News & Legal Updates Archive

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.

A team of attorneys from McDonald Hopkins LLC spent the afternoon of Friday, May 13, in Chicago’s Daly Plaza riding stationary bikes to raise money for Cycle for Survival and its fight to defeat rare cancers.

McDonald Hopkins Member Scott Pollock was quoted in the April 20 edition of The American Lawyer in Justin Henry’s article “For Small and Midsize Firms, Threats of Data Breaches Loom Large.”

Sean Bowen has joined McDonald Hopkins as an associate in the firm’s Litigation Department, adding his experience to the firm’s national Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Practice Group. He is accredited by the International Association of Privacy Professionals as a Certified Information Privacy Professional for the United States, the gold standard certification for information privacy professionals.

Two recent cases highlight how seemingly common workplace situations can end up erupting into employment litigation when employers ignore the sensitivities raised by employees. Both cases involve birthday celebrations where the employee indicated they’d rather not engage. 

Gabriel (Sam) Groves, a former Department of Defense and United States Air Force contracting professional with over 30 years of federal contracts education, training, leadership, and management experience, has joined McDonald Hopkins as a paralegal in the firm’s Federal and Local Government Contracting & Procurement practice group.

Joshua Benrubi has joined the West Palm Beach office of McDonald Hopkins LLC as an associate in the Business Department and Real Estate Practice Group.

Patrick Campbell has joined the Cleveland office of McDonald Hopkins LLC as an associate in the Business Department and part of the firm’s national Healthcare Practice Group. As an American Society for Clinical Pathology board certified medical laboratory scientist, Patrick spent 10 years working for the Cleveland Clinic Foundation before the start of his legal career as a healthcare attorney.

In Illinois, health care facilities and practitioners shall be reimbursed for all reasonable expenses by the person requesting copies of records, including the costs of independent copy service companies, handling charges for processing the request, and the actual postage or shipping charge, if any, plus copy charges. The Illinois Code of Civil Procedure (735 ILCS 5/8-2001(d)) initially set the maximum fees that can be charged and the actual dollar amount is adjusted annually by the Comptroller for the State of Illinois.

McDonald Hopkins' David Kall, Cleveland Office Managing Member and Chair of the Tax and Benefits Practice Group, authored the April 24 edition of Crain's Cleveland Business' Tax Tips on "Potential risks and benefits of compensation in cryptocurrency."

McDonald Hopkins' Elliot Raff recently sat down with Curcio Webb to share his perspective on how the DOL Cybersecurity rules apply to retirement plan sponsors. 

Spencer Pollock was featured on Baltimore CBS affiliate WJZ-13, where he discussed the growing threat of cyber attacks, including the need for individuals and businesses to be more vigilant as the potential risk increases following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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 latest installment features Mark Abood, Senior Vice President and Principal for Colliers International in Cleveland. Mark is a specialist in real estate auctions, and discusses the nuances and benefits of both public and private entities listing real property for sale in this way.

McDonald Hopkins is proud to congratulate member and Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Co-Chair Dominic Paluzzi on his selection to Cybersecurity Docket's Incident Response 40 for 2022.

The Federal Trade Commission published an advanced notice of proposed rulemaking on March 11, 2022 that it is considering a rule to address deceptive or unfair marketing using earnings claims. The commission is soliciting written comment, data, and arguments concerning the need for such a rulemaking. Comments must be received on or before May 10, 2022.

The Panel of National Pathology Leaders – a non-profit think tank dedicated to advancing best practices in pathology and laboratory medicine – has released its annual workload relative value unit (wRVU) productivity report with data on wRVUs from over 1,400 pathologists.

Earlier last month, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued guidance relating to cryptocurrency as an investment option in participant directed 401(k) plans. It was the closest the DOL has ever come to saying “No way!” on a fiduciary issue.

The Departments of Health and Human Services, Labor and the Treasury (Departments) last week announced the opening of the federal Independent Dispute Resolution (IDR) system for initiating arbitration under the No Surprises Act process and updated their guidance to certified IDR entities for determining out-of-network payment amounts.

McDonald Hopkins LLC announced the opening of a new Baltimore office and the addition of member Spencer C. Pollock and associate Kelly Campbell to the firm’s growing national Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Practice Group. Pollock and Campbell will serve as the foundation of the firm’s increased presence on the East Coast. 

As part of the American Rescue Plan, Congress approved a $28.6 billion Restaurant Revitalization Fund (RRF), which provided federal grants to eligible foodservice and drinking establishments like restaurants, bars, caterers, breweries, taprooms, and tasting rooms. The RRF is administered by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). Under the RFF, restaurants and bars were eligible for economic aid equal to their pandemic-related revenue loss, with a cap of $10 million per business and $5 million per location. The funds were available for certain eligible uses, like payroll and rent. On July 5, 2021, the SBA announced that applicants had been approved to receive RFF grants in the aggregate amount of $28,574,979,472, and more than 278,000 submitted eligible applications representing over $72.2 billion in requested funds.

With the recent passage of the Cyber Incident Reporting for Critical Infrastructure Act of 2022 (“Reporting Act”), many within the cybersecurity profession are looking forward to a bright future. However, this future should not be blinding of the current obligations existing under the Defense Federal Acquisition Supplement (DFARS). These DFARS clauses already require contractors to incorporate the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Applying NIST SP 800-171, contractors are responsible in implementing three layers of Incident Response. Furthermore, a representative from the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) reminded contractors of some of their other current legal obligations.

Some proponents of ESOP strategies seem to tout them as the all-purpose solution to whatever ails a business owner – but sometimes, jargon obscures complexity and often results in confusion. This and subsequent articles will attempt to provide a clear explanation of what an ESOP is and how an ESOP may be used to achieve a variety of business objectives, noting potential pitfalls, risks, and solutions along the way.