Lane Powell PC

Blog Update

By Paul D. Swanson

June 30, 2020

I wanted to share a quick update with my readers – the Earth & Table Law Reporter will soon transition over to be hosted on Lane Powell’s website. Subscribers will continue to receive email updates for each of my new posts, and my older posts will all be accessible on lanepowell.com. I look forward to continuing to provide my analysis of the interplay between intellectual property and food commerce. As always, please feel free…

Earth & Table

Promoting Scientific Agricultural “Progress” Through Novels

By Paul D. Swanson

May 13, 2020

The misinterpreted “Intellectual Property” clause of the U.S. Constitution (Art. I, §8, cl. 8) grants Congress the power to “promote the Progress of Science” by securing exclusive rights to Authors for their “Writings.” Its parallel clause states that exclusive rights should accrue to Inventors in the “useful Arts” for their “Discoveries.” At first blush, authoring or reading novels would seem like a diffuse, unpractical way to promote “scientific” progress in agricultural commerce. But then, Upton…

Target Letter

Some Thoughts on Michael Flynn & Bridgegate

By Aaron P. Brecher

May 11, 2020

A lot has happened in the last few months. This is so both in the world of white-collar enforcement and just in the world. I thought I’d share some thoughts on last week’s news about Michael Flynn and the Supreme Court’s decision in the “Bridgegate” case. I. Flynn-sanity or: Gee, it must be nice to be the President’s buddy when you lie over and over again. First up, Michael Flynn. He’s been a repeat player…

Boom: The ERISA Law Blog

ERISA and the Pandemic: Quick Guidance on New, Temporary Changes to DOL Regulations Affecting Timing of Health/Disability Claims and Appeals

By Mike Reilly

May 8, 2020

This just in…. On May 4, 2020, The Department of Labor (DOL), the Department of the Treasury, and the Internal Revenue Service issued the final ruling, linked here final ruling that “extend[s] certain timeframes otherwise applicable to group health plans, disability and other welfare plans, pension plans, and their participants and beneficiaries under ERISA and the Code.” This email focuses solely on changes and extensions made to the timeframes for participants to exercise rights pertaining…

Boom: The ERISA Law Blog

ERISA: Mini-Primer on Choice of Law Issues to Determine the Standard of Review

By Mike Reilly

April 2, 2020

As you know, many states have imposed statutes which affect which standard of review governs ERISA claim decisions. Many policies include a “choice of law” provision, setting forth which state law will govern the standard of review. But what happens when the policy does not have a “choice of law” provision? How does the court determine which state law governs the standard of review in ERISA claims? This new case provides practitioners with an excellent…

Earth & Table

On Monopolies, Fine Dining and Feeding the Masses in California’s First Gilded Age

By Paul D. Swanson

February 7, 2020

Every generation tackles old problems anew. Abject homelessness, “radicalized” socialists, tyrant capitalists, gilded-age life-styles and monopolistic practices may seem like current news, but they were omnipresent in the first Gilded Age in California, circa the 1890s. A “naturalistic” writer, Frank Norris, surveyed this landscape through his novel The Octopus: A Story of California (1901). Its themes revolve around the railroad systems’ ability to exercise cartel control over California ranchers and farmers by the late 19th century. …

Boom: The ERISA Law Blog

ERISA (1st Cir.): What is the Remedy for Providing Inadequate Notice of Reason for Claim Denial?

By Mike Reilly

February 4, 2020

You know that ERISA requires that the claimant receive “adequate notice in writing…setting forth the specific reasons for such denial, written in a manner to be understood by the participant.” But what is “adequate notice,” and what is the remedy if the ERISA claimant received inadequate notice? And… is the ERISA claimant entitled to “discovery” when litigating the interpretation of a contractual term? This new case highlights these points. Martinez v. Sun Life Assurance Company …

Target Letter

This Day in White Collar History: The Origins of the “White Collar Criminal”

By Aaron P. Brecher

December 27, 2019

80 years ago today, Edwin Sutherland introduced the phrase “white-collar criminal.” Sutherland, a noted criminologist, coined the phrase in an address—”White-Collar Criminality”—to the American Sociological Association on December 27, 1939. The speech focused “crime in the upper or white-collar class, composed of respectable or at least respected business and professional men . . . .” Sutherland contended that criminologists were mistaken to tie understandings of criminal behavior to poverty and mental illness, because most of…

Boom: The ERISA Law Blog

ERISA: When Social Security Disability Benefit Decisions Do NOT Have to Be Considered

By Mike Reilly

November 15, 2019

What happens when the Social Security Administration issues a disability finding after the ERISA administrator has issued the decision denying disability benefits? Is the ERISA administrator obligated to reevaluate the record based on this new finding? No. Should the Court consider this as “evidence” in a subsequent lawsuit? No. This new case highlights the point. Ortiz v The Hartford, 2019 WL 5697784 (D. New Mexico November 4, 2019)(“[W]hen Social Security decisions arise after the…

Target Letter

Presidential Bribery

By Aaron P. Brecher

October 27, 2019

What happens when the President of the United States asks for a bribe? I know what you’re thinking: what could possibly have inspired this topic? I’m not here to throw partisan stones or to take sides on the House’s ongoing impeachment inquiry, though publicly available information is pretty damning. Instead, I want to look at what we know now—and what we might know in the future—through the lens of the federal criminal law governing…

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Blog Update

Promoting Scientific Agricultural “Progress” Through Novels

Some Thoughts on Michael Flynn & Bridgegate

ERISA and the Pandemic: Quick Guidance on New, Temporary Changes to DOL Regulations Affecting Timing of Health/Disability Claims and Appeals

ERISA: Mini-Primer on Choice of Law Issues to Determine the Standard of Review

On Monopolies, Fine Dining and Feeding the Masses in California’s First Gilded Age

ERISA (1st Cir.): What is the Remedy for Providing Inadequate Notice of Reason for Claim Denial?

This Day in White Collar History: The Origins of the “White Collar Criminal”

ERISA: When Social Security Disability Benefit Decisions Do NOT Have to Be Considered

Presidential Bribery

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