For the Public

biases

Biased? Not Me!: Avoiding Unconscious Bias During the Hiring Process

In an ideal world, an employer would evaluate candidates based solely on objective, measurable criteria without consideration of any matter not related to job performance. In reality, many other factors come into play – including biases that the hiring manager is wholly unaware he or she harbors. Although these unconscious biases are unintentional, they are abundant in the workplace –

Read More »
Reining in the Tipsy Coachman

Reining in the Tipsy Coachman: Purpose and Limitations of the Doctrine

Appellate courts can, “affirm a decision from a lower tribunal that reaches the right result for the wrong reasons so long as there is any basis which would support the judgment in the record.” State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. Levine, 837 So. 2d 363, 365 (Fla. 2002) (citation and internal quotes omitted). This “tipsy coachman” doctrine reflects the

Read More »
Mistrial

Mistrial Misgivings?

In Sumner County recently, a high-profile trial ended in a mistrial leading court watchers to ask the question: What happened and what happens now? Timothy Batts was charged with reckless homicide and several other offenses that resulted from the shooting death of his 11-year-old daughter, Timea. After deliberating for two days, the jury announced that they could not reach a

Read More »
Slips and Falls

Slips and Falls … and a Forbidden Clause

Slips and falls are common ways that everyday folks get injured. People slip and fall in grocery stores, gyms, other people’s residences, and common areas. Sometimes we slip and fall where we live, such as an apartment building’s stairs, elevator, lobby or hallway. If you rent an apartment and have a slip and fall in a common area of your

Read More »
Medicare

The Unhappy Intersection of VA and Medicaid Spend-Down

Visit almost any assisted living facility and a helpful marketing director will refer you to someone who will help you qualify for VA benefits. This usually means someone selling annuities. The Veterans Administration provides a pension benefit, commonly known as the Aid and Attendance benefit, for veterans and surviving spouses who meet certain qualifications. FYI, surviving spouse means just that.

Read More »
reputation

Reputational IP

As attorneys, we are often cast as protectors and stewards of many things for our clients, including their freedoms, due process rights, contractual rights and property (such as their finances, real property and intellectual property). What about another intangible client attribute – our client’s reputation? It certainly has value worth protecting, in most cases (hopefully). Let’s briefly examine how “reputation”

Read More »
employees

Negotiating Severance and Noncompete Agreements

I recently had the opportunity to speak to a group of small business owners about how to avoid common mistakes in dealing with employees, especially when it comes to termination. Although Ohio is an employment-at-will state, there are exceptions to this doctrine such as termination based on race, gender, disability or some other protected characteristic. An employer may also face

Read More »
retail

Keeping Up With Changing Tenant “Use” Formats

Last month, we discussed the current state of the various sectors that make up the real estate markets – retail, office, industrial and apartment. Specifically, we noted that the retail and office markets are clearly lagging a bit in terms of their recovery. Although the office sector has balanced this sluggishness with very limited new construction, the retail sector is

Read More »
class action

What’s the Damage? Class Actions & Damages Theories

For class actions, the spotlight usually shines on acts of alleged corporate fraud, government incompetence or bad faith. You can picture the headlines popping up on cable news chyrons – Bank opens accounts in people’s names without their permission, credit card company reorders charges to make sure cardholders overdraft as many times as possible, lender forces inflated charges into purchase

Read More »
telemedicine

Bringing Telemedicine To The Workplace: What Employers Should Know

The appeal for an employer is that telemedicine services generally reduce benefit costs and increase convenience and access to care for group health plan participants. If you’re like most people, you don’t enjoy sitting in a doctor’s office with other coughing and sneezing people while waiting for your appointment, or wasting half a day just to get a prescription refilled.

Read More »
biases

Biased? Not Me!: Avoiding Unconscious Bias During the Hiring Process

In an ideal world, an employer would evaluate candidates based solely on objective, measurable criteria without consideration of any matter not related to job performance. In reality, many other factors come into play – including biases that the hiring manager is wholly unaware he or she harbors. Although these unconscious biases are unintentional, they are abundant in the workplace –

Read More »
Reining in the Tipsy Coachman

Reining in the Tipsy Coachman: Purpose and Limitations of the Doctrine

Appellate courts can, “affirm a decision from a lower tribunal that reaches the right result for the wrong reasons so long as there is any basis which would support the judgment in the record.” State Farm Fire & Cas. Co. v. Levine, 837 So. 2d 363, 365 (Fla. 2002) (citation and internal quotes omitted). This “tipsy coachman” doctrine reflects the

Read More »
Mistrial

Mistrial Misgivings?

In Sumner County recently, a high-profile trial ended in a mistrial leading court watchers to ask the question: What happened and what happens now? Timothy Batts was charged with reckless homicide and several other offenses that resulted from the shooting death of his 11-year-old daughter, Timea. After deliberating for two days, the jury announced that they could not reach a

Read More »
Slips and Falls

Slips and Falls … and a Forbidden Clause

Slips and falls are common ways that everyday folks get injured. People slip and fall in grocery stores, gyms, other people’s residences, and common areas. Sometimes we slip and fall where we live, such as an apartment building’s stairs, elevator, lobby or hallway. If you rent an apartment and have a slip and fall in a common area of your

Read More »
Medicare

The Unhappy Intersection of VA and Medicaid Spend-Down

Visit almost any assisted living facility and a helpful marketing director will refer you to someone who will help you qualify for VA benefits. This usually means someone selling annuities. The Veterans Administration provides a pension benefit, commonly known as the Aid and Attendance benefit, for veterans and surviving spouses who meet certain qualifications. FYI, surviving spouse means just that.

Read More »
reputation

Reputational IP

As attorneys, we are often cast as protectors and stewards of many things for our clients, including their freedoms, due process rights, contractual rights and property (such as their finances, real property and intellectual property). What about another intangible client attribute – our client’s reputation? It certainly has value worth protecting, in most cases (hopefully). Let’s briefly examine how “reputation”

Read More »
employees

Negotiating Severance and Noncompete Agreements

I recently had the opportunity to speak to a group of small business owners about how to avoid common mistakes in dealing with employees, especially when it comes to termination. Although Ohio is an employment-at-will state, there are exceptions to this doctrine such as termination based on race, gender, disability or some other protected characteristic. An employer may also face

Read More »
retail

Keeping Up With Changing Tenant “Use” Formats

Last month, we discussed the current state of the various sectors that make up the real estate markets – retail, office, industrial and apartment. Specifically, we noted that the retail and office markets are clearly lagging a bit in terms of their recovery. Although the office sector has balanced this sluggishness with very limited new construction, the retail sector is

Read More »
class action

What’s the Damage? Class Actions & Damages Theories

For class actions, the spotlight usually shines on acts of alleged corporate fraud, government incompetence or bad faith. You can picture the headlines popping up on cable news chyrons – Bank opens accounts in people’s names without their permission, credit card company reorders charges to make sure cardholders overdraft as many times as possible, lender forces inflated charges into purchase

Read More »
telemedicine

Bringing Telemedicine To The Workplace: What Employers Should Know

The appeal for an employer is that telemedicine services generally reduce benefit costs and increase convenience and access to care for group health plan participants. If you’re like most people, you don’t enjoy sitting in a doctor’s office with other coughing and sneezing people while waiting for your appointment, or wasting half a day just to get a prescription refilled.

Read More »

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