New York

Expert Analysis

• NYC Ballot Measure Likely Signals Modest Land Use Changes

  

  On Nov. 5, New York City approved a ballot measure establishing precertification notice for land use applications and granting more time to community boards to review them. The changes are not revolutionary, but the rules established by the City Planning Commission will determine their ultimate impact, say Ross Moskowitz and Eva Schneider at Stroock.

• Will College Athletes Be Deemed Employees Soon?

  

  In light of the NCAA's recent proposed rule change on student-athlete compensation, and state and federal legislative developments in this area, people are again questioning whether student-athletes should be considered employees of the universities for whom they serve as a major revenue stream, says Sara Moore of Nemeth Law.

• Health Care Fraud Lessons For Lawyers Advising Doctors

  

  The U.S. Department of Justice's seven recent health care fraud takedowns reflect an overall shift in how this type of fraud works, from doctor-driven to doctor-enabled schemes, says Stephen Lee at Benesch.

• FAA Efforts Aim To Reduce Drone Jurisdictional Disputes

  

  Local and state laws concerning drones are widespread, but so, too, are confusion and disagreement over the extent of federal jurisdiction in this area. The Federal Aviation Administration's forthcoming remote identification rules may help resolve some of these conflicts, says Mark Dombroff of Fox Rothschild.

• The Force (Majeure) May Be With ND Oil And Gas Lessees

  

  The North Dakota Supreme Court's recent ruling in Pennington v. Continental Resources, applying force majeure to both primary and secondary oil and gas lease terms, is good news for lessees, as courts in other states have disagreed on this issue in recent years, say attorneys at K&L Gates.

• 4 Duty-To-Monitor Takeaways For Fiduciaries In ERISA Ruling

  

  A Pennsylvania federal court's recent opinion in Scalia v. WPN provides guidance on the duty of Employee Retirement Income Security Act fiduciaries to monitor their service providers, an issue that has been largely unexplored in other cases and lacks regulatory guidance from the U.S. Department of Labor, say Charles Kelly and Michael Joyce at Saul Ewing.

• How To Hire Lateral Partners More Effectively

  

  Although lateral partner hiring is the preferred method of inorganic growth among law firms, the traditional approach to vetting does not employ sufficient due diligence by the hiring firm, says Michael Ellenhorn at executive search firm Decipher Competitive Intelligence.

• High Court Hears DACA: Procedure, Practicalities, Predictions

  

  At oral argument last week, the U.S. Supreme Court justices seemed likely to rule that the Trump administration had sufficient reasons to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, which would leave the lives of DACA recipients and their families in limbo, says Jaclyn Kelley-Widmer at Cornell Law School.

• Justices Mull Interplay Of ERISA, Securities Laws In IBM Case

  

  At recent U.S. Supreme Court arguments in IBM v. Jander, the justices grappled with the Employee Retirement Income Security Act’s difficult application and its intersection with federal securities laws in considering whether plan fiduciaries must disclose inside information about publicly traded companies, say attorneys at King & Spalding.

• Using Multiple-Attorney Depositions After Finjan Ruling

  

  The recent patent case, Finjan v. Cisco Systems, in which a California federal court prohibited two-attorney questioning in a deposition where the parties failed to agree to it in advance, indicates that it may be better to ask permission than forgiveness when employing this deposition strategy, say attorneys at Finnegan.

• The Coming Storm Of Biometric Privacy Laws: How To Comply

  

  To respond to the rapidly evolving legal landscape, companies that incorporate biometric data into their business practices can take several steps to minimize the risk of privacy litigation exposure, say Jeffrey Rosenthal and David Oberly of Blank Rome.

• Opinion

  ADA Braille Gift Card Claims Shouldn't Gain Traction In NY

  

  A recent wave of consumer class claims that challenge the visual accessibility of gift cards under the Americans with Disabilities Act in New York federal courts are facially deficient and should be susceptible to early dismissal, say attorneys at Akin Gump.

• The Coming Storm Of Biometric Privacy Laws: What To Expect

  

  While there are only three state biometric privacy laws on the books, there is a growing trend of states' introducing biometric privacy bills, many of which feature far-reaching private right of action provisions that would substantially increase the level of regulatory and litigation risk, say Jeffrey Rosenthal and David Oberly of Blank Rome.

• 4 Months After Kisor V. Wilkie, Auer Deference Survives

  

  Recent federal appellate and district court rulings suggest that the predicted radical curtailing of Auer deference in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Kisor v. Wilkie has not come to fruition, say Jeffrey Karp and Edward Mahaffey at Sullivan & Worcester.

• How Food Label Class Actions Fare In Calif. Vs. NY

  

  While food marketing class actions have declined in California and increased in New York over the past few years, an examination of Ninth and Second Circuit case law shows why New York appears to be a less favorable forum for food plaintiffs overall, say attorneys at FaegreBD.