Recent Articles from All Practice Groups
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SCOTUS Opinion: Equitable Apportionment Doctrine Applies To Interstate Aquifers
Typically in cases where states have a dispute over water use, usually involving water flowing above ground in a river or lake, the Court uses the doctrine of equitable apportionment to allocate the water resources between the states. In Mississippi v. Tennessee, Mississippi originally sued the City of Memphis for drawing too much water from the Middle Claiborne Aquifer, which ... Read More
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New Video: The Women’s Initiative
https://youtu.be/FzPUmIUB2-0 Attorney Sarabeth Rangiah discusses the efforts of Jackson & Campbell's women attorneys to support one another in a legal world predominantly still run by men. Jackson & Campbell, P.C.'s attorneys are among the most respected in Washington, routinely winning national awards and high rankings from organizations like The Best Lawyers in America, Super Lawyers, Who's Who in America, and many ... Read More
TAGGED: Women's Initiative, Video content
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Business Practice Group Spotlight: Vaccine Mandates
https://youtu.be/_gWg3jRdBU0 Firm President John J. Matteo discusses vaccine mandates & the efforts made by Jackson & Campbell's Business Law Practice Group to advise clients on evolving guidelines from the CDC. Follow our new YouTube channel for more video content from our attorneys! Jackson & Campbell, P.C.'s attorneys are among the most respected in Washington, routinely winning national awards and ... Read More
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Trusts & Estates Practice Group | Video Overview
https://youtu.be/rieno5jqLVw Attorney Jamie K. Blair outlines the ways in which the Trusts & Estates Practice Group has helped residents of Maryland, Virginia, and the District of Columbia prepare their end-of-life documents for generations of families. Jackson & Campbell, P.C.'s attorneys are among the most respected in Washington, routinely winning national awards and high rankings from organizations like The Best Lawyers ... Read More
TAGGED: Wills, Video, Trusts & Estates
Jackson & Campbell Joins YouTube!
https://youtu.be/FB_ISnSAUIQ Firm President John J. Matteo introduces the viewer to Jackson & Campbell P.C., one of Washington, D.C.'s oldest and most respected law firms. Jackson & Campbell can now be found on YouTube! Subscribe to our channel here. Jackson & Campbell, P.C.'s attorneys are among the most respected in Washington, routinely winning national awards and high rankings from organizations ... Read More
TAGGED: Video, Jackson & Campbell
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High Court Puts Abortion Cases On Fast Track
Without waiting for rulings on the merits by the Fifth Circuit, the Court today granted certiorari before judgment in both of the cases challenging the Texas Heartbeat Law (otherwise known as S.B. 8), which permits civil lawsuits to be filed by anyone against those who provide an abortion after a heartbeat is detectable. Both Whole Women’s Health v. Jackson and ... Read More
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Blount v. Padgett’s Impact on Property Held as Tenants by the Entireties
The District of Columbia Court of Appeals has clarified a 45-year-old decision regarding the effects of a divorce on liens against property held as tenants by the entireties. In Blount v. Padgett, the Court of Appeals refined its 1976 holding in Travis v. Benson that an entry of a final divorce decree converts property to a tenancy in common allowing ... Read More
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Supreme Court Reinstates Qualified Immunity Claims By Police Officers
In two unanimous per curiam opinions today, the U.S. Supreme Court indicated that qualified immunity for police officers was alive and well despite recent attacks on its propriety. In Rivas-Villegas v. Cortesluna, the Court reversed a ruling by the Ninth Circuit that denied qualified immunity to an officer responding to a violent domestic dispute who put his knee on an ... Read More
Attorney James Markels to Present “View from the Bench” CLE for Fairfax Bar Association
On October 26, 2021, Attorney James Markels will participate in a CLE titled "Annual Ultimate View from the Bench" for the Fairfax Bar Association. Mr. Markels will moderate the final panel of the event, "Issues in Civil, Criminal, and Family Practice" from 6:30-7:30PM. The list of speakers for the program, along with a link to register for the event, ... Read More
TAGGED: CLE, Fairfax Bar Association
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Arthur D. Burger Will Speak at Panel During Legalweek 2022
On February 3, 2022, Arthur D. Burger, Chair of Jackson & Campbell's Professional Responsibility Practice Group, will speak in New York City at “Legalweek 2022,” Law.com’s annual conference, on a panel titled, “New Rules & New Realities: Ethically Managing Remote Work.” Joined by speaker Deborah Winokur, Esq., Professional Responsibility & Compliance Counsel at Cozen O'Connor, they will spotlight ethical challenges ... Read More
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Virginia Supreme Court Authorizes Removal Of General Robert E. Lee Statue In Richmond
A large statue of Confederate General Robert E. Lee has stood for over 100 years on Monument Avenue in Richmond, along with statues of other Confederate notables. Times changed, and calls to remove the statues intensified. Governor Ralph Northam authorized the removal of the statues, but two lawsuits were filed by private individuals to protect Lee’s monument. In both cases, ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Bare Majority Of Court Allows Texas Abortion Law To Go Into Effect
The Texas Heartbeat Act created a private right of action to sue anyone who performed or assisted in performing an abortion after a heartbeat had been detected in a fetus—generally after about six weeks from conception, but well before the viability benchmark established in Roe v. Wade, 410 U.S. 113 (1973). Abortion providers sued a state court judge, a state ... Read More
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Considerations for Employers Mandating Vaccines in a Post-EUA World
The FDA’s recent approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has ushered in a new wave of employer vaccine mandates. Private employers had the right to impose such mandates even when the three vaccines available in the U.S. – Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson – were available only under emergency use authorization (EUA). This was made clear by a memorandum ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Court Blocks CDC Moratorium On Evictions
Congress twice passed a law imposing a moratorium on certain types of eviction during the COVID-19 pandemic, but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention each time extended the moratorium, claiming authority under Section 361(a) of the Public Health Service Act. That statute permitted the CDC to “make and enforce such regulations as . . . are necessary to prevent ... Read More
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Real Estate Update: Easement drafting news in the Court of Special Appeals of Maryland
The Court of Special Appeals of Maryland has issued a decision giving a word of caution to easement drafters. In Joe the Grinder, Riva Road, LLC v. Riva, LLC, the Court held that an easement referencing a right of way for “vehicular ingress and egress” was ambiguous as the easement further described only a single-lane driving aisle “to” a traffic ... Read More
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Court Opinion: D.C. Circuit Rejects Challenge To House Resolution Allowing Proxy Voting During Pandemic
In May of 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives adopted House Resolution 965, which allowed House members to cast votes and mark their presence by proxy during the public health emergency caused by COVID-19. The Republican minority filed suit challenging the Resolution, arguing that it was unconstitutional because the Constitution required that members be physically present on the House floor ... Read More
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National Survey of COVID-19 Immunity Legislation
(as of July 23, 2021) [1] The below survey of federal and state legislation, guidance, and executive action provides information regarding enacted and proposed legislation and executive orders issued to provide immunity protections for liability, in certain respects, to health care professionals, facilities, and volunteers in the course of their treatment of individuals during the course of the COVID-19 ... Read More
TAGGED: Medical Malpractice, COVID-19
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Health Law Practice Group Update: Attorneys secure dismissal of a conversion case styled as patent infringement
Attorneys Crystal Deese and Sarah Godfrey recently secured dismissal a conversion case styled as patent infringement in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia. The plaintiff, a biomedical research tech, sued the head of his former research laboratory for allegedly “stealing” his intellectual property. Plaintiff claimed the theft occurred when the lab director permitted one of plaintiff’s colleagues to ... Read More
TAGGED: Patent Infringement, conversion claim
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Health Law Practice Group Update: Summary Judgment in Premises Liability Case
The Health Law Practice Group obtained summary judgment in a premises liability case. Plaintiff claimed she slipped and fell on liquid an employee allegedly deposited and left on a hospital floor. She claimed a permanent wrist injury following a surgical procedure negatively impacted nearly all activities of daily living. Judge Shana Frost Matini in the Superior Court of the District ... Read More
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Health Law Practice Group Update: Attorneys Win Motion to Limit Plaintiffs’ Economic Damages
Attorneys Crystal Deese and Pam Diedrich recently won a Motion to Limit Plaintiffs’ Economic Damages. Plaintiffs sought to recover the entire amounts of their medical bills rather than the far lower figure the hospital received in payment. Judge José M. López in the Superior Court of the District of Columbia ruled that Plaintiffs can only claim the amounts actually paid ... Read More
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Health Law Practice Group Update: Attorneys Successfully Asserts Claim-Splitting Doctrine
This month, Edward Sedlacek and Crystal Deese secured dismissal of an individual physician from a malpractice suit despite Plaintiff's two-pronged attempt to add her into the litigation. Plaintiff sued a hospital in 2019 claiming permanent injuries due to inappropriate postoperative management. In 2021, Plaintiff filed a separate suit making the same allegations against his surgeon. We moved to dismiss the ... Read More
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Client Alert: Watts-Dowd v. SJH Property Management, LLC
The Court of Special Appeals of Maryland has affirmed a trial court’s denial of an adverse possession claim in which the plaintiff submitted evidence as to each of the traditional necessary elements but failed to establish the location of the actual property at issue. In Watts-Dowd v. SJH Property Management LLC, the Court was presented with an all too familiar ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Court Corrects Mischaracterization Of State Court’s Analysis Of Ineffective Counsel Claim
In Dunn v. Reeves, after Reeves was convicted of murder, he argued to the state court that he received ineffective assistance of counsel under Strickland v. Washington, 466 U.S. 668 (1984). However, he did not call his attorneys to testify to rebut the presumption that counsel acted reasonably. The state appellate court denied relief because of the lack of evidence, ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Charitable Donors Protected From Disclosure Under First Amendment
A California law requires charitable organizations to disclose the names and addresses of their major donors, presumably to police charitable misconduct. In Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Bonta, two nonprofits refused to make that disclosure, and were threatened with suspension of their registration and fines. The nonprofits filed suit, arguing that the disclosure law violated their First Amendment rights and ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Court Upholds Arizona Voting Restrictions Against Voting Rights Act Challenge
The case of Brnovich v. Democratic National Committee involved two voting laws enacted in Arizona. The first mandated that if a person voted in person on election day in the wrong precinct, their vote would not be counted. The second made it illegal to engage in “ballot harvesting,” in which a third party (other than those expressly allowed by the ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Court Narrowly Declines To Lift Nationwide Moratorium On Evictions—For Now
In the early days of the pandemic, Congress enacted a temporary hold on evictions nationwide that expired in July of 2020. On September 4, 2020, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) issued an order creating another nationwide moratorium on most evictions, purportedly under authority of the Public Health Service Act. A variety of realtors challenged the order, and ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Court Denies Bond Hearings To Previously-Removed Undocumented Immigrants
Normally under 8 U.S.C. sec. 1226, an immigrant may apply for release on bond or parole pending a decision on whether they are to be removed from the country, with detention becoming mandatory once there is a final decision to remove. If an immigrant is removed, then re-enters the country illegally, the prior order to remove is reinstated, that decision ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Court Narrows Application Of Assignor Estoppel In Patent Cases
The doctrine of assignor estoppel precludes the assignor of a patent from later challenging the validity of that patent, under the premise that doing so is not fair dealing. In Minerva Surgical, Inc. v. Hologic, Inc., the developer of a patent treating abnormal uterine bleeding through a moisture-permeable applicator head gave the patent to his company, Hologic, then left and ... Read More
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SCOTUS Opinion: Natural Gas Act Permits Private Entities To Condemn State Property
In 1947, Congress amended the Natural Gas Act to permit the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to issue certificates to natural gas companies enabling those companies to exercise federal eminent domain power in order to obtain the land needed to build their pipelines based on “public convenience and necessity.” In PennEast Pipeline Co, LLC v. New Jersey, PennEast received a certificate ... Read More
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Court Requests Additional Examination Of Evidence In Excessive Force Case
The case of Lombardo v. City of St. Louis involved a detainee who died after police officers sought to restrain him after an apparent suicide attempt. After the detainee resisted, he was handcuffed and put in leg irons, and then placed prone on the floor, face down, with four officers applying pressure to hold him down. After 15 minutes of ... Read More