This 16th edition of Unprecedented, our weekly update on COVID-19-related litigation, discusses claims ranging from insurance coverage disputes to prisoners’ rights. The top story this week, however, is undoubtedly a Michigan ruling that dismissed business interruption claims on the merits—a major early victory for insurers. Even so, it seems doubtful that this one ruling will slow down the flood of coverage disputes ...
On July 17, San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced that due to a rapid rise in new COVID-19 cases in the last month, and because San Francisco was listed on the State’s County Monitoring List (the “Monitoring List”) for three consecutive days, San Francisco was halting all reopening procedures indefinitely beginning on Monday, July 20 ...
SB 977 was passed by the California Senate on June 26, 2020. If the bill is passed by the Assembly and becomes law, it will require health care systems, private equity groups, hedge funds, and academic medical centers to obtain advance approval by the California Attorney General for substantially all acquisitions or change of control transactions with health care facilities and providers ...
A focus for Chinese trademark law and practice in recent years has been strengthening the fight against malicious trademarks ...
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to spread throughout the world, governments and leading financial institutions across the South and Southeast region continue to issue various initiatives, stimulus measures and relief efforts within their respective countries in an attempt to shore up the hardest hit sectors and vulnerable groups directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic ...
On April 22, 2020, the Governor issued Executive Order N-55-20 pursuant to a provision of the Government Code that grants special powers to the Governor to suspend statutes during a state of emergency where the Governor determines and declares that strict compliance with the statute or regulation would prevent, hinder, or delay the mitigation of the effects of the emergency. (Gov. Code, §§ 8567 & 8571 ...
In the Loop: With the Hanson Bridgett Government Group COVID-19 has changed the way California public agencies conduct their Brown Act meetings, creating new challenges and opportunities. Utilizing their experience serving as general counsel to a number of public agencies, Hanson Bridgett attorneys Claire Collins and Allison Schutte created their Top 10 list of recommendations on how to conduct virtual "Brown Act" Board Meetings to guide any public agency. 1 ...
In a landmark victory for Federally-qualified health centers, a California Court of Appeal confirmed last October that federal and state law requires the State of California to pay FQHCs “100 percent” of their costs of furnishing core and other ambulatory services to Medi-Cal beneficiaries. (Tulare Pediatric Health Care Center v. State Department of Health Care Services (2nd Dist. 2019) 41 Cal.App.5th 163 ...
On July 15, 2020, the Federal Reserve published a number of changes to the Main Street Lending Program’s frequently asked questions, which FAQs were amended to provide further guidance on a number of issues. The Federal Reserve Bank of Boston MSLP web page has links to clean and redline versions of the new FAQs: https://www.bostonfed.org/supervision-and-regulation/supervision/special-facilities/main-street-lending-program/information-for-lenders/docs ...
Today (16 July 2020), the ECJ handed down its long-awaited judgment on the validity of Standard Contractual Clauses in international data transfers (ECJ, judgment of 16 July 2020, case C-311/18). In a surprise move the Court of Justice declared the EU Commission's adequacy decision on the Privacy Shield - the agreement that allows data transfers to certain companies in the USA - to be invalid. On the other hand it confirmed the validity of the Standard Contractual Clauses ...
The Canadian Intellectual Property Office (CIPO) has now made a further announcement concerning the extension of deadlines, to the effect that deadlines falling within March 16 to August 7, 2020, are extended to August 10, 2020. CIPO is otherwise still open for business and our IP team members have been continuing operations and transacting with CIPO on a regular basis, in a remote and secure manner ...
This is a briefing on the issuances as of July 16, 2020 on the following matters in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic: A. General Community Quarantine (GCQ) over Metro Manila is Further Extended until July 31, 2020 B. Recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Issuances and Notices B.1. SEC Main Office Closed until July 26, 2020 B.2. SEC Notice to all Non-stock Corporations on the New Deadline for the Online Filing or Submission of the Mandatory Disclosure Form (MDF) B.3 ...
The Scheme On 29 June 2020, the Hong Kong Government launched the Pilot Scheme on Facilitation for Persons Participating in Arbitral Proceedings in Hong Kong (Scheme), under which (1) arbitrators, (2) expert and factual witnesses, (3) counsel and (4) parties to an arbitration are allowed to participate in arbitral proceedings in Hong Kong as visitors for a period not exceeding their visa-free period, without first obtaining employment visas which are normally required but for the Scheme ...
In what appears to be the first substantive dispositive ruling on a COVID-19 related business interruption insurance claim, a Michigan court has dismissed an insured’s business interruption claim, finding that the insured did not suffer a direct physical loss and no insurance coverage exists for the insured’s claim ...
On July 10, 2020, in United States v. Ruan, the Eleventh Circuit affirmed the convictions of two Alabama doctors for running an opiate “pill mill.” Among many other things, the government charged that the doctors used “incident to” billing to charge Blue Cross Blue Shield of Alabama under the doctor’s identification for visits conducted entirely by nurse practitioners, which that insurer (unlike some others) prohibited under its policy ...
Resolution No. 61/202 of Chilean Tax Authority amends instructions on Certificate No. 66 on donations and expenses associated with the global outbreak of Covid-19 July 6, 2020 On June 17, the Internal Revenue Service issued the Resolution No. 61 through which it modified the Resolution No. 49, which creates the certificate that recipients must issue for the donations they receive in the context of the health crisis produced by Covid-19. According to Resolution No ...
The National Institute of Industrial Property (INAPI) recently issued Notice No. 524, which provides that it will be possible to enter simple (scanned) digital copies of powers of attorney, without requiring the original document or an electronic document with an advanced electronic signature, thus making it possible to continue the processing of applications for registration, renewals, recordals, among others, during the quarantine period produced by Covid-19 ...
This 15th edition of Unprecedented, our weekly update on COVID-19-related litigation, showcases new and evolving trends. This week we note how COVID-19 has accelerated a pre-existing trend toward class action litigation. And we discuss specific trends involving workplace safety, mask requirements, shutdown orders, quarantine enforcement, and prisoners’ rights. These cases, and others like them, show no signs of cooling down as the summer heats up ...
UK and EU competition law provides that retailers must be free to determine their own resale prices. Actions by suppliers to restrict this freedom by dictating a fixed or minimum resale price are prohibited. The UK regulator, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has vigorously enforced the law in this area, regularly pursuing investigations into and ultimately imposing fines on suppliers who engage in resale price maintenance ...
The European Commission (“EC”) is collecting data and feedback from stakeholders about the European Union’s (“EU”) current rules on packaging and packaging waste. Based on these insights, it will propose an amendment to the current rules that aim to ensure a properly functioning market for packaging recycling and diminishing packaging waste ...
The current crisis has challenged the strength of all companies. It has forced businesses to quickly address new issues that often were outside their agenda earlier. During this period, most of businesses have managed to temporarily adapt, or radically change their processes and strategies; establish a flawless remote operation; transform the pattern of cooperation with counterparties and partners; reallocate resources and learn to communicate with their employees under crisis ...
Key Points The Supreme Court's upcoming decision regarding the Affordable Care Act could render its tax provisions retroactively unconstitutional. Depending on the outcome, there is a potential opportunity for refunds on open tax years for taxpayers who paid the net investment income tax and additional Medicare tax. For most taxpayers, the deadline for a protective claim of refund on a 2016 tax return, filed without extensions, is July 15, 2020 ...
By adopting the Act on the Establishment of the Economic Stabilization Fund of March 27, 2020, the German Parliament and the Federal Council established the Economic Stabilization Fund(“ESF”) as a special fund to stabilize the real economy in times of the COVID-19 pandemic. The ESF is intended to support German companies in the real economy suffering from the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic by providing liquidity and capital support ...
