News & Legal Updates Archive

Since taking office a mere month ago, President Donald Trump and his administration have taken significant steps towards eliminating DEI efforts in the federal government, higher education, and the business world. These efforts – including two executive orders – have faced significant opposition from various groups who have sought court intervention against the Trump administration.

Selling a business isn’t just a transaction—it’s a transition, and for some, it can be an emotional one. And if you’re not prepared, it can cost you time, money, and your peace.

Beneficial ownership information (BOI) reporting requirements under the Corporate Transparency Act are once again back in effect, and reporting companies have until March 21, 2025 to comply. 

On February 3, the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity posted its Notice of Funding Opportunity to apply by May 8, 2025, for grants under the Illinois Digital Equity Capacity Grant Program.

President Donald Trump's administration rescinded Title IX guidance put forth by former President Joe Biden that would have resulted in significant changes to Name, Image, and Likeness (“NIL”) in college athletics, the Department of Education announced on Wednesday.

Following the demise of the Federal Trade Commission’s proposed national rule to ban non-compete agreements last year, a bi-partisan Senate Bill in Ohio has put the issue back on the table for the Buckeye State.

McDonald Hopkins is proud to announce the addition of Gabriella Dubsky as an Associate in the firm’s Business Department and Real Estate Practice Group. She will work out of the firm’s Chicago office.

Public bodies interested in meeting virtually under a new Ohio state law have another two months within which to prepare for the measure before it goes live.

Proponents of so-called public-law litigation — lawsuits seeking to vindicate broad social or political causes important to large numbers of people — were dealt a blow in December when the Ohio Supreme Court eliminated one path toward having state court judges hear those kinds of cases. The Martens decision should be welcomed by lawmakers and government regulators across the state for its elimination of a swath of plaintiffs who are not directly injured by the targets of their ire.

A city of Columbus citizen attempted to reverse the decision to rename Christopher Columbus Square Park, was alas dismissed in December by the trial court. The reason? The plaintiff lacked standing to sue the city government. In its motion to dismiss, the city argued he had not established that he was injured by the name change in a way that distinguished him from all other citizens, and thus he lacked traditional standing to sue the government.

We are proud to announce that our Chicago office is once again raising money for cancer research through Cycle for Survival, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center's official rare cancer fundraiser, all under the stewardship of the Chicago office’s Managing Member: Marc Carmel. Marc was recently appointed to Cycle for Survival's Chicago Leadership Community. In this Q&A, Marc shares his personal experiences and insights regarding the fundraiser and his passion for the cause.

Ohio has passed the Pay Stub Protection Act that mandates that employers provide detailed earnings and deductions statements to all employees. Here’s what you need to know about the new law and its implications for businesses and workers in Ohio. The Act is effective April 9, 2025.

The Illinois Supreme Court recently held that a plaintiff in a data breach class action lacked standing, reasoning that an increased risk of future harm is not injury-in-fact and that a loan application using publicly available information did not show her private information had been stolen or misused. The case contains numerous points of interest for practitioners defending such cases or assisting clients with responding to data security incidents.

In recent years, data privacy legislation has seen significant activity across all industries. Last October, Ohio Senate Bill 29 officially went into effect. The new regulation implements requirements for school districts regarding student data privacy, technology contracts, and the tracking and monitoring the online activities of students.

On Tuesday, January 22, 2025, the Trump administration directed all federal health agencies to pause external communications through Feb. 1, 2025. As a result of the communication pause, policy information and guidance from HHS agencies may be delayed.

The NCAA and its power conferences recently agreed in principle to allow each school to share up to $20.5 million in direct payments to its athletes via name, image and likeness deals as one of the terms of a pending antitrust settlement. However, last week, the U.S. Department of Education, Office for Civil Rights (the Department) published a “fact-sheet” memorandum which throws a wrench into those plans. 

Two attorneys at McDonald Hopkins have been selected to the 2025 Illinois Super Lawyers list and three McDonald Hopkins attorneys have been selected to the 2025 Illinois Rising Stars list.

With the Trump administration's heightened focus on immigration compliance, employers must prioritize ensuring their Form I-9 processes are accurate and complete.

On January 3, 2025, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology published the new draft rules under the Digital Personal Data Protection Act.

Dominic Paluzzi, co-chair of McDonald Hopkins' Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Practice Group, was featured in News 5 Cleveland's broadcast regarding a data breach affecting one of the largest student-information systems in the world.

This article originally appeared in Crain's Cleveland Business on January 13, 2025.

After a sluggish 2023, the mergers and acquisitions landscape improved in 2024, signaling the start of a promising recovery in deal activity. While deal volume increased and is approaching pre-pandemic levels, it has not reached the levels seen during the boom of 2021-22.

The recent decisions in the Pinnacle Foods bankruptcy case pending in the Eastern District of California highlight the difficulties that franchisees may have in filing for bankruptcy and seeking to assume a franchise agreement in jurisdictions where case law is not favorable or state law may conflict with the Bankruptcy Code.

The FDA has announced a webinar to provide information on investigational use requirements for IVDs, including LDTs. This webinar will describe the Investigational Device Exemptions Regulation, the regulatory requirements it contains for the study of investigational devices, and FDA’s typical review process for an IDE application.

This report is relevant to laboratories because it provides insight into “high cost” areas where government and private payers may focus audit and investigation efforts in the future.

On January 8, 2025, the International Franchise Association released its 2025 policy priorities aimed at protecting, enhancing, and promoting the franchise business model as a key component of small business growth now and into the future.

There are significant changes to New York's Data Breach Notification Law that will affect how organizations respond to cybersecurity incidents. Organizations should consider creating and/or updating their incident response plans to track these and other changes to existing legislation.

Recently, the Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights announced plans to update HIPAA in an effort to improve the cybersecurity practices of covered entities and business associates, as the number of targeted cyberattacks, particularly those targeting the healthcare system, continues to skyrocket.

McDonald Hopkins is proud to announce the recognition of 13 attorneys recognized by Leading Lawyers.

The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals (the “Court”)  has reinstated the nationwide preliminary injunction – once again preventing enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (“CTA”) pending appeal.

Reporting companies that were created prior to January 1, 2024, have until January 13, 2025, to comply with CTA requirements (compared with the original deadline of January 1, 2025).

McDonald Hopkins is proud to welcome Kate Montgomery as an Associate in the firm’s Litigation Department. Kate brings a diverse legal background spanning criminal defense, healthcare and more.

As of December 23, 2024, it appears that the January 1, 2025, deadline for compliance with the Corporate Transparency Act is in effect. 

Kathryn Hickey has been selected to the 2025 Maryland Super Lawyers list, and  Spencer Pollock and David Shafer are on the state's Rising Star list. 

In non-breaking news: making adequate disclosures in purchase agreements continues to matter.  In a recent opinion stemming from a lawsuit for breach of contract and related claims, the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed the district court’s award of summary judgment in favor of the defendants, former Wendy’s franchisees, who were sued by ultimate purchaser of their assets.

Eight attorneys at McDonald Hopkins have been selected to the 2025 Ohio Super Lawyers list and two McDonald Hopkins attorneys have been selected to the 2025 Ohio Rising Stars list.

McDonald Hopkins is proud to announce the expansion of its Intellectual Property Department with the addition of six talented attorneys: Aaron Fishman and Andrew Jenkins as Members, Tomoko Ishihara and Nobuhiko Sukenaga as Counsel, and Trevor Lewis and Nicholas Owens as Associates.

Last month the Ohio Supreme Court appeared to have settled a question as to whether public bodies found to have violated the Open Meetings Act, R.C. 121.22 — the statute that generally requires public bodies to deliberate and make decisions out in the open — may cure their violations by simply redoing in the open what they failed to do in the first place.

The Ohio Senate continues to consider whether to adopt a measure advanced nearly unanimously by the Ohio House that would authorize many public bodies to conduct meetings virtually.

The Ohio Supreme Court determined that a township’s mailing and email lists, used for the purposes of distributing newsletters to residents and businesses, were subject to the Public Records Act, R.C. 149.43

Though the Online Safety Amendment is clearly not the first attempt by a nation to combat and restrict the use of social media by minors, this law stands apart from previous attempts by setting the minimum age of social media use to 16, the highest minimum age set by any country to date, and by omitting any exemptions for ‘grandfathered-in’ existing minor social media users or for obtainment of parental consent

On December 3, 2024, the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas granted a nationwide preliminary injunction blocking the enforcement of the Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) which requires U.S. reporting companies to report beneficial owner information to the U.S. Treasury. 

The United Nations General Assembly is set to enter their final vote to approve the United Nations Convention Against Cybercrime in December of 2024.

On November 8, 2024, the California Privacy Protection Agency (CPPA) Board voted to adopt new regulations concerning data broker registration. The new registration regulations will be filed with the Office of Administrative Law for a final review and, if approved, will go into effect on January 1, 2025.

Where there’s money moving online, cybercriminals appear to the not-so-cheery tune of over $1 trillion stolen in 2024. Website credentials, secure payment options, and other strategies should be just as big a consideration as the markdowns this season.

McDonald Hopkins would like to congratulate our co-president Jim Giszczak on his recognition by Crain’s Detroit Business as a 2024 Notable Nonprofit Leader. 

Skilled nursing facilities will soon be required to significantly expand their reporting of ownership and control information on newly updated CMS-855A forms. Private equity companies and other organizations like real estate investment trusts have been named as one of the reasons that the expanded reporting for SNFs has been implemented. As such, these organizations should be aware that they may be a part of this reporting through a number of routes.

The Small Business Administration's Working Capital Pilot Program is designed to provide small business owners with greater flexibility and access to working capital through a line of credit of up to $5 million. It is targeting borrowers that have been in business for at least one year and are slightly larger than the typical small business borrower – here's what you need to know. 

With the attention of many employers focused elsewhere, on November 15, 2024, the federal district court in Texas quietly, but completely, set aside the Department of Labor’s final rule raising the minimum salary level thresholds for exempt employees.

McDonald Hopkins is pleased to announce the addition of Carissa Siebeneck Anderson as Counsel in the Mergers and Acquisitions and Government Contracting and Procurement Practice Groups. Carissa brings over a decade of extensive knowledge of government contracts law, corporate law, and regulatory compliance.

Recently, Crain's Cleveland Business featured a lawsuit filed by McDonald Hopkins' Stephen Rosenfeld on behalf of clients. The suit, filed on Oct. 28 in U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Ohio alleges some key leaders at the Solon biotechnology company Locus Solutions engaged in fraud.