Blackletter

In Season 4, Blackletter has covered a variety of topics, from nanoparticle technology to the challenges of enforcing non-compete agreements. We discuss how different areas of the law have been affected by COVID 19 and how individuals can navigate these uncertain times. 

Today, we're going to talk about legal issues and going back to school. So the coronavirus, this global pandemic's still going on and some schools are back in session. What does that mean? Well, it means that there's liability. Probably means they're going to be lawsuits. Some schools are having students sign liability waivers and other schools and school districts have said, "We're not doing that and we find them wholly unenforceable." What's the real answer? Well, the answer is from what I can tell, it depends. Some states have sovereign immunity for teachers and school districts as long as they follow CDC and federal guidelines for reopening school and complying with pandemic guidelines and protecting their students. And other states have different rules for tort immunity for their teachers and professionals. What about other students? You go to school and your child is sick and gets another child sick. Can you get sued? The unfortunate answer as we sit here right now is probably everybody can get sued. And I say this all the time, anybody can get sued for anything at any time. There is no federal or state liability shield for coronavirus. And many insurers are declining to protect their insured parties, that is schools, school districts, teachers, et cetera, from liability for a coronavirus "incident" or issue. From everything I can tell, I think having a liability waiver is a good idea, but I agree with most school districts and legal experts that it's probably not going to be enforceable in court, but at least it sets the parents and the student's minds in the right place if you do your liability waiver the right way.

Today, we're going to talk about the 2020 election and voting in the time of a pandemic.

With COVID-19, what does that mean for showing up at the polls? 

A little bit of background about how voting laws work. The Elections Clause of the Constitution lets states basically govern their own elections, including for federal office. So when you're voting for president in your local state, your state is deciding how you're going to vote. Is it mail in? Do you have the right to do an absentee ballot? Do you have to have an excuse to do an absentee ballot? Congress can regulate federal elections under that Elections Clause when they deem they need to. There's something called Help America Vote Act. And I'm sure everybody's familiar with the National Voter Registration Act, which encourages voter registration. So where we are now is that different states have different rules about mail in and absentee voting. Because of the pandemic, a lot more states are changing their laws to allow more mail in and absentee voting. About two thirds of all states already had rules that allowed no excuse mail in voting. And that's changed over time. There are more states that have no excuse or coronavirus pandemic excuse mail in voting. And there are even some states like Nevada that are actually requiring mail and voting and are closing all of the in-person polls. The big challenge in every one of these cases, is a balance between, is there voter fraud from mail in voting? Is there a risk of when you get mail in ballots, are they going to be fake? Or, is it easier to fake a vote for one person or another? Versus, what are people's healthcare concerns about showing up at the polls? Their right to vote, how is that stymied by this pandemic and how do we address that? Nevada decided to do all mail in voting. In fact, nobody can show up to the polls. And that was challenged in court, on the voter fraud basis, and ultimately overruled. And so Nevada, as of now, is going to have all mail in voting. There are cases that go the other way too, for different reasons. For example, in Wisconsin, they extended the date by which you can vote during a primary by six or seven days. And that case went all the way to the US Supreme Court. And the US Supreme Court ended up reversing the district court decision and saying, "Nope, you can't do that, Wisconsin. You can't extend the voting date." There was a dissent by Justice Ginsburg that had some fair points, but right now, the short answer is there's a hodgepodge of case law decisions. But I think when we get to November, that most states are going to have either no excuse mail in voting, or mandatory mail in voting, and you're going to be able to cast your ballot by mail. Either way, whether you're Republican, Democrat, Independent, Green Party, register to vote and make sure that your vote counts. 

Tom Dunlap chats with Rob Wray, founder of Blue Star, a senior care technology company, Lisa Roden, owner of Shadow House Media Company, and Aimee McKinney, CMO of Dunlap Bennett & Ludwig. Topics include what Blue Star does, the legality of content creation, and legal advice for new entrepreneurs.  

Listen to today's Minute as we talk about a new rule passed by the labor department last Friday. The new rule revises the definition of healthcare providers that are exempted from the Families First Coronavirus Response Act requirement that was passed back in March. The requirement required any business with less than 500 workers to give up to two weeks of paid sick leave to employees affected by the virus and 10 weeks of partially paid family leave for any working parents to care for children whose school or daycare is closed to COVID-19.

The Department of Labor has narrowed the rules and it now includes more people once again. The two big categories that are now included for those workers are any worker who provides diagnostic services, preventative services, treatment services, or other services that are integrated and necessary to the provision of patient care. So more than just doctors or nurses, this now includes staff members who do things like radiology or possibly even receptionists at a healthcare workers office. Previously, the court had said you can't include people like cafeteria workers and people who aren't directly providing healthcare, but this Department of Labor response to that court opinion is sort of bringing those people back in, because the other category of exempted people that the new Department of Labor rule includes are those who are "integrated a necessary for the provision of patient care". 

Listen to today's Minute as we look at the puzzling case of the Rubik's Cube. The Rubik's Cube Company brought a lawsuit against the parent of Duncan Toys Company, Flambeau. They asked a court to find that Flambeau infringed their trademark for the Rubik's Cube. Grab your coffee and tune in to find out more...

Listen to today's episode as we're going to talk about Epic's Antitrust battle against Apple over Fortnite and developer fees . Grab your coffee and tune in to find out more...

Tom Dunlap chats with Ben Barlow and David Ludwig, both of Dunlap, Bennett & Ludwig, to discuss the dos and don’ts of non-compete agreements. Topics include defining non-competition agreements, COVID & enforcing these clauses and anti-trust criminal statute enforcement.

Listen to today's episode as we're going to talk about how the coronavirus pandemic could impact commercial real estate and cause issues for subleases. Grab your coffee and tune in to find out more...

Listen to today's episode as we're going to talk about a typographical error and font changes that led prosecutors to conclude that a New York man had faked his death to avoid sentencing in two cases. Grab your coffee and tune in to find out more...