Key Points A five bill, California Senate housing package heads to Appropriations after unanimously passing key committee votes last week. CEQA streamlining, increasing density, and affordable housing remain top priorities, including one bill seeking to incentivize commercial use conversion to residential use ...
Key Points As the State begins to open back up, COVID-19 employment related litigation also begins. Several trends have emerged. On an individual and class-wide basis, Plaintiffs cite disability discrimination, emotional distress, retaliation, reimbursement, public nuisance and WARN Act claims, among others ...
Last year, United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) Director Andrei Iancu noted that artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to “fundamentally chang[e]” “the legal concepts of inventor or author.”[i] The USPTO recently had cause to consider this issue. On petition, the USPTO considered whether an applicant can name an AI program as an inventor on a patent application ...
Regarding its functions, the UPME has been monitoring the demand for electrical energy and natural gas on a daily basis, in order to identify the impact of the measures taken to mitigate the effects of COVID-19 on the consumption of these energies. The following conclusions have been reached from this monitoring: Energy demand fell in April by 16.92% compared to the average scenario projected by the UPME and by 11.10% so far in May ...
The state contribution for commercial rents to entrepreneurs with forcibly closed establishments is gaining more concrete outlines. If an entrepreneur negotiates a 30% discount on rent from his landlord, he will be able to apply for state support in the amount of 50% up to a ceiling of CZK 10 million for the period from April to June. However, the program has yet to be notified to the European Commission before it can be launched ...
Following the World Health Organization’s announcement of a public health emergency caused by COVID-19 and its declaration ofan international pandemic, the President of the Republic declared a state of emergency on 18 March and this lasted until 2 May. On 30April, theGovernment declared a situation of calamity and this was renewed on 15May and 29 May ...
This ninth edition of Unprecedented, our weekly update on COVID-19-related litigation, continues to be dominated by shutdown challenges and workplace injury and wrongful death claims. But as governments discuss contact tracing as a way to control COVID-19’s spread, a data breach lawsuit against Deloitte illustrates the risks associated with creating the systems and collecting the necessary information ...
In the age of social distancing, it is about time the law is changed to allow wills to be executed electronically.Ingenious lawyers all over the Commonwealth are dreaming up rigmaroles for the signing of wills amid the pandemic. An English law firm has suggested that the will be signed at a park bench, with witnesses lurking nearby, ready to rotate around the document ...
On May 26, 2020, the Mayor of New York City, Bill de Blasio, signed a broad COVID-19 relief package into law, to supplement existing federal and state relief measures. The new legislation included several amendments to the Administrative Code of the City of New York (the “Code”) that affect commercial landlords and tenants, including N.Y.C. Council Int. No. 1932-A (“Local Law 1932-A”) ...
States’ responses to the global pandemic may, however well-intended, harm the interests of inward investors. Under international public law, those investors have rights and so a spate of investor-State arbitral claims may well be a legacy of the pandemic. Across the world, governments have responded to Covid-19 by introducing emergency measures, which have inhibited social interaction and hampered economic activity ...
Industry solutions relying on artificial intelligence (AI)are growing faster than many had predicted. In addition to the important personal data protection considerations, another important question which this new and emerging technology is raising relates to the AI safety problems and their legal response. So far, the European Union and Bulgaria have not adopted legislation specifically tackling the AI phenomenon and in particular – the safety concerns associated with AI ...
Over a year ago, Congress amended the Bankruptcy Code to create Subchapter V, with the intent of encouraging small businesses (defined as those with less than $2,725,625.00 in debt) to file reorganization plans more often by saving certain costs of a routine Chapter 11. Congress then passed the CARES Act in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, raising the debt limit to $7,500,000.00 ...
In times of the ongoing crisis, associated with the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), and the introduction of epidemiological requirements and restrictions, many businesses have faced difficulties with contractual performance, including the failure in supply, cancellation of scheduled events and often cutbacks in profits and the impossibility to perform monetary obligations ...
Business interruption insurance claims related to the COVID-19 pandemic have raised numerous questions for practitioners, businesses, and insurers ...
In Silbersher v. Valeant Pharmaceuticals International, Inc., the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California dismissed a False Claims Act (FCA) qui tam lawsuit the court found was based largely on a Patent Trial and Appeal Board (PTAB) decision and thus violated the public disclosure bar. No. 3:18-cv-01496-JD, 2020 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 82548, at *22–27 (N.D. Cal. May 11, 2020) ...
On 25 May 2020, the General Data Protection Regulation (the "GDPR") has been applied for two years. A few days prior to the GDPR's anniversary, the first administrative fines for violations of data protection were imposed in Finland. In Finland, an administrative fine under the GDPR may be imposed by the Sanctions Board formed jointly by the Data Protection Ombudsman and two Deputy Data Protection Ombudsmen ...
In the latest in a series of amendments to Federal Law No. 11 of 1992 (the UAE Civil Procedure Law) the recently issued Cabinet Resolution No. 33 of 2020 (the Resolution) brings about some important changes to how matters will be litigated in the UAE courts. The Resolution amends certain provisions of the regulations to the UAE Civil Procedure Code introduced by Cabinet Resolution No ...
Key Points City council and planning commission recusals can have a significant impact on the outcome of hearings involving land use and environmental issues. Recusals can lead to tie votes or the loss of a quorum, which may make it impossible for local governments to approve development projects. Failing to disclose conflicts of interests can be grounds for reversing local government approvals ...
Key Points City council and planning commission recusals can have a significant impact on the outcome of hearings involving land use and environmental issues. Recusals can lead to tie votes or the loss of a quorum, which may make it impossible for local governments to approve development projects. In some circumstances, an elected or appointed official’s failure to recuse can be grounds for reversing local government decisions ...
As more workers begin to return to the workplace, it is expected that there will be an increase in the number of lawsuits related to employee contraction of the virus in the workplace. While the general rule in most states is that the workers’ compensation system provides the exclusive remedy for work-related injuries and illnesses, claimants and their attorneys are eyeing exceptions to the workers’ compensation system in order to maximize their potential recovery ...
HAS SUPREME COURT TAKEN A STEP BACK IN ITS RECENT JUDGMENT IN “NAFED VS. ALIMENTA S.A.”? The Supreme Court on April 22, 2020 declared a foreign award unenforceable on the ground that one of the provisions of the Agreement in question was hit by Section 32 of the Indian Contract Act, 1872 and thus violative of public policy of India. Brief Background: NAFED and Alimenta S.A ...
Section 29 of the Bankruptcy Ordinance (Cap. 6) (BO) allows a trustee in bankruptcy to apply to the Courts for orders compelling disclosure of material documents and/or information of the bankrupt in order for the trustee to carry out his/her duties under the bankruptcy. For the authors’ previous article on Section 29, please see here ...
In 鄧錦祥 v 鄭鄧錦容 , CACV 370/2019, the Hong Kong Court of Appeal exercised its discretion to dismiss the Respondent’s late application for security for costs and reminded litigants and their legal representatives of their duty to proceed promptly with making interlocutory applications in an appeal, as delay in making such applications can be a ground for the court to dismiss them, especially where a hearing date for the appeal has already been fixed ...
In Da Shing Group Ltd v Rich Promise Limited [2020] HKCFI 588[1], the Hong Kong Court of First Instance provided guiding principles in the interpretation of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) and considered whether pre-contractual exchanges could be admitted as evidence. The MOU in Chinese related to the acquisition of about 50.46% of the shareholding (Shares) in a listed company, Crocodile Garments Limited (Crocodile) ...
