The SEC recently approved a rule amendment to create an intermediate form of adjudication for small claims. The proposal amends Rules 12600 and 12800 of the FINRA Code of Arbitration Procedure for Customer Disputes and Rules 13600 and 13800 of the FINRA Code of Arbitration Procedure for Industry Disputes. The amendments provide parties with claims…
Read More
Employee Joseph Fields, (“Fields”) filed a Complaint against his employer Sexton Lawn & Landscape, for workers’ compensation benefits relating to right leg and lower back injuries he allegedly received from a brown recluse spider bite on August 13, 2015, while in the course and scope of his employment with Sexton Lawn & Landscape. Fields claimed…
Read More
Health care registry companies provide matchmaking and referral services for qualified, pre-screened and vetted home caregivers. They often also provide administrative services. As part of the “gig economy,” health care registries often tread a fine line between classifying caregivers as independent contractors or employers. On July 13, 2018, the Wage and Hour Division of the…
Read More
In The Manor Homes, LLC v. Ashby Communities, LLC, et al., No. M201701369COAR3CV, 2018 WL 3814981 (Tenn. Ct. App. Aug. 10, 2018), the Court of Appeals of Tennessee affirmed a ruling precluding recovery by the developer due to it committing a prior material breach of the contract. The case involved the construction of a house…
Read More
FINRA is requesting comment on proposed amendments to the Firm and Associated Persons Document Production List and Discovery Guide. The proposed amendments to the Discovery Guide require firms and associated persons, upon request, to produce documents concerning third-party insurance coverage in a customer arbitration proceeding. These proposed amendments would strictly limit the circumstances under which…
Read More
A California State Superior Court jury has found Monsanto’s Roundup and Ranger Pro herbicides contributed to a school groundskeeper’s lymphoma and awarded the plaintiff a combined $289 million in compensatory and punitive damages in a landmark suit against the company, which has denied links between its herbicides and cancer for decades. Johnson v. Monsanto, et…
Read More
In City of Whiting, Indiana v. Whitney, Bailey, Cox, & Magnani, LLC, 2018 WL 1400890 (U.S. Dist. Ct., N.D. Ind. March 20, 2018), the United States District Court for the Northern District of Indiana held that an owner’s tort claim for damage caused by the failure of a retaining wall designed by a subconsulting engineering…
Read More
On June 14, 2018, FINRA announced details of a multi-phased effort to overhaul its registration and disclosure programs, including the Central Registration Depository (CRD). FINRA operates the CRD for the U.S. securities industry and its regulators and it provides the backbone of BrokerCheck. These changes are being made in response to feedback FINRA received through…
Read More
In Auburn Hills Tax Increment Finance Authority v. Haussman Construction Co., 2018 WL 385057 (Mich. Ct. App. January 11, 2018), the Michigan Court of Appeals held that the owner of a construction project could not maintain a professional negligence claim against the architect for failing to adequately review payment applications. The Auburn Hills Tax Increment…
Read More
In Ex parte Consol. Pipe & Supply Co., Inc., No. 1170050, 2018 WL 3083719 (Ala. June 22, 2018), the Alabama Supreme Court overturned an order granting a motion to transfer venue based upon a valid forum-selection clause. The Court held that the doctrine of forum non conveniens cannot be used to frustrate an otherwise valid…
Read More
Our locations in Birmingham and Pensacola are conveniently located for clients in the Southeast.
Get In Touch