Litigation & Appeals

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Chambers USA selected 16 Stites & Harbison, PLLC attorneys in Kentucky and Tennessee for inclusion in their 2019 guide.

Fuel adjustment clauses (FAC) have been a feature of electric bills in Kentucky since the 1950s. An FAC adjusts on a monthly basis the kWh rate paid by customers for electricity to reflect changes in the cost of fuel, and in many instances, purchased energy.

In what finally may prove to be the effective death knell for most efforts to pursue class-wide arbitration, a closely-divided United States Supreme Court has now held that a party cannot be required to arbitrate claims on a class-wide basis unless the arbitration agreement clearly contemplates such a possibility.

ALEXANDRIA, Va.—The 2019 editions of Virginia Super Lawyers and Washington DC Super Lawyers have honored attorneys Robert E. Scully, Jr. and Jeffery P. Langer, Ph.D., of the Alexandria, Va., office of Stites & Harbison, PLLC.

In recent years, as courts have become more congested and business dealings have grown more complex, mediation and arbitration have grown in both prevalence and popularity as alternatives for civil litigation, both locally and across the country.

The patent process can be frustrating and often involves a significant investment of time and money. As such, it may be tempting to assume that when the Patent Office issues a patent it is safe to assert your rights therein. However, as noted in a recent decision from the District Court for the District of Delaware, doing so may leave you on the hook for attorney’s fees.

In October 2018, the Kentucky Supreme Court issued a far-reaching opinion voiding all Kentucky employer-employee arbitration agreements which were made a condition of an individual’s employment. On March 13, 2019, however, the Kentucky Legislature rejected that opinion, passing a bill that not only claws back the ruling but significantly expands employers’ options for imposing conditions on the employer-employee relationship.

On February 4, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland in Hagen Constr. Inc. v. Whiting-Turner Contracting Co., No. JKB-18-1201, 2019 BL 36862 (D. Md. Feb. 4, 2019), held that written “expressions of frustration” and “general complaints” made by a subcontractor regarding alleged project mismanagement were insufficient to sustain a labor inefficiency claim for additional project costs against the general contractor.

For the last couple of years, Tennessee practitioners have been waiting for the Tennessee Supreme Court to resolve the debate as to whether the Discovery Rule applies to toll the six year statute of limitations in breach-of-contract cases.

LOUISVILLE, Ky.— Finance Monthly recently honored Stites & Harbison, PLLC attorney Mike Risley in the 2019 edition of the Fintech Awards.

LOUISVILLE, Ky.—Farmington Historic Plantation has elected Stites & Harbison, PLLC attorney Aaron Klein to its Board of Regents.

ATLANTA—Stites & Harbison, PLLC attorneys Dan Douglass and Walker Entwistle were recently honored in the 2019 Georgia Super Lawyers magazine.

COVINGTON, Ky.—C-Change, a leadership development program of the Cincinnati USA Regional Chamber, has selected Stites & Harbison, PLLC attorney Andrew Poltorak to participant in the Class of 2019.

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—The Litigation Counsel of America (LCA) has named Stites & Harbison, PLLC attorney John Wingo as a Fellow of this peer-selected and invitation-only trial lawyer honorary society.

LEXINGTON, Ky.—The Construction Lawyers Society of America (CLSA) has elected Stites & Harbison, PLLC attorney Cassidy Rosenthal as a Fellow in its organization.

Offsite construction is trending in the U.S. All one needs to do is perform a quick Google search to see that offsite projects are impacting US markets from coast to coast.