On May 26, 2020, the Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, signed a broad COVID-19 relief package into law, to supplement existing federal and state relief measures. The new legislation included several amendments to the Administrative Code of the City of New York (the “Code”) that affect commercial landlords and tenants, including N.Y.C. Council Int. No. 1932-A (“Local Law 1932-A”) ...
As corporate policyholders continue to submit claims to their insurers for business interruption and related losses sustained from the COVID-19 pandemic, insurers appear to be denying such claims routinely where the policies at issue contain exclusionary language specific to viruses — whether in stand-alone virus exclusions or other types of exclusions ...
The historically low interest rates recently announced by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) and the depressed value of certain assets offer opportunities for estate planning techniques that can reduce the cost of transferring wealth to younger generations. The federal estate and gift tax exemption for 2020 is $11,580,000 per person ($23,160,000 for a married couple) ...
On May 21, 2020, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission’s Offices of Energy Policy and Innovation and Electric Reliability jointly published and released their 2020 Summer Energy Market and Reliability Assessment. The report provides an overview of key market events and data for the nation’s ISOs/RTOs as well as a discussion on reliability in the various power regions for summer 2020. The report includes the following key items that are summarized below ...
On May 19, 2020, OSHA issued two revised enforcement policies with respect to in-person workplace inspections, and an employer’s obligation to record occupational injuries and illnesses, specifically cases of COVID-19. As phased re-openings of businesses are occurring throughout the United States, OSHA explained that it revised its policies to ensure that employers are protecting the health and safety of their workers ...
State Attorneys General across the nation are warning consumers about price gouging during the COVID-19 pandemic and offering easy online tools to report violations. Consumers have gotten the message. Texans, for example, have sent over 10,000 complaints of price gouging to the state AG’s office during the pandemic.1 Price gouging laws have been enacted by nearly 75 percent of states ...
The order described below is a follow-up to the order establishing the strategy for the reopening and return to social, educational, and economic activities, including additional industries to those considered essential, published on May 14, 2020 (the “Order”). (Our alert on the Order can be found here ...
Much of the media coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic over the last two months has focused on the loss of business sustained by restaurants, hotels and retail. Little attention has been paid to healthcare providers—at least those who are not valiantly staffing emergency rooms and intensive care units treating those patients stricken by the coronavirus ...
With the recent significant decline in commodity prices, and physical transportation and storage curtailments, due in large part to reduced demand related to the COVID-19 pandemic, producers are evaluating many of their producing oil and gas wells to determine whether some level of reduced production is appropriate ...
Within the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, the National Center for Energy Control (“CENACE”) notified users of the Market Information System of its “Order to guarantee the efficiency, quality, reliability, continuity and security of the National Electric System, motivated by the recognition of the epidemic of the illness caused by the SARS-CoV2 virus (COVID-19),” (the “Order”), via the Public Area of the Market Information System of its official web
On March 27, 2020, Congress passed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (the “CARES Act”). The CARES Act, among other things, aims to provide relief to tenants and borrowers who participate in HUD’s housing programs. This alert highlights those provisions that address such multifamily housing ...
The order described below is a follow-up to the order published on April 21, 2020 (the “Order”), that extended the immediate suspension of all non-essential activities in the public, private, and social sectors until May 30, 2020. (Our alert on the Order can be found here) ...
On May 13, 2020, the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) issued an update to the Frequently Asked Questions document (“FAQs”) relating to its Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”), originally published on April 2, 2020 and updated regularly thereafter, providing additional guidance on the PPP Certification of Necessity Safe Harbor ...
Although there is no law or regulation in the People’s Republic of China that explicitly parallels the US Defense Production Act of 1950 (“DPA”), as an economy with many remaining elements of state control, there are ample administrative measures, regulations and judicial precedents in China allowing the government to overrule outstanding production plans and contracts by mandating, controlling, allocating and prioritizing production of critical supplies ...
As recently reported in the Los Angeles Times, the media and entertainment industry has been significantly impacted by the new normal presented as a result of COVID-19.1 Production studios, live theaters, cinemas, concert venues, and other media and entertainment companies are considering all of the ramifications of reopening business operations. The industry must also address long-term implications of COVID-19 for business growth through new business models and processes ...
Boards of directors of public companies have a lot on their minds today as they navigate the unprecedented circumstances resulting from the novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”) pandemic—from precipitous drops in revenues as businesses are shuttered, to supply chain disruption, to difficulties in making debt payments, to labor challenges, among many others ...
As more employers re-open or are in the process of re-opening for business, they are following the current guidance for preventing the spread of coronavirus infection in the workplace by, among others, ensuring good hygiene practices, requiring social distancing, and screening employees for the COVID-19 illness ...
The Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) is intended to provide nearly $700 billion of economic relief to small businesses adversely affected by COVID-19 ...
On April 9, 2020, the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (the “Board”) announced the establishment of the Main Street Lending Program (“Main Street Loan Program”), an up to $600 billion lending program for mid-size businesses ...
The Economic Injury Disaster Loan (“EIDL”) program is an existing loan facility offered by the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) under Section 7(b) of the Small Business Administration Act of 1953. The purpose of the EIDL program is to extend low-interest credit to small businesses that are impacted by disasters ...
On April 29 and April 30, 2020, the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) provided additional guidance on the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) through the issuance of a new PPP Interim Final Rule (the “Corporate Group Rule”), which supplements the first PPP Interim Final Rule, published on April 2, 2020, and the subsequent interim final rules issued since that date, as well as issuing updates to the Frequently Asked Questions&nbs
Businesses preparing to reopen amid the coronavirus pandemic and the essential businesses that have remained open through the pandemic should make a good faith effort to implement health and safety measures recommended by the federal, state, and local authorities to protect themselves from potential premises liability claims from third-parties such as customers and other non-employees entering the premises ...
In light of the social distancing orders put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed Executive Order 202.7 on March 19, 2020 which authorized notary publics to notarize documents remotely. The initial order was in effect through April 18, 2020; however, Executive Order 202 ...
President Trump signed H.R.266, the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act (the “PPP/HCE Act”) this afternoon following passage of the bill by both houses of Congress. The PPP/HCE Act provides additional funding for small business loan and grant programs administered by the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) in response to the COVID-19 pandemic ...
Today, the federal government enacted the Paycheck Protection Program and Health Care Enhancement Act (the “PPP/HCE Act”) to provide additional funding for loan and grant programs in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The PPP/HCE Act modifies and increases funding for the Paycheck Protection Program and the Small Business Administration Economic Injury Disaster Loan program, as discussed in greater detail here ...
