Publications
Retirement benefits often make up a significant portion of our client’s net worth. As a non-probate asset, retirement benefits pass at death pursuant to the owner’s beneficiary designations on record with the plan administrator. Although we educate and advise our clients on beneficiary designations that complement their estate plan, not all clients implement this advice […]
Tackling the question of whether an employer may deduct errant bonus overpayments from the base salary of exempt employees, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held, in Baden-Winterwood v. Life Time Fitness, Inc., 566 F.3d 618 (6th Cir. 2009), that actual deductions for mistaken bonus payments violate the salary-basis test and therefore […]
Health care reform has taken center stage everywhere – from legislative caucuses to editorial pages, cocktail parties, classrooms, late night talk shows, and even the blogosphere. With health care reform bills pending in Congress, we can expect this tend to dominate well into 2010. As of this writing, the House had passed one health care […]
By any measure, Judge Conner lived a full and most-productive life. Born before the birth of our Association, he grew up as our fledgling Association’s reputation grew. We may wonder what was it about the man that catalyzed his productivity over such a long haul. His intellectual curiosity comes fore-most to mind. He loved to […]
In 1130 A.D., Bernard of Chartres is reputed to have said: “We are like dwarfs standing [or sitting] on the shoulders of giants, and so [are] able to see more and farther than the ancients.” In 2009 A.D., our Association marked the passing of three IP giants — Lorimer P. Brooks [NYIPLA Pres. ’75-’76], William […]
A foreign investor considering the tax implications of an investment in US real estate typically focuses on US federal income taxes and ignores state and local taxes. There are a number of reasons for this, first and foremost of which is that federal tax rates are substantially higher than those charged by states and localities. […]
For several years now, employers have been plagued by an ever-increasing volume of wage-related claims. These claims are well-suited for litigation on a class-wide basis because: 1) they typically involve employer policies or practices of general application; 2) although each individual claim ordinarily raises the specter of a modest monetary award, when litigated collectively the […]
There is much to learn from our predecessors in our profession. This is especially so to the extent we can see and touch artifacts from our “past” that were part-and-parcel of their “present”. Thanks to the good graces of our Association’s Board member, Phil Shannon, we have an opportunity to do a virtual Star Trek-ean […]
Roughly half of all leading franchisors’ franchise agreements contain arbitration clauses requiring the franchisor and franchisee to arbitrate, rather than litigate, their franchise-related disputes. Numerous franchisors have touted arbitration as a superior means of resolving disputes, and some lawyers representing franchisees have cautiously, if perhaps somewhat begrudgingly, acknowledged certain of its benefits to franchisees as […]
Catherine P. Baatz, an associate at Wiggin and Dana, gave this presentation on “Medical Appeals: Understanding the Proposed Regulations.”
The death of an owner of a closely held business may create a tax liability that can cripple the business. Generally, federal estate taxes are due nine months from the date of death. But Internal Revenue Code section 6166 allows estates that consist of a required percentage of one or more “closely held businesses” to […]
In an Oct. 25, 2005 decision, a Connecticut District Court denied an insurance company’s motion to set aside a $2.3 million verdict on the plaintiff-agent’s wrongful termination claim, concluding that company’s relationship with its independent sales agent constituted a franchise under the Connecticut Franchise Act, §42-133e et seq. (“CFA”).
The Americans With Disabilities Act, commonly referred to as the ADA, generally prohibits employers from using qualification standards or other selection criteria that screen out or tend to screen out an individual with a disability or a class of individuals with disabilities. As a practical matter, however, employers often find it necessary to test job […]
Joseph Schumacher, a partner in Wiggin and Dana’s Conshohocken, PA office and Chair of its Franchise & Distribution Practice Group, and Ronald T. Coleman, co-authored a book entitled, Annual Franchise and Distribution Law Development 2005 . A review of the past year’s judicial development in franchise and distribution law Written by two seasoned professionals, this […]
It is high time to reconsider the rule that temporary injunctions are not appealable in Connecticut. Consider the following story that a lawyer friend recently shared with me. A managed care company terminated a physician and promptly sent letters to its members informing them that the company would no longer cover the physician’s services. The […]
Upon discovering corporate misconduct, in-house or outside counsel are often faced with a difficult recommendation to senior management as to whether or not to self report to the government. While voluntary self-disclosure is frequently the best long-term approach, it can be a hard sell to corporate management. The disclosure will likely lead to a lengthy […]
Wiggin & Dana recommends that a hospital develop contract review procedures both to facilitate the internal review of routine contracts as well as to identify and screen more significant contracts before they are sent for outside legal review. Here are some general suggestions and a checklist of items for hospital administrators and business people to […]
Egyptians seek compensation for property taken during the Exodus Several weeks ago, Dr. Nabil Hilmi, the dean of an Egyptian law school, told the Egyptian weekly newspaper, Al-Ahram Al-Arabi that a group of Egyptians living in Switzerland and he were preparing a lawsuit against “all the Jews of the world” for trillions of dollars in […]
The use of judicial notice spans a wide spectrum of cases, from the most historically significant-such as Chief Justice Earl Warren’s reliance in Brown v. Board of Ed., 347 U.S. 483, 494 n.11 [1954], on scholarly publications documenting the effect of segregated schools on minority children-to the most mundane, such as the 2d U.S. Circuit […]
Peter Wendzel, a partner at Wiggin & Dana, and James Ball, an associate, co wrote the section on Employment Libel and Privacy Law in the Libel Defense Resource Center’s 50-State Survey. Published in three volumes, LDRC’s 50-State Surveys are 1000+ page reference texts that provide comprehensive coverage of media and employment libel, invasion of privacy, […]
Mack v. Otis Elevator Co., 2d Cir., No. 02-7056. April 11. 2003. Employers are legally liable for the harassment of employees by their supervisors, but who is considered a supervisor under Title VII? The 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals recently said the answer doesn’t depend on an individual’s authority to take “tangible employment actions” […]
In two recent decisions on condemnation powers, Connecticut courts have either blocked or delayed local government takings of private property for economic development. While some commentators have heralded these as landmark victories for property owners and as evidence of an erosion of the eminent domain rule, a closer reading reveals that in both cases […]
Every franchisor or manufacturer is likely to have to decide whether to terminate a dealer or distributor. * Termination should be taken seriously, because it can be expensive, invite a counterclaim, and a wrongful termination carries the risk of a substantial damage award. Still, there are times where a franchisor believes it is necessary to […]
Businesses that contract with health care organizations are encountering a new wave of legal and practical issues associated with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act’s “business associate” requirements following the privacy rule’s April 14, 2003, compliance date. 1 The business associate requirements raise a variety of issues involving interpretation of the HIPAA privacy and […]
Summary Discussion of Advance Directives I am Jeanette Schreiber, a partner in the law firm of Wiggin & Dana. I have been practicing health law in Connecticut for eighteen years and I am Co-chair of the Law & Ethics Task Force of the Connecticut Coalition to Improve End-of-Life Care. Through the Law & Ethics Task […]
The European Commission’s prohibition of the merger of General Electric Co. and Honeywell Inc. portends a potentially troubling future for the review and approval of mergers, acquisitions and joint ventures throughout the world. The transaction passed antitrust muster in the United States, but it encountered insurmountable opposition at the E.U. From numerous published reports, it […]
Contemporary critics assail the civil jury as “biased, sympathy-prone” and “hostile to corporate defendants.” Many businesspeople (and their lawyers) believe, sometimes from painful personal experience, that whatever the facts and the law, juries reflexively favor the “little guy” and enjoy redistributing the wealth of corporate defendants. Media accounts of big verdicts, from the McDonald’s coffee […]
First established in 1968, the Judicial Panel for Multidistrict Litigation (JPML) has transferred thousands of cases for consolidated pretrial proceedings where transfer serves “the convenience of parties and witnesses” and promotes “the just and efficient conduct of such actions.” 28 U.S.C. 1407(a). Multidistrict litigation (MDL) under § 1407 presents complicated appellate issues; knowing how, when […]
In Cooper Industries, Inc. v. Aviall Services, Inc., (Cooper Industries), the United States Supreme Court ruled that a person who is liable or potentially liable under Section 107(a) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), (a potentially responsible party or PRP) may not sue other PRPs for contribution pursuant to CERCLA Section […]
This year’s spring meeting of the Section of Public Utility Communications and Transportation Law, held at Pepco Holdings’ Washington conference center on April 10, was well attended and aptly named. The meeting’s general theme, “21st Century Regulation, Paradigms under Pressure,” is clearly a topic that has been weighing on the minds of the speakers and […]