A couple of thoughts that are on my mind today about electronic discovery, concerning a couple of articles related to the subject. The first, which I will talk about today (I will return to the other tomorrow, assuming no breaking news pushes me on to a different topic) has to do with some comments in
Leased Employees, Insurance Coverage, and the Fun House Mirror
I have a high school education in physics, but I seem to remember that physics teaches that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. One of the things I like about insurance coverage litigation and counseling is it is much the same; things happen in the real (i.e., non-insurance) world,
Partners, Domestic and Otherwise, and ERISA Preemption
Here’s the Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly article on Partners Healthcare System v. Sullivan, the case I posted on a couple weeks back involving the question of whether preemption prevented the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination from taking action against Partners over its decision to allow benefits to be granted to its employees’ same sex, but not
The Case for More Patent Infringement Litigation
Well, not really. More like an argument for a little healthy skepticism when it comes to the subject of patent reform, which as pitched on blogs, in the popular media and elsewhere, really consists of proposals directed at two themes: reducing or at least discouraging the filing of patent infringement lawsuits, and restricting the ability
ERISA and Same Sex Marriage
Here’s a great story out of Boston, by means of the Workplace Prof, that touches on several obsessions of this blog – ERISA, the federal arbitration act, and court review of arbitration awards. As the Prof explains in this post here, a federal judge for the District of Massachusetts is seeking amicus briefs related
Cost of Living Benefits and Disability Benefits
There are some who believe that insurance policies are by definition ambiguous – mostly lawyers who solely represent policyholders for a living – and others, on occasion including judges, who sometimes seem to believe that unless a policy specifically excludes something, than it is either ambiguous and provides coverage or simply provides coverage because the
The Latest Word Out of the First Circuit on Pre-existing Conditions, Long Term Disability Benefits, and Uncertainty Over the Standard of Review
No one is quicker to post about decisions out of the First Circuit than Appellate Law & Practice, who quickly had this post up on Friday about the First Circuit’s opinion issued that day in a long term disability benefits case where the plan and the administrator prevailed at the District Court, and then again
Time to Reset the Clocks, at Least When It Comes to Calculating Interest Awards in ERISA Cases
We are in another one of those stretches where the courts of this circuit issue a fair number of ERISA related decisions in a short time span. I always think that, when this happens, it simply points out how ubiquitous are ERISA governed employee benefits. Appellate Law & Practice has the story of one of
Can Partners Healthcare Systems Provide Different Benefits to Different Kinds of Partners?
Judge Tauro of the United States District Court for the District of Massachusetts issued an interesting opinion this week as to the power, if any, of the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination to continue to investigate whether an employer, in this instance Partners Healthcare Systems – which operates major teaching hospitals, among other operations – violates
At the Crossroads of Trade Dress Infringement, Restaurants and Insurance Coverage
There is a very interesting and entertaining article – if you like law, food, restaurants, intellectual property, or any combination of them – in the New York Times this morning, about a seafood restaurant suing a newer, competing restaurant for, basically, replicating – allegedly, as the two restaurants don’t look all that much alike to