Over the last few months, federal and state courts have issued a number of important new employment law decisions. Some, but not all, of these cases place additional burdens on employers defending claims at trial. Other cases bring needed clarification to previously ambiguous issues and should be helpful for employers. UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT DECISION EMPLOYERS DEFENDING AGE DISCRIMINATION CLAIMS BEAR BURDEN ON “REASONABLE FACTORS OTHER THAN AGE” DEFENSE In Meacham v….

Written discovery is often insufficient to develop the best record for trial. Informal fact gathering can help tip the balance in your client’s favor. An attorney employing self-help, however, must be careful to stay within ethical and legal boundaries. This article identifies five pitfalls associated with informal discovery, whether conducted by lawyers directly or through private investigators. FAILING TO PROPERLY INSTRUCT YOUR INVESTIGATOR A frequent mistake made by attorneys is to fail…

THE ABSOLUTE POLLUTION EXCLUSION: NAVIGATING PATHWAYS AROUND TOTAL CONFUSION “Rarely has any issue spawned as many, and as variant in rationales and results, court decisions as has the pollution-exclusion clause.” 1 While the pronouncement of the Supreme Court of Alabama may have been a little extreme, the fact remains that a decade later, courts are still citing it as accurate. The pollution exclusion remains in many jurisdictions as uncertain as ever, due…