The Joint Select Committee on Marcellus Shale (the “Committee”) reported a 121 page bill governing horizontal wells that utilize 210,000 gallons of water or more per month or that involve surface disturbance of 3 acres or more. The final version of the bill was posted to the West Virginia Legislature’s website on November 18, 2011 (the “Bill”) ...
You are the general counsel of a public company and your company is entering into a transaction to be acquired by another company. Your board and your stockholders want you to make sure the transaction is consummated but they also want you to make sure the company gets the best deal for its stockholders. The acquiror is also going to demand a certain level of deal security ...
November 8, 2011- The Minister of Finance and Economic Development delivered his Budget Speech on the 4th of November 2011. The Budget aims at providing for innovative measures to support key economic sectors (such as ICT/BPO, Tourism, Financial Sector...) and new markets (renewable energies...). The Budget also provides for a National Resilience Plan to support the economy in a global economic downturn ...
The United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit recently held that a complaint does not need to meet the heightened pleading standards for fraud claims in order to satisfy the first-to-file rule under the False Claims Act (“FCA”). The first-to-file rule provides that, once a private plaintiff brings suit under the FCA, no one other than the government may intervene or bring a related suit “based on the facts underlying the pending action.” 31 U.S.C. § 3730(b)(5) ...
We all know that the employment relationship can involve some give and take. Employees today are better educated and more aware of their rights, and accordingly more willing to voice concerns about management ...
A bill to amend the Workers Compensation Act was given 1st reading on November 3, 2011. One of the proposed amendments could significantly expand the circumstances where a worker may be entitled to compensation for work-related mental stress. Where the present section 5 ...
In a Bulletin released in March of 2011, we outlined important amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Regulations (“IRPR”) concerning temporary foreign workers ...
On October 28, 2011, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia issued an opinion in the Chapter 15 case of Qimonda AG (“Qimonda”).1 The bankruptcy court held that the application of § 365(n) to executory licenses to U.S. patents was required to sufficiently protect the interests of U.S ...
Haynes and Boone, LLP’s Immigration Practice Group reminds employers with a need for H-1B petitions that are subject to the annual numerical limit (“Cap-Subject”) that the annual cap for Financial Year 2012 is almost exhausted. United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) has announced that 49,200 H-1B petitions have been received as of October 28, 2011, fast approaching the 65,000 cap. Further, the separate U.S ...
Rejection of a contract in bankruptcy may not always accomplish a debtor’s goal to shed ongoing contractual obligations and liabilities, especially when dealing with employee benefit plans. On October 13, 2011, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals highlighted this issue in its opinion in Evans v. Sterling Chemicals, Inc ...
After a public consultation phase initiated at the end of 2010, the Portuguese Competition Authority (“PCA”) made available, at the end of July 2011, the final version of its “Guidelines on the Adoption of Remedies in the Control of Concentrations” (“Guidelines”). As clarified by the PCA, the Guidelines are “a set of de indications pertaining to the selection, design, execution and monitoring of remedies, within the procedure of previous control of concentrations between undertakings” ...
You’re the general counsel of a public company and you find out that one of your company’s stockholders intends to wage a proxy contest. Your board of directors and CEO are going to want some answers right away. How prepared are you and how do you respond? The average annual number of proxy contests has nearly doubled from 60 in 2001-2005 to 112 in 2006-2010. In 2009, activist shareholders were able to successfully gain board seats approximately 43 percent of the time ...
Although the currently effective Hungarian Civil Code does not name a call option as security, it does not prohibit the use of a call option as security either. The first question this raises, therefore, is whether Hungarian law permits the use of a call option as security? Naturally, this then creates more questions ...
On September 14, 2011, the Court of Appeal of Quebec rendered a significant decision in the context of the labour dispute which occurred at the Journal de Québec (the “Journal”) in 2007-2008. This decision sheds some light on the scope of the “anti strikebreaker” provisions of the Labour Code (Quebec)1 ...
While employers oftentimes wish to monitor the behavior of their employees, which generally is a rightful intention, it is also the employees' rightful expectation for the employer to respect their privacy and personal data. In this article, we provide a brief overview of the most important rules employers must observe when monitoring their employees.Under the Hungarian Labour Code, an employer may inspect the work of its employees ...
Since our last summary, the Obama Board has taken significant steps to further outgoing Chairman Liebman’s stated goal of bringing the Board “back to life after a long period of dormancy ...
Six months on from the Davies report, Women on Board’, how much progress has been made towards the diversity at the top of UK plcs? Women are under-represented on the boards of UK companies. In 2010, only 12.5% of members of FTSE 100 companies' corporate boards were female ...
President Obama recently sent to Congress proposed legislative language and analyses of his proposed deficit-reduction plan. Among the proposed legislative changes is a change to the formula used for calculating the cap on the amount that the federal government will reimburse federal contractors for executive compensation ...
As part of the implementation or reorganization of a business structure, the integration of a trust as a shareholder of an incorporated family business can prove to be an interesting tax and estate-planning tool. This holding vehicle is being used more and more in Quebec.INTEGRATING A TRUST AS A SHAREHOLDER OF YOUR FAMILY BUSINESSDIANA DARILUS ddarilus@lavery ...
As a result of OSHA’s recently issued directive on workplace violence, the cops may not be alone in investigating incidents of workplace violence. OSHA is now in the business of policing workplace violence. In the directive, entitled Enforcement Procedures for Investigating or Inspecting Workplace Violence Incidents, OSHA provides its inspectors guidance on their new role – conducting inspections and investigations involving on-the-job violence ...
This paper reviews judgments dealing with contract law issues relevant to commercial lawyers and business leaders. This paper also considers private international law conventions and treaties that are en route to domestic implementation, and are therefore relevant to commercial practice ...
On September 13, 2011, the Board of Directors of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”) unanimously approved a final rule implementing Section 165(d) of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (the “Dodd-Frank Rule”) ...
The long anticipated America Invents Act (the “Act”) was signed into law today. However, given that certain provisions of the Act are now in effect while others do not come online until March 16, 2013, innovating companies and individuals should consider the impact and timing of those provisions on their overall patent strategy. Below is a link to some practice pointers and strategic tips you may want to consider when operating under the Act ...
The Ministry of Health recently issued Minister of Health Regulation No. 1148/Menkes/Per/VI/2011 on Pharmaceutical Wholesalers, which replaces and repeals two earlier decrees. The new regulation is aimed at protecting the public from dangerous drugs and drugs materials as well as improving previous regulations on pharmaceutical drugs ...
A new Regulation of the Minister of Law and Human Rights No. M.HH-01. AH.01.01 of 2011 on the Application Procedures for Validating a Legal Entity and Approving Amendments to the Articles of Association and the Notification Procedures for Amendments to the Articles of Association and Changes to Company Data (the “MOLHR Regulation”) was issued on 1st April 2011 ...
