By Alec Dobson The federal government’s effort to ban pre-dispute arbitration agreements in nursing homes is essentially over, given a proposed revised rule released on June 5, 2017. Last fall, the U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued a regulation banning such agreements in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities participating in…
Read Full ArticleBy Alec Dobson The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday issued a ruling which further demonstrates the Court’s view that federal law trumps efforts in the states to attack nursing home arbitration agreements. Monday’s ruling overturned the Kentucky Supreme Court, which had declined to enforce two arbitration agreements executed by residents’ family members who held powers…
Read Full ArticleBy Alec Dobson A federal rule that was to have banned pre-dispute arbitration agreements in nursing homes and other long-term care providers was put on hold by a federal judge on Monday. The new rule, which would apply to facilities participating in Medicare or Medicaid, was to go into effect on November 28, 2016. The…
Read Full ArticleBy Alec Dobson The nation’s largest association of long-term care providers filed a lawsuit this week asking a federal court to block enforcement of new federal regulations that will prohibit pre-dispute arbitration agreements in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities participating in Medicare and Medicaid. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published…
Read Full ArticleBy Alec Dobson Nursing homes and other long-term care facilities across the country must meet stringent, wide-ranging and costly regulatory requirements in order to participate in Medicare and Medicaid programs, under a new rule issued Tuesday by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and its Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The new…
Read Full ArticleBy Alec Dobson Disputes over care in nursing homes and other long-term care facilities will increasingly be decided in litigation, rather than arbitration, as a result of new federal regulations banning pre-dispute arbitration agreements in facilities that participate in the Medicare and Medicaid programs. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an office of…
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By James E. Braza In American litigation, all parties are responsible for paying their own litigation expenses (including attorneys’ and experts’ fees) regardless of the outcome of a case. This “pay your own way” rule applies with equal force to claims arising on construction projects, subject to narrow exceptions. For example, a party who successfully…
Read Full ArticleBy James E. Braza One of the most important strategic approaches in modern day construction contract negotiation is leveraging the extent to which the parties will agree to limitations upon certain liabilities. While such limitations fall into a number of different categories, one of the most common is the mutual waiver of consequential damages. Though…
Read Full ArticleBy James E. Braza Arbitration was once the industry’s preferred mechanism for resolving construction disputes. This has changed significantly in recent years as construction disputes addressed via arbitration have become no less costly, timely, or efficient than traditional litigation. Often a party’s (or its attorney’s) zeal to engage in broad discovery efforts virtually double or…
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