|
By Tina Van Dam (Orange Office)
The Medicare, Medicaid, and SCHIP Extension Act of 2007 was signed into law to protect Medicare’s interests in personal injury matters. The act requires that tort cases involving a Medicare beneficiary be handled differently from all other personal injury claims. The act has already begun to alter the way defendants, insurance carriers, and law firms treat personal injury cases.
Read More By Laurie Sherwood (San Francisco Office) and Jonathan Gulsvig (Orange Office)
Bisphenol A ("BPA") is a common chemical used worldwide for a wide range of consumer products: it is an organic chemical used to make plastic and epoxy resins. It has been used for more than 50 years in consumer products, primarily in packaging and containers, including baby and water bottles, canned foods, and plastic food containers. The pervasiveness of BPA in consumers' lives led various groups and agencies to examine whether BPA is safe.
Read More
By Nicholas A. Cipiti (Orange Office) and Joshua R. Dale (Orange Office)
Wrap-up or Wrap policies are insurance policies that provide coverage to the parties involved in a single construction project—owners/developers, general contractors and subcontractors—under one policy, in lieu of the traditional model where the owner and each contractor have their own general liability policies. Although the idea of a single policy to streamline the claims process on construction litigation seems attractive, the pitfalls of wrap policies need to be understood.
Read More
By Joshua R. Dale (Orange Office)
On November 21, 2009, Title II of the Federal Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008 ("GINA"), which affects California employers, took effect. Title II of GINA addresses obligations of employers to refrain from basing employment decisions on an employee’s genetic information and provides instructions to safeguard such information.
Read More
By Sharon L. Clisham (San Francisco Office) and Pamela C. Bobowski (San Francisco Office)
2009 was a tumultuous year for asbestos litigation in California, confounded by inconsistent rulings regarding a manufacturer’s duty to warn of third party products. Two of three courts ruled in favor of manufacturers while the third voiced a strong dissent and ruled in opposition to manufacturers, leaving California product liability law in a state of uncertainty. More importantly, despite the 2-1 advantage favoring equipment manufacturers, it seems that future cases will be subject to interpretation and may hinge on the court’s perception of a manufacturer’s direct and implied knowledge of whether their products will be used in conjunction with asbestos contained in third party products.
Read More
By Dana L. Burch (San Francisco Office)
California Code of Civil Procedure Section 998 is designed to encourage settlement by penalizing any party who rejects the offer and then fails to achieve a better result at trial by awarding or supplementing the offeror’s court costs and denying court costs to the offeree. Thus, California Code of Civil Procedure Section 998 has become an increasingly useful tool in the litigation arsenal by shifting costs if the prevailing party obtains a less favorable judgment than the offer. Effective use of Section 998 offers turns on thorough evaluation of the specific facts and circumstances of your case.
Read More
WFB&M’s 2009 celebration of Pink Day in support of breast cancer awareness, and the Seagull Golf Tournament benefiting Juvenile Diabetes in 2010.
Read More
Her free time has gone to the dogs and that’s the way she likes it. WFB&M partner Ingrid Campagne helps head A Leg Up Rescue, a nonprofit organization that rescues dogs and cats from shelters and other life threatening situations and places them in foster care until permanent adoptive homes can be found.
Read More
|
