Hall and Langton Quoted on Food Liability Issues in Nation’s Restaurant News

Jack Hall and Livia Langton were quoted in an article titled "Tomatoes raise new worries of health risks from produce," published in the June 23, 2008 issue of Nation’s Restaurant News. Hall and Langton are attorneys in the Pittsburgh office of Eckert Seamans, where they focus their practices on product liability issues, with an emphasis on food liability law.

The article investigates the hundreds of salmonella infections reported in recent months in nearly half the nation’s states, which have been linked to the consumption of raw tomatoes. The salmonella outbreak is the latest in a growing number of foodborne-illness crises over the past decade that have been linked to common produce items, from tomatoes and lettuce to spinach and green onions.

“It can devastate a business, that’s for sure,” Hall said to Nation’s Restaurant News, “but if you have your ducks in order, you’re in a great position.”

To prevent against liability issues in foodborne-illness outbreaks, Hall said, “the biggest thing companies can do — in addition to the obvious, which is wash the produce and have the employees wash their hands and regularly monitor that — is to make sure their upstream suppliers are following good manufacturing and good agricultural practices.”

Hall added, “What restaurants should have in place is good, solid written procedures and training for their employees and especially their management for food safety and handling.”

Langton, who in addition to being a lawyer is also a trained epidemiologist, noted that “restaurants need to have their documents easily accessible, because the FDA will knock points off and a negative light will cast on them if they can’t produce the documents when the FDA shows up.”

Management “has to be able to get copies of their records of vegetable-washing policies and how it was followed on the particular day the vegetables were processed. They need to have the employee health records easily available. Even the tracking documents — if they have any stickers they’ve taken off the produce boxes — to document which produce came in on which date,” Langton added.

Alexander Quoted on "GINA" Laws

Jeffery Alexander was recently quoted in an article titled "Genetic Information: New Law Says Don't Ask, Don't Tell," published in the June 3, 2008 issue of HR Wire.  Alexander is an attorney in the Boston office of Eckert Seamans, where he focuses his practice on assisting taxable and tax-exempt health care providers across the country with every aspect of health care law, from day-to-day legal issues to pursuit of capital for their business transactions.  

The article discusses the newly enacted Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (“GINA”), which makes it illegal for employers to use genetic information as the basis for employment decisions.  The new law also imposes new requirements on group health plans and insurers for using and protecting genetic information.

Alexander noted that most employers won't have to make major changes to comply with GINA, sharing with HR Wire that "forty one states already prohibit the use of genetic information in employment decisions.  In some cases, such as California and Massachusetts, the restrictions are even stronger than under GINA."

And, as Alexander points out, there have been no suits alleging discrimination based on genetic information filed under the existing state laws.  "On a practical level, businesses don't seem to be improperly using genetic information," he said.

Philadelphia Corporate Attorney Quoted on LLC Issues in FORTUNE Small Business

Stephen Foxman was quoted in an article titled "LLC dividends vs. distributions: Legal experts parse LLC lingo," published in the May 2, 2008 issue of FORTUNE Small Business.  Foxman is an attorney in the Philadelphia office of Eckert Seamans, where he focuses his practice on corporate, real estate, employment and securities law.

The article discusses the question of whether or not a business organized as an LLC can declare dividends.

"The typical LLC is set up to be taxed as a partnership.  With 'distributions' of cash or property, you wouldn't call them 'dividends, '"  Foxman told FORTUNE.  "An LLC, if they elect to be, could also be taxed as a corporation, which could then distribute funds that would be the equivalent of a dividend, but would still be called 'distributions.'"