An employer faces a difficult situation when a temporarily disabled employee who cannot perform his or her essential job functions requests an accommodation. This situation becomes significantly more complicated when the employee receives the “accommodation,” but never recovers enough to resume performing the essential job functions ...
On 1 April 2014 amendments to the Contributions Act increasing the general rate for health insurance contributions from 13% to 15% came into force. The new contribution rate will be applied to salaries beginning in April 2014. Receipts related to previous periods will be grandfathered in at the previous applicable rate. Unused vacation for 2013 will be calculated at the 13% contribution rate and the new rate will apply to unused vacation in 2014 ...
The Nils Svensson v Retriever Sverige AB decision addresses fundamental questions of copyright and Internet use. In essence, the case addresses the question of whether hyperlinking to freely accessible content requires authorization. The original plaintiffs of the Svensson case were Swedish journalists who wrote press articles that were published in the Goteborge-Posten newspaper and on its website, where they were freely accessible ...
It seems every week, there is a new story about a company being impacted by a major data breach and the consequences that follow from such breach, including the inevitable lawsuits, public relations nightmare, and governmental investigations. These breach stories are then followed by articles about the high costs to deal with these breach events, including costs to notify consumers, to identify the source of the breach, to pay for credit monitoring, among many other costs ...
Texas operators and service companies need to carefully consider how a recent trend in Texas law affects the availability of insurance coverage - for themselves and their counterparties - for contractual liability. Most general liability policies, which insure claims for bodily injury and property damage, exclude coverage for liability assumed under a contract, unless the liability either exists in the absence of the contract or was assumed in a defined “insured contract ...
On the market since the late 1990s, cyber insurance is nothing new. But as the Internet spreads deeper into people's lives, cyber risks continue to grow and evolve well past simple data loss or compromise ...
On January 16 last, the Supreme Court of Canada refused to grant leave to appeal by Lombard following a judgment rendered on June 20, 2013 by the Ontario Court of Appeal.1 This decision deals with the issue of overlapping excess and umbrella policies. THE FACTS In January 1995, an apartment building was destroyed by fire. Six people died and many others were injured ...
On March 20, 2014, the Supreme Court of Canada granted Réjean Hinse leave to appeal a decision involving an action in damages he brought against the federal authorities, represented by the Attorney General of Canada. In 1964, Mr. Hinse was wrongly convicted of taking part in an armed robbery and ordered to serve fifteen (15) years in prison. He was acquitted by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1997, thirty-three (33) years later. After he was acquitted, Mr ...
A year ago, President Obama issued Executive Order 13636, or "Improving Critical Infrastructure Cybersecurity." The order concerned "critical infrastructure," which it defined as "systems and assets, whether physical or virtual, so vital to the United States that the incapacity or destruction of such systems and assets would have a debilitating impact on security, national economic security, national public health or safety or any combination of those matters ...
In a decision issued on February 13, the New York Court of Appeals ruled that a policy’s contractual limitations provision requiring suit to be filed within two years of a loss is “unreasonable and unenforceable” when the insured’s property cannot be reasonably replaced (as necessary to fulfill a separate condition of coverage) within the two-year limitations period ...
On Friday, January 17, 2014, the Texas Supreme Court issued its opinion in Ewing Construction Company v. Amerisure Insurance Company - holding that “a general contractor who agrees to perform its construction work in a good and workmanlike manner, without more, . . . does not ‘assume liability’ for damages arising out of its defective work so as to trigger the Contractual Liability Exclusion ...
Last December 23, the Supreme Court of Canada partially overturned the decision of the Quebec Court of Appeal in the case of Cinar Corporation v. Robinson1 and reinstated most of the conclusions of the Quebec Superior Court. BACKGROUND In the 1980s, Claude Robinson (“Robinson”) developed a project for a television series entitled “The Adventures of Robinson Curiosity” (“Robinson Curiosity”). He partnered with Pathonic to whom he had presented his project ...
A recently unsealed decision from the United States District Court for the District of Maryland demonstrates that insurers cannot hide behind the attorney-client privilege and work-product doctrine to shield claim files from discovery. The court made clear that involving counsel in claim handling does not operate to make either doctrine automatically apply. Charter Oak Fire Ins. Co. v. Am. Capital Ltd., No. 8:09-cv-100 (D. Md. Nov. 6, 2013) ...
Between 2007 and 2009 non-profit association Motor Sports Limes (MSL) hosted motocross races on a piece of land that it owned. It claimed to have taken all necessary safety precautions, including marking and securing circuit, for the races and associated events held there. According to MSL, only accredited photographers had to sign a contract with MSL, which included a clause stating that no commercial use of photos taken at the races could be made without MSL's prior consent ...
Whether you call it a “shutdown” or a “slowdown,” the lack of a fully-funded federal government is impacting more than the 800,000 federal workers furloughed since October 1.1 According to economic consulting firm, IHS Global Insight, the federal budget debacle will cost $1.6 billion per week in lost gross domestic product ...
With the publication of Law no.74/2013 of 6 September a Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) was created in Portugal. The law will come into force 90 days after the setting up of the CAS, which will be based at the Portuguese Olympic Committee (POC). In an official communication dated 13 September the POC has already announced that it will respond positively to the mandate conferred on it to set up the CAS ...
SUMMARY: 1. Principles of Belgian Sports justice – 2. The relationship between ordinary justice and Sports justice – 3. The relevant NOC regulations and NOC judicial body – 4. The relevant football regulations and RBFA judicial bodies – 5. Other sports judicial bodies – 6. Clubs’ and players’ rights and obligations – 7. Dispute settlement – 8. ADR and interim relief – Conclusion Abstract:This article aims at providing an overview of sports justice in Belgium ...
On March 1, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that $750 million of primary and excess coverage issued to Transocean Holdings, Inc. (“Transocean”) “imposes no relevant limitations upon the extent to which BP [BP American Production Company] is covered” as an additional insured in connection with the Deepwater Horizon incident in April 2010 ...
The High Court has ruled in favour of pop star Rihanna against high street clothes retailer Topshop, which used an unauthorised image of her (almost identical to one used on her CD) on some of its T-shirts.Customers had believed it was an approved image, so the High Court confirmed Topshop was guilty of passing off ...
Insurers often have a duty to settle underlying claims against their insureds. While that duty generally requires insurers to accept reasonable settlement offers, insurers and insureds alike face many other issues regarding settlement of the underlying case ...
The US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit recently held that excess insurance policies are triggered when the payment of losses exceed the attachment point rather than when the policyholder’s loss obligations exceed the attachment point. Ali v. Fed. Ins. Co., No. 11-5000-cv, 2013 WL 2396046 (2d Cir. June 4, 2013). The decision is another reminder that outcomes in insurance disputes may depend on subtle differences in the wording of insurance policies ...
On June 14, 2013, Governor Rick Perry signed legislation, which for the first time authorizes domestic captive insurers in Texas. The bill, known as SB 734, allows Texas businesses to realize the advantages, including tax benefits, of forming and operating a “pure” captive insurance company without the burden and cost associated with an out-of-state captive ...
In Louisiana Generating LLC v. Illinois Union Ins. Co., No. 12-30651 (5th Cir. May 15, 2013), the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit held that a lawsuit brought by the Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") alleging violations of the Clean Air Act ("CAA") obligated an insurer to defend its insured ...
