Shale drilling is a lucrative, but risky business for land and rights owners, drilling companies, and all other companies that share responsibility for on-site operations. When great risks are present, complicated risk-shifting schemes develop to allow the players with the most bargaining power to pass risk on to others—particularly, contractors...
Insights and analysis from our attorneys
C&W Journal
October 30, 2013
Understanding Contractors’ Real Exposure Potential Under a Contractual Knock-for-Knock Indemnity Provision
October 30, 2013
The New Age of WCAIS
September 9, 2013, marked the start of the New Age of WCAIS in the world of Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation practice. “WCAIS” stands for Workers’ Compensation Automation and Integration System....
October 30, 2013
Fiduciaries Beware: Breach of Duty Can Lead to Personal Exposure
As the nation’s baby boomers continue to get older, more and more people will undertake the role of a fiduciary. This may be as an agent appointed through a power of attorney as an executor or...
October 30, 2013
Use of GPS Devices and Punitive Damages—the Devil is in the Details
In a recent issue of first impression in Pennsylvania, Judge Terrence R. Nealon of the Court of Common Pleas of Lackawanna County examined the availability of punitive damages in cases involving...
September 04, 2013
Text Senders Face Possible Liability for New Jersey Motor Vehicle...
In an apparent first-of-its-kind decision in the nation, a New Jersey appellate court has held that the sender of a text can share in liability if the person knows or has special reason to know...
September 04, 2013
Supersedeas Fund Reimbursement: What Constitutes Recoverable...
Under the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act, employers may request supersedeas in conjunction with Petitions to Terminate, Suspend, and Modify an employee’s benefits. In cases in which...
September 04, 2013
Civil Actions Under the Pennsylvania Wiretapping Act
Cipriani & Werner recently handled the defense of a lawsuit seeking civil damages under the Pennsylvania Wiretapping and Electronic Surveillance Act. Under Pennsylvania’s Wiretapping Act, it...
September 04, 2013
Pennsylvania Workers Compensation Medical Fee Review
When an injured worker receives medical treatment in Pennsylvania the medical providers are subject to sections of the Pennsylvania Workers’ Compensation Act [Act] andMedical Cost Containment...
September 04, 2013
Commonwealth Court Upholds Statutory Damages Cap for Governmental...
In Zauflik v. Pennsbury Sch. Dist. , 2013 Pa. Commw. LEXIS 233, the Commonwealth Court of Pennsylvania upheld the $500,000 statutory cap on damage awards against governmental entities, finding the...
September 04, 2013
Recent Decision Shifts Burden for Retirees to Employer
The recent PA Supreme Court holding in City of Pittsburgh & UPMC Benefits Management Services, Inc. v. WCAB (Robinson) , 18 WAP 2011, which was decided on March 25, 2013, appears to have...
September 04, 2013
The Path Not Taken (Before) - Consent to Settle
The Superior Court, in the recent decision of The Babcock & Wilcox Co. v. American Nuclear Insurers , 2013 PA Super. 174 (July 10, 2013), created a new option for insureds who are offered by...
June 28, 2013
Unclaimed Property—the Cost of “Found” Money
Many companies are not aware that, after a period of years, which varies depending on the type of obligation involved, certain monies, including uncashed payroll and vendor checks, credit or gift...
June 28, 2013
In Pari Delicto Defense The importance of the in pari delicto...
Pennsylvania has long acknowledged the in pari delicto defense in accounting cases, particularly in the auditor situation. The in pari delicto defense holds that when a plaintiff and defendant are...
June 28, 2013
How Do You Define Employee? The effects of the Construction...
The enactment of the Construction Workplace Misclassification Act signals a new chapter in the effort to define whether an individual working on a construction site for himself, or for another, is...
May 30, 2013
Releases of Liability are Better Than You May Think
In the past few years, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court in two reported cases has made it absolutely clear that releases of liability in a recreational setting are valid and enforceable for claims...
May 30, 2013
Shiner v. Ralston: The Superior Court Re-affirms and Explains the...
In Shiner v. Ralston , 2013 Pa. Super. 33 (2/22/2013), two men were involved in an automobile accident on May 17, 2007 in Centre County, Pennsylvania. Glenn Shiner was operating a Ford Taurus and...
May 29, 2013
Legal Update: Halvorsen v. Villamil
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...
May 26, 2013
Violence in the Workplace
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. It can occur that an injury is caused by...
May 26, 2013
General Contractors and Statutory Employer Immunity Under Six L’s...
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...
April 29, 2013
West Virginia Supreme Court to Decide Horizontal Drilling Rights...
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...
March 05, 2013
Applicability of Obvious Condition Defense Not So Obvious
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...