The SEC is considering adopting changes to its definition of "accredited investors" that may reduce the pool of accredited investors. While this reduction in the number of accredited investors would not preclude private companies and investment funds from relying upon...
PLDO Law Blog
Month: January 2015
Historic Announcement: HHS Sets Clear Goals and Timeline for Shifting Medicare Reimbursements from Volume to Value
For the first time in the history of the Medicare program, the Department of Health and Human Services ("HHS") has set explicit goals for increasing alternative payment models and value-based payments. The historic change was announced by HHS Secretary Sylvia M....
Doctors Face Fraud and Negligence Suit in Massachusetts for Administering Contaminated Drugs
The participants in the New England Compounding Center ("NECC") pharmacy fraud matter were indicted recently, but they are not the only ones facing legal battles. Lawsuits alleging death and injury caused by contaminated drugs compounded by NECC were filed against not...
Big Case for Doctors and Hospitals to be Heard by SCOTUS on Tuesday
The United States Supreme Court will hear arguments from the state of Idaho on one side and Medicaid health care providers on the other, about whether those providers can sue the State over low reimbursement rates under the Supremacy Clause of the Constitution. The...
REAL ESTATE TITLE DISPUTES: THE PROCESS OF RECORDING “LIS PENDENS” IN RHODE ISLAND AND MASSACHUSETTS
If you or your business ends up in a dispute over real estate, it is likely that you will encounter a lis pendens. Lis pendens is Latin for “suit pending,” and it means just that, it is a statutorily governed legal tool that is often used to give notice on a...
HIGH STAKES: DRAFTING AND INTERPRETING PAYMENT REJECTIONS UNDER MASSACHUSETTS’ PROMPT PAY ACT
Under the Massachusetts Prompt Pay Act, which governs construction contracts, unless an owner meets the Act's "time and substance" requirements for rejecting a payment application from a contractor (ditto for subcontractors' applications to contractors), that...
RHODE ISLAND SUPREME COURT RULES THAT A PROPERTY’S FORECLOSURE WAS VALID DESPITE PLAINTIFF’S CLAIMS THAT MORTGAGE DOCUMENTS WERE “AMBIGUOUS”
BackgroundA recent case arose out of foreclosure proceedings that were instituted by Wells Fargo Bank (“Wells Fargo” or “defendant”) with respect to property located at 18 High Street in Bristol, Rhode Island. The property’s owner (“plaintiff”) secured the mortgage by...
FDA CONSIDERS RESCHEDULING MARIJUANA: A MILESTONE IN DRUG POLICY REFORM
The landscape of drug policy in the United States is poised for a significant shift as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) undertakes a reassessment of marijuana’s drug scheduling classification. The FDA is conducting a comprehensive review of marijuana’s current...
ARE NON-COMPETITION AGREEMENTS ENFORCEABLE IN RHODE ISLAND?
COURTS RULE IN FAVOR OF THE EMPLOYER’S AGREEMENT IN RECENT CASE The Rhode Island Supreme Court recently addressed the enforceability of a non-competition provision. In Walls v. Griggs & Browne Pest Control, Inc., the Court reviewed an agreement between Brian Walls...
