Commercial Law

While courts have failed to recognize a property interest in a person's body parts or tissue, they have, through recent litigation, attempted to answer the question whether to classify pre-embryos ' a particular configuration of human cells, which are created during a marriage ' as marital property.

Though its enactment in 2008 was well-intentioned, implementation of the CPSIA has been a logistical nightmare ' largely because this far-reaching law was enacted without providing adequate resources to the CPSC to enforce it or giving sufficient forethought to its implications for the affected businesses.

A relative youngster in terms of legal doctrines, the Economic Loss Rule has quickly gained widespread acceptance in state and federal courts. First recognized by California in 1965, it has now been endorsed in some form by the U.S. Supreme Court and nearly every state.

This article examines four avenues for addressing the problems of climate change and global warming: international diplomacy, litigation, regulatory agency action, and legislation. Various aspects of these avenues impact product manufacturers and, in turn, product liability litigation.

The following is an updated version of an article first published by Blane Prescott, Vice President with Hildebrandt, in the closing months of 2008.

The first part of this article addressed issues surrounding the effect of the Internet on hiring and firing in the 21st Century. The conclusion herein discusses the laws that impact social networking in the workplace, and provides guidance on developing a social networking and blogging policy.

In Kentucky Retirement Systems v. EEOC, 128 the Supreme Court held that, where an employer adopts a pension plan that includes age as a factor, and the employer then treats employees differently based on pension status, an employer will only be liable for disparate treatment under the ADEA if the plaintiff can adduce sufficient evidence to show that the differential treatment was actually motivated by age and not pension status.

This edition of the Quarterly State Compliance Review looks at some legislation of interest to corporate lawyers that went into effect on Jan. 1, 2010. It also looks at some recent decisions of interest, including two from the Delaware Chancery Court.