In the latest episode of the Real Estate Podcast Alan Schwartz, Cindy Ortega and Grant Schertzing discuss how vapor intrusion risks can affect the use and sale of contaminated properties.   Volatile Organic Chemicals (“VOCs”) contaminating soil or groundwater can give off gases, or vapors, that are dangerous for people to inhale.  In the last 5 […]

In April 2017, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) announced yet another HIPAA settlement agreement with a health care provider relating to a stolen mobile device containing Protected Health Information (“PHI”).  As part of this settlement agreement, CardioNet agreed to pay $2.5 million and implement a corrective action plan resulting from the […]

In the current episode, listen to Miller Johnson real estate attorneys Jim Ens, Eric Starck, and Matt VanDyk discuss the pitfalls and mistakes parties make when negotiating a commercial lease agreement from both the tenant and landlord perspectives. Topics discussed include the many ways to set up guaranties, obligations of the parties, monetary and non-monetary […]

If your company experiences a data breach, the first person you should contact is your lawyer.  While this advice is certainly self-serving to the authors, it is nevertheless the most prudent course of action. In the first few moments after a data breach, everything you say or do is discoverable in subsequent litigation or other […]

The Miller Johnson Real Estate Podcast is a twice monthly series hosted by attorneys involved in real estate transactions, disputes, property tax, construction, land use and zoning matters with clients. From buying, selling and leasing to commercial, industrial and residential development, our Real Estate group offers a full range of insights and analysis of a […]

The Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”) recently announced (https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/press-releases/2017/09/three-companies-agree-settle-ftc-charges-they-falsely-claimed) that it had settled charges against three different companies for misleading consumers about their participation in the EU-US Privacy Shield (“Privacy Shield”) framework.  These are the FTC’s first enforcement actions brought under the Privacy Shield. The FTC alleged the three companies falsely claimed they were certified to […]

Ever since the news broke regarding the Equifax breach affecting over 140 million people in the U.S., we have received daily phone calls from clients, friends, and family asking what they can do to protect themselves.  Should I sign up for the credit monitoring?  Am I am going to waive my right to join a […]

Yesterday. on September 7, 2017, Equifax, a credit monitoring agency, announced that the personal information of nearly half of all Americans may have been breached.  According to Equifax, criminals used “a U.S. website application vulnerability” to gain access to files that contained names, Social Security numbers, birth dates, addresses and driver’s license numbers. Equifax stated […]

The Department of Health and Human Services (“HHS”) recently issued relief and other helpful guidance about dealing with Protected Health Information (“PHI”) in the wake of disasters like Hurricane Harvey.  You can review this guidance here. Waiver of Certain Provisions under the Privacy Rule It is important to remember that HIPAA’s Privacy Rule continues to […]

In a previous post on this blog here, we noted that the recent decision in D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals had joined a growing number of federal courts holding the risk of future harm is enough to allow a class action to proceed following a data breach. Now the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals joins […]