Podcast - How Do You Define Success?
Texas House Passes Pandemic Liability Protection Act
More Emerging Litigation Claims and Demands from COVID-19
Cappel v. Aston Twp. Fire Dep’t, 693 F. Supp. 3d 467 (E.D. Pa. 2023) - During the COVID-19 pandemic, the decedent’s family urgently called 911 as she struggled to breathe and had dangerously low blood-oxygen levels. However,...more
Estate of Alfredo Pabatao, et al. v. Palisades Med. Ctr., et al., No. A-1740-22 (Apr. 24, 2024) - The plaintiffs had filed a complaint for survival and wrongful death against the defendants, asserting the defendants caused...more
The COVID-19 pandemic has affected every aspect of our lives, and the legal system is no exception. Court hearings went from being in-person to virtual, and court dockets swelled as cases were postponed. In 2023, the legal...more
Kidnapping, treasure hunts, insurgents shooting down airplanes — sounds like the Fall TV lineup. But no, it’s our October Insurance Update. And in honor of the month’s most treasured sporting event, the Fall Classic, we...more
Some important insurance decisions were handed down over the past month. We begin in Ohio, where public nuisance claims by state and local governments over opioids and lead paint were on full display. In Acuity, the...more
On August 18, 2022, Governor Kathy Hochul signed into law a bill amending Section 2801-d of New York’s Public Health Law to expressly provide the legal representative or estate of a nursing home resident the right to bring a...more
There is no question COVID-19 altered our existence as humans. Worldwide, the pandemic has touched all aspects of daily life. It is not surprising, then, that we are still seeing the ripple effects in the California Workers’...more
In See’s Candies v. Ek, a California Appellate Court ruled that the plaintiff’s claims against her employer for negligence were not preempted by the exclusivity provisions of the California Workers’ Compensation Act; thus,...more
Welcome to “PEO Pointers,” a regular series of quick-read alerts to keep PEOs and their client companies up to speed on the latest issues affecting the industry and what they can do to ensure compliance. The California...more
On February 22, 2022, the Ninth Circuit ruled a COVID-19 wrongful death suit brought against a nursing home is not preempted by a federal health emergency law. The court affirmed a district court’s remand order which stated...more
The last time we looked at litigation arising from the COVID-19 pandemic, it appeared that businesses and their insurers faced a grave risk of being buried by COVID-related lawsuits. So far, however, the worst fears within...more
A California appellate court has ruled that a wrongful death action filed by an employee and her children arising from the death of the employee's spouse from COVID-19 after she allegedly contracted the virus at work and...more
Welcome to "PEO Pointers," a regular series of quick-read alerts to keep PEOs and their client companies up to speed on the latest issues affecting the industry and what they can do to ensure compliance....more
A common question posed during the pandemic has been whether employers can face liability for COVID-19 infections originating in the workplace. As to employees who contract COVID-19, the answer has been that an employee’s...more
A blog we published here on May 28, 2020, correctly noted that California’s workers-compensation laws may immunize employers from most civil lawsuits alleging that employees became infected with the coronavirus on the job. ...more
When the estates of nursing home residents who died from COVID-19 brought negligence and wrongful death lawsuits in New Jersey state court, defendant nursing homes removed the suits to federal court under the Public Readiness...more
One silver lining for employers during the pandemic has been the reality that they shouldn’t fear any potential tort liability for COVID-19 cases stemming from the workplace – or should they? Most employers (and attorneys and...more
Since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, people have wondered how the courts will handle the inevitable lawsuits by employees and customers alleging that a business negligently exposed them to infection. Enough time has...more
Illinois Governor Pritzker signed into law Senate Bill 72 (SB 72), which includes prejudgment interest and amends the Illinois Interest on Judgment Act 735 ILCS 2-1303 (Act). The amendment imposes six-percent prejudgment...more
On June 23, 2021, the U.S. District Court in Maryland dismissed a case in which a Southwest Airlines Co. (Southwest) flight attendant sued the airline for the wrongful death of her husband. In the case, Estate of William...more
Texas businesses watched the 2021 Texas legislative session closely for the potential pandemic liability relief provided in Senate Bill 6 (SB 6), or the Pandemic Liability Protection Act. With the passage of SB 6, Jackson...more
A new wave of lawsuits is attempting to impose legal liability on companies whose alleged negligence resulted in an employee becoming infected with the COVID-19 virus and then passing the illness to a household member who...more
Welcome to The Franchise Memorandum by Lathrop GPM. Below are summaries of recent legal developments of interest to franchisors. Fraud/Misrepresentation - Minnesota Federal Court Rules that Fraud and Misrepresentation...more
HB 3360, vetoed by Gov. Pritzker on March 25, would have imposed 9 percent prejudgment interest on personal injury and wrongful death claims in Illinois. This is the governor’s first bill rejection in two years and his ninth...more
Over the past year, the big story has been the search for vaccines to protect people from Covid-19. You can’t vaccinate a business, but Arizona businesses are now protected from liability related to Covid-19. ...more