On December 4, 2019, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) published in the Federal Register an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking titled “Addition of Certain Per-and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances; Community Right-to-Know Toxic Chemical Release Reporting.” 84 Fed. Reg. 66369. USEPA is currently considering a rule proposal to add certain polyfluroroalkyl substances (PFAS) to the list of toxic chemicals subject to reporting under the Emergency Planning and Community Right-to-Know Act (Right-to-Know Act) and the Pollution Prevention Act. This ...
We’ve all heard of, or even litigated, those cases where someone does something ridiculous on another person’s property, injuring him or herself in the process, then sues the property owner as if it was somehow the owner’s fault. Rest assured, Illinois’ Second District Appellate Court was having none of this in its recent decision in Lee v. Lee, 2019 IL App (2d) 180923. The decision is noteworthy not only because the court applied the open and obvious defense to an ordinary negligence case, but also because the court sua sponte held as a matter of law—based solely on the ...
In determining whether a lawyer must report a potential malpractice claim on a professional liability “errors and omissions” renewal or application form, must the insured attorney foresee how Missouri appellate courts would interpret a legal issue never before addressed? Based on a recent Missouri Court of Appeals opinion, the answer seems to be perhaps yes.
In Ruiz v. Bar Plan Mutual Insurance Co., 2019 WL 4145480 (E.D. Mo. 2019)(Sept. 3, 2019), the Missouri Court of Appeals found that an attorney’s failure to notify his legal malpractice carrier of a potential malpractice ...
Grauer v. Clare Oaks, et al, 2019 IL App (1st) 180835, is noteworthy to all counsel who regularly encounter fee-shifting statutes in their practice. Grauer was borne out of a verdict against a nursing home, but the court’s analysis as to the reasonableness of attorney’s fees and what constitutes “costs” in the context of the Illinois Nursing Home Care Act is important to all practitioners.
The Nursing Home Act provides that “the licensee shall pay the actual damages and costs and attorney’s fees to a facility resident whose rights” under the Act are violated. 210 ILCS ...
The Missouri Supreme Court recently affirmed a trial court’s order denying an insurance company’s motion to intervene and set aside a judgment that was entered following the plaintiffs’ contract with a defendant to limit recovery of the judgment against the insurance company pursuant to Missouri Statute Section 537.065. Desai, M.D., et al. v. Seneca Specialty Insurance Company, SC97361.
Plaintiffs Dr. Neil Desai and Heta Desai filed a lawsuit for personal injuries against defendant Garcia Empire, LLC. Garcia Empire had a commercial general liability policy issued by ...
Anyone who has spent time reviewing claim forms and bills submitted by medical providers has probably encountered at least some of the more typical fraud schemes: overbilling, false claims, or maybe even kickbacks and bribery. Sophisticated technology, investigative techniques, and data analytics let us zoom in – and out – to identify these traditional forms of fraud at the individual claim level and on a system-wide scale.
But a recent opinion by the New York Court of Appeals, the state’s highest court, should serve as a reminder to look out for a different sort of fraud that ...
On September 9, 2019, Midwest Generation, LLC (“MWG”) asked the Illinois Pollution Control Board (“Board”) to reconsider its interim order of June 20, 2019, in the enforcement case of Sierra Club v. Midwest Generation, LLC (docketed as PCB 13-15). That decision may have far-reaching implications for any party that has entered into an environmental compliance or remediation agreement with regulators incorporating Groundwater Management Zones (“GMZs”). According to MWG, the Board misconstrued the Illinois Environmental Protection Act and operative ...
As construction projects become more complex, new technologies and innovations more specialized, trades more regulated, and bidding more competitive, general construction contractors have become increasingly reliant on subcontractors to perform construction contracts. The result is that general contractors are less able to control, inspect, and even assess the work. Yet despite this continued shift, general contractors continue to assume almost complete contractual responsibility for job completion.
Imagine this scenario from a recent case that was tried to verdict. A ...
Missouri’s inaugural medical marijuana facility application period ended recently (on August 19, 2019). Now that the smoke begins to clear from the application process, hopeful applicants can focus their energy on fostering relationships so that their businesses can launch as soon as possible. With even the earliest anticipated harvest being at least several weeks after licenses are issued in December of this year, Missouri residents can expect this new industry to begin taking shape in the early months of 2020.
The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services ...
On May 1, 2019, Senate Bill 7 was passed as part of the Missouri legislature’s overarching goal to refine Missouri’s broad venue rules, which previously had allowed plaintiffs to pursue their claims in Missouri venues with no connection to their injuries or events which led to their injuries.
Particular provisions of the new venue rules apply specifically to lawsuits involving claims against insurance companies. First, Sections 375.1800 and 508.010 now provide that domestic and foreign insurance companies are deemed a resident of the county where their registered offices ...
