-
-
Case Review
-
Recent Posts
Categories
Archives
- February 2012
- January 2012
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
Category Archives: Business Litigation
One particular type of lawsuit that has become prevalent in the construction industry in recent years concerns access for the disabled to buildings. Companies need to be aware of both federal law – particularly the 1992 Americans with Disabilities Act (1992) – and state law. California is one of the states where its own laws pertaining to handicapped and disabled persons’ access to buildings are more stringent than federal laws. Defendant companies can expect damages of up to $4,000 for each violation. Additionally, defendants that lose often have to pay attorney costs and fees for the plaintiff. A flood of these lawsuits over the past several years prompted California to make such changes in the law to make it more difficult to bring an ADA lawsuit, but the change only helps businesses avoid liability if they act beforehand. If they wait until they face a lawsuit, businesses face damages and…
Read More »
Here are three reasons companies need to have acceptable use policies to govern internet and computer usage amongst their employees: Companies should be ensuring that their employees are spending their time at work doing what the companies are paying them to do – work Employee activity on the internet can introduce viruses, spambots and other malware into the company, which spread rapidly and can cause substantial losses What employees are doing on company computers has numerous legal ramifications, including trade secrets issues, civil lawsuits and criminal charges Companies should take care to craft acceptable use policies that specifically prohibit the conduct outlined above. Other important parts of acceptable use policies include the following: Detail as many specific, prohibited acts as possible; if there are certain types of websites (for example, gambling or sexually explicit ones), list those specifically Prohibit the distribution of confidential company information (this past summer, the federal…
Read More »
Just a few years ago, researchers at the Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease in Reno, Nevada made a break through that received worldwide attention. They made a finding that linked chronic fatigue syndrome with the XMRV retrovirus. One of the lead researchers from that team, Judy Mikovits, now faces charges pertaining to her alleged theft of trade secrets from the Institute. The Institute fired Mikovits in September, and Mikovits left with notebooks, e-mails and data regarding her research. Some of it was her work, and some of it involved the work of others at the Institute. A Reno judge recently found for the Institute in its lawsuit against Mikovits for breach of contract and the misappropriation of trade secrets. After the Institute brought the lawsuit, Mikovits did turn over some of the materials she had taken, but not all of it. The Institute said that she kept most of…
Read More »