On 10 January 2015, new EU rules on jurisdiction and enforcement of judgments in civil and commercial matters came into effect as a result of the Brussels Regulation (recast) (Regulation (EU) 1215/2012) (the recast Regulation). Although the recast Regulation introduces several important changes to the Brussels regime, this article considers the controversial arbitration exclusion to that regime and looks at the likely impact for commercial parties ...
In recent remarks to a compliance conference for the pharmaceutical industry, the SEC’s Director of Enforcement, Andrew Ceresney, addressed FCPA issues that commonly arise in the industry. According to Ceresney, the SEC is continuing to focus on pharmaceutical companies because their operations typically pose a high risk for FCPA violations ...
Understanding the Texas Attorney General’s efforts on enforcement of healthcare fraud and abuse matters often is challenging. Recent activities, however, give physicians and other providers insight into the agency’s priorities ...
Don Stuart, a partner in Waller’s Tax Practice Group and current Chair of the Tax and Finance Practice Group of the American Health Lawyers Association (AHLA), and Kim Looney, partner in the firm’s Healthcare Compliance and Operations group, are authors on two chapters in the AHLA’s new publication The ACO Handbook: A Guide to Accountable Care Organizations, Second Edition ...
On March 10, 2015, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) Innovation Center released its newest model in alternative care delivery: the Next Generation ACO Model. This new version of accountable care organization (ACO) builds upon the experiences from the Pioneer ACO Model and the Medicare Shared Savings Program (MSSP) to set more predictable financial targets, enable providers and beneficiaries to better coordinate care, and provide overall high quality care ...
In an opinion that will certainly cause Texas hospitals, physicians, nursing home operators and other healthcare providers to consider whether they should insert standard arbitration clauses into their pre-treatment agreements, the Texas Supreme Court held last week that the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”) preempts the more stringent arbitration requirements set forth in the Texas Medical Liability Act (“TMLA”).The Fredericksburg Care Co., L.P. v. Juanita Perez et al, No. 13-0573, 2015 Tex ...
On 3 March 2015 IVASS published Regulation No.8 (the “Regulation”) on the simplification of procedures and requirements in the relationship between insurance companies, intermediaries and clients, implementing section 22, paragraph 15 bis, of Law Decree of 18 October 2012,No. 179, converted into Law No. 221 dated 17 December 2012 ...
Target, Home Depot, Sony, Anthem. All of these companies have been victims of very public cybersecurity breaches. Given what we know about those breaches, how can any other company know that it is safe from a cyber attack? No firewall appears to be unbreachable and no security system impenetrable. No company is big or small or traditional enough to avoid such exposure, as long as the business receives or transmits data or uses computer networks ...
On February 26, 2015, the Supreme Court of Canada dismissed Dr. Gilbert Liu's application for leave to appeal a Court of Appeal decision concerning the time limit for handling complaints from users of health institutions ...
Download a free copy of the Philippine section of Getting the Deal Through: Life Sciences 2015, which was contributed by SyCipLaw partners Rose Marie M. King-Dominguez and Carlos Roberto Z. Lopez with senior associate John Paul V. de Leon and associate Mark Xavier D. Oyales.This chapter is reproduced with permission from Law Business Research Ltd ...
The Texas Supreme Court has looked to the drilling contract between Transocean and BP to limit BP’s “additional insured” coverage for liability arising out of the Deepwater Horizon disaster ...
On January 27, the British Columbia Court of Appeal dismissed the appeal in Bea v. The Owners Strata Plan, LMS 2138, 2015 BCCA 31, upholding the lower court’s decision finding the Plaintiff and her husband in contempt of Court and granting the extraordinary relief that the Plaintiff’s strata unit (the “Unit”) be seized and sold by the respondent (the “Owners”) ...
In recent years, the Department of Justice, the FDA and the FBI have stepped up enforcement of the Food Drug and Cosmetic Act’s (FDCA) drug importation, distribution and misbranding requirements particularly with respect to high-priced and difficult-to-obtain drugs used in cancer treatment. Recently, these efforts suffered an unexpected setback in the Sixth Circuit following the United States’ decision to abandon its prosecution against an East Tennessee Oncologist and his wife ...
The top level domain .УКР was delegated to Ukraine by the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) on 28 February 2013. The Ukrainian Network Information Center (UANIC) became administrator and manager of .УКР domain. Registration in the .УКР domain opened on 22 August 2013. Thus, this domain became the fourth Cyrillic domain of top level after the Russian .P$, the Serbian .CPS and the Kazakh .КАЗ ...
On 8 April 2014, the Financial Services Authority (OJK) issued Regulation No. 2/POJK05/2014 of 2014 on Good Corporate Governance for Insurance Companies (Regulation 2). Loss and life insurance companies, as well as reinsurance companies must have at least 3 directors and 3 commissioners. Meanwhile, insurance and reinsurance brokerage firms are required to have 2 directors and 2 commissioners if their annual income exceeds IDR 10 billion ...
The Insurance Bill (Insurance Bill) was passed by the House of Representatives on 23 September 2014. The Insurance Bill repeals and replaces the current Law No. 2 of 1992 on The Insurance Business. In addition to the current insurance businesses such as general insurance, life insurance, and reinsurance businesses, the Insurance Bill regulates Sharia insurance. Under the Insurance Bill: 1 ...
On December 1, 2014, the Department of Health and Human Services Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (“CMS”) issued a proposed rule that included numerous changes for accountable care organizations (“ACOs”) participating in the Medicare Shared Savings Program (“MSSP”) in light of the experience CMS gained during the first two years of the program ...
On November 4, 2014, voters in Denton made that city the first in Texas to ban hydraulic fracturing within city limits. Within a day, lawsuits were filed by the Texas General Land Office and the Texas Oil and Gas Association, and state lawmakers and regulators voiced strong opposition to the ballot measure ...
In an opinion published on November 11, 2014, Connecticut joined a growing number of jurisdictions that have found that state law causes of action based on a health care provider’s unauthorized disclosure of a patient’s medical records are not preempted by the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (“HIPAA”) ...
On January 1, 2015, the jurisdictional threshold of the Small Claims Court will be raised from $7,000 to $15,000. This constitutes a first step toward the modernization of civil procedure, explained the Minister of Justice, which will be followed by the coming into force of the new Code of Civil Procedure in January 2016.On February 28, 2014, the National Assembly passed Bill no ...
The Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals has held that a contractor’s breach of an express warranty to repair does not constitute an “assumption of liability in a contract or agreement” for purposes of the “contractual liability” exclusion found in most general liability policies ...
Last week, Waller launched an Ebola legal resource website. Since then, we have received positive feedback from our clients, follow-up questions and suggestions for additional topics we should cover. As the needs of our clients continue to evolve, we are updating the site regularly ...
How do we discipline employees that refuse to work due to the Ebola virus? What patient information is protected during an outbreak? How should we communicate with our employees about Ebola? Has OSHA issued new guidelines on Ebola for healthcare providers? These are just a few of the questions we are hearing from our clients ...
