For the Public

Zofran

Morning Sickness Drug Zofran Linked to Birth Defects

Zofran was approved by the FDA in 1981 for treatment of nausea in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and post-operative patients. To this day, Zofran has never received FDA approval for use in pregnant women to treat nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP). In 2012, The Center for BirThDefects Research and Prevention published a study that showed women who used Zofran

Read More »
small

Class Actions to Protect Small Businesses?

Class actions can be used as an instrument to protect small businesses from massive corporations and from the government. A group seeking a remedy in a class action doesn’t have to be a collection of consumers. A class can be a group of businesses. In recent years, rather than being an enemy of business, class actions have become protectors of

Read More »
Miranda

Miranda: A Historical Perspective

June 13, 2016 will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Miranda v. Arizona. At its inception, the holding created a new protection for defendants in the criminal justice system. Today, the case is still relevant as it continues to guard the rights of the accused. In 2000, the court acknowledged that the holding “has become embedded

Read More »
brands

It’s All About That Brand, ’Bout That Brand (No Trouble)

Effective brands immediately convey impressions to the consumer about that product based on prior experiences with the product, advertising, or word of mouth exchanges (and now, of course, “word of mouth,” ironically – and powerfully – means social media conversations more than actual face-to-face interactions). Accordingly, your client’s brand is the face of that client’s reputation among its consuming public.

Read More »
family

Parenting Consultants: A Contractual Model for Resolving Parenting Disputes

Most family law attorneys would agree that of all the major disagreements that take place both during a divorce proceeding and post-divorce, issues that involve parenting minor children are most common. When parents share joint legal custody and parenting time, as most parents do, temporary changes to the parenting time schedule, vacation scheduling, participation in extracurricular activities, medical treatment, religious

Read More »
Morality

Sony Lacks a Morals Clause in Kesha/Dr. Luke Legal Battle

Morality clauses play an increasingly larger role in contracts with high level executives, athletes, musicians and entertainers. These clauses are inserted into the contracts with the expectation that the signing parties will modify their behavior to fit certain expectations. An example of a morality clause in an agreement between an entertainer and advertiser could be written as follows: If [entertainer]

Read More »
stock

Shareholder Dissension, Even Over Coffee

Shareholders owning a minority block of stock in a corporation generally lack the ability to prevent transactions involving fundamental changes to the corporation or the nature of their investment in it. However, when fundamental corporate change is forced upon minority shareholders against their will, Minnesota law allows shareholders to “dissent” from the transaction and to exercise statutory “dissenter’s rights” designed

Read More »
INA

Ninth Circuit Finds That Statute Violates Equal Protection

Certain forms of immigration relief require a showing of good moral character, such as voluntary departure, cancellation of removal and naturalization. Pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and federal regulation, certain individuals will be found to be persons lacking moral character for having committed certain acts that either trigger a permanent bar or a conditional bar if committed

Read More »
class

Good, Bad, But Not Indifferent – The Beginning of Class Actions

Class actions are an area of law that brings out strong feelings in most people, including laypersons, lawyers, judges, politicians, corporations, unions, consumers, small business owners and the list goes on. Everyone seems to be an expert, whether class actions are good or bad. The cases are certainly large and high profile enough that everyone knows enough to be dangerous

Read More »
Tenant

Security Deposits Under Tennessee’s Uniform Residential Leasing Law

Tennessee’s version of the Uniform Residential Landlord Tenant Act (TURLTA) applies to counties having populations in excess of 68,000, including without limitation, Montgomery, Sumner, Wilson, Davidson, Rutherford, Williamson and Maury. Tennessee Code Annotated § 66-28-101 et seq. Accordingly, familiarity with TURLTA is a must for middle Tennessee real property practitioners. In my landlord/tenant practice, the disposition of security deposits and

Read More »
Zofran

Morning Sickness Drug Zofran Linked to Birth Defects

Zofran was approved by the FDA in 1981 for treatment of nausea in cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy and post-operative patients. To this day, Zofran has never received FDA approval for use in pregnant women to treat nausea and vomiting of pregnancy (NVP). In 2012, The Center for BirThDefects Research and Prevention published a study that showed women who used Zofran

Read More »
small

Class Actions to Protect Small Businesses?

Class actions can be used as an instrument to protect small businesses from massive corporations and from the government. A group seeking a remedy in a class action doesn’t have to be a collection of consumers. A class can be a group of businesses. In recent years, rather than being an enemy of business, class actions have become protectors of

Read More »
Miranda

Miranda: A Historical Perspective

June 13, 2016 will commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s decision in Miranda v. Arizona. At its inception, the holding created a new protection for defendants in the criminal justice system. Today, the case is still relevant as it continues to guard the rights of the accused. In 2000, the court acknowledged that the holding “has become embedded

Read More »
brands

It’s All About That Brand, ’Bout That Brand (No Trouble)

Effective brands immediately convey impressions to the consumer about that product based on prior experiences with the product, advertising, or word of mouth exchanges (and now, of course, “word of mouth,” ironically – and powerfully – means social media conversations more than actual face-to-face interactions). Accordingly, your client’s brand is the face of that client’s reputation among its consuming public.

Read More »
family

Parenting Consultants: A Contractual Model for Resolving Parenting Disputes

Most family law attorneys would agree that of all the major disagreements that take place both during a divorce proceeding and post-divorce, issues that involve parenting minor children are most common. When parents share joint legal custody and parenting time, as most parents do, temporary changes to the parenting time schedule, vacation scheduling, participation in extracurricular activities, medical treatment, religious

Read More »
Morality

Sony Lacks a Morals Clause in Kesha/Dr. Luke Legal Battle

Morality clauses play an increasingly larger role in contracts with high level executives, athletes, musicians and entertainers. These clauses are inserted into the contracts with the expectation that the signing parties will modify their behavior to fit certain expectations. An example of a morality clause in an agreement between an entertainer and advertiser could be written as follows: If [entertainer]

Read More »
stock

Shareholder Dissension, Even Over Coffee

Shareholders owning a minority block of stock in a corporation generally lack the ability to prevent transactions involving fundamental changes to the corporation or the nature of their investment in it. However, when fundamental corporate change is forced upon minority shareholders against their will, Minnesota law allows shareholders to “dissent” from the transaction and to exercise statutory “dissenter’s rights” designed

Read More »
INA

Ninth Circuit Finds That Statute Violates Equal Protection

Certain forms of immigration relief require a showing of good moral character, such as voluntary departure, cancellation of removal and naturalization. Pursuant to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) and federal regulation, certain individuals will be found to be persons lacking moral character for having committed certain acts that either trigger a permanent bar or a conditional bar if committed

Read More »
class

Good, Bad, But Not Indifferent – The Beginning of Class Actions

Class actions are an area of law that brings out strong feelings in most people, including laypersons, lawyers, judges, politicians, corporations, unions, consumers, small business owners and the list goes on. Everyone seems to be an expert, whether class actions are good or bad. The cases are certainly large and high profile enough that everyone knows enough to be dangerous

Read More »
Tenant

Security Deposits Under Tennessee’s Uniform Residential Leasing Law

Tennessee’s version of the Uniform Residential Landlord Tenant Act (TURLTA) applies to counties having populations in excess of 68,000, including without limitation, Montgomery, Sumner, Wilson, Davidson, Rutherford, Williamson and Maury. Tennessee Code Annotated § 66-28-101 et seq. Accordingly, familiarity with TURLTA is a must for middle Tennessee real property practitioners. In my landlord/tenant practice, the disposition of security deposits and

Read More »

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