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COVID-19 FAQs for New York employers

By Mark S. Goldstein, Cindy Schmitt Minniti, Alexandra Manfredi & Leora Grushka

July 6, 2020

Since early May, New York State has published – across multiple platforms – a slew of materials related to business reopenings and workplace-related health and safety. We developed a FAQs based on some of the more common New York-specific questions that clients have posed to us since May. The FAQs touch on a host of issues, ranging from regional reopening status to employee screening requirements to the particulars of the State-required written health and safety…

EHS Law Insights

ICYMI: June sees major U.S. Supreme Court environmental activity

By Jennifer A. Smokelin, Daniella D. Landers & Grace C. Hearn

July 6, 2020

1. Pipeline May Cross Underneath the Appalachian Trail with Forest Service Approval On June 15, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) held in a 7-2 decision that the U.S. Forest Service had the authority to grant developers of a gas pipeline right-of-way underneath the Appalachian National Scenic Trail. At issue in this case was whether the Forest Service or the National Park Service (NPS) had jurisdiction over the trail. Under the U.S. Mineral Leasing Act…

Employment Law Watch

Are your sales employees exempt? DOL provides guidance in three new opinion letters

By Michael Correll, Brian Morris & Amy Harwath

July 6, 2020

The Department of Labor’s (DOL’s) Wage and Hour Division recently issued three new opinion letters addressing the Fair Labor Standards Act’s (FLSA’s) sales exemptions. Two letters address the outside sales exemption, and the third addresses the retail or service establishment exemption. FLSA2020-6: Do salespeople who travel to different locations to sell their employers’ products using their employers’ mobile assets qualify for the outside sales exemption? The first opinion letter, FLSA2020-6, addresses whether salespeople who…

Drug & Device Law

Talking MDL Post-Remand Blues

By Bexis

July 6, 2020

On many occasions, we’ve remarked that in modern prescription medical product liability litigation MDLs, the main objective of both plaintiffs and their counsel is to file as many lawsuits as possible, and then to do the bare minimum possible to avoid dismissal. The idea is to run up the numbers, make the defendants spend huge sums in discovery (electronic or otherwise), prevent any real scrutiny of their own claims, let lead counsel litigate everything else…

Drug & Device Law

Taxotere Plaintiffs Taken Down By Their Own Expert — Again

By Rachel B. Weil

July 3, 2020

One recent night, three-plus months into our ongoing solitary confinement, we found ourselves laughing very hard at a classic Road Runner cartoon. We especially loved the moment when Wile E. Coyote stepped off a cliff then froze in mid-air as knowledge of his fate dawned on him. That image popped into our mind as we read today’s case, in which plaintiffs learned that the incautious testimony of their own expert was fatal to hundreds of…

Asset Finance in Brief

Distressed Assets – The opportunity for a bargain but pitfalls abound

By Gerald Licnachan, Matthew Gorman, Zi Han Shiah & Johnny Lim

July 2, 2020

Purchasing or investing in distressed businesses gives rise to complexities and considerations that are not typically present in ‘good book’ deals. Considerations for buyers and investors in such circumstances include the need to pay careful attention to structuring the transaction from the outset, the applicability of insolvency laws and the extent and duration of due diligence. Buyers should also be mindful of the extent of the seller’s and/or target’s distress, the underlying interests of stakeholders,…

Drug & Device Law

An English Lesson From An Essure Case

By Eric Alexander

July 2, 2020

Not long ago, an EPL (evil plaintiff lawyer) relayed to us that, based on reading our posts, another EPL had assumed we had a particular political view. As we laughed at the notion, we pondered the issues of assumption and incomplete information. Much like the old quip about what happens when you assume, many assumptions are not just wrong, they can be really wrong. The incidence of incorrect assumptions seems to increase with the less…

Employment Law Watch

Update on everything you need to know about New York’s business reopening plan [Updated as of July 1]

By Mark S. Goldstein, Heather Martone, Alexandra Manfredi & Leora Grushka

July 1, 2020

As we previously detailed here and here, New York State Governor Andrew Cuomo recently outlined guidelines for when Empire State businesses can reopen and return to “in-person” operations. Under the Governor’s plan, reopenings are being determined, first, on a region-by-region basis and then, once a region is eligible to reopen, on a phased industry-by-industry basis. Since the Governor made his initial reopening announcement, the State has published a slew of materials to assist businesses…

Legal Flight Deck

All about that baseline: Developments in the UK ETS and the CORSIA emissions baseline

By Ashleigh Standen, Rohan Soni, Oliver Rieche, Adam Hedley, Nicholas Rock, Peter Zaman & Matthew R. Yeo

July 1, 2020

The landscape of environmental regulation is changing for aviation operators, due to a powerful combination of global pressures to reduce emissions for one of the transportation sectors with the largest emissions outputs. Plans have recently been published for the UK Emissions Trading System (UK ETS), which is proposed to take the place of the EU ETS when the UK leaves the European Union at the end of 2020. Plans to establish a baseline emissions reference…

Employment Law Watch

Understanding the employment implications of the Supreme Court decision upholding DACA

By Michael Lombardino & Abby Kotun

July 1, 2020

On June 18, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision allowing the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program to continue operating. In so holding, the Court found the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) did not provide an adequate justification for terminating the DACA program and, thereby, violated the Administrative Procedure Act (APA).[1] But the Court’s decision does not resolve the matter entirely. The Court did not rule on the legality of the…

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COVID-19 FAQs for New York employers

ICYMI: June sees major U.S. Supreme Court environmental activity

Are your sales employees exempt? DOL provides guidance in three new opinion letters

Talking MDL Post-Remand Blues

Taxotere Plaintiffs Taken Down By Their Own Expert — Again

Distressed Assets – The opportunity for a bargain but pitfalls abound

An English Lesson From An Essure Case

Update on everything you need to know about New York’s business reopening plan [Updated as of July 1]

All about that baseline: Developments in the UK ETS and the CORSIA emissions baseline

Understanding the employment implications of the Supreme Court decision upholding DACA

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