Question of Law on Bystander Recovery Sent to PA High Court
March 26, 2008
In the rare exercise of a mechanism that the federal courts may use to consult state courts about purely state questions of law, the Third U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has asked the Pennsylvania Supreme Court to address the permissible scope of bystander recovery under Pennsylvania's product liability law for a little girl whose left foot was mangled by a lawn mower driven by her grandfather.
A Good Deed May Go Unpunished: Parties That Voluntarily Clean Up Sites Can Sue for Cost Recovery Under CERCLA
March 25, 2008
One U.S. Supreme Court decision this past term brought welcomed news to those labeled 'potentially responsible parties' under the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act. In <i>United States v. Atlantic Research</i>, the Court unanimously agreed that PRPs that voluntarily clean up contaminated property may bring suit for cost recovery against other PRPs under '107 of CERCLA. The Court's opinion left certain questions unanswered and even raised one or two new questions.
In the Spotlight: Shopping Center Lease Assignments -- Bankruptcy Changes Could Hamper Debtors
March 25, 2008
Certain amendments to Title 11, United States Code (the 'Bankruptcy Code') implemented by the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005 received little notice, but one such change made to §365(f)(1), a section commonly utilized by debtor/ tenants to invalidate anti-assignment provisions contained in commercial leases, could have a wide-ranging impact in retail bankruptcy cases.
Retail Goes Green
March 25, 2008
Retail construction represents only 1.5% of the projects registered with the U.S. Green Building Council for green building status. To incorporate this powerful segment of the building industry into the certification program, the USGBC recently introduced two pilot programs tailored to retail development.
Web 2.0 at Work
March 25, 2008
In recent years, millions of employees have joined the world of Web 2.0, which includes social networking sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, blogs, wikis, podcasts, video sharing sites and RSS feeds. In this constantly changing new world, where individuals have the ability to disseminate information about their employers to a potentially world-wide Internet audience, employers need to evaluate their existing technology policies and, where necessary, implement new policies and strategies.
Emerging Internet Telemedicine Issues
March 25, 2008
Internet telemedicine, in use to varying degrees for more than a decade and general technology-assisted telemedicine for much longer than that, is plagued by concern for patients whose physicians prescribe medication without a face-to-face examination. The result has been that state boards of medical examiners and state legislatures throughout the country have initiated disciplinary hearings and legislation to limit a physician's ability to practice medicine without prior hands-on contact with a patient.
Index
March 25, 2008
Everything contained in this issue, in an easy-to-read format.
