Winning on the Road
Facing the prospect of a trial in a supposedly unfavorable venue, many defendants will agree to settle to avoid an unknown but potentially expensive and reputation-harming verdict. The authors describe what they think is a better way.
Case Notes
A settlement was reached on Feb. 10 between McNeil Consumer Healthcare and more than 200 plaintiffs who claim liver damage from taking the drug maker's product, Tylenol.
Untangling the Mystery of Cybersecurity Insurance
IT security professionals used to warn that only two types of businesses exist: those that have been hacked, and those that will be. Now, many are even more pessimistic, and divide the world's businesses into companies that know that they have been hacked, and those that don't. Law firms are juicy targets with all the personal identifiable information (PII) contained in client files. Intellectual property practices are especially attractive to cyber thieves because of the value of patent, trademark and trade secret information.
Is Your Law Firm Running 'Encryption Light?'
With so many warnings to lawyers about transmitting unsecured email and attachments, it can be difficult to understand the solutions available and how they differ. Some may improve security but make communications cumbersome. If too cumbersome, users seek a way to work around them or choose less powerful tools.
The 'Soft Underbelly' of Cybersecurity Meets Legal Ethics
Legal departments for business organizations rate cybersecurity, regulation and ethics compliance among their chief concerns, and they are well aware of surveys showing law firms to be the "soft underbelly" of business security due to weakness of their cybersecurity.
Do Your Employment Practices Violate Antitrust Law? They Might!
Did you know that your employment practices could violate antitrust law? This is the message to be gleaned from joint guidance recently issued by the FTC and the DOJ Antitrust Division. The Agencies issued this guidance to remind employers that, like any other market, the job market is subject to antitrust laws.
Deferred Compensation and Safe Harbor Plans
Companies are constantly looking for ways to recruit, retain and reward valued employees. The Department of the Treasury issued final regulations addressing deferred compensation and safe harbor planning utilizing §§409A(d)(1), 457(e)11 and 31.3121(v)(2). These regulations set forth how plan sponsors can provide death benefits on a permissibly selective basis.
<i>He, Cuevas,</i> and the Law of Remittitur in New Jersey
March 01, 2017
Despite the established purpose of a compensatory damage award, there are occasions when a verdict is so excessive it could only have been arrived at in an effort to punish, rather than to compensate. In those instances of a "runaway" jury award, there are two generally recognized forms of relief available to address the excessive verdict: a new trial as to damages only, or remittitur.
Will the CT Supreme Court Reinvent Design Defect Law?
March 01, 2017
<b><i>Part Two of a Two-Part Article</b></i><br>A continuation of the discussion regarding the fact that the Connecticut Supreme Court is currently considering whether the state should abandon its traditional strict product liability standard for design defect claims and replace it with section 2(b) of the Restatement (Third) of Torts, which requires plaintiffs to prove the manufacturer's foreseeability of harm, and prove the effectiveness of a reasonable alternative design in order to recover damages for product-caused injuries.
