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 ...
The Personal Data (Privacy) (Amendment) Ordinance 2012 was formally adopted on 6 July 2012. The text of the Amendment Ordinance has undergone a number of changes since it was first introduced as the Personal Data (Privacy) (Amendment) Bill 2011 one year ago. One major change is the requirement to obtain express responses (as opposed to deemed consent) from the data subject for the use of personal data in direct marketing ...
You are the general counsel of a public company. One day, the CEO asks you how the “HSR Act” affects the company ...
Lionsteel Limited has been fined £480,000 and ordered to pay £84,000 costs by HHJ Gilbart at Manchester Crown Court after pleading guilty to a single charge of corporate manslaughter during trial.The case relates to the death of employee Stephen Berry, who died from injuries sustained following a fall from height at Lionsteel's premises in Hyde, in 2008. The guilty plea was agreed by all parties at trial in June 2012, following the conclusion of the prosecution case ...
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 ...
The highly anticipated law setting out the foreign exchange rules applicable to the petroleum sector was enacted through Law No. 2/12 of 13 January 2012 (PFEL). The new framework came into force on 12 May 2012 and will prove to be a game changer in Angolan petroleum and banking sectors. Thus far the foreign exchange rules vis-à-vis petroleum concessions were mainly set forth in foreign exchange annexes D and C to Concession Decrees ...
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 ...
The Companies (Amendment) Act 2012 has been signed into law by the President. The Act provides for the extension of the exemption for the use of US GAAP by US entities migrating to Ireland. It amends the provisions of the Companies (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2009 (the 2009 Act), which first introduced the exemption, in two ways: The 2012 Act provides that the exemption may continue to be used for financial years up to and ending at the latest on 31 December 2020 ...
On Friday, June 29, 2012, the Texas Supreme Court denied a petition for mandamus relief in In re XL Specialty Insurance Company and Cambridge Integrated Services, Group, Inc., No. 10-0960 (Tex. June 29, 2012), clarifying the scope of the joint defense and common interest privilege doctrines under Texas law. (The opinion is available here ...
Third Amendment to the Employment CodeLaw 23/2012, which was published on 25 June, introduces the third amendment to the Employment Code. The new legislative text results, to a great extent, from the commitments made by the Portuguese State in the Memorandum of Understanding of 17 May 2012, and its aim is to improve employment legislation by updating, organising and speeding up processes ...
Company Recovery Fund aimed at Small and Medium CompaniesIn partnership with the five main Portuguese banks1, the State has created the Company Recovery Fund which targets the recovery of small and medium companies (SMCs)2. The name of the fund in Portuguese is FUNDO RECUPERAÇÃO, FCR ...
As required under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank), on June 20, 2012, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) approved a rule that directs national securities exchanges to adopt listing standards for public company boards of directors and compensation advisers. See Release Nos. 33-9330 and 34-67220 ...
The question of liability for the work environment is increasingly in focus as are the demands on those parties who are responsible for knowing what applies and for taking action in accordance with these demands. Below, we address two aspects of the work environment issue and the importance of both investigating and being aware of the applicable provisions. I ...
On June 13, 2012, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of Texas (the “Bankruptcy Court”) published an opinion ruling on whether 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 be enforced under Chapter 15 of United States Bankruptcy Code ...
The state of Georgia will soon join a growing number of jurisdictions enacting False Claims Act statutes with far-reaching implications. The “Georgia Taxpayer Protection False Claims Act” authorizes the state attorney general and private citizens to seek civil penalties and treble damages on behalf of the state and any local government that pays a false or fraudulent claim to any individual or entity ...
The Federal Trade Commission (the “FTC”) announced last week that it was amending its Franchise Trade Regulation Rule, entitled “Disclosure Requirements and Prohibitions Concerning Franchising” (the “FTC Franchise Rule”) to increase certain monetary thresholds necessary to meet three exemptions under the Rule. The FTC Franchise Rule, which mandates presale disclosure, applies to the offer or sale of franchises located in the U.S ...
CO N T E N TS Due diligence in leasing Factors examined by the Supreme Court in determining the validity of a municipal bylaw Incorporated employees face new obstacles DUE DILIGENCE IN SEASING Richard Burgos [email protected] It is fairly common and in fact recommended, to proceed with a due diligence review of a property before its acquisition. At a minimum, title to the property is confirmed through a title search review. Often times, a much more thorough review is completed ...
Employers and employees in B.C. will soon benefit from a long-awaited and wide-ranging overhaul to the Pensions Benefits Standards Act (PBSA). Significant changes to how pensions are structured and administered in B.C. have followed the passing of Bill 38 on May 31, 2012. The Bill repeals and replaces the PBSA, which has remained largely unchanged since it was first introduced in 1993 ...
In a recent decision, Jean C. Omegachem Inc.1. The Court of Appeal answered that question by ruling that an employee's refusal to sign a non-competition agreement during employment, which had been discussed when the employee was hired but presented to him three years after commencement of employment, is not a just and sufficient cause for dismissal ...
On Monday, June 11, 2012, the Supreme Court granted a writ of certiorari in Connecticut Retirement Plans and Trust Funds v. Amgen Inc., 660 F.3d 1170 (9th Cir. 2011) to clarify the standards for certifying a class in a securities fraud suit under the fraud-on-the-market theory. The Court’s decision to revisit class certification in securities fraud suits only a year after deciding Erica P. John Fund, Inc. v. Halliburton Co., 563 U.S ...
Employers preparing for the phasing in of the new pensions auto-enrolment regime should not overlook their data protection obligationsBackground: the new pension regimeFrom October 2012 a new pensions regime will start to be phased in which will eventually require all employers in the UK to automatically enrol eligible staff into some sort of pension scheme and, importantly, for the first time, to pay minimum contributions ...
The European Convention on Human Rights applies also to legal entities.As a result, businesses and organisations can address the European Court of Human Rights if they consider that their human rights, guaranteed under the European Convention on Human Rights, have been violated. Although not rare in Europe, this option is still new and not widely used by companies in the Baltics ...
Section 631 of the Corporations Act provides that, once a bidder publicly announces a takeover proposal, offers under a takeover bid must be made by that bidder within two months unless ASIC grants relief ...
Luc Thibaudeau Lavery keeps a close eye on developments in consumer law. Its leading-edge expertise in the retail trade and class action has been pointed out many times by people involved in the field. Lavery is committed to keeping the business community informed about the issue by regularly publishing bulletins dealing with case law and legislative developments that could affect, influence and even change business practices ...
On February 29, 2012, the Quebec Court of Appeal reversed the judgment of the Quebec Superior Court that had dismissed the motion to authorize the bringing of A Class Action filed by Mr. Michel Dell'Aniello ("Dell'Aniello") in connection with changes made unilaterally by Vivendi Canada Inc. ("Vivendi") to the extended medical insurance benefits plan for retirees. THE FACTS In 1977, The Seagram Company Ltd ...
