Electronic registration The Norwegian Maritime Authority («NMA«) has developed a new system for electronic ship registration and has proposed certain amendments to the Norwegian Maritime Code and appurtenant regulations. The amendments are currently circulated in a memo subject to public hearing ...
While overdraft litigation risks have threatened the financial services industry for some time, recent class action lawsuits have trickled down to community banks. One place in particular where exposure has expanded is the increased willingness of plaintiff’s counsel to challenge the use of form account agreements and disclosures, including reliance on Regulation E’s model consent form ...
The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) recently discussed possible approaches to establishing an interoperating central bank digital currencies (CBDC) arrangement as the future of cross-border payments. Although not an “official” definition, CBDC generally refers to a new form of digital currency issued by a central bank, denominated in an existing unit of account operating as a store of value and a medium of exchange ...
Tech London Advocates (TLA) Scale Up Group hosted a virtual event with expert speakers, UK Tech on the World Stage, as a partner event for Scaleup Week: The Business Plan held on 18-20 May 2021. A panel of international tech leaders shared insights and opinions regarding UK technology on the world stage, exploring the growth of UK digital businesses and what it takes for them to expand into overseas markets ...
Net zero targets now cover in excess of two thirds of global GDP and over a fifth of the world's largest public companies, according to the latest report published by the Energy and Climate Intelligence Unit and Oxford Net Zero. This global shift towards net zero has reshaped the development landscape with demand for sustainable buildings being driven not only by regulators, but by investors and occupiers ...
The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals held that a D&O liability insurer could not rely on ambiguous endorsements as a basis to deny coverage for claims brought by investors against its insured company and its CEO. Reversing the Eastern District of Missouri, the appellate court in Verto Medical Solutions LLC et al. v. Allied World Specialty Insurance Co., No. 19-3511 (8th Cir ...
On May 19, 2021, Superintendent Resolution Nº 045-2021-SMV/02 was published, apdopting the Regulation of the Financial Participative Financing Activity and its Management Companies (the “Regulation“), which clarifies the provisions of Emergency Decree Nº 013-2020 – Emergency Decree that Promotes the Financing of MSMEs, Entrepreneurships and Startups ...
When corporate executives are charged with crimes, their companies often foot the bill for their defenses. Sometimes those bills can be hefty. And while companies sometimes seek to recoup the expenses when the executives are convicted, a recent decision from the influential Judge Jed Rakoff of the Southern District of New York makes clear that the criminal restitution process may not be their best approach ...
In early April as the statewide vaccination rate began to rise and major population centers across California began to see significant decreases in positive COVID cases and hospitalization rates, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the State plans to reopen in full on June 15, 2021. As of the date of this Alert, California has one of the lowest number of COVID cases per 100,000 people and the fourth lowest number of COVID hospitalizations in the United States ...
In a judgment of 22 April 2021, the European Court of Justice found that a lease contract entered into between an Austrian authority and a real estate company before the construction of the building did not constitute a contractual building contract, as the authority had not had a decisive influence on the design. The authority's requirements thus did not exceed the requirements that a tenant usually places on a building of a similar nature ...
Florida has joined a growing wave of states offering individuals, businesses and other organizations significant protections against Covid-19-related legal claims. But how does Florida’s new law — “Civil Liability for Damages Relating to Covid-19” (codified at section 768.38, Florida Statutes) — work? And what do businesses need to know — and do — now? The law’s practical effect Begin with the law’s practical effect ...
As cryptocurrency and digital assets enter mainstream markets, the business world will have to come to grips with the nature of this new asset class. Silk Road was an Internet black market (known as the Dark Web) notorious for trading contraband, including illicit drugs. These transactions are anonymous, being settled in Bitcoin, a cryptocurrency that bypasses traditional payment modes that allow authorities to identify parties ...
In Markit Systems (Pty) Limited v Fulcrum Group (Pty) Limited, the Gauteng Local Division of the High Court held that the customer was within its rights to cancel an agreement it had with a service provider because the parties had not been able to agree on the scope and details to be included in the schedule to the agreement ...
As courts across Canada continue to see a rising trend in self-represented litigants, it becomes increasingly important for them to understand court rules and procedures to ensure access to justice. In the recent case of Blomer v Workers Compensation Board, the Alberta Court of Appeal considered whether the motions judge could correct the procedural missteps of the self-represented litigant ...
Ownership of mines and minerals separately to surface land poses a risk for developers that must be assessed and mitigated as appropriate. It is not uncommon for mines and minerals to be owned separately to the land at the surface and in certain areas of the country, particularly the north, it is frequently encountered ...
Shoosmiths won increased provision for an adult child from her father's estate under the Inheritance (Provision for Family and Dependants) Act 1975, achieving all of the costs benefits of the Defendant’s failure to beat the Claimant’s Part 36 offer. Recorder Williamson QC heard the trial remotely over two days on 21 and 22 January 2021 in the Peterborough County Court. He handed down judgment on 2 February 2021 ...
The Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on markets in cryptoassets, which amends Directive (EU) 2019/1937, ("Regulation on Markets in Crypto-assets", or the "MiCA Regulation" for short) was published on 24 September 20201. The Proposal is part of the Digital Finance Package adopted on the same date by the European Commission as part of the Digital Finance Strategy for the EU financial sector2 ...
Robo-Advisors (sometimes spelt as Robo-Advisers) are digital investment advisory platforms that provide automated, algorithm-driven financial planning services with little to no human supervision. In this article our Oluwapelumi Omoniyi takes a cursory look at the Securities and Exchange Commission’s new rules on Robo-Advisors and highlights the rationale behind the move to regulate Robo-Advisors ...
This blog post highlights certain amendments to British Columbia’s Real Estate Development Marketing Act (“REDMA”) Policy Statements 5 and 6 which came into effect May 1, 2021. Policy Statement 5 sets out circumstances under which a developer is deemed to have permission to begin early marketing of a real estate development before a building permit is issued for the development ...
Welcome to the tenth issue of the 2021 edition of Unprecedented. The big news from the past two weeks was the Center for Disease Control’s announcement of new guidance allowing fully vaccinated individuals to go unmasked in nearly all circumstances. The announcement was unexpected and sent governments and businesses scrambling to respond. Some governments, like my home state of Pennsylvania, reacted the same day to conforming their own requirements to the new CDC guidance ...
The Oregon Senate will soon be deciding on a bill that would allow an owner of a lot or parcel at least two acres in size in an area zoned rural residential to build an accessory dwelling unit, or “ADU,” on that lot or parcel, provided there is already a single-family dwelling on the lot or parcel ...
It is a truism to say that infill development in Oregon is fraught and expensive. This is apparently not lost on the Legislature, which over the past four years has enacted a number of laws to reduce local permitting barriers on infill projects in an attempt to provide for more affordable and middle-income housing ...
Trimble Inc. v. PerDiemCo LLC, Appeal No. 2019-2164 (Fed. Cir. May 12, 2021) In this week’s Case of the Week, the Federal Circuit revisited its decision in Red Wing Shoe Co. v. Hockerson-Halberstadt, Inc., 148 F.3d 1355 (Fed. Cir. 1998), often cited for the proposition that a patentee does not subject itself to personal jurisdiction in a forum merely by sending correspondence asserting patent infringement by a resident of the forum ...
