News & Legal Updates Archive

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. 

Last week, the United States Supreme Court heard a case concerning publicly traded organizations' duties to report data breaches to investors. The Court's forthcoming ruling may expand publicly traded companies' obligations to report data security incidents to their investors.

McDonald Hopkins is proud to welcome Associate Hannah Jones to the firm’s Litigation Department and the national Data Privacy and Cybersecurity Practice Group. 

McDonald Hopkins is proud to welcome four new associates to the firm, all of whom previously worked at the firm as clerks during their law school years. Their desire to officially start their legal careers at McDonald Hopkins underscores the commitment to being a destination for top-tier legal talent and, ultimately, a cultivator for that talent.

Over the past 24 months, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office for Civil Rights has brought notable enforcement efforts against several non-profit covered entities and business associates, resulting in instances of six and seven-figure penalties against providers across the county for incidents involving breaches of protected health information.

McDonald Hopkins has once again been recognized as one of the nation’s top law firms by Best Lawyers®. The 2025 edition of the United States Best Law Firms® rankings, released on November 7, 2024, highlights McDonald Hopkins in more than 40 different categories, with eight practices ranking nationally.

A new amendment to New York state law, which would have required all healthcare providers to obtain separate consents from patients for treatment and payment is on hold until further guidance is released, according to the New York Department of Health.

McDonald Hopkins is proud to welcome Marcus Robertson as an Associate in the Business Department and a member of the Mergers and Acquisitions Practice Group. Marcus is passionate about helping his clients succeed and takes pride in being part of some of the most pivotal moments in their business’s or organization’s growth.

On November 1, 2024, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services issued the Medicare Physician Fee Schedule 2025 final rule, which establishes new advanced primary care management billing codes that will expand opportunities for physician practices, federally qualified health centers, rural health clinics and other health care providers to get paid for services provided by clinical staff under the direction of a physician, nurse practitioner or physician assistant beginning January 1, 2025.

A shift in power almost always brings with it new policies that could impact many things, including your business and your estate. McDonald Hopkins is here you prepare for the changes ahead with two upcoming webinars you don't want to miss.

On October 16, 2024, the New York State Department of Financial Services (NYDFS) issued new guidance to NYDFS regulated entities (Covered Entities) on cyber security risks arising from AI.

This framework is an extremely helpful guide when an organization is faced with the daunting task of auditing its privacy practices, the unique circumstances of each organization necessitates the input of seasoned professionals and experts in order for an organization to reach the required goal of full compliance with applicable laws.

Legal updates for pathology and laboratory clients in New York and California, and updates on the PAMA delay

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission closed out its fiscal year by filing a flurry of lawsuits, bringing the total number of lawsuits filed this fiscal year to 93.