In X v Jemmy Chien, HCCT 31/2019 the Plaintiff applied to set aside an arbitration award on the ground that there was no valid arbitration agreement between the Plaintiff and Defendant. The Plaintiff’s case was that the Defendant was not the true party to the Service Agreement containing the arbitration agreement, as he had signed it as agent for another (Chen) who was the principal and true party to the Service Agreement ...
West Kowloon Cultural District Authority v AIG Insurance Hong Kong Limited [2020] HKCFI 569, concerned a bond obtained by the contractor, Hsin Chong Construction Company Limited (Hsin Chong), from the Defendant, AIG Insurance Hong Kong Ltd (AIG), in favour of the Plaintiff, West Kowloon Cultural District Authority (West Kowloon), as required under a construction contract ...
Yesterday, in Romag Fasteners, Inc. v. Fossil, Inc., the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that a plaintiff in a trademark infringement suit is not required to show that the infringing defendant acted “willfully” to avail itself of the Lanham Act’s disgorgement remedy ...
Another week brings another round of COVID-19-related lawsuits. We are identifying some early trends and provide a synopsis of the more relevant lawsuits below. Will nursing homes be overwhelmed by wrongful death lawsuits? The daughter of a woman suspected to have died from COVID-19 has filed a wrongful death suit against the company who owns the Life Care Center of Kirkland where her mother was a resident ...
In light of President Ramaphosa’s announcement of a phased approach to the end of lockdown, many businesses will still be required to remain closed (or partially closed) after 30 April 2020. With this in mind, many employers will still require assistance from the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Temporary Relief Scheme (“C19TERS”) ...
Key Points A discharge of pollutants to groundwater may require a permit under the Clean Water Act. The new “functional equivalent of a direct discharge” test will be difficult to apply. It will be a long and arduous process to reach uniformity as agencies, courts, and the regulated community try to figure out how to proceed on a case-by-case basis. On April 23, 2020, the Supreme Court published its much-awaited opinion in County of Maui v ...
The COVID-19 pandemic with contact restrictions and travel bans also poses challenges for civil proceedings. In the future, the functionality in pandemic times could be the material factor for the choice between state courts and arbitral courts because flexibility and options for responding to the COVID-19 pandemic are varying. State court proceedings Despite the COVID-19 restrictions, court deadlines must still be met ...
The Government postponed the filing due dates for the tax and other measures were taken in order to help the tourism sector. Due to the crisis generated by the COVID-19, the Government established through Decree 557 of 2020, that companies that provide international air passenger transport services, will have until October 30, 2020, to submit and pay the National Tourism Tax, corresponding to the first and second quarter of 2020 ...
On April 11, 2020 the Colombian Government established protection guidelines applicable to all personnel working on on-going construction projects during the health emergency, applicable to the activities of the project itself, as well as to the supply chain and materials, in order to prevent, reduce exposure and mitigate the risk of infection by coronavirus COVID-19 ...
Decree No. 553 establishes a tax measure for taxpayers subject to the presumptive income regime On April 18, 2020, Decree No. 553 was published, which, in addition to Decree No. 420 , extends the deadline for taxpayers subject to the presumptive income tax system to exercise the option to pay taxes on income obtained during 2019, on the basis of effective income determined under full accounting. The deadline is extended until 31 July 2020 ...
According to section 3(1) of the Prevention and Control of Disease (Prohibition on Group Gathering) Regulation (Regulation) (Cap.599G), no group gathering of more than four persons may take place in any public place during a specified period, unless it falls within one of the exceptions set out in Schedule 1 to the Regulation. The specified period will last until 7 May 2020, but may be further extended depending on the rapid changes in the public health situation ...
Panama, April 6, 2020. On Tuesday March 24th, 2020, the Executive Decree 251 of the same date was published in Official Gazette 28987-A which adopts tax measures to relief the economic effects of the National State of Emergency ...
Requirements have been made more flexible so that taxpayers can deduct expenses for losses By means of Supreme Decree No. 86-2020-EF, published today, the requirements for the deduction of expenses due to loss of stocks have been made more flexible ...
In response to the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government has passed several new laws to provide trillions of dollars of funding to affected businesses and individuals. But this also means there are new compliance considerations for entities receiving federal funds, especially as it relates to the False Claims Act’s “false certification” theory of liability ...
On Tuesday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit departed from opinions issued by the Fourth and Ninth Circuits in ruling that violations of the FDCPA begin to run when the violation occurs. In Rotkiske v. Klemm, et al., plaintiff Rotkiske sued a law firm that, in 2009, had obtained a default judgment against him. The law firm moved to dismiss the FDCPA claim, alleging it was untimely ...
On July 4, 2017, amendments to the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act (“WVCCPA”) took effect. One of those amendments requires a potential plaintiff to give a creditor or collector notice of alleged violations under the statute before the potential plaintiff can file a lawsuit against them. They then have 20 days to make an offer to cure the alleged violations, and the potential plaintiff has 20 days thereafter to decide whether to accept it ...
The 2015 amendments to the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act (‘WVCCPA”) are not retroactive, according to a federal court in West Virginia. In O’Dell v. USAA Federal Savvngs Bank aka USAA, the court rejected a bank’s argument that the WVCCPA statute in effect at the time of trial applies. The court determined the WVCCPA amendments could not be applied to a scenario that predated their effectiveness ...
Earlier this month, a West Virginia federal court ruled a disclosure in a debt collection letter regarding potential tax implications for settling a debt did not violate the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act (“FDCPA”) or the West Virginia Consumer Credit and Protection Act (“WVCCPA”). In Garrettson v. Sentry Credit, Inc. et al., a debt collector sent a collection letter to the plaintiff debtor, offering to settle the debt for less than the amount due ...
The SAT, Superintendecy of Tax Administration, has recently published the new procedure to request payment plans (agreements), via email. The procedure goes as follow: 1. Taxpayer should send an email to the email address correspondent to his fiscal address and region: Central Region: [email protected] Occidental Region: [email protected] Northeast Region: [email protected] South Region: [email protected] ...
Key Points: SF Major extends commercial eviction moratorium through May 17, 2020. Moratorium applies only to commercial tenants registered to do business in San Francisco meeting certain requirements. Moratorium applies to all attempts to recover possession due to non-payment. Moratorium covers security deposits ...
The Crypto Assets Regulatory Working Group (“CAR WG”) of the Intergovernmental Fintech Working Group (“IFWG”) has released its long-anticipated position paper on crypto assets. The position paper proposes that a clear regulatory policy for crypto assets be adopted in South Africa. However, it is still recommend that crypto assets not be regarded as legal tender or public money ...
