Columns | May 25, 2013

Featured Columns

In Defense of Preserving Labor Law §240(1)

In their Trial Practice column, Robert S. Kelner, the senior partner at Kelner & Kelner, and Gail S. Kelner, an attorney with the firm, write that even as the courts have recognized that there are occasions when the worker is solely to blame, those occasions are rare and have been carefully distinguished from a worker's comparative negligence, which is not a defense.

Labor Law

Technology Today

Making Sense of Dog Scent Evidence

In his Criminal Law column, Ken Strutin, director of legal information services at the New York State Defenders Association, writes: This term, the U.S. Supreme Court issued two opinions involving K-9 detection. One concentrated on the reliability of drug sniffing evidence based on pedigree, and the other focused on the sanctity of the home in the face of a supersensory advantage. Both decisions are raising critical concerns over the future of the Fourth Amendment.

Criminal Practice / Evidence / United States Supreme Court

Featured Columns

Physician Held Liable for Disclosing Patient Information

Greenberg Traurig shareholder Francis J. Serbaroli, in his Health Law column, discusses a recent Appellate Division decision that held a physician liable for disclosing information about a patient?s emergency room visit to the patient?s estranged wife. The decision is an instructive reminder to physicians and other licensed health care professionals that there must be a compelling reason to make such a disclosure without the patient?s consent.

Appeals / Civil Practice / Health Law / Torts

Outside Counsel

Punitive Damages Unavailable for Third-Party Insurance Bad Faith

Eric Dinnocenzo, a solo practitioner, writes that the effect of a recent First Department decision, and the long-standing precedent on which it is based, is that insureds who engage in conduct that might trigger a punitive damages award have an increased concern of being subject to an excess verdict. And punitive damage awards are typically not of a trifling amount.

Civil Practice / Damages / Insurance Law

Featured Columns

Proving the Amount of Breach of Contract Damages

In his Contract Law column, Glen Banks, a partner at Fulbright & Jaworski, writes that New York law does not provide a clear guideline as to what constitutes sufficient proof of the amount of damages that can support an award of compensatory damages.

Civil Practice / Contracts / Damages

Outside Counsel

With Rise of Autism, Courts Face Challenging Legal Issues

Thomas A. Dickerson and Jeffrey A. Cohen, associate justices of the Appellate Division, Second Department, discuss the Affordable Care Act's effect on coverage of autism, New York's recently enacted "autism insurance" reform law, the developing body of law involving issues and services affecting autistic individuals and a new diagnostic publication that has raised concern in the autism community.

Government / Health Law / Insurance Law / Social Services Law

Featured Columns

The Never Ending Story of Unfinished Business

In his Law Firm Partnership Law column, Arthur J. Ciampi, the managing member of Ciampi LLC, writes that two cases from California elucidate the scope of liability for unfinished business claims as well as the procedure used in unfinished business cases.

Attorneys Fees / Bankruptcy / Legal Profession

Outside Counsel

You've Been 'Poked'! 'PCCare247' and Service of Process by Social Media

Michael C. Lynch, a partner at Kelley Drye & Warren, writes that courts will continue to recognize that electronic service, whether it continues to be by email, or broadens to Facebook, Twitter, text messaging or other means, is often the most effective and least expensive way to reach a defendant.

Civil Practice / International Law / Internet Law

Featured Columns

Pesticide Pollution Prevention Program for Long Island Is on the Horizon

In her State Environmental Regulation column, Charlotte A. Biblow, a partner at Farrell Fritz, writes that monitoring underlies all actions in the blueprint, according to the DEC, because water quality monitoring results would be essential to conducting the work under each component.

Energy and Natural Resources / Environmental Law

Corporate Update

Quinn Emanuel Targets Big Banks in Lawsuit Over Rigging of LIBOR

In the suit filed on behalf of Salix Capital Ltd., the firm doesn't even bother to raise the two main theories LIBOR investors have relied on so far - antitrust liability and racketeering - that were rejected in a devastating ruling by Judge Naomi Reice Buchwald.

Banking / Business Law / Civil Practice