Member Articles

In a 2023 trip and fall case, the United States District Court for the Middle District of Florida granted summary judgment in favor of Defendant Wal-Mart. Kozlowski v. Wal-Mart Stores E., LP, No. 5:21-cv-261-ACC-PRL, 2023 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 116861 (M.D. Fla. May 19, 2023). The plaintiff alleged that she tripped due to humps and ripples in a floor mat at the front entrance of the store ...

The recent decision to permit 45 million competition law claimants to claim against Meta has thrown fresh focus on the real risks posed to organisations after data breaches. Here, we discuss recent trends and make some predictions. Following the news that up to 45 million claimants under competition law have been given the go-ahead for a £2bn class action against Meta, many are thinking about what the real risk of class action litigation is after a mass data breach ...

The new double tax treaty between Belgium and the Netherlands will introduce significant changes  compared to the current Article 5 on permanent establishments. Due to the positions of Belgium and the Netherlands to the Multilateral Instrument (MLI), only the anti-fragmentation rule is applied under the current treaty. Under the new treaty, alignment is sought and found with the other changes proposed by the MLI for permanent establishments ...

On 23 June 2023, the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) issued Revenue Memorandum Circular (RMC) No. 71-2023 and Revenue Memorandum Order (RMO) No. 23-2023 to provide streamlined guidelines and the prescribed documentary requirements for the processing of value added tax (VAT) refund applications. The following significant amendments were introduced to the existing regulations outlined in this article ...

2023 was largely characterised by macroeconomic volatility and heightened geopolitical tension. Due to this, many companies are now facing unexpected legal disputes after finding themselves or their contractual counterparties in distressed situations. Disputes Day 2024 will therefore focus on Disputes and Distressed Parties. The event will be organised on 19 March and it aims to provide practical insights to help companies navigate the complexities of legal disputes ...

Recently, the General Directorate of Customs (DGA), under the provisions of art 440 of the Regulation of the Uniform Central American Customs Code (RECAUCA), has modified the period of stay for vehicles owned by foreign tourists, Salvadorans residing abroad, and Salvadoran students residing abroad ...

Re Coinomi - Reconsidering the remedies for unfair prejudice Whereas the position at first instance (Re Coinomi [2022] EWHC 3178 (Ch)) had determined that a shareholder could not claim damages in favour of the company when invoking the statutory unfair prejudice jurisdiction, the appeal (reported as Ntzegkoutanis v ...

The Supreme Court of the United States recently unanimously reversed the 2nd Circuit’s ruling on an employee asserting a retaliation claim under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (“SOX”). Now, employees asserting a retaliation claim under SOX need to only show that their protected activity was a contributing factor in the adverse employment action. An employee does not have to prove that the employer had retaliatory or discriminatory intent to prove retaliation under SOX ...

The Commission for the Unification of Federal and Local Judicial Principles (the “Commission”) recently issued a number of decisions aimed at harmonising certain “judicial principles”. Since the doctrine of stare decisis is not followed in the UAE, there have been instances of incongruities in the application of law by the UAE courts ...

Shoosmiths' Natalie Aldread explores two recent cases and their implications for break options and the renewal of a business tenancy under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 It is often assumed that where renewal of a business tenancy under the Landlord and Tenant Act 1954 has not been opposed, the bar is reasonably low to include a landlord’s break option in the new lease. Two recent cases do, however, indicate that this is not always the case ...

A core aim of the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA) is to ensure the real estate industry - rather than leaseholders or the taxpayer - meets building safety expenditure. One way this is to be achieved is by introducing the Building Safety Levy under s.58 of the BSA. The government has now moved one step closer to the implementation of the levy with the recent publication of a consultation outcome and the publication of a third consultation - closing on 20 February 2024 ...

Shoosmiths' real estate experts explore commonly encountered issues and also tips and traps for providing and receiving replies to Commercial Property Standard Enquiries. Replies to Commercial Property Standard Enquiries (“CPSEs”) are designed to provide practical information about the property to assist buyers and tenants with their due diligence ...

The use of cryptocurrency or crypto assets in employee incentive arrangements is a relatively new and evolving area and it is therefore important to carefully consider the potential advantages and disadvantages of their use in incentive arrangements. Different types of crypto assets Crypto assets can take many forms including digital currency such as Bitcoin and Litecoin and NFTs (non-fungible tokens) such as art NFTs and collectible real estate NFTs ...

By: Stephen Best, Clayton Barnett, and Brian Adkins February 7, 2024 Whether you are a passionate supporter of college athletics or a casual sports fan, nearly everyone has heard the three letters, NIL. NIL (or name, image, and likeness) has quickly become part of the national sports lexicon ever since the United States Supreme Court opened the door for student-athletes to receive monetary compensation under National Collegiate Athletic Association v. Alston in 2021 ...

By: Leah Lively and Alexandra Shulman The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) mandates that employers compensate employees for each hour worked. Nonetheless, the Department of Labor guidance permits rounding of employee time punches so long as, among other things, the rounding is conducted in a neutral manner and, if any favor is shown, it benefits the employee. For example, using rounding, if an associate clocked in any time from 7:53 a.m. to 8:07 a.m ...

Strengthened collaboration between BVI and PRC: a precedent of enforcing a PRC arbitral award Background In Window of Trade, the Claimant applied to the BVI Court to enforce the Award in favour of the Claimant. The Award required the Second Defendant to return 100% of the equity in the First Defendant, a BVI company, to the Claimant and to assist the Claimant in restoring its name to the register of members of the First Defendant. The Second Defendant opposed the enforcement of the Award ...

The last installment of our three-part series explains U.S. tax considerations of a divided interest strategy for the bare owner who is a U.S. person. In most situations involving global families, it is the bare owner, rather than the holder of the usufruct, who is a U.S. person. The usufruct holder is often a nonresident alien who puts in place the property division for foreign estate planning purposes. In many instances, one or more members of the younger generation move to the United States ...

Last year, the UK Government announced increases in fees for immigration and nationality applications as well as priority processing services which took effect from 4 October 2023. As mentioned in our previous article, these increases are substantial and likely to have a significant financial impact for applicants and their sponsors. In addition, the UK Government are increasing the Immigration Health Surcharge shortly on 6 February 2024 ...

Before delving into the topic, let?s begin with a definition. Official marks are statutory instruments specific to Canadian practice. They are not trademarks per se, but are treated similarly, because they are adopted and used by a limited group of organizations including universities, Canadian public authorities and Her Majesty?s Forces.1 In this article, we will be focusing on Canadian public authorities ...

Since 2010, the Danish toy giant Lego has had a registered design right in the EU to the toy brick, commonly referred to as «the Lego brick»: Photo reference: View More