On November 20 and 27, 2012, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (“ISDA”) filed two letters with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (“CFTC”) requesting an extension of compliance dates for certain new business conduct, portfolio reconciliation and swap trading relationship documentation requirements issued by the CFTC pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (“Dodd-Frank”) ...
On November 28, 2012, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit published an opinion affirming the bankruptcy court’s ruling that the Mexican Plan of Reorganization (the “Concurso Plan”) of the Mexican glass-manufacturing company, Vitro, S.A.B. de C.V., approved by the Federal District Court in Mexico, should not be enforced under Chapter 15 of United States Bankruptcy Code ...
On November 14, 2012, the Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission released the much-anticipated Resource Guide to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “Guide”) ...
A federal court recently held that two investment funds are not jointly and severally liable for a bankrupt portfolio company’s withdrawal liability to a multiemployer pension plan disagreeing with a 2007 opinion by the Appeals Board of the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (the “PBGC”). The Massachusetts U.S. District Court ruled there was no liability because the investment funds are not “trades or businesses” for purposes of ERISA’s joint and several liability rules ...
Meteorologists dubbed Hurricane Sandy a “perfect storm” or “superstorm” long before it even made landfall on the East Coast, and it lived up to those terms. Sandy brought gale-force winds, flooding, heavy rain, and snow to much of the Eastern Seaboard and the Northeast, including densely populated areas such as Washington, D.C., Baltimore, New York City, and Boston ...
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) recently adopted a new EDGAR Filer Manual,1which provides that effective October 15, 2012, emerging growth companies under the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act (“JOBS Act”) must now use EDGAR to submit confidential draft registration statements ...
Editor’s Note: Since the DealThink series began, we have focused on various M&A and governance issues facing general counsel of public companies. We would like to broaden the discussion to include the expertise of “specialist” attorneys (e.g., tax, employee benefits, intellectual property) with whom general and outside corporate counsel will likely consult and rely upon during the course of an M&A transaction ...
With election fever in full swing, you might expect governing to take a back seat to politics. However, on September 28, 2012, President Obama signed Senate Bill 3245 into law. Senate Bill 3245 renews four U.S. Department of Homeland Security-administered programs, including E-Verify and the EB-5 Regional Center program. As such, both programs have been extended by three years from their original termination dates of September 30, 2012 to September 30, 2015 ...
As required pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act and the final rule issued by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) in June 2012, the New York Stock Exchange (the “NYSE”) and NASDAQ each issued proposed rules on the independence of compensation committees and their advisers on September 25, 2012. The proposed rules are subject to approval by the SEC ...
On August 27, 2009, several amendments to the Mexican Commercial Code were published in the Federal Official Gazette (“DOF”), with the purpose of creating the Movable Guarantees Sole Registry (“Registro Único de Garantías Mobiliarias,” hereinafter referred to as the “RUG”), as a section of the Public Registry of Commerce dependent of the Ministry of Economy ...
The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the "Dodd-Frank Act" or the "Act") attempts to sort through the energy trading and hedging market to protect "commercial end users" from new regulatory burdens intended for trading firms and financial institutions ...
In the next year, companies that work in the development of oil, natural gas or minerals will have to publicly make new disclosures of payments of $100,000 or more made to governments. The $100,000 threshold is on a project-by-project basis, and will require companies to provide details of the type and amounts of payments made ...
It is not uncommon in class actions for parties to reach a settlement that provides non-monetary relief to the plaintiffs and a payment of attorneys’ fees to class counsel. In August, however, a California federal court denied preliminary approval of such a settlement ...
On August 29, 2012, the Securities and Exchange Commission released proposed rules to permit general advertising and solicitation in certain private placement offerings as required by the recently enacted JOBS Act. The proposed rules permit issuers to advertise in connection with Rule 506 private placement offerings so long as the securities are sold only to accredited investors ...
The 2011 drought caused record-breaking conditions throughout much of Texas. Farmers, ranchers, and others whose livelihoods depend on reliable sources of water are feeling the effects of the water shortage first-hand. Aside from being subject to locally imposed water-use restrictions, ordinary residents have also noticed receding water levels in Texas lakes, rivers and streams. Unfortunately, Texas’ water problems are not expected to improve any time soon ...
You are the general counsel of a public company. The CEO walks into your office one day and says that the board of directors has identified a merger target for the company, a public company incorporated in Delaware, but time is of the essence. The CEO asks you what the differences are between one-step and two-step mergers ...
In Securities and Exchange Commission v. Bartek, the Fifth Circuit held that the federal “catch all” statute of limitations for government enforcement actions - 28 U.S.C. § 2462 - begins to run when the violation occurs, not when the government discovered the violation.1 The court also held that the statute, which bars actions seeking a “civil fine, penalty or forfeiture,” covers injunctions under certain circumstances ...
In a recent decision, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals considered the issue of stock price rebounds in reviving a securities fraud class action suit that had been dismissed by the district court for failure to adequately allege an economic loss as a matter of law. In Rosado v. China North East Petroleum Holdings Ltd., No. 11-4554-cv (2d Cir. Aug ...
The Bankruptcy Code provides a number of “safe harbors” for forward contracts and other derivatives. These provisions exempt derivatives from a number of Bankruptcy Code provisions, including portions of the automatic stay,1 restrictions on terminating executory contracts,2 and the method for calculating rejection damages ...
CLS Bank and Bancorp: Back to Back Federal Circuit Decisions Offer Different Conclusions on Patentability 08/03/2012 Richard D. Rochford, Casey H. Kempner The issue of whether particular inventions include “patent eligible” subject matter under § 101 of the patent statute has become highly controversial in recent years, raising questions with high economic stakes and profound legal and philosophical implications. Twice the Supreme Court has entered the fray, first in Bilski v ...
This week, the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals rejected an expert witness’ event study as insufficient to demonstrate loss causation at trial in a securities fraud class action. In Hubbard v. BankAtlantic Bancorp, Inc., No. 11-12410 (11th Cir. July 23, 2012), the court affirmed the trial court’s decision in favor of the defendants because the plaintiffs’ expert testimony did not sufficiently isolate the effects of the alleged fraud on the company’s stock price ...
Pursuant to statutory changes enacted in its 2011 Sunset Review, the TCEQ has created a website that allows companies and persons subject to its regulations to review the agency’s proposed compliance history rating, for a 30-day period prior to that rating being made available to the public ...
You are the general counsel of a public company. One day, the CEO asks you how the “HSR Act” affects the company ...
On July 9, 2012, the Seventh Circuit decided in Sunbeam1 that the rejection of a trademark license by a bankrupt trademark licensor does not deprive the trademark licensee of its right to continue to use the trademark, and disagreed with the 1985 Fourth Circuit decision in Lubrizol2 that held to the contrary ...
Employers who consider arrest and conviction records when making employment decisions should be aware that the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (the "EEOC") has issued new enforcement guidance regarding the issue ...
