Tribune v. 24, no. 27 June 29, 1998] Corporation Law You are in-house counsel at a major Connecticut corporation. Your neighbor, who is running for state Senate, asks your help in organizing a fund-raiser. Separately, an incumbent U.S. senator asks to speak to your employees. Meanwhile, your secretary […]
In a precedent-setting ruling, a New York trial court deciding the divorce case of Giahn v. Giahn recently awarded all of a Jewish couple’s assets to a wife because her husband repeatedly failed to give her a religious divorce and used promises of doing so to coerce her into an unfair financial settlement. By way […]
As a successful and popular method of distribution, franchising has its advocates and its detractors, its success stories and its failures. These opposing viewpoints create a number of legal and business issues that occupy franchise executives and lawyers alike. Fast Food Furor. One of the biggest stories in franchising this year has very little to […]
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Ever since Congress enacted the American Competitiveness and Corporate Accountability Act of 2002, more commonly called the Sarbanes–Oxley Act or, for brevity, “Sarbanes” (some use the acronym SOX), people in the nonprofit world and those who advise them have been discussing and speculating on what it means for nonprofits. The short answer: a whole lot. […]
Contributing Author
Contributing Author
Contributing Author
Reprinted with permission from the New York State Bar Association Journal, March/April 2010, Vol. 82, No. 3, published by the New York State Bar Association, One Elk Street, Albany, New York 12207. Peer Review: An Alternative Dispute Resolution Process to Dentistry Malpractice Claims Patients who are dissatisfied with their dental treatment will often contact an […]
Welcome to the 2010-11 Association year! It is a great honor and privilege for me to serve as President of your Association. I look forward with joy and enthusiasm to the challenges and opportunities that the Association will face during this time. In light of my practice being in Connecticut, my installation marks a tribute […]
On June 22, 2009, the Connecticut Superior Court judges, at their Annual Meeting, approved the recommendation of the Connecticut Superior Court Rules Committee to substantially revamp the Practice Book rules for class actions to align them more closely with Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (“Rule 23”). The new rules went into […]
For decades, law students have learned in their first-year civil procedure class that federal courts require notice pleading only and that a complaint cannot be dismissed for failure to state a claim unless it appears beyond doubt that the plaintiff can prove “no set of facts” in support of its claim that would entitle it […]
Large public companies have the luxury of in-house staff and large outside consulting, accounting and law firms. During this economic downturn, they’ve gotten loads of expensive, expert advice on how to manage risk and take advantage of opportunities to gain a competitive edge when the recovery inevitably arrives. Closely held business owners are more alone […]
Reproduced with permission from The United States Law Week, Vol. 76, No. 4 (July 24, 2007) pp. 3035-3036. Copyright 2007 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc. (800-372-1033) Antitrust Opinions: No Bright Lines, More Facts. On the antitrust front, Robert M. Langer, head of the antitrust and trade regulation practice group at Wiggin and Dana, […]
On February 19, 2008, the New York Court of Appeals issued decisions in Bi-Economy Market Inc. v. Harleysville Ins. Co. of New York, 10 N.Y.3d 187 (Ct. App. 2008) and Panasia Estates, Inc. v. Hudson Ins. Co., 10 N.Y.3d 200 (Ct. App. 2008), holding that in certain cases involving first party business interruption and property […]
The Securities and Exchange Commission has expressed its clear intent to target insider trading and trading related to private investments in public equity (PIPEs) as part of its campaign to regulate the hedge fund industry. Testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2006, SEC Division of Enforcement Director Linda Thomsen stated, “Insider trading by hedge […]
The late Federal Circuit Court of Appeals Judge Giles Sutherland Rich’s dad, G. Willard, was well aware of the New York Patent Law Association (as our association was previously known) before his son may have even dreamed of following in his father’s footsteps by becoming a patent lawyer. In fact, G. Willard Giles was one […]
Wiggin & Dana has developed a handbook for the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging (“AAHSA”) designed to assist long-term care providers in implementing the Privacy Rule standards of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (“HIPAA”). Entitled The HIPAA Handbook: Implementing the Federal Privacy Rule in a Long-Term Care […]
Although perhaps too long in coming, this country moved one step closer to a national court of appeals for patent cases on October 30 when the Senate passed S.1477.1 If passed by the House, the legislation will have an earthshaking effect on the patent system, an impact unequalled since the passage of the Patent Act […]