News & Legal Updates Archive

The Small Business Reorganization Act, passed in 2019 and first implemented in 2020, promised to provide small business owners with a more feasible, efficient, and less expensive way to restructure debt and move forward the operations of their business.

McDonald Hopkins' Jason Klein and Christopher Hawley provide insight on why legal due diligence is critical for PE buyers in an article for Crain's Cleveland Business.

Now that the Supreme Court has reinstated a stay on the OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard that required employers of 100 or more employees to implement a "vaccine or test" policy, employers must decide how to proceed - with policies they may have already rolled out, with confidential medical information they may have already collected, and with expectations from employees on both sides of the COVID-19 vaccine divide. McDonald Hopkins' Labor and Employment team has prepared guidance for employers on how to move forward with a continued focus on workplace safety and compliance. 

The vaccine mandate covering healthcare workers took the same journey to the Supreme Court as the broader OSHA ETS, but ended with a much different outcome - on January 13, the Supreme Court lifted the stay on the CMS emergency rule allowing for enforcement of the COVID-19 vaccination mandate for eligible staff at healthcare facilities that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. McDonald Hopkins' Labor and Employment team has prepared a refresher on the CMS vaccine mandate and guidance for covered healthcare employers on how to prepare for compliance.

For 12 years, McDonald Hopkins has conducted an annual Business Outlook Survey, attempting to determine how you, our clients and friends, view the business climate. We hope that you will share with us your views and help us identify challenges and opportunities for the coming year. 

The Patent Office of the USPTO recently announced a new limited Deferred Subject Matter Eligibility Response (DSMER) Pilot Program, which modifies Compact Prosecution for certain applications. McDonald Hopkins recommends applicants seriously consider accepting an invitation to participate in the DSMER Pilot Program.

As the USPTO moves to electronically granted patents, patent applicants should conisder filing contiuning applications at the same time as the issue fee is paid and all applicants should ensure they are enrolled in the USPTO's electronic notification system.

A New York court’s order vacating the order confirming the plan in the Purdue Pharma bankruptcy case not only unwinds a major piece of one of most pivotal bankruptcies in the United States this year, but also addresses a critical current issue in bankruptcy law – non-consensual third-party releases and the litigation surrounding these releases.

McDonald Hopkins member Tim Lowe urges FTC to avoid action limiting non-compete and restrictive covenants

David C. Strosnider has joined the Chicago office of McDonald Hopkins, adding more than 20 years of experience to the firm’s executive compensation and governance practice.

In the fourth and final co-authored blog post of this series, EPOCH Pi and McDonald Hopkins look at how environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters can be solidified during integration and beyond to ensure these considerations survive post-transaction.  

Employers continue to find themselves in the crosshairs of the vaccine mandates enforcement battle. The most recent salvo involves the December 28, 2021, decision by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to enforce its vaccine mandate for healthcare workers at covered entities in 25 states - while that same mandate remains stayed in 25 other states.    

Nine attorneys at McDonald Hopkins have been selected to the 2022 Ohio Super Lawyers list and seven McDonald Hopkins attorneys have been selected to the 2022 Ohio Rising Stars list.

The Illinois appellate court recently confirmed that a claim under the Illinois Biometric Information Privacy Act accrues each time an individual’s biometric information is scanned or captured. This opinion has wide-ranging implications for the defense of BIPA cases.

On December 17, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit lifted the nationwide stay of OSHA's Emergency Temporary Standard, clearing the way for OSHA to resume enforcement of the vaccination or test rule. Immediately following the decision, 27 business groups filed an appeal with the U.S. Supreme Court in an attempt to overturn the Sixth Circuit’s decision. Just days before many are headed off for a holiday break, employers are once again wondering – what now?

McDonald Hopkins member Elliot Raff featured in December 15 article on Law360

McDonald Hopkins member Carl Grassi's Tax Tips, "Early termination of the Employee Retention Credit and potential personal liability" featured in Crain's Cleveland Business on December 12, 2021.

Elliot Raff has joined the Chicago office of McDonald Hopkins, adding more than 30 years of experience to the firm’s tax and benefits team and executive compensation and governance practice, from a career that includes nearly a decade holding senior in-house legal positions at major U.S. companies and as a trial attorney for the U.S. Department of Labor.

McDonald Hopkins wishes you and yours peace and joy this holiday season, with gratitude and warm wishes for a happy and healthy new year!

The Michigan Court of Appeals recently reiterated a common sentiment among courts across jurisdictions – “non-competition agreements are only enforceable to the extent they are reasonable.”

As you prepare to grow your business through acquisition, make sure your business considers any cybersecurity risks. McDonald Hopkins' Data Privacy and Cybersecurity team and M&A team have prepared 4 key questions to ask as part of your business and legal due diligence prior to an acquisition. 

McDonald Hopkins member Teresa Metcalf Beasley has been selected to serve on the transition team for Cleveland Mayor-Elect Justin Bibb.

Following the tragedy at Surfside many in South Florida braced for long and protracted litigation. Recently, several survivors and the family members of those who died filed a class action lawsuit against the construction team developing Eighty Seven Park, a luxury condominium next door to Champlain Towers South. 

On December 2, 2021, the Sixth Circuit ruled in a nationwide data security breach putative class action lawsuit against e-commerce provider StockX, deciding that an arbitrator - not the federal district court – will decide whether parties to an arbitration agreement have to arbitrate their dispute unless a party specifically challenges the delegation clause in an arbitration agreement.  The Sixth Circuit’s ruling affirmed the district court’s order compelling arbitration and dismissing the case.

Franchisors doing business in Michigan may need to revisit the forum-selection provisions in their franchise agreements based on a recent opinion arising out of the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

This year, the FTC is beginning its periodic 10-year review of the FTC Business Opportunity Rule that was established in 2011, and changes may be to come in 2022.

Last summer, I stopped by Spice Catering Kitchen to meet Ben Bebenroth, founder of Spice Hospitality Group, Keep the Change Collective and other ventures which are headquartered at 5510 Tillman Avenue in Cleveland’s Detroit Shoreway neighborhood. Ben is a Cleveland pioneer in the food and restaurant industries, and I sought out his thinking on the effect of the pandemic on restaurants and their employees. In a wide ranging discussion on many topics, my takeaways from Ben included in the following observations:

A United States District Court Judge in Kentucky issued a decision temporarily blocking the enforcement of the Biden administration’s COVID-19 vaccination requirement for federal contractors and subcontractors on all covered contracts in Kentucky, Ohio, and Tennessee.

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 asks Tim Hilk, President and CEO of YMCA of Greater Cleveland, to offer his words on what he has learned about Northeast Ohio since coming here in 2016, as well as his perspective on the Y's greatest challenges reaching its strategic objectives. 

McDonald Hopkins Chicago Managing Member David Agay has been selected by Crain's Chicago Business to its 2021 list of Notable Gen X Leaders in Accounting, Consulting and Law.

On November 19, 2021, the federal government published a Final Rule imposing new cybersecurity incident notification obligations upon certain banks and bank service providers. The Rule requires banking organizations to alert their primary federal regulator as soon as possible and no later than 36 hours after determining a notifiable computer security incident has occurred. 

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

In the third co-authored blog post of this series, EPOCH Pi and McDonald Hopkins highlight how environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles have an increasingly prevalent impact on the negotiation of M&A transactions. 

Are you planning to sell, transfer, or acquire a federal contracting business? Michelle Kantor, chair of McDonald Hopkins' Federal and Local Government Contracting & Procurement practice group, shares valuable information to help you through the process.

In today’s competitive marketplace, a strong intellectual property strategy—including one or more among patent, trademark, trade secret and/or copyright protection—can lay an important foundation for not only maintaining critical market share, but also generating corporate value in the near and long term. Here are a few tips for how to properly and safely use — or not use — intellectual property on social media to avoid derailing these goals.

Almost two months after President Joe Biden called for quick action on COVID-19 vaccine or testing rules, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) released Emergency Temporary Standards (ETS) on November 4, 2021. With these new rules, employers with 100 or more employees have a tight timeframe to implement policies on vaccines, testing, and masking – assuming the rules are not halted by a legal challenge. McDonald Hopkins' Labor and Employment team has prepared an overview of the 490-page ETS to help employers understand the most critical details and answer the most important questions ahead of the upcoming deadlines for compliance.

McDonald Hopkins member Teresa Metcalf Beasley was among the 10 professionals who participated in the Technical Assistance Panel hosted by the Cleveland District Council of the Urban Land Institute on November 3-4 in conjunction with the City of Cleveland, Cleveland Metroparks, Port of Cleveland and Flats Forward.

The IRS announced cost of living adjustments affecting dollar limitations for pension plans and other retirement-related items for the 2022.

McDonald Hopkins LLC has been recognized among the nation’s “Best Law Firms” in U.S. News & World Report and Best Lawyers’ 2022 rankings. The firm is highlighted in 45 categories, including 23 rated as Metropolitan Tier 1 practice areas. McDonald Hopkins is also nationally ranked in six categories.

5 FAQs about gift cards, addressing whether gift cards have expiration dates, fees associated with the purchase of gift cards, what happens to unused gift cards, and what happens when the issuer goes out of business or files for bankruptcy.

Most companies know they can protect their inventions, brand names, logos and product packing through patents, trade secrets or trademark registration. But many draw a blank when it comes to securing the more abstract elements that make up their brands’ ethos and identity. Here are 3 suggestions for how to protect these intangibles. 

McDonald Hopkins would like to congratulate Richard Blake, Member and Chair of the firm’s Government Compliance, Investigations, and White Collar Defense Practice Group, and the entire defense team that worked to secure acquittals for our client following a 10-week trial in Cleveland. 

As employers await OSHA’s emergency temporary standard on vaccines or weekly testing, many are also anticipating a slew of religious exemption requests in response to vaccine mandates.  The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has clearly heard employers concerns and has now updated its COVID-19 technical assistance guidance to address the scope of the religious exemption under Title VII. 

Hannah Baker has joined McDonald Hopkins LLC as an associate in the firm’s Cleveland office. 

Neelraj “Raj” Arjune has joined McDonald Hopkins LLC as an associate in the firm’s Cleveland office.

In less than three months, the law regarding non-compete agreements will change – again. As addressed in our previous articles, numerous states have imposed regulations scrutinizing the level of restrictions placed upon employees in non-competition agreements in recent years.

In this article for Finishing and Coating magazine, McDonald Hopins' Hussein Jaward provides insight on obligations after a data security incident and the best ways to prevent or prepare for a cyber incident, as well as guidance on why taking as many preventative measures as possible will help your organization mitigate the effects of a cyber incident and recover quickly.

The second interim final rule implementing the No Surprises Act establishes procedures and timeframes for determining out-of-network payment rates, requires healthcare providers and facilities to inquire about an individual’s health coverage status and provide good faith cost estimates to uninsured and self-pay patients upon request, and establishes a patient-provider dispute resolution process for uninsured and self-pay patients.

The price of gas has more than doubled in the past year.  In the Northeast and Midwest, over a third of all electricity is generated from natural gas – consequently – we are starting to see electricity price shocks. 

In 2016, the Department of Justice Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission announced in its Antitrust Guidance for Human Resources Professionals that it intended to proceed criminally to enforce non-solicitation agreements between business competitors. In U.S. v. Surgical Care Affiliates and Scai Holdings, LLC (N.D. Tex. 2021), the DOJ finally carried through on that threat this year. Specifically, the DOJ filed its first-ever criminal indictment in federal district court, alleging that Surgical Care Affiliates, LLC (“SCA”) entered into an agreement with a competitor (“Company 1”) not to solicit each other’s senior-level employees, and that this agreement constituted an unlawful conspiracy in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Act.