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 ...
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 ...
On 23 June 2020, the Chinese government announced the Special Administrative Measures (Negative List) for Foreign Investment Access (2020 Edition) (2020 National Negative List) and the Special Administrative Measures (Negative List) for Foreign Investment Access in Pilot Free Trade Zones (2020 Edition) (2020 FTZ Negative List). The 2020 National Negative List and the 2020 FTZ Negative List (2020 Negative Lists) will come into force on 23 July 2020 ...
On 9 July 2020, the Employment (Amendment) Bill 2019 (Bill) was passed at the Legislative Council. The Bill introduces amendments to the Employment Ordinance (Ordinance) to extend the statutory maternity leave period from 10 weeks to 14 weeks, and technical amendments to rationalise the current statutory maternity leave regime (Amendments). We summarise the effect of the Amendments as follows: Current position New position 1 ...
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 ...
Quick Overview The ARRC released an updated version of its recommended LIBOR fallback language for USD LIBOR syndicated loans on June 30, 2020. Among other updates, the updated fallback language recommends a “Hardwired Approach” to effect LIBOR replacement and removes the previous alternative recommendation for an “Amendment Approach ...
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 ...
U.S. Trademark laws are based on the premise that rights in a trademark exist so long as the mark is continuously used in interstate commerce. Once you cease use of the mark without an intention of resuming such use, the mark may be subject to cancellation or abandonment by a third party ...
By: John Epperson San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors passed an Emergency Ordinance on July 7 entitled “Cleaning and Disease Prevention Standards in Tourist Hotels and Large Commercial Office Buildings” (the “EO”). The EO is expected to be signed by the Mayor and go into effect soon ...
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 ...
The State of Michigan has allocated $100 million of CARES Act funding to implement the Michigan Small Business Restart Program to provide grants to Michigan businesses directly impacted by COVID-19. The grants, up to $20,000 each, will be administered by 15 Economic Development Organizations (EDOs) covering all 83 counties in the state. Participating EDOs are listed below ...
In the VC community, especially for early stage investments, the valuation of a startup is strongly influenced by subjective factors, mainly how the investors view the business, market and management team of the startup. While there are no objective benchmarks for valuing early startups, the valuations of these companies are especially vulnerable to an uncertain economy. Valuation is a very important issue for startups ...
With the exit from lockdown in full swing, many companies are recalling their staff to the workplace. This article answers 10 FAQs that employers, business managers and HR specialists must consider during employees' return to work. FAQs Must employers respect health and safety measures on their employees' return to work and, if so, which ones?Yes, to the extent possible, social distancing (ie, maintaining a distance between people of at least 1 ...
The Ninth Circuit Holds that Callers are Subject to TCPA Liability if the Callers Intend to Make Automated Calls to a Consenting Customer, but Instead Call Someone Else Introduction On June 3, 2020, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit dealt a blow to callers governed under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) ...
This 14th edition of Unprecedented, our weekly update on COVID-19-related litigation, showcases new and evolving trends. Employers are facing claims for both doing too much and too little in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Shutdown litigation is increasingly focusing on alleged disparate treatment between businesses and protesters, as well as broadening to encompass challenges to mask requirements ...
The German government launched an aid program to support start-ups and young growth companies in the corona crisis aimed at providing start-ups with liquidity quickly. One of the pillars of this program is the Corona Matching Facility (CMF), where KfW Capital and the European Investment Fund (EIF) are “matching” investments of private venture capital funds (VC funds). The aid is therefore linked to the investments of VC funds ...
What lies in the new frontier of investment regulation? On May 26, the New York Times reported that the US Justice Department had dropped investigations into three US senators’ stock trades conducted shortly after they had been privately briefed on the novel coronavirus in January. The politicians had dumped millions of dollars of shares in Exxon Mobil, tech giants and real estate companies, some of which later lost value when markets plunged ...
A recent opinion, 731 Market Street Owner, LLC v. City and County of San Francisco (Cal. Ct. App., June 18, 2020, No. A154369) 2020 WL 3285962 (“731 Market Street Owner”), issued by a California Court of Appeal in San Francisco provides some relief to San Francisco building owners ...
As is painfully obvious to even the most casual of observers, the COVID-19 public health emergency has been disruptive to all industries. And, the healthcare industry has been at the epicenter of this disruption. Nonetheless, not all disruption is negative. One bright spot for many healthcare practitioners during this public health crisis has been the emergence and normalization of telehealth ...
As is painfully obvious to even the most casual of observers, the COVID-19 public health emergency has been disruptive to all industries. And, the healthcare industry has been at the epicenter of this disruption. Nonetheless, not all disruption is negative. One bright spot for many healthcare practitioners during this public health crisis has been the emergence and normalization of telehealth ...
The glacial pace at which the federal government has implemented cannabis policy–particularly in light of the rapid evolution of cannabis laws at the state level–is at the same time predictable and frustrating to those seeking a measure of certainty ...
In December 2019, Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) issued a discussion paper on “Climate Change and Principle-based Taxonomy”1. The discussion paper highlights the risks arising from climate change and environmental degradation to the economy. It outlines guidance for financial institutions in identifying these risks and classifying economic activities that contribute positively to climate change objectives. According to BNM, 10.3% of the total assets of banks and 24 ...
Introduction The Covid-19 global pandemic which has swept the globe and caused many countries to introduce various degrees of lock down measures has given rise to various issues and scenarios which an employer must deal with and manage. This is no different for employers in Malaysia where the Government has implemented the Movement Control Order (“MCO”) since 18 March 2020 which saw the economic activity brought to a halt ...
In this article, Aisyah Muhammad discusses whether a party to a contract can rely on the doctrine of frustration in the event of the non-performance of its contractual obligations during the Covid-19 pandemic. Introduction The emergence of the highly contagious Covid-19 virus has without a doubt caused major disruptions across various industries including transportation, retail, tourism and oil and gas ...
