News & Announcements

On April 24, 2013 Governor Scott signed Senate Bill 286 into law creating section 558.0035, Florida Statutes. This new law grants individual design professionals employed by a business entity or an agent of the entity immunity from liability for economic damages resulting from negligence occurring within the course and scope of a professional services contract under certain conditions.

On March 11, 2013, the Delaware Court of Chancery granted the petition of the State Insurance Commissioner seeking the entry of a Rehabilitation and Injunction Order concerning Ullico Casualty Company.

A new Florida Supreme Court case is a game changer regarding the Economic Loss Rule. This week, the Florida Supreme Court held, “. . . the application of the economic loss rule is limited to products liability cases. Therefore, we recede from prior case law to the extent that it is inconsistent with this holding.” Tiara Condominium Assoc., Inc. v. Marsh & McLennan Companies, Inc., 38 Fla. L. Weekly S151a (Fla. March 7, 2013).

In August 2012, we published a White Paper detailing what Sequestration is, estimated
cuts to both defense and non-defense spending as a result of sequestration, and the potential impacts of sequestration on future government contracts and grants. Following the issuance of Office of Management and Budget’s (“OMB”) breakdown of exempt and non-exempt budget accounts and a preliminary estimate of the funding reduction that would be required across non-exempt accounts, we provided an update to our first White Paper.

The Supreme Court recently held that if the government’s actions cause a plaintiff’s private land to be flooded, even if the flooding is not permanent, the plaintiff is not precluded from obtaining compensation for a taking.    

Absent Congressional action, starting in January 2013, Sequestration requires mandatory, virtually across-the-board spending cuts. These cuts will come equally from defense and non-defense spending. For FY 2013, the total cuts will be $109 billion. This white paper discusses the potential impacts of Sequestration on contractors, grantees, etc., and provides a few important tips on how to deal with them.