IRS announces guidance on same sex marriage and retirement plans
On April 4, 2014, the IRS issued long awaited guidance on the application of the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Windsor on June 26, 2013, concerning same sex marriage to qualified...
Eyewitness Insights - U.S. Supreme Court on Patentability of Computer Implemented Methods
Stephen J. Weyer In the case of Alice Corp. v. CLS Bank Int’l, the U.S. Supreme Court is once again tasked with the challenge of providing clarity as to what inventive “things” are eligible for...
Georgia Court of Appeals Affirms Interlocutory Injunction - CRE v. First Citizens Bank of Georgia
Banks which have been assigned the lead position in a participated loan from the FDIC as Receiver for a failed bank have traditionally relied upon 12 U.S.C. § 1821(e)(13) to protect against ipso facto...
Recent Opinion Affirms Contractor Reliance on Owner-Provided Geotechnical Information
In Metcalf Construction Company v. United States, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit added further support for contractors’ reliance on owner-provided geotechnical data. 2014 U.S. App. LEXIS 2515, 2014 WL...
Pay-If-Paid Not Easily Waived
Pay-if-paid clauses in construction contracts are intended to shift the risk of owner nonpayment for a subcontractor’s work to the subcontractor, so that the general contractor is not obligated to pay if he is...
President Obama signs Executive Order to Increase Minimum Wage for Federal Contractors
President Obama has issued two Executive Orders that will have the effect of increasing workers’ wages and which will affect business owners throughout the country. On February 12, 2014, President Obama signed an Executive...
Tennessee and Kentucky Draft Legislation Targeting Patent Trolls
The Tennessee and Kentucky legislatures have proposed bills targeting patent trolls and others who make bad-faith assertions of patent infringement. Patent assertion entities, commonly referred to as “patent trolls,” are those who own patents...
Another Delay for the Affordable Care Act Employer Mandate
On February 10, 2014, the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued final regulations that again change the Employer Shared Responsibility, or employer mandate, provisions regarding employee health coverage...