News & Legal Updates Archive

Last week the controversial Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act (FAST Act) was signed into law. The Act creates a government-appointed 10-person council to set wages as high as $22 an hour at fast food chains with more than 100 units nationwide. The council, which will include fast food workers, will also set working conditions and address alleged worker abuses that advocates say soared during the pandemic.

On August 31, 2022, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit revived a class action lawsuit filed against Burger King in which certain former employees allege violations of antitrust laws related to no-poach provisions formerly contained in Burger King’s franchise agreement.

While companies that operate as part of the Defense Industrial Base wait for the implementation of Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification, it is still important that they monitor current cybersecurity obligations and compliance requirements. 

Michelle Kantor has been recognized among 2022's Notable Women in Law by Crain's Chicago Business. 

Private equity firms are recognizing the increased societal focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues.  Like many for-profit organizations, private equity firms often struggle with what appears to be conflicting goals: generating returns for their investors while achieving broader ESG goals of their stakeholders.

Part 4 in the series "The Wild West of name, image, and likeness." The NCAA's decision a year ago to allow student-athletes throughout the country to profit from their name, image, and likeness, proved to be just the tip of the iceberg. A handful of lawsuits are slowly making their way through the courts with potential to further alter the landscape of collegiate athletics – and employment law. 

McDonald Hopkins would like to congratulate our client Miami-Luken on the U.S. Department of Justice’s decision to dismiss its criminal indictment, which charged the company for violation of the Controlled Substances Act.

Sanjana Palla has joined McDonald Hopkins LLC in Chicago as an associate in the Litigation Department, adding her experience to the firm’s national Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Practice Group.  

Erika Apelis has joined the Cleveland office of McDonald Hopkins LLC as Counsel in the Business Department, adding her experience to the firm’s Estate Planning and Probate team. 

Jacob Debus has joined McDonald Hopkins LLC in Cleveland as an associate in the Business Department.

The Urban Land Institute Cleveland Technical Assistance Panel, co-chaired by McDonald Hopkins attorney Kirstyn Wildey, recently hosted an event to celebrate the release of its report containing recommendations and thoughts on bulkhead management practices and their impact on economic development in the Cuyahoga River Valley.

Forty-three attorneys at McDonald Hopkins have been selected by their peers for inclusion in the 2023 edition of The Best Lawyers in America. Four of those attorneys – Peter Bernhardt, James Boutrous, Antoinette Pilzner, and Franklin Malemud – have also been named 2023 Best Lawyers "Lawyer of the Year" award winners.

Laura Wallerstein's move to McDonald Hopkins was featured on FranchiseWire in a August 12 article as part of the publication's HireWire series.

As one of the few large nations without national privacy legislation, protecting consumers’ personal information has fallen squarely on the states, until now. The American Data Privacy and Protection Act (ADPPA), introduced as H.R. 8152 in June, advanced out of a House panel with a 53-2 vote on July 20, 2022. The ADPPA follows on the privacy legislation and regulations that have come before, specifically on the privacy principles, data collection prohibitions, and notice and consent requirements as laid out in the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), as well as the CCPA and similar state laws

Eight attorneys at McDonald Hopkins have been selected to the 2022 Michigan Super Lawyers list and one McDonald Hopkins attorney has been selected to the 2022 Michigan Rising Stars list.

Cybersecurity, data security, and privacy laws are the fastest moving and evolving regulations in the country. Don’t blink, or you will miss an amendment or change existing law. The New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) demonstrated just that in a recent draft amendment to its already strict cybersecurity law.

Tanjeet Dhillon has joined the Cleveland office of McDonald Hopkins as an associate in the Litigation Department, adding her experience to the firm’s commercial litigation team.

McDonald Hopkins' executive compensation and benefits attorney Elliot Raff was quoted in Law360's July 22 article entitled "4 Cybersecurity Breach Suits Benefits Lawyers Should Watch."

An experienced commercial real estate and franchise law attorney, Laura L. Wallerstein has joined the offices of McDonald Hopkins LLC as a Member, adding her expertise to the Business Department and Real Estate practice.

The Supreme Court’s recent opinion in the West Virginia v. EPA case is poised to be a landmark decision in administrative law, as it clarifies the scope of regulatory agencies’ power to address issues of major political or economic significance. 

As 18-year-olds across the country prepare to take their first steps into adult life – whether attending college, university, vocational training program, entering the workforce, or taking a gap year – parents of those now-adult-children should be aware there are important legal documents that should be in place to ensure they can continue to be there for their child if needed.

The International Franchise Association (IFA) and FRANdata, a franchise market research company, are conducting a first-of-its-kind survey for franchisees on the impact of inflationary pressures on franchised businesses

Not only are state legislatures targeting noncompete agreements by enacting new laws seemingly weekly, state attorney generals continue to investigate the unfair use of restrictive covenants.

Laws regarding restrictive covenants continue to change quickly across the country.

An experienced trial attorney and arbitrator with real-world experience, Sanford Watson has joined the Cleveland office of McDonald Hopkins LLC as a Member, adding his expertise to the Litigation Department and Energy practice.  

School may be out for the summer, but ransomware attacks continue to hit educational institutions well into 2022. Similar to years past, K-12 school districts along with colleges and universities continue to fall victim to ransomware, facing disruption to day-to-day business operations, cancelled classes, potential exposure of student data and the hefty costs that go with.

Employers who conduct on-site COVID-19 testing will want to evaluate their current practices to ensure that they are consistent with the EEOC’s updated guidance.

The most recent U.S. Census Report estimated government construction spending at $343.8 billion.  These contracts are a valuable and steady source of income for many construction contractors.  With new opportunity, comes new risks. Many organizations are falling behind with their cybersecurity procedures. In order to be eligible for these profitable projects, construction companies must comply with all cybersecurity regulations.

Daniel Saltzman has joined the Chicago office of McDonald Hopkins LLC as an Associate in the Business Department and growing Executive Compensation and Governance Practice Group.

The Illinois legislature has been busy over the last few months amending and fine-tuning several existing employment laws. As a result, employers in Illinois will now find themselves busy in the coming months updating policies and practices to comply with the new requirements. This roundup summarizes four recent amendments to Illinois employment laws and an amendment to the sexual harassment provisions in the Chicago Human Rights Ordinance.

Donald Brewer has joined the Detroit office of McDonald Hopkins LLC as an Associate in the Litigation Department, where he will add his experience to the firm’s national Data Privacy and Cybersecurity team.

Daniel Borek has joined the Chicago office of McDonald Hopkins LLC as Counsel in the Business Department, where he will add his experience in both corporate and real estate transactions to the firm’s Executive Compensation and Governance team.

McDonald Hopkins members Peter M. Bernhardt and John T. Metzger have been recognized by Florida Super Lawyers as among the top attorneys in Florida. No more than five percent of the lawyers in the state are selected by Super Lawyers.

McDonald Hopkins has women attorneys and professionals in every office, department, practice group and level of leadership. This Spotlight Series shines a light on those attorneys and professionals, giving everyone at the Firm the opportunity to learn more about them and their practice.

An ESOP is a paradox – an ERISA-covered tax-qualified retirement plan, which benefits employees, designed to invest primarily in securities of the ESOP sponsor, which benefits the sponsor. Given this dual nature, there are many ERISA risks. Giving short shrift to these issues can lead to significant liability. This article provides a framework for navigating these perilous waters and mitigating risk.

The world was turned upside down in 2020, and the practice of medicine changed overnight as providers were forced to adapt to the complexities and risks presented by the COVID pandemic. Concern for staff and patient exposure to the virus caused many providers to jump feet first into the telehealth space with little or no previous experience – making them easy targets for cybersecurity attacks.

This article originally appeared in Crain's Chicago Business on June 13, 2022.

Recent reports from both government agencies and human resources experts confirm what employers already know: challenging times are taking a toll on employees’ mental health. With employers focused on how to properly address these issues in the workplace, the DOL has stepped in with two new guidance documents.

As the cyber threat landscape evolves, North Carolina has paved the way as the first U.S. state to outlaw ransom negotiations. The law prohibits state agencies and local government entities that have been the victim of a ransomware attack from paying or even communicating with the threat actor.

The Federal Trade Commission has issued new guidance explicitly stating it now interprets the Federal Trade Commission Act as imposing consumer data breach notification obligations. Notably, unlike state data breach notification laws already in effect, the guidance does not specify particular data points that would trigger a notification obligation if compromised. Rather, the guidance imposes notification obligations when a compromise of any data would “increase the likelihood that affected parties will suffer harm.” 

The Equal Employment Opportunities Commission, recently released guidance addressing the application of AI to the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA). The guidance defines three key terms and provides various examples where AI comes into play for employment decisions.

McDonald Hopkins is pleased to announce the attorneys and practice areas that have been recognized by Chambers USA 2022.

Former Cleveland Municipal Court judge Nathan J. Hudak has joined the Cleveland office of McDonald Hopkins as Counsel in the Public Law Practice Group.

McDonald Hopkins associate Kathleen Stearns has been sworn in as president of the Women Lawyers Association of Michigan for the Wayne Region. 

Based on the Supreme Court’s ruling in a recent case, detailed below, parties to litigation looking to enforce arbitration provisions in contracts must not sit on their hands and wait for months prior to seeking a stay of litigation to compel arbitration. If a party waits too long, it may waive its right to compel arbitration even if the other party to the litigation is not prejudiced by the delay. 

Connecticut is the latest state to adopt data privacy measures aimed at giving consumers more control over their personally identifiable information. Effective July 1, 2023, businesses that operate in Connecticut or collect data from Connecticut residents will be required to adhere to certain data privacy principles when collecting personal information, to give consumers specific rights over the collection and use of their information, and to establish mechanisms and procedures for consumers to exercise those rights.  

On May 19, 2022, the Senate declined to advance the Relief for Restaurants Act, which would have provide $42 billion in relief to foodservice businesses that originally applied for the Restaurant Revitalization Fund, and an additional $13 billion to other businesses that were hit hard during the pandemic, including live event venues, gyms, and sports teams.

The McDonald Hopkins Public Law Practice Group presents "5 Questions with" Tom Bullock, Executive Director of the Citizens Utility Board of Ohio (CUB-OH).

Christine Czuprynski and Kate Jarrett's article, "New Ariz. Cyberattack Info Sharing May Be Worth The Burden," published in Law360 on May 19.

The Space Generation Advisory Council has announced the appointment of McDonald Hopkins Associate Stephen Robinson as Co-Lead Counsel for the global, non-governmental, non-profit organization.

Alexander Koenig has joined McDonald Hopkins as an associate in the firm’s Business Department, adding his experience to the firm’s Commercial Finance team.