Designated, reserved parking spaces appurtenant to office leases are highly valued by certain types of tenants, especially in the downtown, metropolitan markets. Thus, a tenant's counsel must carefully consider the parking provision when negotiating an office lease. Landlord-oriented form leases often give the landlord the right: 1) to expand or change any parking area, 2) to temporarily close off portions of the parking areas for purposes of expanding, repairing, restoring, constructing or reconstructing the parking decks, and 3) to change, from time-to-time, the rules and regulations with regard to the parking area. The tenant's counsel should always make sure that the lease properly limits these rights so that they cannot be used in a manner that will potentially, adversely affect the tenant's use of its parking rights. All new rules should be limited by a "reasonableness" qualifier, and the landlord should be required to enforce the rules and regulations in a "nondiscriminatory manner as against tenant."
- July 28, 2005Stacy E. Smith
An expert retained in mass tort litigation may be required to focus on multiple cases consolidated for discovery and trial, involving thousands of pages of medical records, deposition transcripts, and other discovery material. Expert opinions in mass tort litigation must address both case-specific and generic issues. A statement that is innocuous in one case may be harmful when applied to another. Taken together with the technical sophistication of the issues involved in each case, these issues necessitate a measured approach for dealing with experts.
July 28, 2005Christopher P. DePhillips and David William TylerMany observers have noted that e-mail use often replaces personal phone calls and for employers is a more efficient and less disruptive way for employees to maintain the personal and home contacts they need. The military and other agencies recognize that e-mail is a convenient way for troops to stay in touch with their families and have set up "cyber tents" where troops line up to log on. It is also clear, however, that damaging material carried by phone doesn't carry the risk that the same information poses when put in writing and sent electronically.
July 28, 2005Dianne SagnerThis month:
Second Circuit defines standard for loss causation pleadings
SEC liberalizes the Quiet-Period rule
Employer recovers legal fees for frivolous portion of discrimination claim
D.C. Circuit directs SEC to reconsider mutual fund governance ruleJuly 28, 2005ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |American companies and their officers and employees doing business overseas are learning the hard way about the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA). For many years after its enactment in 1977, the government initiated relatively few investigations and enforcement actions charging violations of the Act. This was largely due to the government's difficulties in evidence gathering. Recently, however, the number of such enforcement actions has increased significantly.
July 28, 2005Joseph P. Covington, Thomas C. Newkirk and Jessica TillipmanTechnology has not only changed the way we live, but also the manner in which companies and their employees conduct business in the modern world. Today,…
July 28, 2005Lawrence R. LaPorte and Michael A. TomasuloOn April 20, 2005, President Bush signed into law the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 (the Act). The Act made significant modifications to the United States Bankruptcy Code (11 U.S.C. Section 101, et seq.) and related federal statutes. While initial focus centered on the Act's consumer bankruptcy provisions, the Act also contains provisions that significantly impact businesses and their representatives, including officers, directors and employees.
July 28, 2005Robert A. Bartlett and William L. FloydEverything contained in this issue in an easy-to-read format.
July 27, 2005ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |The latest court rulings you need to know.
July 27, 2005ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |The federal Fair Housing Act Amendments prohibit discrimination in the sale or rental of a dwelling because of a handicap. 42 USC Section 3604(f)(1) and (f)(2). The statute also provides that discrimination includes "a refusal to make reasonable accommodations in rules, policies, practices, or services, when such accommodations may be necessary to afford such person equal opportunity to use and enjoy a dwelling." Does the statute require a landlord to offer a handicapped occupant of a rent-regulated apartment the opportunity to rent, at a regulated price, a vacant apartment located on a lower floor? A federal district court has recently suggested that the statute might, indeed, impose such a requirement on the landlord.
July 27, 2005Stewart E. Sterk