New York Partners Patricia Alarcon Demetri and Gina Suarez Misiaszek recently secured a precedent-setting ruling on behalf of a ridesharing company insurer client when Justice Ulysses B. Leverett of the Supreme Court of New York, Queens County issued a decision determining that supplemental uninsured motorist (SUM) benefits were not available to a rideshare passenger who was involved in an accident. 

Earlier this month, OSHA issued emergency workplace safety rules requiring businesses with 100 or more employees to ensure their employees are vaccinated or submit to regular COVID-19 testing. In response, on November 18, 2021, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed into law four bills passed during a special session of the Florida legislature, which limit employers’ ability to impose COVID-19 vaccine mandates and prohibit school districts from adopting a mask mandate or requiring asymptomatic students that have been exposed to COVID-19 to quarantine and require Florida to set up its own OSHA program.

Our recent alert described the OSHA emergency temporary standard (ETS) – promulgated on November 5, 2021 – requiring vaccinations or testing by employers with at least 100 employees, which was issued in response to President Biden’s directive of September 9. We advised as to the planned dates by which covered employers had to become compliant, as well as the measures required to achieve compliance. However, OSHA has announced a suspension of activities related to the implementation and enforcement of the ETS in light of the November 12 decision by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to stay the ETS.

On November 16, 2021, with broad bipartisan support, the U.S. Senate confirmed Jonathan Kanter as the new Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division of the Department of Justice (DOJ) by a vote of 68-29. Mr. Kanter’s confirmation marks another step in the Biden Administration’s commitment to more vigorous enforcement of U.S. antitrust laws.

On November 15, 2021, President Biden signed the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package into law, providing significant funding for renewable energy and electric vehicle infrastructure, including lithium-ion battery storage and recycling technology, along with funding for transportation, electric grid, broadband, and water infrastructure upgrades.

On September 22, 2021, Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law several employment-related bills, which are set to go into effect January 1, 2022. This alert contains a summary of those new laws, which impact abitration fees, warehouse distribution centers, farmworkers, optometrists, and more.

This alert will provide a “cheat sheet” for general liability laws and regulations in the State of Oregon. Issues addressed include statutes of limitations, assignment of fault and damages, attorney fees, arbitration requirements, and unique discovery practices.

As the winter season nears, defendant property owners are reminded that New York law imposes liability for sidewalk accidents resulting from slip and falls on snow and ice. Within the City of New York, Administrative Code § 7-210 imposes liability on the owners of real property (other than single-family dwellings) to maintain an abutting sidewalk in a reasonably safe condition, which includes the removal of snow and ice.