News & Legal Updates Archive

Suzanne K. Ketler has joined McDonald Hopkins LLC as a member in its Cleveland office, where she will add her extensive experience as a trademark attorney to the firm’s Intellectual Property Department.

McDonald Hopkins attorney Carla Erskine has been selected for inclusion into The National Black Lawyers Top 40 Under 40 Black Lawyers in Florida.

Ohio Senate Bill 13, recently signed into law by Ohio Gov. Mike Dewine, reduces the statute of limitations for breach of written contract actions from eight years to six years, and for breach of oral contract actions from six years to four years.  

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) launched a splash page for the Shuttered Venue Operators Grant (SVOG) application portal in anticipation of opening applications for the relief program on Thursday, April 8, 2021. The SVOG program was established by the Economic Aid to Hard Hit Small Businesses, Nonprofits and Venues Act, which appropriated $15 billion for the program. The American Rescue Plan Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden on March 11, 2021, appropriated an additional $1.25 billion, bringing the SVOG program funding to a total of $16.25 billion, with more than $16 billion allocated for grants.

On March 27, President Biden signed the COVID-19 Bankruptcy Relief Extension Act into law. The Extension Act comes exactly one year after the CARES Act temporarily increased the debt limit for small businesses to be eligible to file for bankruptcy pursuant to subchapter 5 of chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code from $2,725,625 to $7,500,000 under the Small Business Reorganization Act of 2019 for one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.The Extension Act extends the temporary increase in the debt limit for one more year, as the economic crisis brought on by COVID-19 continues.

The American Rescue Plan contains a provision requiring a mandatory employer subsidy for group health plan continuation commonly called COBRA coverage. "Assistance eligible individuals" who are on COBRA or who elect COBRA will be treated as having their COBRA premium paid for a period of six months from April 1, 2021, through September 30, 2021. The American Rescue Plan effectively requires employers who are obligated to provide COBRA to totally subsidize COBRA premiums for these individuals for this period.

The trend of ransomware incidents targeting K-12 schools is expected to continue and potentially grow throughout 2021. McDonald Hopkins Data Privacy and Cybersecurity team has prepared five essential tips for schools to improve cybersecurity.

McDonald Hopkins Member and Chair of the firm's Public Law Practice Teresa Metcalf Beasley was appointed by the Downtown Cleveland Alliance (DCA) as Vice Chair of its Board of Directors.

A monthly segment from the McDonald Hopkins Public Law Group that asks local, regional and statewide leaders to pass along their wisdom on items of current and lasting interest. This seventh installment asks Lorain Mayor Jack Bradley to discuss the American Rescue Plan, rejuvenating the city's waterfront, and his hometown pride. 

The Securities and Exchange Commission recently announced the creation of a 22-member Climate and ESG Task Force in the Division of Enforcement. The SEC stated that increasing investor focus and reliance on environmental, social, and governance disclosures and investments served as a catalyst for the creation of this Task Force to allow the SEC to proactively identify ESG-related misconduct and to “better police the market, pursue misconduct, and protect investors.” 

Many franchise agreements include termination provisions that involve “strikes,” permitting franchisees to incur and cure a certain number of violations of the franchise agreement within a certain time period until they may be subject to termination. A court in Michigan recently addressed whether such provisions are valid and not unconscionable, and the opinion brings additional insight to both franchisees and franchisors who may be concerned about how these provisions play out in practice and align with state franchise laws.

McDonald Hopkins member David Drechsler was introduced on Monday, March 15, as one of the 30 board members of the American Cancer Society’s Ohio/West Virginia/Northern Kentucky Area.

Donielle F. Robinson has joined McDonald Hopkins LLC as an associate in the Intellectual Property Department of the firm’s Chicago office. Robinson’s practice primarily focuses on all aspects of trademark prosecution and litigation. 

The Butch Lewis Emergency Pension Plan Relief Act, which directs funds to assist troubled multi-employer pension plans, was included in the recently passed $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan - providing substantial relief to troubled pension plans and the hundreds of thousands of retirees enrolled in these plans. Learn more about how the Butch Lewis Act addresses recent multi-employer pension plan problems and the criteria plans must meet to receive the special financial assistance.

Following the U.S. Senate’s passage of the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan on March 6, the U.S. House of Representatives approved the final version of the new stimulus package on March 10. President Biden signed the stimulus package into law on Thursday, March 11, 2021. As part of the American Rescue Plan, Congress approved a $28.6 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF), which will provide federal grants to eligible foodservice and drinking establishments like restaurants, bars, caterers, breweries, taprooms, and tasting rooms.

McDonald Hopkins' Tax and Benefits team has prepared an overview of the tax provisions contained in the American Rescue Plan, the majority of which focus on providing relief to families earning less than $150,000 per year, and also extends enhanced unemployment benefits that were set to expire on March 14, 2021. 

Following the Senate’s passage of the American Rescue Plan by a razor-thin margin on Saturday, March 6, 2021, the House of Representatives approved the final version of the new stimulus package on March 10, 2021, despite multiple attempts to delay. The following provides a summary of various relevant provisions of the new legislation and what individuals, educational entities, and state and local governments can expect.

Stephen J. Rosenfeld has been named Co-Chair of the Business Litigation Practice Group of McDonald Hopkins LLC, where his more than a quarter-century of experience, including previous service as managing partner of a Chicago law firm, will help to guide the practice group into the future.

The beginning of a new year provides the perfect moment to reassess compliance with the evolving regulatory landscape. In an effort to make this process easier, McDonald Hopkins has identified six trending compliance topics about which we received questions over the past year and that we anticipate will be of great interest to our clients in this new year.

McDonald Hopkins member Ryan Neumeyer was quoted in Crains Cleveland Business as part of Jeremy Nobile's piece "Minimum wage hike is overdue, but Northeast Ohio employers worry about impact."

Jonathan M. Fergus has joined McDonald Hopkins LLC as an associate in the Intellectual Property Department of the firm’s Cleveland office. 

Jordan Koss and Kenneth Rosenzweig met with more than 50 students from New York City's Cardozo School of Law on  Monday, March 1 to discuss what it takes to be a startup lawyer.

As has been widely reported, Lady Gaga’s dog walker was ambushed while walking two of her French bulldogs in Hollywood, California. With the dogs safely returned and the dog walker on the mend, we can now examine the employment law issues lurking in the background of this tale.

In recent years, Illinois’ costly and strict Biometric Information Privacy Act (“BIPA”), 740 ILCS § 14/1 et seq., has been used by the plaintiffs’ class action bar in Illinois and around the country to extract significant monetary settlements from unwary companies, causing substantial disruption to their businesses. Maryland legislators recently introduced a biometric information privacy law that echoes BIPA. The proposed law, titled “Commercial Law – Consumer Protection – Biometric Identifiers and Biometric Information Privacy,” would become only the second in the country to provide a private right of action to plaintiffs and allow successful litigants to recover attorneys’ fees and litigation costs.

On February 25, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Equality Act for a second time in recent years. Among other things, the Equality Act amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to expressly prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity.

Businesses and other organizations are subject to privacy requirements that apply to all industries, such as data breach notification laws, data destruction laws, and biometric information privacy laws. In recent months and years, however, a new trend has emerged: many legislatures are enacting, and regulators are implementing, additional industry-specific privacy laws and regulations, often rendering organizations liable to both privacy laws of general applicability and the additional industry-specific laws.

Understanding the scope of the covenants in a loan agreement and how they are impacted by a PPP Loan is essential to a company’s ability to comply with each of their specific requirements.  A borrower should take the time to assess its ability to comply with its loan covenants as part of the PPP Loan process.  

Under President Joe Biden’s recent executive order, OSHA is set on a much more aggressive path to promulgate workplace standards related to COVID-19 and aggressively pursue violations. As such, employers can expect to see a significant increase in workplace safety inspections and ultimately citations. Of particular interest to the agency are the healthcare, hospice, assisted living and industrial workplaces. 

Cross is now the third attorney in the fast-growing Startup-VC group. She has prior experience working on corporate matters as a legal intern at Navistar Inc., and as a legal fellow for U.S. Senator Tammy Duckworth (IL). Cross will bring a demonstrated focus on tech startup and well-rounded experience to the firm.

A monthly segment from the McDonald Hopkins Public Law Group that asks local, regional and statewide leaders to pass along their wisdom on items of current and lasting interest. This sixth installment asks Cleveland Development Advisors President Yvette Ittu to discuss how CDA benefits Cleveland businesses and neighborhoods and its current challenges.

The laws surrounding noncompete agreements vary state by state, and are rapidly changing. Most recently, Washington, D.C. has banned all noncompete agreements, both during and after employment. Learn more about noncompete agreements and what you can still do to protect your company's business assets. 

One of the many unanticipated consequences of the COVID-19 crisis is a virtual explosion in fraudulent unemployment claims that individuals, employers and states are now dealing with across the country. While unemployment fraud is not new, the availability of enhanced benefits through the CARES Act and other payment programs has led to skyrocketing false claims using stolen identity information.

Furman comes to McDonald Hopkins with more than five years of experience in numerous substantive areas of litigation, including wrongful death, medical malpractice, premises liability, and general negligence.

Despite concern over the continued and lasting impact of COVID-19, there is cautious optimism that business conditions will improve in the months ahead, according to the results of McDonald Hopkins’ 11th annual Business Outlook Survey.

Ross comes to McDonald Hopkins with a broad background representing employers in all aspects of labor and employment law. Her experience includes negotiating collective bargaining agreements, defending employers in grievance arbitrations and counseling employers. 

In a recent release (IR-2021-27), the IRS explained how corporations may qualify for a new 100% limit for non-COVID-19 disaster relief contributions made to certain charitable organizations, and reminded taxpayers of the February 25, 2021, deadline for making such contributions. The IRS also relaxed certain recordkeeping requirements for corporations qualifying for the increased limit.

In Episode 26, Lindsay Griffiths and Jim Giszczak talk about the issues facing firms and companies in cybersecurity and data privacy during the pandemic, why they should be even more of a priority now, and some practical tips to take away.

The Executive Budget is intended to assist the state of Ohio and its citizens recover from the economic and financial hardships faced during the COVID-19 pandemic by focusing on economic growth and vitality. It aims to invest in Ohio’s hardest hit communities, small businesses, families and education.

Cleveland State University recently joined Case Western Reserve University, along with the Cleveland Clinic, University Hospitals and the MetroHealth System, in announcing the creation of the Cleveland Innovation District, a historic partnership focused on making Northeast Ohio and the state more attractive to business and more competitive regionally, nationally and globally in the growing healthcare and IT sectors.

The Emergency Coronavirus Relief Act of 2020 includes $15 billion to support live entertainment performances, museums and movie theaters through the Grants for Shuttered Venue Operators program. More commonly known as “Save Our Stages,” the program brings welcome and needed relief to some of the businesses most hard hit by the need for social distancing in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and the resulting government orders that closed or limited the operations of many of these businesses for most of 2020 and will keep them closed for some time.

In response to President Biden’s Executive Order, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued Guidance on Mitigating and Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in the Workplace, outlining a recommended course of action for employers to further combat COVID-19.

The American Land Title Association and National Society of Professional Surveyors has issued updated Minimum Standard Detail Requirements for ALTA/NSPS Land Title Surveys.

This 10^th edition to the ALTA/NSPS Minimum Standard Detail Requirements, which was passed unanimously by the joint ALTA/NSPS committee, will go into effect for all contracts executed from and after February 23, 2021.

President Biden’s administration and a 50/50 Senate will impact the franchise industry in a number of significant ways. Biden’s push to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour faces significant hurdles in Congress because of strong opposition from Republicans.

Restrictive covenants are never a one-size-fits-all, especially when it comes to physicians. If you employ physicians, review your employment agreements to make certain that the restrictive covenants are not overly broad and narrowly protect your interests should a physician leave the practice.

2020 redefined the words challenging, stressful and hope for all of us.

During these challenging times, we have worked hard to take care of our clients. We came into 2020 with an outstanding data privacy and cybersecurity team. But, as the risks our clients face have continued to grow, we are growing our team so that we can continue to provide the highest level of service. To that end, we are pleased to introduce the following additions to our data privacy team.

Four attorneys at McDonald Hopkins have been recognized on the Illinois Super Lawyers list as being among the top attorneys in Illinois for 2021. Another three McDonald Hopkins attorneys were recognized on the list of Illinois Rising Stars.

Meadows served as a corporate associate at a large law firm in Columbus.  Meadows prepared and negotiated a variety of agreements, including leases, purchase and sale agreements, credit and security agreements and non-disclosure agreements. Additionally, he advised businesses in all aspects of the Paycheck Protection Program, including eligibility, covered costs and forgiveness.

A monthly segment from the McDonald Hopkins Public Law Group that asks local, regional and statewide leaders to pass along their wisdom on items of current and lasting interest. This fifth installment asks Elyria Mayor Frank Whitfield to discuss plans, challenges, opportunities and concerns for his city.

Mowad’s experience includes the Office of the Ohio Attorney General’s Executive Agencies Section where her work included representing executive officials, departments, agencies, and boards at all stages of civil litigation in trial and appellate proceedings, in state and federal court, and in administrative tribunals.

Governor DeWine signed into law the Ohio Employment Law Uniformity Act, HB 352. This was good news for employers as the new law simplifies and clarifies Ohio’s civil rights anti-discrimination laws.