In Halvorsen v. Villamil , 429 N.J. Super. 568 (App.Div. 2013) the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, recently held that the New Jersey Licensed Alcoholic Beverage Server Fair Liability Act, N.J.S.A. 2A:22A-1 to -7 (“Dram Shop Act”)...

With the recent issue of gun control and violence making its way to the headlines, we, in fact, are confronted with the issue of violence in the workplace. ...

In May 2012 the Pennsylvania Supreme Court issued a decision in Six L’s Packing Company v. Workers’ Compensation Appeal Board , 44 A.3d 1148, 2013 Pa. LEXIS 1238 (Pa. May 29, 2012) significantly expanding the applicability of the statutory employer...

On March 28, 2013, Federal Judge Irene Keeley certified the following question to the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals “May a mineral owner or lessee, whose rights are expressly limited by deed to surface rights for the production of oral and/or...

In November 2012, the Superior Court of Pennsylvania issued a decision in Longwell v. Giordano , 57 A.3d 163 (Pa. Super. 2012), which received some notoriety for reaffirming the fact that assumption of the risk is still a viable defense in the...

Mandatory arbitration for consumer disputes in West Virginia has long been a litigation morass. For years, West Virginia courts have simply invalidated mandatory arbitration provisions in consumer contracts by simply stating that those provisions were...

A client recently called to discuss his observation that within the past year or so there has been an increase in Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation claims wherein a claimant alleges to have suffered a psychological condition. The client requested...

For a variety of reasons, employers may want to undertake video surveillance of their employees. Is an employee taking advantage of a worker’s compensation claim? Are employees engaging in theft from a storage room? Are employees doing their jobs as...

In Dailey-Console v. Barnwell et al. , Court of Common Pleas of Monroe County, Pennsylvania, the court addressed the effect of the Medicare Secondary Payer Act (MSPA) on certain settlement agreements. In this case, the plaintiffs filed a claim for...

The purpose of the Pennsylvania Wrongful Death Statute, 42 Pa.C.S.§8301 is to compensate the survivors of the decedent for pecuniary losses they sustained as a result of the decedent’s death. Exactly what evidence is required to support such a claim...

The Superior Court of Pennsylvania has affirmed another trial court order transferring a case out of Philadelphia County. In Stoner v. Penn Kleen Inc. , the plaintiff was injured at Swopes Salvage Yard located in East Berlin, Adams County,...

In the underlying litigation, the WCJ granted the claimant’s claim petition and ordered the employer to pay two closed periods of benefits. As usual, the WCJ assessed interest at the rate of ten percent per annum on all overdue benefits and directed...

As counsel to numerous professional firms and associations, I am frequently asked about cyber risk. As technology continues to advance, we have more and more information stored in electronic devices and in the so called “cloud.” Cyber risk is of...

On November 26, 2012, the PennsylvaniaSupreme Court voted 5-1 to affirm the Superior Court’s ruling that defendants Asia Trent Inc., Remington Arms Co., RA Brands, and the Sportsman’s Guide failed to show that the plaintiff’s highly reckless conduct...

In AIG Centennial Ins. Co. v. Thompson , A-4358-11T2, (App. Div. Nov. 19, 2012), the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, in an unpublished opinion [1] , held that an insurer who paid PIP benefits in excess of its policy limits was not...

In Badiali v. New Jersey Manufacturers Ins. Grp. , the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, in an published decision, held that an uninsured motorist (UM) carrier is precluded from issuing a trial de novo where the share of the UM...

In a recently unpublished decision, [1] the New Jersey Appellate Division in Morales v. Schneider has illustrated, once again, how difficult it is for a plaintiff to overcome the exclusive remedy provision, N.J.S.A. 34:15-8, pursuant to the...

In Kandrac v. Marrazzo’s Mkt. , the New Jersey Superior Court, Appellate Division, in a recently published decision, held that a commercial tenant in a multi-tenant shopping center does not owe a duty to patrons to maintain an area of a shared...

Recently, I was engaged in the topic of Asset Protection. A CPA standing nearby scoffed at the topic and said, “Just buy an umbrella.” It occurred to me that even a well-respected professional did not realize that an Asset Protection Plan is more than...

The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania recently changed the definition of who can be considered a “statutory” employer in Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation cases in its recent Decision in Six L’s Packing Company v. WCAB (Williamson) , (Decided May 29,...