The Superior Court of Pennsylvania recently affirmed the trial court’s opinion involving a bad faith action in Davis v. Fidelity National Title Insurance Company (674 MDA 2014). In the bad faith action law suit brought against Fidelity in the lower court, the plaintiffs were awarded over $2 million in damages.…
1. What is a Whistleblower? A whistleblower is a person who, on behalf of the federal government, state government or governmental authority, reports illegal, fraudulent or dishonest conduct by a person or an organization. 2. Importance of Internal Whistleblowers: Encouraging “watchdog” type behavior from your employees allows your management team…
1. Compile a small list of attorneys that you find. It’s okay to start with an entire page of attorneys, but narrow down the list by asking friends, family, and business connections their opinions. Figure out if there are any attorneys you should consider or avoid. 2. Do a background…
As a business owner, you want to make sure that your company successfully continues for generations to come. So, when you eventually retire or step down from your position, it is important to consider how you want to proceed with passing on your business to the next generation. Consider the…
When considering creating a social media policy, it is important to keep in mind that you will never be able to completely control social media use by your employees. There are, however, a few ways that you can successfully create a social media policy that will allow you to place…
The Supreme Court of Pennsylvania has clarified the question of whether, under Pennsylvania law, an insured may transfer the right to recover damages against his or her insurance company in an insurance bad faith claim to a third party. In a recent decision in AllState Property and Casualty Insurance Company…
A federal court in Pennsylvania recently ruled that counterclaims against the whistleblower filed by the target of a whistleblower action can survive. The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, in United States of America ex rel. Lorraine Notorfransesco v. Surgical Monitoring Association, Inc., et al. (Tucker,…
On September 23, 2014, in Potok v. Rebh, the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas held that the corporate officers of Floorgraphics, an advertising company, were held liable for appropriating $12 million from a settlement deal from the sale of their company in 2009 to News America Marketing. As a brief…
In its August 11, 2014 decision in Griswold v. Coventry First, LLC, et al. the Third Circuit affirmed the District Court’s decision that denied Defendant’s motion to compel arbitration, and held that Plaintiff, Lincoln T. Griswold, was not estopped from pursuing his fraud claim by rejecting arbitration. Griswold purchased an…
It was announced on July 30, 2014 that Chicago Mercantile Exchange Group, Inc. (“CME”), the world’s largest future exchange operator, would purchase GFI Group, Inc. for a net price of $655 million.[1] GFI Group was targeted for its two units that would boost CME’s influence in the global market, Trayport and…