The Missouri Supreme Court recently addressed whether defendant motor-vehicle drivers may avail themselves of the physician-patient privilege to shield the disclosure of alcohol or drug treatment records from medical providers. Relatedly, the court also addressed whether affirmative defenses denying intoxication constitute a waiver of the privilege.

Cleveland Partner Joseph Fiorello recently obtained a summary disposition (Michigan refers to summary judgment as summary disposition) victory for an insured motor carrier and driver in Monroe County, Michigan. The summary disposition motion was spearheaded by social media research of the plaintiff and the plaintiff’s family members who were identified in the plaintiff’s discovery responses.

Over the last couple months, the trucking industry received national and international attention as a result of the Canadian trucking convoy. Whether individuals were for or against the protest, it opened people’s eyes to the importance of the trucking industry, and to the fact that almost every product people take for granted was at some point transported via a truck driver.

After a decade of discussion and deliberation, the Rhode Island General Assembly finally voted to legalize cannabis for adult recreational use. On May 25, 2022, Rhode Island Governor Daniel McKee signed into law the comprehensive legalization bill known as the Rhode Island Cannabis Act.This Q&A is intended to address many of the most pressing questions and concerns that employers and human resource professionals have about how legalization will play out in the Ocean State.

Last week, a California Superior Court Judge struck down California’s “Women on Boards” law. The law, passed in 2018, required that California-based, publicly-held corporations seat women on their boards of directors.

In Gonzalez v. Mathis (August 19, 2021) 12 Cal. 5th 29, the California Supreme Court considered whether to create a third exception to the Privette Doctrine specific to known hazards on a worksite, when a contractor cannot remedy the hazard by taking reasonable safety precautions to protect against it.

As an update to our previous alert regarding New York’s Adult Survivor Act (ASA), on May 23, 2022, the New York State Assembly approved the ASA with a majority vote of 140 to 3.

In March 2022, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued sanctions targeting Russian “elites and business executives who are associates and facilitators of the Russian regime.” More recently, in an effort to go further, the Administration released a package of proposals to “establish new authorities for the forfeiture of property linked to Russian kleptocracy,” which would greatly enhance existing legal authority under the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Practices Act (RICO).