In a short, unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an ERISA pension plan administrator should have treated a deceased participant's registered domestic partner as a surviving spouse and granted his claim for survivor benefits ...
This article is written byMarko Ketlerand originally published in Issue 6.4 of theCEE Legal Matters Magazine. After a few troublesome years during the global financial crisis, it seems like Slovenia is on a positive economic route again. On December 14, 2018, S&P Global Ratings affirmed an “A+/A-1” credit rating for Slovenia with a positive outlook ...
The European Commission consistently emphasises the citizens’ rights and status in its hard Brexit preparations and contingency works. It appealed to EU Member Stats to take a generous approach towards the rights of UK citizens in the EU, given that the UK reciprocates such an approach ...
On May 9, 2019, the U.S ...
On April 23, 2019, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA), a policy designed to stabilize communities by preventing displacement and preserving affordable housing. The Mayor signed the legislation on May 3, 2019 and it went into effect on June 2, 2019 ...
A few years ago artificial intelligence was a concept applied to nothing else but science fiction films, nowadays, it has become a reality for many companies and industries in the development of their commercial, corporate and industrial activities. Before we start to understand the strengths or weaknesses of artificial intelligence and its perspective from the right of intellectual property, it is considered convenient to conceptualize it ...
On May 24, 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed revisions to regulations issued under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) (the Proposed Rule). The Proposed Rule would revise certain provisions of the current Section 1557 rule that federal courts have ruled as likely unlawful, and eliminate the requirement that covered entities publish non-discrimination notices and include taglines in foreign languages on all significant publications ...
On May 24, 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a new fact sheet providing a compilation of all provisions through which a business associate may be held directly liable with the HIPAA Privacy, Security, Breach Notification, and Enforcement regulations (collectively the HIPAA Rules) ...
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a new rule that will impact the operations of a wide-range of health care facilities and the manner in which those facilities manage hazardous waste pharmaceuticals ...
There have been two recent developments regarding the False Claims Act (FCA) which will impact health care organizations that could be subject to a whistleblower lawsuit or FCA investigation. First, on May 7, 2019, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued formal guidance regarding the manner in which the DOJ would award credits to defendants that cooperate with the DOJ during an FCA investigation (the Policy) ...
On May 10, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published its final rule, 42 CFR 403, requiring drug manufacturers to disclose the price of prescription drugs in direct to consumer (DTC) advertisements. Publication of the final rule was preceded by a lively comment period that commenced on October 18, 2018 ...
On Monday, the United States Supreme Court held Title VII’s requirement that an employee-plaintiff file an administrative charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) before filing in court is a procedural, not a jurisdictional, requirement. Thus, if a defendant does not timely raise the issue, it can be forfeited. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg authored the unanimous opinion of the Court ...
Dinsmore’s Government Relations team was involved in several significant legislative initiatives affecting the health care sector during the 2019 regular session of the West Virginia legislature. Most notably, Dinsmore was involved in the passage of HB 2010, relating to foster care ...
For businesses who care about their brands, Pofma may be not be such a bad idea after all.Beyond Meat Inc. makes cows happy and cardiologists sad. Its Beyond Burger uses no meat and has no cholesterol, and contains less fat, fewer calories and more protein than a typical burger ...
Article PDF On April 17, 2019, the Treasury Department released a second round of proposed regulations (the "4/19 Regulations") providing additional guidance on the implementation of the Opportunity Zone (“OZ”) tax incentive included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The 4/19 Regulations are taxpayer-friendly and expand upon (but in some cases modify) the guidance provided in the initial proposed regulations released on October 19, 2018 (the "10/18 Regulations") ...
Article PDF On April 17, 2019, the Treasury Department released a second round of proposed regulations (the "4/19 Regulations") providing additional guidance on the implementation of the Opportunity Zone (“OZ”) tax incentive included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The 4/19 Regulations are taxpayer-friendly and expand upon (but in some cases modify) the guidance provided in the initial proposed regulations released on October 19, 2018 (the "10/18 Regulations") ...
Filing for bankruptcy might seem like an unlikely possibility for your company, and it probably is. But it happens. In the past, bankrupt brand owners had no clear answer as to whether, under bankruptcy law, they could both reject and rescind outgoing trademark licenses with the Bankruptcy Court’s approval. Now, the United States Supreme Court has provided an answer: They cannot ...
As seen in Bank Director Banks should not wait on lawmakers taking action on the myriad of proposed cannabis banking bills to make important strategic decisions about servicing marijuana-related business. It is unclear if any of the proposed cannabis banking bills will gain enough traction and support in Washington to pass through Congress. Despite the inaction, a growing number of financial institutions are choosing to provide banking services to the cannabis industry ...
The Mitigation Fee Act, Government Code section 66000 et seq., authorizes local agencies to impose fees on development projects in order to cover the cost of public facilities needed to serve the developments. However, the local agencies' power to impose mitigation fees is not unlimited: the fees must be reasonably related to the increased burden on public facilities caused by the new development. (Gov. Code § 66000(b); 66001 ...
The Financial Transactions Reporting Act 2018 (FTRA), which was enacted on May 25, 2018, imposed a mandatory requirement on land developers to register with the Compliance Commission (the Commission) ...
Overview On 12 February 2019, the Minister of Laws and Human Rights (“MOLHR”) issued Regulation No. 2 of 2019 on The Settlement of Disharmony between Laws and Regulations through Mediation (“MOLHR Reg 2/2019”), which came into effect on 14 February 2019. MOLHR Reg 2/019 replaces the previous regulation on the same subject, MOLHR Regulation No. 32 of 2017 on The Procedure for the Settlement of Disputes over Laws and Regulations through Non-Litigation ...
At the end of March, UK Visas and Immigration closed both the Tier 1 (Entrepreneur) and Tier 1 (Graduate Entrepreneur) routes, replacing them with two new visa categories, the ‘Start-up’ and the ‘Innovator’, which are contained within a new Appendix W of the Immigration Rules ...
Zodwa Ntuli, Commissioner of the Broad-Based Black Economic Empowerment (“B-BBEE”) Commission, indicated earlier this week that the commission has declared that the vast majority of transactions involving broad-based trusts are not compliant with the law and do not constitute genuine and effective Black ownership ...
There was a highly unusual trade mark opposition matter in the USA recently. The case of In re Coscentra B.Vinvolved a comparison of two perfume bottles in the shape of a male torso. A company applied to register a male torso-shaped perfume bottle as a trade mark for perfumery. The application was refused on the basis of an existing trade mark registration for a male torso-shaped perfume bottle covering perfumery ...
Donald Trump comes up in our articles from time to time, as does the issue of bad faith. Both come up in this one. In a recent case in the UK, a company called Trump International, which is owned by a German by the name of Michael Gleissner, filed applications to register the trade mark Trump TV in the communications and entertainment categories (classes 38 and 41). The US President, via a rights management company, opposed these applications ...
