Articles

02.22.18

EEOC Drives ADA Settlement Against Volvo

Why it mattersIn a deal with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), Volvo agreed to pay $70,000 plus equitable relief after the agency accused the carmaker of rejecting an applicant because he was a recovering drug addict enrolled in a medication-assisted treatment program. A qualified ...


02.21.18

Applying Escobar’s Heightened Materiality Standard: Limiting FCA Liability

Editor’s Note: Since the Supreme Court decided Universal Health Services, Inc. v. United States ex rel. Escobar (Escobar), 136 S.Ct. 1989 (2016), several federal circuit courts and district courts have applied the ruling in a way that has limited False Claims Act (FCA) liability. (Click here ...


02.07.18

Grading the Nunes Memo

As a partner in one of the largest law firms in the state, I receive many memoranda from junior attorneys or clerks on various legal subjects. The memoranda are important because we need to rely on the quality of the research and analysis. They also are a tool to make decisions about hiring and ...


02.06.18

Exceptionally Appealing: Appeals Are for Losers

"Appeals are for losers. This should sound obvious. After all, what would a winning party be unhappy about? But litigation is complicated, and a win rarely emerges after a completely one-sided process where the winner prevails on every single point along the way and walks off with a judgment ...


02.01.18

The National Opioid Epidemic: The Emergence of a Multi-Layered Approach

On Oct. 26, 2017, Eric D. Hargan, acting secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, announced that, as a result of the opioid epidemic, “a public health emergency exists nationwide.” According to the CDC, from 1999 to 2016, more than 200,000 people died in the United ...


01.30.18

Endangered Species Case: Critical Habitat or Regulatory Taking?

The designation of private property as necessary habitat for some endangered species or other must actually be supported by evidence and must actually serve the intended purpose."Every now and then we have to wonder about the way that government operates. Some of us (at least) like to believe ...


01.29.18

The Strange State of Substance Use Disorder Information Sharing

When Pennsylvania Congressman Tim Murphy officially resigned from the House in October, media attention focused on the health policy issue at the center of Murphy’s resignation: abortion. Congressman Murphy officially opposed abortion rights, but through text messages, the married father ...


01.25.18

Potential Impacts on Telehealth From Net Neutrality Repeal

On December 14, 2017, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) passed the Restoring Internet Freedom Order (RIFO), repealing the FCC’s 2015 “net neutrality” rules and shifting the responsibility for regulating the conduct of Internet service providers (ISPs) to the Federal ...


01.23.18

The Future of the Streaming Economy: Five Things to Watch

Over the course of the past several years, we have been watching with a keen eye and sometimes predicting various elements of the rise of the streaming economy. At the end of 2016 we showed you how streaming income is distributed to creators and IP owners with our royalty streaming infographic and ...


01.02.18

When 60 Days Is Too Late

"Most lawyers know that filing a timely notice of appeal is crucial because an untimely appeal is a dead appeal. And most lawyers have the notion in the back of their mind that they have 60 days to appeal from a California superior court judgment. The good lawyer knows that ...