Gibbons Law Alert

Gibbons Law Alert

Author: Gibbons P.C.

Gibbons Employment & Labor Law Lawyers Listed as Leaders in Their Fields

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Posted in Firm News / Labor

On April 16, 2012

Six lawyers in the Gibbons Employment & Labor Law Department were listed in New Jersey Super Lawyers and New Jersey Super Lawyers Rising Stars, distinguishing them as leaders in their fields. In addition, Christine A. Amalfe, Chair of the Department, was listed as both a top 100 attorney in New Jersey and a Top 50 female attorney. Susan L. Nardone, a Director in the Department, was also listed as a Top 50 female attorney. Overall, 69 Gibbons attorneys were featured in these two publications.

Quinlan v. Curtiss-Wright: Plaintiff-Employee Bears Burden of Proving Front Pay Damages

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Posted in Discrimination

On April 12, 2012

In the latest chapter of the ongoing case of Quinlan v. Curtiss-Wright Corporation, the New Jersey Appellate Division has ruled that while an employer, found to have terminated an employee in violation of the New Jersey Law Against Discrimination (“the LAD”), has the burden of persuasion to establish a plaintiff’s failure to mitigate damages with respect to back pay, the employer does not have the burden of persuasion with respect to a plaintiff’s failure to mitigate future losses, including front pay. In reversing a jury award for front pay in the amount of $3,650,318 because of improper jury instructions on the front pay issue, the Appellate Division suggested a framework for proper jury instructions on front pay damages and referred the issue to the Model Civil Jury Charge Committee. The Court also reversed the jury’s punitive damages award of over $4.5 million, concluding that that award was linked to the front pay award. The Court held that a new trial was required on both the front pay issue and on punitive damages.

Third Circuit Opens the Door for “Hybrid” Wage & Hour Claims in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the U.S. Virgin Islands

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Posted in Wage and Hour

On April 4, 2012

On March 27, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit issued a precedential decision in Knepper v. Rite Aid Corp. which dramatically alters the landscape for wage and hour litigation for employers operating in the jurisdictions within the Third Circuit, i.e., in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Specifically, the Third Circuit ruled that the procedures for litigating a class action alleging state wage and hour violations is not “inherently incompatible” with the procedures for litigating a collective action under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (“FLSA”). As a result, courts in these jurisdictions may well see a wave of hybrid class/collective actions alleging wage and hour violations under both the FLSA and the corresponding state wage and hour laws in the same complaint.

Gibbons Welcomes Charles H. Chevalier, Esq.

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Posted in Patent

On April 4, 2012

Gibbons is pleased to announce that Charles H. Chevalier, Esq. has joined the firm as an Associate in the Intellectual Property Department. He will reside in Gibbons Newark office. Prior to joining Gibbons, Charles was an attorney at Fitzpatrick, Cella, Harper & Scinto, where he focused his practice on complex patent litigation. Charles received his J.D., cum laude, from Seton Hall University School of Law and his B.A., in Biochemistry, from Swarthmore College.

Third Circuit Rejects Employee’s Unconscionability Arguments in Compelling Arbitration

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Posted in Class Action Defense

On April 4, 2012

In Quilloin v. Tenet HealthSystem Phila. Inc., the Third Circuit reversed the Eastern District of Pennsylvania’s denial of a motion to compel arbitration, finding error in the district court’s conclusion that genuine disputes of material fact might render the parties’ arbitration agreement unconscionable and unenforceable under Pennsylvania law.

NJ Bulk Sales Notification Requirements

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Posted in Transactional Real Estate and Leasing

On April 2, 2012

Russell B. Bershad, Co-Chair of the Gibbons Real Property & Environmental Department and Peter J. Ulrich, a Director in the Gibbons Corporate Department, recently co-authored an article published in the New Jersey Law Journal entitled, “N.J. Bulk Sales Notification Requirements: Recent Changes and Guidance.” The article describes key issues of concern with applicability of the law which was broadened significantly in 2007 and then scaled back last fall.

Inadvertent Production of Two Privileged Pages Among Over Two Million May Waive the Attorney-Client Privilege

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Posted in E-Discovery: Legal Decisions and Court Rules

On March 30, 2012

The burdens associated with a massive document review of electronically-stored information (“ESI”) will not, in and of themselves, preclude a court from finding that a party has waived the attorney-client privilege with respect to an inadvertently produced document. In Jacob v. Duane Reade, Inc., Magistrate Judge Katz of the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York held that a privileged, two-page email that was inadvertently produced during the review of over two million documents in less than one month did not have to be returned and that the privilege had been waived because the producing party, Duane Reade, had failed to timely request its return. Duane Reade had used an outside vendor and review team to conduct its review of this large volume of ESI. The document in question concerned a meeting among several individuals, including an in-house attorney at Duane Reade. Duane Reade argued that the email was inadvertently produced because it was neither from nor to an attorney, and only included advice received at a meeting from an in-house attorney, identified in the email only by the first name “Julie.”

Pinterest: Potential IP Pitfalls for New Social Networking Trend

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Posted in Copyright / Trademarks

On March 30, 2012

Pinterest, a play on words of “pin” and “interest,” is a virtual, online “pin board,” where user’s can organize and share things they find on the web. While Pinterest is attracting a loyal community of social media users, the site is also the source of some concern for those same users and owners of intellectual property. The stated Mission of Pinterest is “to connect everyone in the world through the ‘things’ they find interesting . . . a favorite book, toy, or recipe [which] can reveal a common link between two people.

Who’s Paying For This? First Department Requires the Producing Party to Initially Bear the Costs of Production in U.S. Bank N.A. v. GreenPoint Mtge. Funding, Inc.

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Posted in E-Discovery: Legal Decisions and Court Rules

On March 26, 2012

For the second time this year, New York’s First Department, Appellate Division, has adopted e-discovery standards articulated in Zubulake v. UBS Warburg LLC, 220 FRD 212 (S.D.N.Y. 2003). On January 31, 2012, the First Department’s decision in Voom H.D. Holdings LLC v. EchoStar Satellite LLC, 2012 N.Y. Slip Op. 00658 (1st Dep’t 2012) adopted the Zubulake standard concerning when a party’s preservation obligations are triggered. Read a blog posting on the Voom decision here. Most recently, on February 28, 2012 the First Department held in U.S. Bank N.A. v. GreenPoint Mtge. Funding, Inc., 2012 NY Slip Op. 01515 (1st Dep’t 2012), that, consistent with Voom’s “adopt[ion] [of] the standards articulated by [Zubulake] in the context of preservation and spoliation, [it was] persuaded that Zubulake should be the rule in this department, requiring the producing party to bear the cost of production to be modified by the IAS court in the exercise of its discretion on a proper motion by the producing party.”

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