Section 3(e)(i) of the Subdivision of Agricultural Land Act (the Act) provides that agricultural land shall not be sold or advertised unless the Minister has consented to it in writing. There are currently conflicting judgements as to whether this provision applies to an option to purchase agricultural land ...
In March 2013, the Florida Supreme Court issued a seminal decision for businesses and commercial litigators, Tiara Condominium Association Inc. v. Marsh & McLennan Companies, 110 So. 3d 399 (Fla. 2013), in which it expressly limited the applicability of the economic loss rule to products liability cases. For decades, Florida courts had applied the economic loss rule to prohibit a party in contractual privity from seeking to recover economic damages arising from the contract ...
COOLING TOWERS AND ASBESTOS : NEW OBLIGATIONS FOR OWNERS, TENANTS, MANAGERS AND EMPLOYERS Over the last year and half, the legislator has addressed the building safety issues in order to ensure the safety of the occupants and visitors of these buildings, as well as the persons who may be exposed to hazards because of equipment attached to such buildings ...
The International Swaps and Derivatives Association, Inc. (“ISDA”) has published a form of amendment to the 1992 and 2002 ISDA Master Agreements intended to address continuing uncertainty regarding the condition precedent set forth in Section 2(a)(iii) of both such Master Agreements (“Section 2(a)(iii)”) ...
The Financial Services Authority (“OJK”) recently issued Circular Letter No. 2/SEOJK.07/2014 on Services and the Settlement of Complaints from Consumers of Financial Service Businesses (“Circular Letter”) to implement OJK Regulation No. 1/POJK.07/2013 on Consumer Protection in the Financial Services Sector (“Regulation”) ...
The Financial Services Authority (“OJK”) issued Regulation No.3/POJK.02/2014 on the Procedure for Collecting Fees charged by the Financial Service Authority (“OJK Regulation”) on 1 April 2014. The OJK Regulation provides guidelines for the OJK’s collection of fees from financial services institutions and financial services industry support professionals and their firms (Public Accounts, Public Assessors, Legal Consultants, Notaries, Actuaries) ...
The numbers have been crunched and we have a winner! The United States District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia — known nationally as the “Rocket Docket” — had the fastest trial docket in the country in 2013. Once again. For the sixth year in a row. The median time interval to trial for the 12-month time period ending March 31, 2013, (the most recently released data) is 11.1 months. That’s 11 ...
On 2 July 2014, the new regulations regarding further building permit exemption measures will come into effect. Among the news is the opportunity to construct 25 m2 ancillary residential dwelling without requiring a building permit. However, the amendments are not entirely without controversy and have been met by strong criticism from several respondents ...
The Sound Commercial Practices Guideline (the “Guideline”) published by the Autorité des marchés financiers (the “AMF”) in June 2013 and intended for insurers of persons or damages, holding companies controlled by an insurer, trust and savings companies or financial services cooperatives that are authorized by the AMF to conduct business in Quebec, including in particular those financial institutions governed by the statues of another province or country (collectively referred to hereaft
A. Legal Framework. In the Republic of Panama, the operation of investment funds and the securities market in general is regulated by Decree-Law No. 1 of 8 of July of 1999 (as amended to date, the “Securities Act”) and the regulations issued by the SSM (the “Regulations”). The government entity that is in charge of the regulation and supervision of the securities market in Panama is the Superintendency of the Securities Market (the “SSM”) ...
A recent decision by the Florida Supreme Court is raising eyebrows among businesses and practitioners because it regards what constitutes a valid agreement to arbitrate, specifically, whether an arbitration clause written in English can be enforced against parties who do not speak the language. Given Florida’s diverse population, the opinion causes concern as some interpreted it to go against long-standing law that binds a signatory to a contract even if they did not fully understand it ...
An application to register the word mark BIMBO DOUGHNUTS as a Community Trade Mark (CTM) has been successfully opposed in the European courts. The ECJ upheld the General Court’s earlier decision that there is a likelihood of confusion between the word mark BIMBO DOUGHNUTS and a registered Spanish word mark, DOGHNUTS. (Bimbo SA v OHIM, Case C-591/12 P) ...
The U.S. Supreme Court again unanimously reversed the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, this time in two cases relating to attorney fees for patent infringement: Octane Fitness v. Icon Health & Fitness, No. 12-1184, and Highmark v. Allcare Health Mgmt. Sys., No. 12-1163. The Federal Circuit is now 0-3 in cases before the court so far this term, and it has persuaded a grand total of zero justices to support affirmance in any of those cases. See Medtronic v ...
Negotiations are part of our daily lives from an early age. From haggling with teachers over homework to agreeing terms for a new job – we all negotiate regularly throughout our lives. So why then can it be difficult to get some parties to start negotiating when it matters? Parties are unlikely to negotiate if they believe that they can force a better result at a lower cost ...
Judges sitting in the Inner House of Scotland’s supreme civil court, the Court of Session, will no longer wear wigs and judicial robes when hearing civil appeals. Where this is the case the court will not insist that counsel should appear with wig and gown or that solicitors with rights of audience should appear with gowns. Where the court intends to wear wigs and judicial robes, for example at ceremonial sittings, practitioners will be informed accordingly ...
The High Court, County Court and the Magistrates Court have jurisdiction to hear civil matters in England and Wales, with the High Court dealing with the most complex and high value disputes. The County Court hears lower value debt, personal injury and contract claims as well as some technology, construction and patent cases. Until 22 April a claimant could choose to bring their claim in the High Court providing the figure claimed for was over £25,000 ...
In recent years, one clause of the ISDA Master Agreement has been the source of a great deal of consternation among derivatives lawyers: the condition precedent set forth in Section 2(a)(iii), which purports to suspend a party’s payment obligations in the event of a continuing default by the other party ...
Clients unfamiliar with patent prosecution are often surprised to learn that few patent applications receive a first-action allowance, or FAA. There are even rankings of law firms that receive the most FAAs each year. But what does an FAA signify? Is it a cause to celebrate, or to conduct a post-mortem? The answer is, of course, “it depends ...
In 16 January 2014, the Constitutional Court (“MK”) granted the request for a judicial review of Article 335 of the Criminal Code (“KUHP”) and removed the phrase, “offensive act” from Article 335 of the KUHP. The reason for removing the phrase, “offensive act” is that it allows investigators and public prosecutors to act arbitrarily against certain people ...
In an attempt to improve the quality of Listed Companies and the liquidity of Public Company shares, the Director of the Indonesian Stock Exchange amended Regulation Number I-A on the Listing of Shares and Equity Securities other than Shares Issued by Listed Companies (No. KEP-00001/BEI/01-2014). The main issues regulated under this amended Regulation relate to the term of office of the independent commissioner and independent director in a listed company and free float shares ...
In an attempt to increase a bank’s ability to absorb risks, the improvement of a bank’s capital quality and quantity to be in accordance with international standards is deemed necessary. In order to increase a bank’s capital quality, it is also considered necessary for the bank to have additional capital which will have the function as a buffer in the event of a financial and economic crisis which may negatively affect the stability of the financial system ...
Currently, provisions on fit and proper tests for non-banking financial services are provided separately in several regulations and they apply different standards of fit and proper test procedures and materials. In an attempt to unify the fit and proper test requirements for non-banking financial services, the Financial Services Authority (“OJK”) issued Regulation No. 4/POJK ...
