LJN Newsletters

  • Ruling May Increase Age Bias Suits

    Federal courts most likely will see an increase in age discrimination cases with so-called disparate impact claims, but employers will be able defend themselves successfully in many of them as a result of a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision. The High Court on March 30 held that disparate impact claims -- those that allege that a facially neutral policy adversely affects a protected class -- can be brought under the federal Age Discrimination in Employment Act (ADEA). Smith v. City of Jackson, No. 03-1160.

    April 27, 2005Marcia Coyle

  • Employment Legislation Update

    Employers that obtain credit reports or conduct background checks on applicants or current employees must be aware of recent changes to the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA) and amendments made to FCRA by the Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act of 2003 (FACTA). FCRA imposes obligations on employers who procure "consumer reports" (defined to include information bearing on a consumer's credit worthiness, credit standing, credit capacity, character, general reputation, personal characteristics and mode of living) and/or "investigative consumer credit reports" (which include information obtained from personal interviews with neighbors, friends or associates) from a third-party consumer reporting agency for an employment purpose -- including hiring decisions and evaluations of employees for promotion, reassignment or retention. Employers that fail to comply with FCRA's obligations risk civil liability, federal agency action, and possible corresponding state action.

    April 27, 2005Albert J. Solecki, Jr. and Melissa G. Rosenberg

  • Final IRS Regulations Hurt Consolidated Groups

    Just when you thought you had finally mastered the complex temporary regulations issued last March regarding the reduction of tax attributes of members of an affiliated group of corporations filing consolidated income tax returns ("consolidated group" or "group") following a cancellation of the debt, the IRS has served up another dose of "March Madness." The IRS has now issued those regulations in final form and has made some significant "revisions" to the provisions of the temporary regulations that focus on how tax attributes are to be reduced when a subsidiary either ceases to be, or becomes, a member of the consolidated group. This article briefly discusses how these significant "revisions" will impact financially troubled consolidated groups.

    April 27, 2005Steven J. Joffe

  • The Metamorphosis of Assignment Clauses in Bankruptcy

    How is this scenario for a debtor's nightmare? You negotiate a license agreement that provides for the assignment of the agreement to successors in interest so long as they agree to be bound by the terms of the agreement. You then file a Chapter 11 bankruptcy and as a debtor in possession, seek to assume that license agreement. The other party to the contract objects to such assumption and the Bankruptcy Court says that in light of such objection you cannot assume the license agreement. You cannot reorganize without the license. You are dead.

    April 27, 2005Robbin L. Itkin and Katherine C. Piper

  • The Debtor's 'Insolvency' for Avoidance Actions

    This article focuses on the uses of the term "insolvency" in the avoidance context, including the impact of the 2004 case, Heilig-Meyers Co. v. Wachovia Bank N.A. (In re Heilig-Meyers Co.), 319 B.R. 447 (Bankr. E.D. Va. 2004), which, while limiting its analysis to a preference context, sheds some light on judicial gloss on the term "insolvency" as it is used both explicitly and implicitly throughout the Code. In addition, it examines definitions of "insolvent" and the presumption of insolvency in preference actions, discusses fair valuation and going-concern valuation methodology, and looks at the standard of proof and types of evidence to establish insolvency (including retrojection and projection).

    April 27, 2005Michael J. Sage and Anna M. Taruschio

  • Lease Termination Agreements: Get Out Quickly, But Carefully

    Regardless of the route a landlord and tenant take to arrive at the mutual decision to terminate a lease, the final steps will require execution of a lease termination agreement. Sometimes, in their haste to get out quickly, landlords and tenants overlook many issues they should consider before signing. This article will help landlords and tenants continue to get out quickly, while preventing them from overlooking issues they should consider before executing such an agreement.

    April 04, 2005ALM Staff | Law Journal Newsletters |

  • IP News

    Highlights of the latest intellectual property news from around the country.

    April 01, 2005Compiled by Eric Agovino

  • Recent Federal Circuit Opinion Highlights Risks of IP Rights in Government Contracts

    In a case that should serve as a warning to firms with active intellectual property development programs and that have, or aspire to have, the federal government as a customer, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit recently ruled that a government contractor that failed to properly disclose an invention developed pursuant to a government contract forfeited title and all rights to the invention and its related patent. See Campbell Plastics Eng'g & Mfg., Inc. v. Brownlee, No. 03-1512, 2004 U.S. App. LEXIS 23502 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 10, 2004). The case demonstrated the government's willingness to seek, and ability to obtain, the particularly harsh remedy of forfeiture.

    April 01, 2005Maximilian Grant and David Hazelton