News & Legal Updates Archive

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) recently announced its settlement with an Indiana radiation oncology group under the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy and Security Rules for failure to conduct an enterprise-wide risk analysis and adopt written policies on the removal of electronic media.

The Federal Communications Commission ruling this summer on the Telephone Consumer Protection Act had direct implications for many health care institutions – and recent case law continues to define the guidance with respect to health care related debt collection.

A recent Ohio Supreme Court ruling involving a Ganley Chevrolet dealership could change the way class-action cases are handled in Ohio. Instead of all customers who bought cars under the terms in question automatically becoming part of the class-action suit, the court ruled last month that each customer has to show they suffered damages.

Estate Planning Alert

On Aug. 27, 2015, the Ohio Supreme Court established in Felix v. Ganley Chevrolet, Inc., Slip Opinion No. 2015-Ohio-3430 that all members of a plaintiff class alleging violations of the Ohio Consumer Sales Practices Act (OCSPA) must have suffered injury as a result of the conduct challenged in a suit under the act.

Christopher W. Capcara and Jason M. Klein have joined the Business Department at McDonald Hopkins LLC, a business advisory and advocacy law firm. Based in the firm’s Cleveland office, Capcara and Klein will help clients navigate the highly complex area of surface and mineral title law, which requires a sophisticated understanding of numerous regulations and processes.

Christopher B. Hopkins has been elected a member at McDonald Hopkins LLC, a business advisory and advocacy law firm with an 85-year history. Based in the firm’s West Palm Beach office, Hopkins is joining McDonald Hopkins’ national Litigation department.

As businesses collect more personal and sensitive customer and commercial data, they become bigger targets for data breaches. And what many board members don’t realize is that in the face of a cyber attack, they can find themselves the target of shareholder derivative action or regulatory enforcement action. Cybersecurity needs to be looked at as more than an IT issue – it’s a corporate strategy issue that affects everyone at a business.

Aug. 31, 2015, is when premiums from private state fund employers are due for prospective – rather than retrospective – workers’ compensation coverage.

Starting Oct. 1, 2015, credit card companies and banks will enforce new terms in their acceptance guidelines, commonly known as liability shift provisions.

Most business owners operate their businesses as corporations or other separate business entities in large part to protect their personal assets from liabilities of the business. Many owners are surprised, therefore, to find that the IRS can hold business owners responsible for the tax liabilities of the business under certain circumstances. A recent tax court case found not only that shareholders were liable for tax debts of the business, but that several minority shareholders who had nothing to do with the financial fraud relating to the unpaid tax debts were liable for the taxes.