Legal News

Delaware courts have established rules of construction for interpreting insurance policies. Among the most basic of these rules is that clear and unequivocal policy language will be given its plain meaning; and if the language is at all ambiguous,...By: White and Williams LLP

Many of the factors that have underpinned recent M&A activity remain in place, but concerns are mounting. Positive drivers of M&A, including the strength of the US economy, the availability of financing and the strategic imperative to consolidate or...By: White & Case LLP

New York Governor Andrew M. Cuomo on August 12 signed into law new legislation expanding employee protections against discrimination and harassment. Among the key provisions are a lower standard for proving harassment, mandatory awards of attorneys’...By: Fenwick & West LLP

A federal trial court has dismissed a lawsuit brought by a participant in an employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) claiming that fiduciaries of the ESOP caused it to overpay for stock of the company in a leveraged transaction. The court concluded...By: Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

Maine, Maryland, New Hampshire, Washington and Rhode Island have recently joined the growing ranks of states that prohibit non-competes with lower income workers, reflecting a growing public policy concern regarding fairness of imposing...By: Nutter McClennen & Fish LLP

On July 15, 2019, Rhode Island’s Governor signed into law the Rhode Island Noncompetition Agreement Act (the “Act”), limiting the enforceability of restrictive covenants with certain employees. Its limited applicability largely makes the law...By: Partridge Snow & Hahn LLP

In 2012, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission issued enforcement guidance on employers’ use of criminal background checks in the hiring process. The EEOC concluded that indiscriminate use of such checks has a disparate impact against minority...By: Parker Poe Adams & Bernstein LLP

On August 6, 2019, Acting Governor Sheila Oliver signed a bill (S-1790) imposing tougher penalties for "wage theft." The law significantly increases penalties for employers, including potential imprisonment for employers who run afoul of its...By: Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr LLP

To settle a false advertising class action over its “healthy” claims for coconut oil, Nature’s Way has agreed to a $1.85 million settlement deal....By: Manatt, Phelps & Phillips, LLP

Governor Cuomo signed the groundbreaking harassment legislation that we previously covered here on August 12, 2019. The law profoundly alters the landscape of harassment claims in New York and how employers should be prepared to handle them....By: Kelley Drye & Warren LLP