I. THE MEDIATION PROCESS IN A NUTSHELL Mediation is the use of a third party to assist parties in negotiating a resolution or at least narrowing the matters in dispute. At the beginning of the “mediation era,” one publication succinctly defined mediation as follows:
The Mandate On November 5, 2021, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (“OSHA”) released its Emergency Temporary Standard (“ETS”)[1] mandating employers with 100+ employees require their employees to undergo a COVID-19 vaccination or take weekly COVID-19 tests and wear a mask at work. Employee vaccination requirements were set to begin on January 4, 2022. Failure...
On September 9, 2021, President Joe Biden issued two Executive Orders that will require Federal employees and contractors to be vaccinated.[1] The first is the Executive Order on Requiring Coronavirus Disease 2019 Vaccination for Federal Employees (“Federal Employee Order”), and it requires all Federal employees to be vaccinated with no alternative option for regular testing. President Biden asked the Safer Federal Workforce Task Force (“Task Force”) to produce an “issued guidance” for agency implementation of the Executive Order. The Task Force produced the COVID-19 Workplace Safety: Agency Model Safety Principles (“Task Force Model Principles”), which stipulates that all Federal employees, except in “limited circumstances,” must be vaccinated no later than November 22, 2021.
Shields Law Partners, L.L.P. is pleased to announce that 3 of the firm’s lawyers have been included as “Best Lawyers” in the 2022 Edition of The Best Lawyers in America. Since it was first published in 1983, Best Lawyers has become universally regarded as the definitive guide to legal excellence. Best Lawyers has published their...
While typically tucked away at the end of construction contracts, forum selection provisions and choice of law provisions can control significant aspects of the parties’ respective responsibilities and liabilities on a construction project. [Read More...]
Effective August 1, 2019, the Louisiana legislature introduced a pilot program authorizing a significant change to Louisiana’s public bidding process called “A+B Bidding.” With the introduction of this new bidding method on public projects, are the traditional built-in discretionary bidding limitations about to come to an end? [Read More...]
Often, construction projects and the alleged resulting damages span multiple commercial general liability (“CGL”) policy periods and even multiple insurers. Courts typically revert to the so-called trigger theories when they cannot pinpoint the date or dates the injury or damage actually took place. [Read More...]
Many contractors assume they purchased CGL coverage to protect themselves from potential risks of doing business, including some contractual promises and exposures related to bodily injury and property damages. “Exclusions” in CGL policies could result in a contractor being left responsible and paying for unexpected business risks, including those it may have assumed contractually. It is important that all “exclusions” in CGL policies, including the “contractual liability” exclusion discussed herein, be considered when drafting construction contracts and selecting insurance coverage. [Read More...]
Under Louisiana law, a premises owner is generally not liable for damages caused by the actions of an independent contractor, but there are important exceptions when an owner 1) exercises operational control over the contractor’s actions, or 2) expressly or impliedly authorizes an unsafe practice. [Read More...]
Did you know that a subcontractor’s employees could be treated as the employees of an upstream contractor under Louisiana law? This classification has very important implications when defending workers’ compensation claims and tort claims from employees of subcontractors and obtaining proper insurance coverage. [Read More...]
