[!<CDATA[ Liability under the False Claims Act can result in potentially enormous payouts to individuals — and sometimes to companies — who alert the government to allegations of health care fraud. The payouts to the whistleblower or relator, which can be as much as 30% of the proceeds of the action or settlement, do not always attract those with valid claims ...
The Department of Defense (DoD) and the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council (CAAC) have both issued new Class Deviations from the FARs that implement Executive Order 14042, Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors (i.e., the federal contractor vaccine mandate) ...
Dear valued clients, colleagues and friends, In July 2021 the Carriage of Goods by Sea (Amendment) Act (2020) (the "Amendment Act") and its supplementary Carriage of Goods by Sea (Amendment of First Schedule) Order 2021 (the "Order") officially came into force. The Amendment Act and the Order brought into effect the long-awaited changes to the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act 1950 (the "Principal Act"), which has been in force since 23 May 1950 ...
An employer grievance is a means that employers can use to obtain compensation for material damages caused by pressure tactics or to recover overpayments resulting from a union? S wrongdoing. Such a recourse can also be filed to claim damages and legal fees from a union that has abused the grievance arbitration process, in particular by raising grounds that are unfounded or filing applications that are dilatory, or doing either in bad faith ...
The Fit for 55-package To achieve EU’s Paris climate goals, the EU Commission presented in December 2019 the European Green Deal, including a commitment to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030 (compared to 1990 levels) and become carbon neutral by 2050 ...
The United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced a period for public comment on whether Section 301 product exclusions should be reinstated for certain Chinese-origin goods. The product exclusions eligible for potential reinstatement are the relatively small subset of exclusions for which the USTR had both previously granted an exclusion and an extension of the exclusion ...
Companies that have imports from China subject to List 3 and List 4a Section 301 tariffs may still have an opportunity to protect their right to seek a refund from the U.S. Government. To do so, a company would need to file a lawsuit in the Court of International Trade (CIT) challenging the List 3 and/or List 4a tariffs as unauthorized under the Trade Act of 1974 and implemented in violation of the Administrative Procedure Act ...
By Robert S. Cooper The California Court of Appeal issued a landmark decision on September 9, 2021, upholding a trial court’s striking (dismissing) of a PAGA lawsuit because Plaintiff could not establish that trial of the matter would be “manageable” in court. In Wesson v ...
October 12, 2021 By: Artin Betpera Calls to reassigned numbers have presented an endless source of legal risk for any company that calls or texts consumers for informational or marketing purposes. Reassigned number class actions brought under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act have resulted in eight-figure settlements, and present unique challenges when defending ...
In the Matter of the X Trusts [2021] SC (Bda) 72 Civ (7 September 2021) Assistant Justice Dr Ian R.C. Kawaley of the Supreme Court of Bermuda has handed down significant guidance to assist in the understanding of this important relationship in offshore trusts ...
In our fourth article on whistleblowing claims we focus on the need, in sensitive situations where concerns of serious (and perhaps even criminal) wrongdoing are raised, for the complaint to be dealt with confidentially and/or anonymously where possible ...
British businesses have long relied on temporary labour from the European Union to service short or medium-term projects. From an immigration perspective, prior to Brexit this relationship used to be frictionless. There was no red tape and no need to worry about what was or was not permitted under the UK’s immigration rules and policies. People arrived, people worked, people left and businesses were happy ...
On September 17, 2021, the Stock Exchange of Hong Kong Limited (“HKEX”) published a consultation paper (the “Consultation Paper”) to publicly seek market opinions on draft amendments to the Rules Governing the Listing of Securities on the Exchange (the “Listing Rules”). The amendments aim to promote and implement a listing regime for special purpose acquisition companies (“SPACs”) in Hong Kong ...
The Pension Schemes Act 2021 (the 'Act') amends the Pensions Act 2004 (the '2004 Act') in order to provide the Pensions Regulator ('TPR') with a wealth of new powers. Now that the day we have all been waiting for, 1 October 2021 (when the majority of the Act’s provisions were due to come into force) has come and gone, we’re taking a look the material provisions which came into force on that date - and what those changes mean ...
October 2021 Ordinances n°2021-1192 and 2021-1193 of September 15, 2021, respectively reforming security law and amending Book VI of the French Commercial Code, implement mandates of the PACTE Law of May 22, 2019[1] to: modernize security law[2], improve the articulation of security law with collective proceedings law[3] and transpose the (EU) Directive 2019/1023 of June 20, 2019[4], known as the "Restructuring and Insolvency Directive"[5] ...
Key Points Governor Newsom vetoed AB 339. AB 361 will continue to operate as currently construed. On October 7, 2021, Governor Newsom vetoed Assembly Bill (AB) 339 (Lee), a bill aimed at addressing Brown Act teleconferencing requirements for large public entities. AB 339 sought to add special rules for meetings of city councils or county board of supervisors that govern jurisdictions containing at least 250,000 people ...
Regional Labor Team The recruitment and selection process is critical for companies and certain principles related to the dignity of the human person must be respected during its execution ...
Ships, Spitfires and Shoosmiths’ Solent planning team, Southampton is home to them all. Previously known as ‘The Gateway to the World’, for years people have visited Southampton to reach distant and exotic locations. As one of England’s foremost commercial ports, Southampton has a unique cultural heritage, a thriving commercial centre, and a bright future ...
Although Oregon’s 2021 legislative session turned out to be relatively quiet from a tax perspective, we did experience some changes to Oregon’s Corporate Activity Tax (“CAT”). Those changes were primarily in the form of SB 164. The enactment of SB 164 ushers in the following CAT changes. Fiscal Year Filings ...
The Department of Defense (DoD) and the Civilian Agency Acquisition Council (CAAC) have both issued new Class Deviations from the FARs that implement Executive Order 14042, Ensuring Adequate COVID Safety Protocols for Federal Contractors (i.e., the federal contractor vaccine mandate) ...
“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Lao Tzu. On Wednesday, June 9, El Salvador published in its Official Gazette a historic event worldwide, the first law in the world that provided a digital asset, specifically the bitcoin with unrestricted and unlimited clearance power in any transactions that natural persons, public or private legal entities carry out in any capacity, therefore, bitcoin became a legal tender in El Salvador ...
Preliminary concepts: Prior to conducting an analysis of the Bitcoin Law (hereinafter “BTC Law”), it is important to clarify two fundamental concepts regarding this type of digital assets: – What is bitcoin? A bitcoin is a decentralized digital asset created in 2009 by one or more people under the pseudonym of Satoshi Nakamoto, with the mission of being a virtual currency or an instrument of electronic exchange to acquire products and services
