- Blog PostThe United States District Court for the Northern District of Georgia issued a preliminary injunction prohibiting the state of Georgia from using direct recording electronic (DRE) and global election management (GEMS) voting systems after this year. These systems rely on technology widely regarded as being highly vulnerable to cyber threats.
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Nisha Patel has joined McDonald Hopkins as counsel in the Business Department’s Commercial Finance Group in the firm’s Chicago office.
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The California Consumer Privacy Act of 2018 will go into effect on Jan. 1, 2020, and it will impact businesses whether they are based in California or not.
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- AlertThe Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued a final rule amending the requirements that long-term care facilities must meet to participate Medicare and Medicaid programs.
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Lawyer of the Year selections Stephen M. Gross and Peter M. Bernhardt headline a list of 41 McDonald Hopkins LLC attorneys who have been selected by their peers for inclusion in Best Lawyers 2020.
- AlertIn order to protect patients and enhance quality of care, Florida statutes and regulations define the maximum permitted costs for copies of medical records, x-rays, and insurance information. However, the state of Florida also urges health care providers to give patients a copy of their medical records at no cost, especially when the patient has limited means.
- AlertMichigan recently updated the maximum amount health care providers can charge for copies of medical records.
- Blog PostWe have been following a legal challenge to the new process in Ohio for businesses to file their municipal net profits tax returns centrally with the Ohio Department of Taxation rather than with separate municipalities. On Aug. 6, 2019, the Ohio Supreme Court accepted an appeal taken by over 140 municipalities from a Franklin County Court of Appeals decision upholding the centralized process.
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- Blog PostFrom time to time, the energy and enthusiasm of a private foundation’s founder and the private foundation’s inspiring goals result in levels of public support that qualify the foundation to be treated as a public charity rather than a private foundation. When a foundation’s original request to the IRS to be treated as a private foundation appears to have been in error, the foundation may ask the IRS to retroactively reclassify it as a public charity back to its date of incorporation.
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Wednesday arrived with the Fed’s announcement of a 0.25% rate cut. The markets seemed to be disappointed by the meagerness of the cut.
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Ohio healthcare providers and employers should be on alert for a series of emerging phone scams specifically targeting healthcare providers with prescription authority and pharmacists. On Aug. 7, 2019, the State of Ohio Board of Pharmacy issued a formal alert to all Ohio healthcare providers. Scammers are calling prescribers and pharmacists stating that they are being investigated by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and that their DEA registration is going to be revoked or that they will be arrested if they do not pay a fine immediately by phone or fax.
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McDonald Hopkins LLC announced today that renowned litigator David L. Drechsler has joined the firm as a member in its Cleveland office.
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Michael J. Matasich has joined McDonald Hopkins LLC as a member in the Cleveland office, adding to the talent and experience in the firm’s Litigation Department. Prior to joining McDonald Hopkins, Matasich was a partner at Buckingham, Doolittle & Burroughs.
- Blog PostWith a little over a year until the next major U.S. election, states and the federal government are scrambling to prepare for cyber threats facing election systems.
- Blog PostThe governor of Louisiana has declared a state of emergency after three school districts experienced ransomware incidents. The declaration recognizes the ongoing nature of the emergency and threat to other public and private entities operating in Louisiana.
- NewsAs part of McDonald Hopkins’ upcoming 90th anniversary in 2020, the firm invites you to get to know Summitville Tiles, a 107-year-old family business that has reinvented itself over the years and thrived in an industry that has seen competitors perish and competition move overseas.
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Despite recognizing “moderate” economic growth and a “strong” labor market, the Federal Reserve lowered its benchmark rate by .25 percent on Wednesday while suggesting more cuts could be their way. The rate cut was the first since Dec. 16, 2008. Does it signal an opportunity for real estate investors or is it a move that will simply delay an unavoidable economic downturn? Our attorneys offer their insight and recommendations.
- AlertThe Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals decision in a recent case (In Re Pettit Oil Company) underscores the importance for secured lenders of properly perfecting a security interest in a borrower’s consigned goods if it makes sense under the circumstances. In Re Pettit Oil Company explored the issue of whether a security interest in consigned goods applies to the proceeds and accounts receivable of consigned goods sold.
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When most people think about estate planning, they usually focus on leaving their property to the right people, at the right time, and with proper restrictions. They will also often think about avoiding taxes. One of the most important components to good estate planning, however, is the protection of assets from creditors, allowing those assets to be passed on to heirs.
This blog contains Mike Witzke's top 10 tips for asset protection in estate planning.
- Blog PostThe United State Supreme Court issued its seminal decision in South Dakota v. Wayfair over a year ago now but the ramifications still continue to unfold in states across the nation. Now, 33 states and the District of Columbia have adopted marketplace collection laws" that require marketplace facilitators to collect and remit sales and use tax on their own sales directly to consumers and sales that third party vendors make to consumers using their platform.
- Blog PostAn overview of some of the major tax law changes included in the Ohio biennial operative budget bill, House Bill 166, that finall passed on July 17, 2019.
- Blog PostThe Fair Share Amendment - a contentious proposal in Massachusetts that would levy an additional four percent income tax on individual income exceeding $1 million - is back on the ballot, thanks to a majority of both houses of the Massachusetts Legislature.
- Blog PostJust a few short months after partnering with Disability Rights Ohio to expand its existing Pro Bono Program for Medicaid Appeals, McDonald Hopkins is celebrating a rewarding victory in which Columbus-based attorney David Ebersole helped a 17-year-old client with Cerebral Palsy receive the nursing care he desperately needed.
- Blog PostThe class action lawsuit filed by the US Women's National Soccer team alleging a significant pay disparity between them and the men’s national soccer team is a reminder for employers that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and related state civil rights agencies are vigilantly scrutinizing the equal pay issue as women, as well as other minorities protected by the civil rights laws, continue to increase their numbers across the entire footprint of the U.S. workforce.
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The key to preventing joint employer liability to is to ensure that only the employer controls the material aspects of the employment relationship
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Ohio is one of several states in the process of modernizing its notary public laws.
Back in December 2018, former Ohio Governor John Kasich signed Senate Bill 263, also known as the Notary Public Modernization Act, designed to allow notarization to catch up in an age when more and more documents are signed electronically
- AlertThe Ohio Supreme Court sided with Ohio construction contractors in its highly-anticipated decision issued on July 17, 2019, regarding Ohio’s construction statute of repose in New Riegel Local School Dist. Bd. of Edn. v. Buehrer Group Architecture & Eng., Inc., 2019-Ohio-2851.
- NewsMcDonald Hopkins' Carl Grassi provides insight on the key issues he thinks business owners need to factor into their approach to dealmaking.
- Blog PostEffective January 1, 2020, Texas has amended its data breach notification law to create new reporting requirements and deadlines.
- AlertThe Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division announced a landmark new policy to incentivize companies to develop robust antitrust compliance programs. For the first time, the Antitrust Division will now consider a company’s antitrust compliance program as a factor in evaluating whether or not to bring criminal charges against the company and its officers.
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- Blog PostThe U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision on June 21, 2019 that ruled a North Carolina tax levied on a trust violates the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.
- Blog PostBehind the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case South Dakota v. Wayfair that now allows states to levy sales and use taxes on remote sellers with “economic nexus” lurks a similar, yet distinct, issue with respect to state corporate net income taxes. Sales taxes are levied on transactions, in contrast to corporate net income taxes that are imposed for the privilege of doing business in a particular state. The difference may seem inconsequential at first blush but different factors matter when analyzing whether a business triggers nexus for state income tax purposes as opposed to sales and use tax purposes.
- Blog PostThe Registro Italiano Navale (RINA), a ship classification society, recently employed blockchain technology to develop a new, tamper-proof electronic logbook. Through RINA’s platform, the logbook is linked to a public blockchain which is time-stamped and immutable, so the data cannot be altered after the fact and is accessible to port authorities.
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States across the country continue to revise laws to limit the use of noncompete agreements. The trend started last year in Massachusetts, and continues now on both coasts. Critical amendments have been made to Washington, Maryland, and Oregon’s laws governing noncompete agreements, and organizations that employ individuals in these states should take the time now to ensure their agreements are in compliance.
- Blog PostRansomware is one of the most common types of data security incidents, and any and all industry sectors have been victimized by these attacks to varying degrees. Taking steps now to prepare a response strategy before any malware hits your system can save precious minutes (and dollars) when an attack hits. We have 5 tips on how to prepare.
- PodcastEpisode 31: Litigation finance field finds exciting new resource in Dispute Financing Library at NYU
On Episode 31 of MH Business Exchange, McDonald Hopkins attorney Marc Carmel, co-chair of the firm's Litigation Finance Group, joins host Mike Witzke to continue their exploration into the field of litigation finance. This time, they are joined by David Siffert, the Director of Research and Projects for the Center for Civil Justice at NY School of Law.
- Blog PostOn June 27, 2019, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis approved House Bill 369, which narrowed an exception to the Florida patient brokering statute and revised various statutory provisions relating to substance abuse services.
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Lifeway Foods CEO Julie Smolyansky joined McDonald Hopkins attorneys Christal Contini, Hayley Gladstone, and Benjamin Panter for a panel discussion on navigating growth as a female executive on Tuesday, June 11.
- Blog PostThe Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has adopted a North American Electric Reliability Corporation-proposed Reliability Standard that imposes new cybersecurity incident reporting requirements on responsible entities, including balancing authorities, distribution providers, generator operators, generator owners, reliability coordinators, transmission operators, and transmission owners. Whereas previously, responsible entities were only required to report cybersecurity incidents that have “compromised or disrupted one or more reliability tasks,” the new Reliability Standard requires responsible entities to also report incidents that “compromise, or attempt to compromise” certain systems.
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June 26, 2019 was McDonald Hopkins Day at Progressive Field as the firm and the Cleveland Indians celebrated their relationship in the Cleveland Indians Community Parters program.
- Blog PostOn June 14, 2019, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) issued final regulations allowing advanced practice registered nurses (APRNs) who satisfy training and education requirements to practice independently of physicians.
- NewsMcDonald Hopkins' Dominic Paluzzi comments on Microsoft Office 365's new cybersecurity features in an article for CIO Dive.
- NewsMcDonald Hopkins' Isabelle Bibet-Kalinyak is a guest on the MGMA Insights podcast, speaking along with Cameron Cox, III, Will Latham, and Neil Johnson, on the M&A landscape and discussing what physician-owned and other independent practices can do to remain independent.
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Raquel (Rocky) A. Rodriguez, John T. Metzger, Alan M. Burger, and Peter M. Bernhardt of McDonald Hopkins have been rated among the top attorneys in Florida while Christine Dimitriou was selected as a Rising Star in the Florida 2019 edition of Super Lawyers Magazine.
- Blog PostAs the budget process rolls on in the Ohio General Assembly, one of the main sticking points has become the Ohio business income tax deduction enacted just a few years ago. For tax years 2016 and onward, business owners could deduct the first $250,000 of “business income” earned in the ordinary course of their businesses and pay a flat 3 percent tax rate on income earned above that amount. The business deduction and other proposals to lower personal income tax rates have become a major issue as legislators work to enact the two-year budget bill.
