News & Legal Updates Archive

While the majority of international attention has focused on cryptocurrencies and the associated rise in value of these assets, distributed ledger networks, the technology responsible for and supporting the development of cryptocurrencies, has matured, leading to an influx of new applications across a wide variety of industries

In a landmark decision on June 27, 2018, the Supreme Court by a 5-4 margin overruled a thirty-year precedent requiring public employees to pay “agency fees” for non-union member individuals. What does this mean for the future? Detroit Free Press writer John Gallagher, who is also a union president for the Newspaper Guild of Detroit, offers the fascinating perspective on “why unions will survive” the court’s decision. Detroit-based McDonald Hopkins attorneys James Boutrous, Miriam Rosen, and David Schelberg have been considering how the decision will impact their clients and other organizations, public and private.

An irrevocable trust is a trust with terms and provisions that cannot be changed. However, under certain circumstances, changes to an irrevocable trust can be made and a trust can even be terminated.

On April 23, 2018, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals vacated the Trump administration’s indefinite delay of higher penalties for automakers that don’t meet certain fuel efficiency standards

On April 13, 2018, U.S. EPA published a notice containing information related to the EPA’s Significant New Alternatives Policy program which identifies acceptable and unacceptable substitutes for ozone depleting substances.

The DOJ Antitrust Division’s Spring Update touts a number of federal enforcement priorities that could impact your business.

Less than a month after unanimously passing an ordinance that would have imposed a per-employee head tax on large companies, the Seattle City Council voted on June 12 to repeal the tax. The tax was meant to generate roughly $47 million a year to fund affordable housing and homeless services.

. The call for guidance from the SEC has increased through the growing number of industries utilizing distributed ledger technology. Now, the SEC has begun to respond, including recent indications that the two largest cryptocurrencies in circulation, bitcoin and ether, do not qualify as securities.

The Ohio Supreme Court recently weighed in on the manufacturing exemption for sales and use taxation while the General Assembly elaborated upon an exemption for equipment used to produce oil and gas.

The U.S. Supreme Court today overturned over 50 years of its own precedent regarding state authority to collect sales tax from online merchants. In a divided 5-4 decision, the court in South Dakota v. Wayfair held that South Dakota may require remote sellers to collect sales tax from their consumers whether or not they have a physical presence in the state.

After years of decisions by a National Labor Relations Board that seemed to have lost sight of how work rules impact the practical realities of the workplace, employers recently received some relief.

Effective July 1, 2018, a new provision of the Florida Insurance Code allows physicians, chiropractors, nurse practitioners and primary care group practices to furnish primary care services for a flat monthly fee directly to their patients or to employee groups and establishes parameters for direct primary care agreements

The court found that the arbitrator’s award of rescinding franchise agreement because the franchisor had an incomplete disclosure statement was consistent with established defined legal principles. As such, the court refused to apply the manifestly unjust doctrine to vacate the award.

The increase in the cash required to service existing tax-free bond obligations, could have a significant impact on the ability of already cash-starved charities to provide the services that comprise their missions

Everyone in the commercial real estate industry needs to be ready and look for ways blockchain will quite soon morph into our everyday world.

Texas District Court issues temporary injunction preventing CMS from recouping overpayments

We have been following legislation in the Ohio General Assembly that would modify the test for determining whether individuals reside in Ohio for state income tax purposes. The bill, House Bill 292, would also reinstate the direct right of appeal from the Board of Tax Appeals to the Ohio Supreme Court for many cases, which was eliminated last year.

In the wake of the #MeToo movement, we have all heard the shocking stories of systematic and persistent sexual harassment in the workplace. But sometimes, the lines are not so clear.

Last year we reported on legal challenges to a nine percent “amusement” tax that the city of Chicago imposes on consumers and requires service providers to collect and remit.

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service recently issued a notice stating they intend to address state efforts to circumvent the new federal limit on individual deductions for state and local taxes (SALT).

David H. Gunning II has been elected as the chair of the Cleveland State University Board of Trustees. Gunning has been on the Board since 2012 and previously served as treasurer.

With the rapid rise of solar energy as a major force in a market which, in most states, has been subject to stringent regulation, state-sanctioned monopolies, and constant interaction between government policy and the energy supply, states are searching for their own Goldilocks Zones.

As solar panel prices plunge and collecting power from the sun increasingly makes both economic and environmental sense, despite the tariffs we wrote about in February, most of us are seeing solar panels on rooftops of homes and commercial buildings with exponentially increasing frequency. Many of us (yes, even in Cleveland), see large arrays of ground-mounted panels which generate power on the scale of a small utility power plant, at least occasionally.

Meet Richard Dovere of C2 Energy Capital.

Meet Michael Heise of American Electric Power.

Meet Steve Chun of DEPCOM Power

At the beginning of May, Pew Charitable Trusts issued a report revealing that by the end of 2017, 34 states, “the most yet,” were taking in more tax revenue than before the recession, accounting for inflation. The great recession started in December 2007.

The Alaska Department of Revenue has a division devoted entirely to management of the state’s Permanent Fund Dividend. Its purpose is “assuring that all eligible Alaskans receive timely dividends; fraud is prosecuted; and all internal and external stakeholders are treated with respect.”

Last December, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments in two consolidated lawsuits, Murphy v. National Collegiate Athletic Association and New Jersey Thoroughbred Horsemen’s Association, Inc. v. National Collegiate Athletic Association, the details of which we explained at the time.

SALT Cap Enforcement May Mean Years Of Tax Limbo

Taxpayers with undisclosed foreign assets should review options now

McDonald Hopkins represented the seller

Iconic solar project in Cuyahoga County

Regardless of who a records request is from – federal or commercial payor – it is important for a provider to get an attorney involved as soon as it receives a medical records request from either a UPIC or commercial payor.