[!<CDATA[ In one of its recent opinions, Kellogg Brown & Root Services, Inc. v. Sec’y of the Army, the Federal Circuit issued new guidance on what contractors must show to prove the reasonableness of costs incurred following an (alleged) government-caused delay. The U.S. Army (the “Army”) and Kellogg Brown & Root Services, Inc. (“KBR”) contracted for KBR to deliver thousands of trailers to Iraq by an agreed-upon deadline ...
[!<CDATA[ Multi-building condominium projects often raise unique legal issues as they do not squarely fall within the definitions used in state statutes. The Minnesota Supreme Court recently addressed the unique nature of multi-building condominium projects in Village Lofts at St. Anthony Falls Association v. Housing Partners III-Lofts ...
[!<CDATA[ This term the Supreme Court is set to resolve a circuit split over the extent of a federal district court’s power to order a person “who resides in or is found” in its district “to give testimony or statement or to produce a document or other thing for use in a proceeding in a foreign or international tribunal” pursuant to 28 U.S.C Section 1782(a) ...
[!<CDATA[ In May of this year, the Supreme Court of Wyoming held that a subsidiary of Sinclair Oil could invoke statutory bad faith damages after prevailing in a coverage dispute with its insurer, Infrassure. The court rejected the district court’s analysis that accepted the insurer’s narrow interpretation of Wyoming’s insurance code ...
[!<CDATA[ Effective September 1, 2021: HB 1578 closes the loophole of the previous version of Chapter 38 of the Texas Civil Practice & Remedies Code so that parties will be able to recover attorneys’ fees from LLCs, LLPs, LPs, or other organizations in lawsuits for breach of contract. Generally, Texas law provides that each party to a lawsuit is responsible for her attorneys’ fees ...
On August 31st, 2021, with 64 votes the Congress approved the Law regarding the Creation of the Bitcoin Trust (“FIDEBITCOIN”), by means of which a trust is constituted in the Development Bank of the Republic of El Salvador (“BANDESAL”), to benefit the users of the National Wallet, represented by the Republic of El Salvador, whose purpose will be to support the alternatives for bitcoin convertibility provided by the Salvadoran Government ...
Margin ratchets are a concept that the banking and finance world are familiar with. Increasingly these are linked to ESG loans with both lender and borrower engagement. How do they work in practice, what are the benefits and what are the potential risks? Typically margin ratchets are linked to financial covenants – more often than not leverage – they incentivise borrowers to improve their financial health over the life of a loan ...
On May 21, 2020, the Commission adopted amendments to the financial statement disclosure requirements for business acquisitions and dispositions by Commission registrants that also apply to companies undertaking an initial public offering. The amendments resulted from the Commission staff’s ongoing evaluation of Regulation S-X and Regulation S-K as part of its Disclosure Effectiveness Initiative and were proposed by the Commission in May 2019 ...
MLC Intellectual Property, LLC v. Micron Technology, Inc., Appeal No. 2020-1413 (Fed. Cir. Aug. 26, 2021) For those interested in an important Section 112 written description case, we recommend reading the Juno Therapeutics decision below, one of many significant precedential opinions issued this week. We choose as our Case of the Week another important decision issued this week, on the issue of damages, discovery, and expert disclosures ...
Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission (SFC) has announced details of requirements for fund managers to address climate change in their investment and risk management processes and make appropriate disclosures. Where are the requirements set out? On 20 August 2021, the SFC issued: Consultation Conclusions on the Management and Disclosure of Climate-related Risks by Fund Managers with amendments to the Fund Manager Code of Conduct (FMCC) set out in Appendix B and C ...
On August 27, 2021, the Regulation of the Bitcoin Law (the “Regulation”) was published in the Official Gazette of El Salvador. The Regulations will enter into force on September 8, one day after the entry into force of the Bitcoin Law ...
We are still waiting for the “official” SBA FAQ announcing the withdrawal of the Forms 3509/3510 Loan Necessity Questionnaire (“Questionnaire”) that, according to the SBA, will include additional information about its review process. In the meantime, PPP lenders have been told by the SBA that they no longer are required to request that borrowers who obtained loans of $2 million or more complete the Questionnaire ...
On August 11, 2021, the California Court of Appeals for the Second District extended the Pebley v. Santa Clara Organics (“Pebley”) Court’s analysis as applied to the admissibility of unpaid medical liens. Based on the Court’s reading of Howell v. Hamilton Meats[1] (“Howell”) and its progeny, the Court in Malak Melvin Abdul Qaadir v. Ubaldo Gurrola Figueroa et al ...
Since President Joe Biden’s July 9, 2021, executive order, “Promoting Competition in the American Economy,” there has been a renewed focus and speculation surrounding the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s (CFPB) forthcoming rulemaking under Dodd-Frank Act, Section 1033. Many industry leaders are optimistic President Biden’s order and the CFPB’s previous request for comments are a sign the U.S. is moving closer to open banking ...
On 20 August 2021, the Personal Information Protection Law of the People’s Republic of China (“PIPL”) was passed by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, and will become effective on 1 November 2021. Comprising 8 chapters and 74 articles, PIPL lays down a clearer yet stricter regulatory framework for the protection of personal information ...
Important new legislative changes impacting federally regulated employers will come into effect in 2021: the Pay Equity Act and a minimum wage requirement. Details on both these measures and how that will affect employers are examined below. Pay Equity Act The federal Pay Equity Act comes into effect on August 31, 2021. The Act applies to federally regulated employers who have 10 or more employees ...
On July 21, 2021, the SEC’s Division of Examinations (the Division) issued a Risk Alert detailing examinations of investment advisers participating in wrap fee programs. The Division conducted over 100 examinations of advisers associated with wrap fee programs generally from two perspectives: (i) advisers serving as portfolio managers in, or sponsors of, wrap fee programs; and (ii) advising client accounts through unaffiliated/third-party wrap fee programs ...
On July 21, 2021, the SEC’s Division of Examinations (the Division) issued a Risk Alert detailing more than 20 examinations of investment advisers who engaged in cross trades, principal trades, or both, involving fixed-income securities as part of the Division’s FIX Initiative. The July 21, 2021, Risk Alert is a follow-up to the Sept ...
In Apple Inc. v. Fintiv, Inc., (IPR2020-00019, Fintiv), the Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) elegantly laid out six different factors that the Board currently considers in discretionarily denying institution of an Inter Partes Review (IPR) that has a parallel district court proceeding ...
Despite the cannabis industry’s explosive growth, many financial institutions have been hesitant to transact with cannabis-related businesses given the ambiguity created by divergent state and federal cannabis laws. The SAFE Banking Act seeks to remove these ambiguities at the federal level and pave the way for more financial institutions to serve the cannabis industry ...
‘Navigating the Fintech Revolution in Thailand’ is the indispensable must-read guide for fintech experts who want to stay up-to-date on all current and future fintech developments and successfully navigate the sector’s many challenges and pitfalls! In this edition, DFDL reports on the current state of fintech in Thailand from a legislative and policy perspective with an overview of the current and future fintech landscape ...
The freeze partnership is an often overlooked estate tax planning tool. Unlike more common estate tax planning vehicles, the freeze partnership is not a trust and, as the name implies, is a closely-held partnership, limited partnership or LLC (in this article, the term partnership will be used to refer to partnerships, limited partnerships and LLCs) ...
The news earlier this month that Jamie Spears has agreed to step down from his long-time role as conservator of his daughter Britney Spears’ estate “when the time is right” has once again shone a light on the singer’s 13-year-long conservatorship, leading many to consider capacity issues for the first time ...
Health and safety issues in the agricultural and rural sector are a matter of considerable concern. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) is urging farmers to make safety a priority to reduce the number of injuries and fatalities in the sector. This recent campaign was prompted by four fatalities over a fortnight, coming only weeks after Farm Safety Week ...
