Legal Alerts

Thirty-two attorneys from Hurwitz Fine have been selected for inclusion on the 2023 Upstate New York Super Lawyers and Rising Stars lists. In addition, six of the Top 50 and two of the Top 10 Upstate New York Super Lawyers named are Hurwitz Fine attorneys.

Hurwitz Fine is pleased to announce that 28 of the firm’s attorneys have been selected by their peers for inclusion in the 2024 edition of The Best Lawyers in America®. Among this list, five Hurwitz Fine attorneys were named to the Best Lawyers: Ones to Watch in America® list.

Hurwitz Fine Insurance Coverage Senior Member Dan D. Kohane is the recipient of the 2023 Richard T. Boyette Award for outstanding contribution to the National Foundation for Judicial Excellence.

New York proposes legislation conditioning a foreign corporation’s authority to do business in New York with consent to jurisdiction of the New York courts for all actions against the corporation. Attorney Michael J. Williams explains this proposed legislation and its implications for businesses and claims in his latest legal alert.

Firm President/Managing Partner Jody Briandi authored two articles on law practice management and Insurance Coverage Member Dan Kohane co-authored an article on insurance coverage developments. 

Insurance Coverage Attorney Dan Kohane was quoted in a Law360 Insurance Authority article exploring the potential insurability of settlements paid by Jeffrey Epstein’s bankers to his child sex trafficking victims.

Hurwitz Fine President/Managing Partner Jody Briandi was ranked #38 on Buffalo Business First’s 2023 Power 200 Women, a list of some of the most influential and talented women in Buffalo who have fueled economic, social, and cultural growth throughout Western New York.

Patrice C. S. Melville has joined Hurwitz Fine's Long Island office as a litigation associate. She focuses her practice on the defense of businesses and individuals in a wide array of litigated matters.

On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States issued a decision titled Groff v. DeJoy, which imposes a new, increased burden on employers who receive a request to accommodate an employee’s religious beliefs. The standard is no longer whether the request would impose more than a “de minimis” cost on the employer, but whether the employer would have to incur a “substantial” increased cost.

Ashley M. Cuneo has joined Hurwitz Fine's Melville office as a litigation associate. Ashley focuses her practice on general liability defense, including medical malpractice and NYS Labor Law.

New York State lawmakers have passed a bill that, if signed into law by Governor Hochul, will ban non-compete agreements and provisions in New York State. This adds to the uncertainty about the future of non-compete agreements created by the pending FTC proposal to ban all non-competes, which has been delayed by the tens of thousands of comments received during the comment period. All of this leaves employers unsure on how to move forward on restrictive covenants.

This article discusses how courts evaluate claims for breach of the implied covenant of good faith and fair dealing in actions where there is also a breach of contract cause of action based on the same facts.  

Hurwitz Fine has achieved the highest national law firm diversity certification after a rigorous 18-month collaboration with Diversity Lab to track, measure and achieve diversity in leadership.

Hurwitz Fine Firm President/Managing Partner Jody E. Briandi was a featured panelist at the Buffalo Niagara Partnership’s 2023 DEI Symposium on June 1, 2023, where Jody discussed "DEI Successes & Challenges at Work" during the Micro Learning Sessions.

Hurwitz Fine Attorney Eric Andrew offers insight to the New York Law Journal on May 15, 2023, on the revised "Grieving Families Act" slated for legislative review.

Hurwitz Fine Attorney Diane F. Bosse is the American Bar Association's 2023 Robert J. Kutak Award Recipient. The Kutak Award is presented annually to honor an individual who has made significant contributions to the collaboration of the legal academy, the bench, and the bar.

After suffering a veto this past January, a revised version of the Grieving Families Act was just introduced to the New York legislature on May 2, 2023.  The Grieving Families Act that would completely overhaul wrongful death claims in New York by permitting recovery for emotional damages and expanding the class of persons who can seek recovery for a fatality.  The recent iteration of the bill seeks to remedy perceived pitfalls from the prior legislation by more clearly defining who can assert a claim for emotional damages, narrowing the expansion of the statute of limitation, and placing limits on its retroactivity.  The new bill however does not implement a cap on damages, nor carve out an exception for medical malpractice claims.  

On April 28th and May 19th, as part of Hurwitz Fine's ongoing community service initiative, employees attended two community service days, organized by our DEI and Safety & Wellness Committees, in conjunction with Habitat for Humanity.

Hurwitz Fine attorneys Lee Siegel and Mike Williams have advanced at the firm, effective May 1.