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Articles
- Probate, Estates and Trusts Litigation Articles
- Insurance Coverage and Bad Faith Articles
- Litigation Articles
- Attorney-Client Privilege
- Business: Seeking Predictability in an Era of Uncertainty
- Know the ‘American Rule’
- Non-Compete Agreements Require Consideration
- Pennsylvania Products Liability Law: Amazon May be Liable for Defective “Marketplace” Items in Oberdorf Case
- What do I do with all that “stuff” my tenant left behind?
- Health Care Law Articles
- Changes Coming for Physicians in Pennsylvania Medical Marijuana Program
- Changes in Pennsylvania Law Eases Countersignature Requirements for Physician Assistants
- CMS Publishes Final Rules for Stage 2 Meaningful Use
- CMS Publishes Revision to Laboratory “14-Day Rule”
- Contemplating New Models of Physician Compensation
- Executive Action Amends HIPAA: Allows More Reporting to Criminal Background Check System
- Final Omnibus Rule: What You Need to do to Ensure Continued HIPAA Compliance
- First Settlement is a Wake-Up Call for Business Associates Working With Health Care Providers
- HIPAA Compliance Manual
- Is Your Compensation Plan Stark Compliant?
- Medical Practices May be Especially Vulnerable to Sexual Misconduct Claims
- New CMS Payment Models Imminent
- New CMS Payment Options Can Improve a Primary Care Practice
- New DOJ Compliance Counsel Underscores Need for Compliance Plans
- Pennsylvania Senate Bill Proposes Independent Practice of Certified Nurse Practitioners
- Pennsylvania’s Temporary Medical Marijuana Regulations – What Physicians Need to Know
- Physicians – Will You Benefit From Tax Reform?
- Proposed Legislation May Mean Additional Responsibilities for Physicians When Prescribing Opioids
- Rules on Returning Medicare Overpayment Finalized
- Security Risk Analysis is Key to Passing Healthcare Audits
- The Proposed States Act: Bipartisan Effort Aims To Hand Marijuana Regulation Back To The States
- Estates and Trusts Articles
- Can a child be held responsible for a parent’s medical expenses?
- Celebrities Who Die Without a Will Leave a Dubious Warning
- Downturn in Oil and Gas Market Has Estate Planning Benefits
- Four Estate Planning Resolutions To Kick Off The New Year
- How does an irrevocable life insurance trust reduce estate tax?
- How To Make Sure Your Will And Estate Plan Is Always The Right Fit
- IDGTs: A Potential Business Succession Tool
- If my grandchildren are my beneficiaries, will my estate be subject to a larger transfer tax when I die?
- Is a Family-Owned Businesses Exempt from PA Inheritance Tax?
- Pennsylvania Inheritance Tax Law Has New Exemption For Small Family Businesses
- Planning Your Estate: Are Your Beneficiaries in Order?
- Power of Attorney for Young Adults
- Should I add my child as a joint owner of assets?
- Should I make provisions for my pet in my Will?
- Succession Planning is No Laughing Matter
- The Dangers of Treating Legal Practice as a Commodity
- What are special needs trusts?
- What are the benefits of a family limited partnership (FLP) to a landowner who also holds the Marcellus Shale oil/gas rights?
- What is the gift tax annual exclusion?
- When must I begin to take distributions from my retirement assets?
- Who Gets What When You Have “Yours, Mine and Ours”?
- Will the beneficiaries named in my Last Will and Testament receive all of my assets?
- Employment Law Articles
- Age Discrimination Releases – The Courts Are Finding Devils in the Details
- COVID-19 Update for Employers – Federal & State Employment Law Update
- Department Of Labor Increasing Activity On Wage And Hour Law Issues
- Educate Your Employees on E-Mail Policy
- EEOC Guidance Supports Caregivers
- Employment Law Activity Heats Up
- Employment Law Battles Between the Supreme Court & Congress
- Employment Law Update: Pittsburgh Sick Days Act Takes Effect March 15, 2020
- Employment Law Update: Pittsburgh Sick Leave Pay Ordinance Upheld
- Family Responsibility Discrimination
- FMLA Housekeeping
- FMLA Includes Leave for Military Servicemembers Families
- Give Your Supervisors A Bit Of The Same Attention You Give Your Taxes
- Higher Salary Minimum Requirements Announced for Overtime Exempt Employees
- Is Alcoholism a “Serious Health Condition?”
- Is Your Employee Handbook Leaving You Exposed?
- Medical Marijuana – Considerations for Pennsylvania Employers
- New Disability Discrimination Provisions Go Into Effect January 1, 2009
- New DOL Rule Increasing Minimum Salary for Overtime Exempt Employees
- New FMLA Rules and Requirements as of January 16, 2009
- New NLRB Rule Makes it Easier for Unions to Organize Workers
- NLRB Poster Nixed Again
- Pennsylvania No-Smoking Law as of September 11, 2008
- Physicians Cutbacks
- Recent Employment Law Updates: FMLA Legislative Changes and New EEO Poster
- Terminating an Employee Soon After Hire: How to Protect Yourself From a Lawsuit
- The Challenging World of Blogs, Tweets and Posts
- Updated FMLA Forms for 2018
- Employee Benefits/ERISA Law Articles
- “Church Plan” Need Not Have Been Established By A Church
- Health Insurance Marketplace Notices: What to do?
- How Will Tax Reform Provisions Affect Retirement Plans And Other Employee Benefits?
- MARCH 31, 2020 DEADLINE LOOMS FOR 403(b) PLAN DOCUMENT UPDATES
- SECURE Act Finally Secure: New Law Makes Major Changes to Retirement Plan Rules
- Separate “Principal-Purpose Organization” May be Required For “Church Plan” Status
- Update on Plan Document Compliance for Defined Benefit Pension Plans (Including Cash Balance Plans)
- Wellness Programs Giving Employers a Workout
- Elder Law Articles
- Creditor’s Rights Articles
- Construction Articles
- Design Professionals and the Economic-Loss Doctrine: The State of the Law in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia
- OSHA’s New View From Above
- Step aside subcontractors, open-ended mortgages take priority
- When it Comes to Collections, Construction Professionals Have Some Options Other Industries Do Not
- Oil and Gas Articles
- Lease Expiration and Lease Development
- Pennsylvania Superior Court Rules That Payment Of Delay Rentals Alone Cannot Maintain A Lease Beyond Primary Term
- Kentucky Court Rules That Lease Expired Due To Driller’s Failure To Market And Produce Gas
- Driller Bankruptcy Could Raise Environmental Concerns for Landowners
- My Driller Filed for Bankruptcy; What Happens to My Lease in Pennsylvania?
- Ohio Supreme Court Rules that Lease Expiration Claim is Subject to Twenty-One Year Statute of Limitations
- Pennsylvania Superior Court Rules That Driller Abandoned Oil/Gas Lease By Failing To Pay Royalties For Over 20 Years
- Abandoned Oil and Gas Wells – More Than Just a Rusty Eyesore
- Can the Payment of a Shut-In Royalty Maintain an Oil/Gas Lease Indefinitely?
- Federal Court in Pittsburgh Allows Lease Cancellation Suit to Move Forward
- Federal Court in Scranton Rules That Litigation Filed by Landowner Did Not “Repudiate” the Lease
- Federal Court Rules that Assignment of Oil/Gas Lease May Not Extinguish Liability of Original Lessee
- Is the Implied Covenant of Reasonable Development Irrelevant?
- Landowners: Act Now or be Bound by Class Action Settlement Terms
- Landowners Beware: Warranty Clause in Oil and Gas Lease Can Obligate Landowner to Repay Signing Bonus
- Murphy Exploration v. Adams: Texas Supreme Court Suggests That Horizontal Well Bore Will Not Drain Hydrocarbons From Adjacent Tract
- New Legislation May Allow Drillers to Revive Expired Oil and Gas Leases
- Non-Producing Oil and Gas Lease Deemed Abandoned by the Pennsylvania Superior Court
- Non-Production During Secondary Term Results in Termination of Lease
- Ohio Supreme Court Declines to Recognize Implied Covenant of Further Exploration
- Ohio Supreme Court Observes That Driller Cannot Maintain Lease Indefinitely by Paying Delay Rentals
- Pennsylvania Superior Court Rules Driller had no Implied Obligation to Develop Deeper Formations
- Preliminary Operations Not Enough To Extend Lease into Secondary Term
- Temporary Cessation of Production: How much time does a producer have under Pennsylvania law?
- To Drill or Not to Drill – Does Pennsylvania Recognize an Implied Covenant of Further Exploration?
- West Virginia Supreme Court Rules That Horizontal Wells Cannot Be Drilled Into Adjacent Tracts Pursuant to 1901 Lease
- Does a Well Passing Horizontally Under a Property Trigger a “Payment in Lieu of Free Gas” Clause? The Pennsylvania Superior Court says “No”
- Royalties and Post-Production Costs
- Kansas Court Rules that Gas is not Marketable Until it Reaches Interstate Pipeline
- Why Is The Driller Deducting Post-Production Costs My Lease Doesn’t Allow? Kilmer V. Elexco Land Services: A Decade Later
- Ohio Court Rules That Driller Did Not Breach Lease By Deducting Post-Production Costs Incurred By Affiliate
- Federal Court in Kentucky Allows Novel Royalty Claim to Move Forward
- West Virginia Federal Court Rules That Lease Did Not Authorize the Deduction of Post-Production Costs
- Texas Court Rules That Gross Royalty Clause in Addendum Supersedes Royalty Clause in Pre-Printed Lease Form
- Claim Based on Implied Covenant to Market Gas to Move Forward in Federal Royalty Litigations
- North Dakota Supreme Court Rules That “Gross Proceeds” Means No Deductions
- Court Rules Severance Tax Does Not Increase Value Of Shale Gas, Therefore Not A Deductible Post-Production Cost
- Driller Has No Obligation to Pay Royalty on Lost Gas
- Failure to Tender Production Royalty Did Not Trigger Forfeiture Clause
- Federal Court in Pittsburgh Questions Applicability of Kilmer Decision
- Federal District Court in Ohio Rules That Chesapeake Did Not Breach Lease When it Deducted Costs From Royalty
- Federal District Court In Pennsylvania Allows Royalty Claim To Move Forward
- HB 1391: Putting Teeth Back in Pennsylvania’s Minimum Royalty Statute
- Is Pa. Becoming a First-Marketable-Product Jurisdiction?
- Landowners May Face Difficult Burden Regarding Intermingled Gas
- Legislation Revived to Protect Royalty Owners in Pennsylvania
- New Royalty Bill HB 1708 Will Not Help Pennsylvania Landowners
- Ohio Supreme Court Declines to Adopt Blanket “At the Well” Rule
- Oklahoma Federal Court Rules That Driller Must Pay Royalty On Fuel Gas
- Sixth Circuit Rules That Driller Must Pay Royalties On Natural Gas Liquids
- Superior Court Breathes New Life Into Guaranteed Minimum Royalty Act
- Tenth Circuit Rules That Obligation to Pay Royalty on Fuel Gas Depends on Lease Language
- The Difference Between a “Royalty” and a “Royalty Interest” Can Be Confusing and Costly For Landowners
- West Virginia Jury Finds That Eqt Improperly Calculated Landowners’ Royalty On Shale Gas
- West Virginia Moves to Prohibit Drillers From Taking Deductions Which Reduce Net Royalty Below 12.5%
- West Virginia Supreme Court Declares that Minimum Royalty Statute Does Not Authorize the Deduction of Post-Production Costs
- West Virginia Supreme Court to Reconsider Landmark Decision in Leggett v. EQT Production Company
- Who’s Entitled to Free Gas?
- Why the New Minimum Royalty Bill is Constitutional and Good for Pennsylvania
- Pooling and Unitization
- Hordis v. Cabot Oil and Gas Corporation: Landowner Challenges Whether Driller Can Ignore Pooling Clause and Simply Rely on Act 85
- Supreme Court Decision in Briggs v. Southwestern Energy is a “Win” for Pennsylvania Landowners
- Act 85 and Cross-Unit Drilling- More Questions Than Answers for Landowners
- Murphy Exploration v. Adams: Texas Supreme Court Suggests That Horizontal Well Bore Will Not Drain Hydrocarbons From Adjacent Tract
- Has Forced Pooling Come to Pennsylvania With SB 259?
- Houston Harbaugh, P.c Files “amicus Curiae Brief’ On Behalf Of The Pennsylvania Chapter Of The National Association Of Royalty Owners In Briggs, Et Al V. Southwestern Energy (63 Map 2018)
- Not Your Father’s Oil and Gas Lease
- Pennsylvania Superior Court Rejects Rule of Capture in Subsurface Trespass Suit
- Pooling Clause Not Necessary: West Virginia Court Finds Implied Right to Pool Exists Where Lease Silent
- Surface Usage and Pipelines
- Is Your Property At Risk If The Driller Or Pipeline Company Doesn’t Pay Its Contractors?
- West Virginia Supreme Court Rules That Horizontal Wells Cannot Be Drilled Into Adjacent Tracts Pursuant to 1901 Lease
- Adverse Possession – Can Surface Owner Acquire Title to Gas Formations by Mere Passage of Time?
- A Possible Blueprint for Landowners Challenging Pipeline Companies
- Good News for Landowners Means Bad News for Trespassers
- Local Zoning Ordinances May Hinder Oil/Gas Development
- Marcellus Shale Gas is Not a Mineral. What Does This Mean for Lease-holders?
- Not All is Quiet on the Quiet Title Front
- Pennsylvania Landowners May Not Own Oil and Gas Rights Under Rivers and Streams
- Pipeline Operators: Public Utility or Pipeline Futility?
- PUC Decision Suggests Pipeline Operator Has Public Utility Status
- Subsurface Trespass – Can They Take the Gas Under My Property Without a Lease?
- The Accommodation Doctrine: Balancing the Interests of the Surface Owner and the Mineral Owner
- West Virginia Jury Awards Damages to Surface Owner for Unauthorized Well Pad
- Lease Expiration and Lease Development