The honourable justice Louis-Paul Cullen of the Superior Court rendered a judgment on September 23, 2011 which dismissed a motion for authorization to exercise a class action instituted by Mr. Kerfalla Toure (hereinafter "Toure") against Brault & Martineau (hereinafter "B & M) . (1) In order for a class action to be authorized by the Superior Court, the Code of Civil Procedure sets out the four conditions which must be fulfilled ...
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The Breach of a Promise to Purchase – Liability of the Third Party Purchaser - The sale of real estate assets usually starts with a preliminary contract, more specifically, a promise to purchase signed by the seller and the purchaser, which sets out most of the terms and conditions of the deed of sale to be entered into. However, it may happen that an owner will go back on his word and choose to sell to a third party whose offer for the assets is more favourable ...
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”) ...
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 ...
Under the Hungarian Civil Code, neighbours are required to refrain from any conduct that would needlessly disturb others, especially their neighbours, or jeopardize the exercise of their rights. Well-established judicial practice lies behind the above-cited provision of the Civil Code, the most important features of which we briefly summarize in the following ...
The Federal Circuit recently resolved two issues of first impression as to how patent reexamination proceedings affect related patent infringement litigation. These two cases, Marine Polymer1 and Bettcher Industries,2 are likely to have a significant impact on both litigation and reexamination-proceeding practices, as well as the strategic interplay between them ...
Many commercial property owners and occupiers whose businesses have been destroyed or impacted during this summer's riots are just beginning to come to terms with the true cost of the damage caused. A number of individuals whose homes have been affected also face the severity of the impact ...
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 ...
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 government has recently published a consultation document seeking views in relation to its proposals for business rate retention ("BRR") in England and options for enabling local authorities to carry out Tax Increment Financing ("TIF") within the business rates retention system. The business rates consultation may interest developers, the public sector and those involved in renewables or regeneration, particularly those considering Tax Increment Financed projects ...
A recent decision in the Full Federal Court has shown that while manufacturers are generally free to make goods according to a design that is not registered, care must be taken to ensure that those products are branded in a way that distinguishes them from the market leader ...
The aim of the recent freedom of information (FOI) reforms was to encourage a pro-disclosure culture, and to provide additional assistance and guidance to both the applicant and agencies in processing FOI requests. However, since the commencement of those reforms, maintaining the balance between the philosophy and the practical operation of the FOI Act has presented challenges for agencies in meeting their statutory FOI obligations ...
The past year has seen a significant rise in the uptake of mediation as an alternative means of dispute resolution and this is a trend which is likely to continue. Designed to resolve disputes to the (relative) satisfaction of both parties at an early stage, mediation uses an independent, specially trained third party mediator to facilitate private and confidential settlement discussions between parties ...
On 1 October 2011 changes to the Housing Grants, Construction and Regeneration Act 1996 will come into force. The changes will apply to any construction contract entered into on or after that date. Construction contracts entered into before this date will continue to be governed by the old rules ...
When things go wrong in a construction project, multiparty contractual relationships almost inevitably increase the difficulty of achieving a negotiated settlement. On the other hand, the motivations for settlement may remain strong, often in the hope of avoiding significant legal costs, saving time and preserving existing business relationships ...
As you will be aware, 1 January 2012 is the go live date for OHS harmonisation. A new OHS Act, Regulation and Codes of Practice will commence in the Commonwealth and in each State and Territory at this time. The new package of OHS legislation will be based on model legislation, so will be substantially similar in each jurisdiction. For detailed information about the state of play in relation to OHS harmonisation, see our HR&IR Update of 22 June 2011 ...
Following the introduction of the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency Bill 2011 (Bill) and the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (Consequential Amendments and Transitional Provisions) Bill 2011 (Transitional Bill) into the Commonwealth Parliament (as reported in our news alert of 23 March 2011), the Senate referred the Bill and the Transitional Bill to the Senate Education, Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Committee (Commi
INTRODUCTION TO DISPUTE RESOLUTION FRAMEWORK Ukraine is a civil law country with the Constitution being a principal source of law. The main sources of civil and commercial law are acts promulgated by the legislative and executive branches of the state. International treaties ratified by Parliament become part of national law and prevail in a conflict with domestic law ...
Market Overview As the timeshare market continues to recover from the dramatic contraction of the tourism industry and overall decline in consumer discretionary spending, Western Reserve believes a “dose of equity” is needed to aid this recovery and recapitalize this highly leveraged industry Significant consolidation is expected among smaller private operators, which do not possess critical mass to pursue public equity and are too small
1. International anti-corruption conventions To which international anti-corruption conventions is your country a signatory? Chile is a signatory to and has ratified the Inter-American Convention against Corruption, the OECD Convention on Combating Bribery of Foreign Public Officials in International Business Transactions, and the United Nations Convention against Corruption. 2 ...
The new Immigration Bill was passed by the Indonesian Parliament on 7 April 2011. It will pass into law on the day it is signed by the President or within 30 days of its passage, whichever occurs earlier.The bill covers a range of basic matters relating to immigration, including entry to and exit from the Indonesian territory, travel documents, visas, stay permits, etc ...
Are donations of counterfeit goods to charities socially acceptable? - Despite calls for seized counterfeit goods to be donated to charity, a number of conditions should be met in order to protect both IP rights holders and those receiving the goods Nobody would dispute that in today’s world, the social and environmental impacts of our actions must be taken into consideration whenever we make a decision ...
