A minority of states have enacted statutes and taken other action to protect business owners from claims by persons who allegedly were infected by COVID-19 on their premises.1 The purpose of this article is to compare these statutes and discuss some of the differences between them. This article addresses statutes in effect as of October 27, 2020. The article does not address pending legislation ...
Under the Medicare Secondary Payer Act (MSPA), a Medicare Secondary Payer is the entity which has an obligation to pay medical expenses before Medicare. In the face of rising costs, legislation was passed in 1980 making Medicare a secondary payer to various primary plans in order to shift medical expenses to those Medicare believed should be the primary source of payment ...
Mamo TCV Advocates is pleased to announce that it has recently become the exclusive member law-firm for Malta of the World Services Group network (WSG). WSG is the leading global network comprised of elite top-ranked global practice firms. With over 120 member firms in 150 jurisdictions and 23,000 individual members, the network provides a proprietary platform for members to create relationships, expertise and new business opportunities to better serve their practice and clients ...
The Sharjah Court of Appeal recently declined to apply the principle of separability of an arbitration clause, on the basis that the underlying agreement (i.e. in which the arbitration clause was contained) was not defective or argued to be invalid by the appellant. This judgment has potentially significant implications for parties who intend to rely on an agreement which contains an arbitration clause to assert claims in court ...
The 2020 election in California as pertains to national politics was never in doubt, but despite being a deeply blue state, Californians continued to show their divide on taxing businesses and making major changes to the statewide tax code. Several ballot initiatives, both at the state and municipal level, would have radically altered how businesses and executives are taxed ...
On November 5, 2020, the Washington Supreme Court altered a 60-year provision of Washington’s Minimum Wage Statute when it issued its decision in Martinez-Cuevas v. DeRuyter Brothers Dairy. The court held that the agricultural overtime exemption at RCW 49.46.130(2)(g), which exempted agricultural employers from paying overtime at a rate of 1.5 times the regularly hourly rate, violated article I, section 12 of the Washington State Constitution as applied to dairy workers ...
A temporary work agency had, over a period of four years, hired out workers to an oil company that had a bonus scheme at company level for its employees. The Supreme Court found that the bonus scheme was a form of performance-related pay and thus covered by the term «pay» in section 14-12 a subsection 1 (f) of the Working Environment Act. The temporary work agency was thus obliged to pay a bonus to the two workers as if they had been permanently employed in the oil company ...
The Coronavirus pandemic has caused a shift in the paradigm of modern-day workplaces. Companies across the globe have seen a rapid and widespread shift to remote work, making compliance with the GDPR harder than ever. The Federal Office of Information Security (BSI), in its recent report on the ‘State of IT Security in Germany 2020’, expressed its concern and indicated a ‘tense situation’ for data protection in the country ...
In Brown v. Morehouse College, a False Claims Act (FCA) retaliation action, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the case’s dismissal, agreeing with the district court that while the plaintiff’s ethics complaints may have led to retaliation against him by the College, the complaints did not allege FCA fraud and therefore were not protected by the statute. No. 19-13773, 2020 U.S. App. LEXIS 33444 (11th Cir. Oct. 23, 2020) ...
Balance has been tipping over from creditors to shareholders and the pandemic is only bringing this deepening fault line to the fore. Covid-19 slammed into the global consciousness this March and, as expected, immediately torpedoed the markets. But despite the worsening economic data hogging news headlines, exacerbated by intensifying US-China tensions, the markets have paradoxically strengthened since ...
On 30 September 2020, the Royal Government of Cambodia (“RGC”) issued a press release and rolled out ‘Round 6’ of measures aimed at mitigating the impacts of COVID-19 on businesses and workers in Cambodia. These represent a combination of new and existing measures (that have been extended) ...
Michigan has joined the majority of jurisdictions in holding that a general liability policy may provide coverage for claims for property damage allegedly caused by the defective work of a subcontractor ...
When crafting a liquidation or “pass-through” agreement for a subcontractor claim against the government, the key provision from the prime contractor’s perspective is a release from liability for the subcontractor’s claim with the exception of amounts recovered from the government related to that claim. If the release language is too broad, however, the agreement may provide the government a legal defense to the pass-through claim known as the Severin doctrine ...
The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on October 29, 2020 it reached a more than $9.2 million settlement with Medtronic USA Inc. to resolve allegations it violated the False Claims Act (FCA) and Open Payment Program.[1] Specifically, Medtronic agreed to pay $8.1 million to resolve FCA allegations it paid kickbacks to induce a South Dakota neurosurgeon to use its SynchroMed II intrathecal infusion pumps ...
The first anniversary of the entry into force of the new Canadian Patent Rules, which significantly changed certain practices surrounding the filing and prosecution of patent applications in Canada, is an opportunity to look back at the major changes that have had a significant impact on Canadian patent practice. Indeed, the past year has allowed us to observe the changes, which in certain aspects seem to be confusing for patent applicants, and to observe their effect in practical terms ...
Background and about Atmanirbhar Bharat The idea of Atmanirbhar Bharat,or self-reliance, was at the heart of the Hon’ble Prime Ministerof India, Shri Narendra Modi’s address to the nation on 12May 2020 when he announced an economic package towards building aAtmanirbhar Bharat, or a self-reliant, resilient India ...
Introduction What is known to exist but is not visible is surrounded by mystery. It excites the imagination and people spin yarns about it. Though that is not true when it comes to novel coronavirus (“COVID-19”), the outbreak of which has been globally reported, COVID-19 has caused worldwide unprecedented disruptions to business operations; and the commercial turmoil continues ...
With the explosion of remote work arrangements during the COVID-19 pandemic, employers are more likely to have remote employees who live in different states. A company should examine whether it is actually subject to potential jurisdiction for legal claims in each state where it has a remote employee. In other words, if your company has employees working remotely in other states, can you actually be sued in all of those states? The answer is maybe ...
On 24 August 2020, the UAE issued Cabinet Resolution 58 of 2020 on Regulating the Procedures of the Real Beneficiary (the Resolution). The Resolution, amongst other things, aims to establish a legal framework for identifying and recording details of real beneficiaries of entities licensed to conduct business in the UAE. The Resolution is an additional step towards the UAE’s efforts in combating money laundering, the financing of terrorism and illegal organisations ...
AELEX is the exclusive contributor to the Nigerian Chapter of The Legal 500 (Legalease): Franchise and Licensing Country Comparative Guides. The country specific Guide provides a pragmatic overview of how businesses can set up franchises and also license their technology and intellectual property rights in Nigeria. The Guide was authored by our Davidson Oturu,Tiwalola Osazuwa and Kofoworola Oyegunle. Please click here to read the Guide ...
INTRODUCTION There are several government agencies regulating various sectors of the Nigerian economy. Most of these regulatory agencies are creation of statutes which usually specify their functions, powers and general mode of operations. While some of these agencies are responsible for sensitising the citizens about government policies,[1]a good number are charged with the task of enforcing policies, programmes and laws enacted by the Government ...
This 28th edition of Unprecedented, our weekly update on COVID-19-related litigation, includes a number of updates on the mounting number of business interruption coverage disputes -- including a claim against a broker whose alleged failure to obtain infectious disease coverage left the insured without coverage for COVID-19-induced losses ...
The Arendt Weekly Update is a newsletter designed to give you the insight you need without overloading your mailbox. It lists the latest news, topical webinars, training courses and more. NEWSFLASHES Budget 2021: various tax measures to address the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and support a sustainable recovery On 14 October 2020, the Luxembourg government filed the budget bill 7666 with the Luxembourg parliament ...
