An interesting question evolved several months ago upon creation of the Federal and State run insurance exchanges. Would payments stemming from private insurance companies participating in the public exchanges and accepting public subsidies now become subject to the Federal Anti-Kickback law, prohibiting the remuneration of consideration in exchange for services, referrals and the like? Providers felt sheltered from the Anti-Kickback law as long as the payment came from either a cash or private payor because the Federal law only extended to payments from Federal health programs. However, this assumption was now somewhat in flux with the creation of the public […]

2013 On July 31, 2013, the California Court of Appeal placed employers on notice that they better control holiday party drinking. In Purton v. Marriott International, Inc. (2013) 218 Cal.App.4th 499, the court extended the already broad scope of the Respondeat Superior Doctrine to embrace an employee’s negligent conduct which occurred at a time the employee was no longer acting within the scope of his employment. The facts in the Marriott case are simple but tragic. In December 2009, The Marriott threw a holiday party for the staff at its Del Mar Hotel. The hotel managers planned to serve only […]

2013   Increasingly, California and other states are funding construction projects for public use through public-private partnerships. In these types of arrangements, the public entity provides the land and authorizes the private entity to design, build and, often times, operate the resulting completed public work. On a typical California public work of improvement, the direct contractor awarded a public works contract in excess of $25,000 is required to furnish surety bonds in an amount not less than 100% of the total contract to ensure that the project will be completed and that subcontractors and suppliers will be paid.  To entice […]

2013 Prior to the enactment of Senate Bill 462, California law (Labor Code §218.5) required a court to award attorneys’ fees and costs to the prevailing party in any action brought for the nonpayment of wages, fringe benefits, or health and welfare pension fund contributions. Thus, if an employer were to successfully defeat an employee’s action to recover unpaid wages, the employer would generally be entitled to recover its attorney’s fees from the employee. On August 26, 2013, Governor Jerry Brown signed Senate Bill 462 (sponsored by the California Employment Lawyers Association) amending Labor Code §218.5 to provide that when […]

In 2011, a California appellate decision (Kelley v. Conoco Companies) called into question a key element of proof required in sexual harassment claims. After Kelley, sexual harassment plaintiffs were faced with the prospect that in order to prevail on a claim, they must prove that the sexually harassing conduct was motivated by sexual desire. On Monday, August 12, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Senate Bill (SB) 292. SB 292 amends section 12940 of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act to address the Kelley decision and clarifies that a sexual harassment plaintiff is not required to prove, in all […]

JOHN CORENBAUM v. DWIGHT LAMPKIN  Court of Appeal Case # B236227  FILED: 4/30/13  May 7, 2013  California Court of Appeal in Corenbaum v Lampkin extends application of Hanif limitations to limit the admissibility of the full amount billed by a medical provider when a lesser amount is accepted as payment in full. The Court of Appeal issued its opinion in Corenbaum v Lampkin on April 30, 2013 interpreting and applying the California Supreme Court case of Howell v Hamilton Meats & Provision, Inc. (2011) 52 Cal. 4th 541. The Court in Corenbaum extended the principles of Hanif v. Housing Authority […]

2013   Last week, WellPoint, one of the nation’s largest insurers, settled a HIPAA violation case brought by the Department of Health and Human Services. In a self-reported violation, WellPoint was found to have exposed the personal information of over 612,000 individuals in what WellPoint termed a “lapse in its online security during a routine upgrade of its system.” The “lapse” occurred during a routine online upgrade of WellPoint’s tracking system. HHS said, in a statement, “This case sends an important message to HIPAA covered entities to take caution when implementing changes to their information systems, especially when those changes […]

2013   The United States Supreme Court (Atlantic Marine Construction Co., Inc., v. J-Crew Management, Inc., 12-929) recently agreed to review an important case regarding the enforceability of forum selection clauses in business contracts. The Atlantic Marine case, which will be heard and decided in the October 2013 term, will give the Justices an opportunity to sort out the meaning of two inconsistent prior rulings on the enforceability of forum selection clauses. Forum selection clauses are a common and important part of almost every business contract. These clauses provide businesses with some level of assurance regarding the location and court in which […]

That was the issue in the recent KWV, Incorporated v. United States (May 2, 2013) case.  Last year, the Veterans Administration (“VA”) sustained a competitor’s bid protest claiming that the owner of a Rhode Island service-disabled, veteran-owned business (“SDVOSB”) did not have enough control over day-to-day management of his business because he lived in Florida for part of the year.  Arguing that he managed the day-to-day business by telephone, e-mail and other electronic means and traveled to Rhode Island when necessary to attend meetings, the veteran business owner appealed to the United States Court of Federal Claims – and prevailed.  The court found […]

GGLTSW 19th Annual Review Preview California Construction Law Seminar (2013)  Topic: California Statutory Remedies Update – DOWNLOAD AND LISTEN TO 15 MIN PODCAST MP3 Speaker: Christopher E. Ng, Esq., Partner