Pennsylvania

Expert Analysis

• Secured Creditor Duties Ripe For High Court Consideration

  

  If certiorari is granted in the Seventh Circuit's Chicago v. Fulton case, the U.S. Supreme Court will have the opportunity to resolve the growing circuit split over the Bankruptcy Code’s automatic stay on creditors concerning turnover of a debtor’s impounded vehicle, say Alexandra Dugan and Elizabeth Brusa of Bradley Arant.

• 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.

• 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.

• Comcast Bias Suit A Bad Way To Make Law, Arguments Show

  

  Oral arguments before the U.S. Supreme Court in Comcast v. National Association of African American-Owned Media highlighted the case's flaws, including that it concerns the dismissal of a complaint that omitted a key fact and was tainted by dubious insinuations, says R. Scott Oswald of The Employment Law Group.

• 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.

• Can State Laws One-Up SEC’s Regulation Best Interest?

  

  Because the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has punted on whether Regulation Best Interest will preempt state broker-dealer conduct standards, state laws may face challenges under the doctrines of conflict preemption, as well as limitations from the federal securities laws, say attorneys at Williams & Jensen.

• FERC Orders Advance Grid Operators' Energy Storage Plans

  

  The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission recently approved two regional transmission organizations' energy storage proposals. But full integration of storage resources into the wholesale market will be complex — and ongoing litigation could force FERC to change its approach, say attorneys at Greenberg Traurig.

• Texas Could Take Page From Mass.'s Judicial Selection Book

  

  As Texas and other states review their judicial election processes, they would be well served by taking guidance from Massachusetts' Governor’s Council system, which protects the judiciary from the hazards of campaigning, says Richard Baker of New England Intellectual Property.

• Federal Laws Continue To Hinder State Sports Betting Trend

  

  Even as Colorado last week joined a growing wave of states legalizing sports betting, federal laws designed to assist states in gambling enforcement remain a roadblock to commonsense legislation and state cooperation in this area, says Dennis Ehling of Blank Rome.

• Series

  Judging A Book: McKeown Reviews 'Conversations With RBG'

  

  Reading Jeffrey Rosen’s "Conversations With RBG: Ruth Bader Ginsburg on Life, Love, Liberty, and Law" is like eavesdropping on the author and his subject while they discuss how the restrained judicial minimalist became the fiery leader of the opposition, says Ninth Circuit Judge M. Margaret McKeown.

• State Net

  States' Vaping Bans Face Legal Hurdles

  

  With a still-developing outbreak of lung injuries linked to vaping, and e-cigarette bans in some states already blocked by courts, regulatory maneuvering over this issue is likely to be a major policy concern in the months to come, says Dave Royse of State Net Capitol Journal.

• Developments In State Taxation Of Nonadmitted Insurance

  

  Not all states have updated their direct insurance procurement tax laws to take full advantage of the Nonadmitted and Reinsurance Reform Act, diminishing their ability to tax some insurance transactions, as highlighted by the New Jersey Tax Court's recent decision in Johnson & Johnson v. Director, Division of Taxation, say Zachary Lerner and Stephen Anastasia of Locke Lord.

• 2 Post-Kisor Rulings Show Auer Deference Isn’t Extinct

  

  Following the U.S. Supreme Court’s Kisor v. Wilkie opinion, which narrowed Auer deference, recent decisions in Pennsylvania and New York federal courts demonstrate that Auer remains intact, even though courts are more closely scrutinizing agencies’ interpretations of their own regulations, says Brent Owen at Squire Patton.