Features
The KPMG Tax Shelter Case and the Right Against Self-Incrimination
In a much anticipated opinion, the Second Circuit has affirmed the dismissal of an indictment against 13 former partners and employees of the accounting firm KPMG, who were charged with creating fraudulent tax shelters. <i>United States v. Stein.</i> This article discusses the case in depth.
Features
Taming the Tenant's Form of Lease
Accustomed to manning the ramparts in defense of its landlord client's form of lease, it is always a bit unsettling for a landlord's lawyer to be advised by its client that "for this national tenant, we must work from the tenant's form of lease." Suddenly, instead of engaging in the familiar determination of which of the tenant's requested lease revisions are acceptable to the landlord, the lawyer is faced with determining which essential provisions of a lease from landlord's perspective are either entirely or substantially missing from the tenant's form of lease and then negotiating to include such provisions.
Features
New York's Labor Law
Both Labor Law '240(1) and '241(6) impose a nondelegable duty on property owners to provide specified protections to workers. This duty exists regardless of whether or not the owner controlled, directed, or supervised the work. As the courts have repeatedly observed, the imposition of this duty protects workers, by placing ultimate responsibility for their safety upon owners and contractors, instead of on the workers themselves.
Features
Consent to Sublease
Substantial portions of commercial space are commonly available via sublease. In comparison with a direct lease (which customarily becomes effective upon execution and delivery by the Landlord and the Tenant), a sublease usually only becomes effective if and when the Sublandlord and Subtenant execute and deliver the Sublease and the Master Landlord executes and delivers a Consent to Sublease.
Features
Supreme Court Speaks Again on Punitive Damages
On June 25, the U.S. Supreme Court decided <i>Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker</i>, a ruling likely to fortify the view that an award of punitive damages should not exceed the amount of the compensatory award. To be sure, some will argue that there are, may be, or ought to be, exceptions; some will argue that the Court was only deciding federal common law in a maritime case and not the limits of state common law; and some may say there is still support for accepting punitive awards that exceed a 1:1 ratio.
Features
Uncertainties of Federal Disclosure Requirements for Employee Experts
Product liability litigation is waged through battles of the experts. Hotly contested disputes over expert testimony arise early and often, from discovery through trial and even appeal. Disputes intensify when parties use their own employees as experts because the law governing employee expert disclosure remains undeveloped.
Features
Index
Everything contained in this issue, in an easy-to-read format.
Features
Leases or Licenses ' Does a Label Matter?
Attorneys representing property owners are often requested to document arrangements for very short-term and temporary usage of property. "I don't want a lease; just a license agreement will be fine," is the frequent form of the request. Assuming that the client's request is not merely an attempt to keep the legal fees down, is such a request one that makes sense from an owner's point of view? More important, can a careful attorney respond positively?
Features
A Review of Recent Medical Monitoring
Courts have historically been divided over several key elements with respect to what a plaintiff must prove to support a claim for medical monitoring. In this article, we review recent decisions regarding medical monitoring and assess whether there has been any consensus among the courts as to whether an actual, present physical injury is required to support a medical monitoring claim and whether class certification is appropriate for medical monitoring claims.
Features
New Foreign Drug Trial Rule Coming
A new U.S. Food and Drug Administration final rule governing clinical trials held in foreign countries will spark painstaking legal review of pharmaceutical companies' protocols for trials.
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