Craig Pendergrast Article on Foreclosure Confirmation Proceedings Published in Georgia Bar Journal

The Georgia Bar Journal has published an article by Taylor English litigator Craig Pendergrast on the perils and strategies associated with foreclosure confirmation proceedings. The article is highly relevant to lenders, borrowers, and guarantors of secured real estate loans in Georgia: Georgia Foreclosure Confirmation Proceedings in Today’s Recessionary Real Estate World

13 Attorneys from Taylor English featured in Georgia Trend’s “Legal Elite” Rankings

Atlanta – December 16, 2010 – Georgia Trend magazine named 13 attorneys from Taylor English Duma LLP to its eighth annual listing of the state’s “Legal Elite.” The magazine recognized attorneys from six separate practice areas as among the best in the state, based on votes cast solely by practicing attorneys in Georgia.

“We greatly value this acknowledgment by our peers,” said Al Hill, managing partner of Taylor English. “Having a significant portion of our firm gain such recognition attests to the quality and experience of the attorneys drawn to Taylor English by our innovative approach to business.”

Continuing to attract attorneys that predominantly have more than 15 years of experience and who work directly with clients, Taylor English has continued its impressive growth in 2010. The firm was recognized earlier this year by Atlanta Business Chronicle as the fastest-growing law firm in Atlanta.

Members of the 2010 Legal Elite rankings include:

Paul G. Durdaller – Bankruptcy / Creditor Rights
George C. Gaskin – Business Law
Jonathan B. Wilson – Business Law
Foy R. Devine – Business Law and General Practice / Trial Law
Todd E. Jones – General Practice / Trial Law
Henry M. Quillian lll – General Practice / Trial Law
John J. Richard – General Practice / Trial Law
Joseph M. English – Labor & Employment
Randy C. Gepp – Labor & Employment
Marc. A. Taylor – Labor & Employment
Vivian D. Hoard – Taxes / Estates / Trusts
Aaron J. Kowan – Taxes / Estates / Trusts
Melissa E. McMorries – Taxes / Estates / Trusts

Holiday Parties: Preventing Holiday Bliss from Becoming Your New Year’s Nightmare

‘Tis the season to build morale and celebrate hope with an end of year holiday office party. However, failing to recognize the potential liabilities associated with these events can yield devastating results. The most significant concern is associated with the consumption of alcohol. In many states, employers can be held legally responsible for injuries and damages caused by an intoxicated employee or guest who gets into an accident after leaving an office party. Another area of potential liability relates to the “Exclusive Remedy” provision of the Workers’ Disability Compensation Act. While this Act usually protects an employer with respect to work-related injuries, such protection does not apply to injuries “incurred in the pursuit of an activity, the major purpose of which is social or recreational” (i.e. the company holiday party). Here are some tips to help protect employers from having their holiday party turn into a New Year’s nightmare:

WHAT TO DO
Consider an alcohol free party or requiring employees to purchase alcohol beyond the first one or two drinks. People are less likely to over-consume if they are paying for the alcohol. Generally, the average 150 lb male can consume approximately 2 drinks per hour without becoming legally intoxicated. Because this can vary depending upon a number of factors, behavioral signs of intoxication also need to be observed.

Consider providing drink tickets to limit the number of drinks per person and limit the period during the party at which alcohol is served.

If requiring guests to purchase alcohol, check with an alcohol licensing attorney to determine whether a special permit is required for your event.

Hold your event at an establishment licensed to serve and sell alcohol, such as a restaurant or event facility, and use their servers to serve the alcohol. If this is not an option, hire a licensed caterer (with liquor liability insurance) for the alcohol portion of your function.

Ensure that bartenders are trained in responsible alcohol sales and service and instruct them to stop serving individuals who appear to be intoxicated and not to sell to anyone who could be underage unless a valid ID establishing legal age is provided.

Circulate a memo or reminder to employees to drink responsibly and advising them of alternative transportation that will be available.

Include spouses, domestic partners or another adult guest of your employees. If appropriate, consider making your party a “family function” with games for kids as most adults are less likely to over-consume if their children are around.

Have a variety and surplus of non-alcoholic beverages available.

Have plenty of food. Avoid spicy or salty foods that increase thirst, but focus on foods high in starch and protein as these foods stay in the stomach longer and help slow down the absorption of alcohol.

Plan for entertainment or some activity for attendees besides drinking.

End alcohol service at least 30 minutes before the end time of the party. Have an assortment of desserts or an end of party event/giveaway to encourage attendees to stay after the bar is closed.

Designate employees or security staff who will not be drinking to circulate and identify individuals who appear to be intoxicated so that responsible measures can be taken to insure that any such individual will not be driving.

Provide paid taxis or some other form of alternate transportation for anyone who requests such or who appears to be intoxicated. Offer the service both to and from the event.

Recognize that many general liability insurance policies exclude coverage for events where alcohol is served. Consider a “special event” or “dram shop” policy to cover your event. Request a policy that covers both liquor liability as well as other liability exposure.

WHAT NOT TO DO
Schedule the event during normal working hours.

Pay employees while they are at the event or consuming alcohol.

Require employees to attend as a condition of their employment.

Conduct any type of business meetings or work related matters at the event (before, during or after).

Let employees pour their own drinks, or have employees responsible for serving or mixing drinks. Always hire a third party for alcohol service.

Make the bar the focus of your event – have the bar in a corner or separate room.

Have drinking games or other entertainment that encourages the consumption of alcohol.

Knowingly allow an intoxicated employee or guest to consume alcohol.

Provide alcohol to minors or allow parents to provide alcohol to their children at your event.

*Licensed to practice law in Georgia and South Carolina, Michele Stumpe has been representing and assisting businesses and alcohol retailers for over 17 years. Her experience includes successfully handling multi-million dollar civil dram shop and premises liability lawsuits. In addition, Ms. Stumpe has served as a consultant to various governmental entities, trade organizations, and major corporations and has also served as an expert witness on alcohol compliance issues. Stumpe is a partner at the law firm of Taylor English Duma LLP.

Taylor English Grows Again, Adds Four Associates

Atlanta – December 9, 2010 – Taylor English Duma LLP has added four attorneys in response to continued growth in demand for its services.

Peyton Nunez specializes in environmental and toxic tort litigation, as well as environmental regulatory and transactional matters. She has litigated a broad range of environmental matters in Georgia and throughout the nation. She also has substantial experience defending clients in private-party cost recovery actions, government enforcement actions, and toxic tort cases. Nunez is a former chair of the State Bar of Georgia’s Environmental Law Section. She previously practiced with the Environmental & Land Use group at Alston & Bird LLP.

Amanda Groover Hyland focuses on business and media litigation, including commercial torts and contract disputes. She also specializes in complex intellectual property matters, including copyright and trademark prosecution, licensing, and litigation. Hyland has represented national technology and manufacturing companies, television stations, newspapers, authors, entertainment companies, publishers and producers in complex litigation and intellectual property matters. She previously worked as an out-of-chambers clerk in the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals.

Rachael Lee Zichella is a member of Taylor English’s Litigation and Dispute Resolution and Employment, Labor and Immigration practices. She has represented clients in federal and state court in all phases of trial practice, arbitration, and mediation in a wide range of shareholder, employee and contract disputes. Zichella also counsels clients on preventative strategies involving the ADA, Title VII, the ADEA, the FMLA, the FLSA and other federal and state statutes and defends matters before the EEOC, NLRB and OSHA. Prior to Taylor English, Zichella worked as an associate with Kilpatrick Stockton LLP and Fisher & Phillips LLP.

Jeffrey Kuntz joins the Intellectual Property practice where he assists in patent prosecution, litigation, and licensing. A 2010 cum laude graduate of Georgia State University College of Law, Kuntz brings industry experience as an IT consultant in the telecommunications industry and as a consumer products engineer. He is a magna cum laude graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology in mechanical engineering and a Certified Engineer-in-Training.

“Peyton, Amanda and Rachael each add specific industry expertise to our rapidly growing litigation group,” said Taylor English partner Joe English. “With Jeff, we continue the expansion of the intellectual property group.”

Taylor English’s litigation and intellectual property work earned top rankings in the 2010 Best Law Firms rankings released in September by U.S. News Media and Best Lawyers.

Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change

On December 1, 2010, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) released its staff report on consumer privacy. This report outlines the FTC’s preliminary recommendations to protect consumers in the privacy arena. The report is entitled “Protecting Consumer Privacy in an Era of Rapid Change: A Proposed Framework for Businesses and Policymakers” and can be found in its complete form at: http://www.ftc.gov/os/2010/12/101201privacyreport.pdf

The proposed staff framework represents a significant change in the way the FTC views data privacy. Previous FTC policy was based on the idea of “notice and opt-out”. The rationale was that it was legally sufficient if a business gave notice of its privacy practices and gave consumers the opportunity to “opt-out” of having their data collected.

The proposed framework increases the burden on businesses to attempt to balance consumers’ privacy interests with the ever-changing technological innovation that requires consumer information to function. The report addresses the need to reduce the burden on consumers by simplifying choice, making privacy policies more consistent across the board, and embracing the concept of “privacy by design.” That concept, which some have criticized as vague and ambiguous, embraces the idea that businesses should develop their systems and operations from inception with the goal of protecting consumer privacy and that other commercial concerns should be secondary.

In many cases, the report claims, consumers do not even realize that they are providing or sharing the information. For instance, the report specifically mentions the example of social media or online shopping sites that track a consumer’s interests and share those personal interests with other affiliates or third parties.

Many companies use privacy policies to explain their information practices, but these legalistic disclosures are often lengthy, hard to find, and not understood by consumers. To deal with this problem, the FTC supports implementation of a “Do Not Track” mechanism so that consumers can easily choose whether to allow the collection of data regarding their online searching and browsing activities. However, the FTC falls short of proposing who will be responsible for developing and/or maintaining such mechanisms, and the report concedes that the FTC may lack the legal authority to mandate such a system.

To reduce further the burden on consumers and increase consumer privacy protections, the report recommends that “companies should adopt a ‘privacy by design’ approach by building privacy protections into their everyday business practices.” This would include reasonable procedures to promote data accuracy, reasonable security for consumer data, as well as limited collection and retention of such data. In addition, companies should implement and enforce reliable privacy practices throughout their organizations, including training employees on privacy policies and conducting privacy reviews for new products and services.

The report also recommends other measures to improve the transparency of information practices, including consideration of standardized notices that allow the public to compare information practices of competing companies. The report recommends allowing consumers “reasonable access” to the data that companies maintain about them, particularly for data brokers.

The FTC staff report should be of interest to every business that collects consumer data in any form, including banks, hospitals, health care providers, social networks, online directories, Internet advertising businesses and online merchants. While the FTC staff report does not carry the weight of law, it does represent the opinions of the FTC and can form the basis for regulatory enforcement and possible future legislation. If all of the staff report’s provisions became law, most businesses with online data collection mechanisms would need to implement significant changes in the way they do business.

Deadlines for comment on the proposals are January 31, 2011, and the report includes a number of specific questions on which the FTC is seeking feedback.

Companies with an interest in online data collection should review the FTC staff report carefully and consider providing comments to the FTC.

Taylor English attorneys regularly advise clients on online data privacy standards and risks and are available to discuss the FTC staff report. For more information please contact Corey Cutter, at 770-434-6881 or Jonathan Wilson, at 678-336-7185.