Business Law

Dr. Emil Soorani, a psychiatrist, was investigated by the Medical Board after it received information he was overprescribing controlled substances. The Board obtained a Controlled Substance Utilization Review and Evaluation System (CURES) report detailing his prescribing history. The Board’s medical consultant identified six patients who were prescribed controlled substances in large quantities or with “erratic patterns.” Read more

States participating in the federal Medicaid program must pay federally qualified heath centers for the services they provide to Medicaid beneficiaries. California participates through Medi-Cal. Under Medicaid, California must pay such health centers 100 percent of their costs of furnishing required services. Tulare Pediatric Health Care Center (the Clinic) is a federally qualified health center. Read more

In Frazier v. First Advantage Background Services Corp., No. 3:17cv30, 2019 WL 4601616 (E. D. Va. Sep. 23, 2019), the Eastern District of Virginia issued an erudite opinion offering guidance on when the Supreme Court’s Spokeo decision might apply to the challenge of a Fair Credit Reporting Act (“FCRA”) claim. Read more

The Board of Pharmacy filed an accusation against Solomon Oduyale, a licensed pharmacist, to revoke or suspend his license. The accusation was based on 16 causes for discipline ranging from possession of controlled substances without proper labeling to failure to maintain accurate and complete pharmacy records. After a hearing, the Board adopted an ALJ’s decision proposing revocation of Oduyale’s license and a stay of the revocation with probation for three years. Read more

On November 13, 2019, another lawsuit was brought in California (in this case in the United States District Court in the Eastern District) challenging California’s gender quota law for boards of directors (SB 826). This lawsuit seeks (i) a declaratory judgment that SB 826 violates the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and (ii) a permanent injunction to halt California’s Secretary of State (Alex Padilla) from enforcing or taking further action to enforce the law. SB 826 is a California law that went into effect on January 1, 2019 requiring publicly-held corporations--those with outstanding shares listed on a major United States stock exchange--that are incorporated in California or that have their principal executive offices here, to have at least one female director on their board by December 31, 2019. No later than December 31, 2021, these corporations must have at least one female director if their number of directors is four or fewer, at least two female directors if their number of directors is five, and at least three female directors if their number of directors is six or more. Read more

The California Insurance Guarantee Association (CIGA) is a state-run entity that pays covered claims against insolvent insurers. California law prohibits CIGA from reimbursing state and federal agencies, like Medicare. In contrast, the Medicare Act contains a Secondary Payer Provision that requires a primary insurer to reimburse Medicare for any medical care included under the beneficiary’s policy with a primary insurer. Read more

On October 31, 2019, the California Court of Appeal, First Appellate District, in the case of Handoush v. Lease Finance Group, LLC, 2019 Cal. App. LEXIS 1078, Cal. Ct. Appeal Case No. A150863 (Oct. 31, 2019), reversed the decision of the trial court and held that a New York forum selection clause and choice of law clause in the parties’ lease agreement for equipment deprived plaintiff of his substantive right to a jury trial and was thus unenforceable under California law. Read more

Assembly Bill 5 (AB 5) goes into effect on January 1, 2020 and codified the ABC test adopted by the California Supreme Court in Dynamex Operations West, Inc. v. Superior Court, 4 Cal.5th 903 (2018) (“Dynamex”). AB 5 makes radical changes to the way California law analyzes the treatment of workers as independent contractors. This program reviews the impact AB 5 may have on businesses, with a focus on franchising, including, whether and how AB 5 potentially changes the relationships between franchisors, franchises and franchisee employees. Issues discussed will include changes in the analysis of worker classification as independent contractors, exemptions with AB 5, and impact on common law theories of liability (i.e., vicarious, joint employer, and agency). The panel will provide a perspective of AB 5 from that of a franchise litigator, franchise compliance attorney, franchisee attorney, and franchise in-house attorney. Read more

The following regulatory information may be of interest to attorneys practicing insurance law. Read more

The seller in commercial real estate transactions is commonly a single-purpose LLC (limited liability company) set up to hold only one property.  After the property is sold, the owners (members) of the LLC usually take the proceeds (via distribution from the LLC) and dissolve the LLC.  Later when the buyer discovers a potential claim against the seller, say, for fraud and misrepresentation, the LLC has already been dissolved with no assets left. Fraud and misrepresentation is probably the most common… Read more