November 22, 2021 By: Jonathan Kendrick and Manuel Fishman In the coming weeks, the City of San Francisco’s Department of Environment is expected to submit a new Climate Action Plan for Mayor London Breed’s approval. The Climate Action Plan will provide a roadmap for the City of San Francisco (the “City”) to pursue ambitious new climate action goals that were added to the City’s Environment Code in late July 2021 (the “Climate Goals”) ...
Key Points The California Department of Justice (DOJ) is preparing for increased enforcement of state housing laws, primarily focusing on local governments. The Housing Strike Force announcement is part of an ongoing trend of the state increasing enforcement of state housing laws ...
The dispute relates to MV «Cheshire» incident in 2017, where a cargo of 42,000 metric tons of fertiliser was subject to a major decomposition incident off Gran Canaria, during a voyage from Norway to Thailand. The fertiliser was completely damaged and the vessel was declared a total loss. The cargo owners held the ship owners jointly liable for the cargo damage. Bibby Transport Ltd and a number of H&M insurers held the fertiliser producer liable for the damaged vessel ...
On Friday, November 12, 2021, in BST Holdings, L.L.C., et. al. vs. Occupational Health and Safety Administration, et. al., Case: 21-60845, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals granted the plaintiffs’ motion to stay implementation of OSHA’s November 5, 2021 Emergency Temporary Standard (the “ETS”) requiring employees of covered employers to undergo COVID-19 vaccination or take weekly COVID-19 tests and wear a mask ...
The Ministry of Interior issued a new Prakas No. 2644 PK dated 19 October 2021 on the Establishment and Management of Mandatory and Voluntary Taskforces for Fire Prevention and Firefighting (“Prakas 2644”) ...
Apple Inc. v. Qualcomm Inc., Appeal Nos. 2020-1683, -1763, -1764, 1827 (Fed. Cir. Nov. 10, 2021) Our Case of the Week reinforces a developing body of law concerning standing to appeal from an adverse PTAB decision in an IPR. This is the second such decision arising from a global settlement between Apple and Qualcomm this year. We wrote about the first case, in April this year, here ...
As it draws to a close, COP26 has seen world leaders aim to reach a consensus on actions to keep global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and the adoption of electrical vehicles (EV) has been cited as a critical step in achieving that aim. According to data from the Scottish Greenhouse Gas Statistics published by the Scottish Government, the transport sector is the largest emitter of greenhouse gases in Scotland, accounting for around 30% of all emissions ...
In the recent case of Shanghai Shipyard Co. Ltd. V. Reignwood International Investment (Group) Company Limited [2021] EWCA Civ 1147 the Court of Appeal (COA) unanimously overturned the first instance decision and found a parent company guarantee to be a guarantee “on demand”. Despite arbitration proceedings having commenced under the underlying contract, the COA found the guarantor liable to pay $170 million under the guarantee ...
Circular Letter No. CL-2021-080, issued on 18 October 2021 by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (“BSP”), disseminates to all BSP-Supervised Financial Institutions (“BSFI”) the Anti-Money Laundering Council’s (“AMLC”) Guidelines on Digitization of Customer Records (“DIGICUR”) adopted via the AMLC Regulatory Issuance (“ARI”) A, B, and C, No. 2, Series of 2018 ...
In this update, we consider the draft Commercial Rent (Coronavirus) Bill published yesterday and in particular the proposed binding arbitration scheme for resolution of rent arrears under business tenancies. As discussed in our update yesterday, the Government has now published draft legislation which is intended to resolve payment of the estimated £7.5bn rent arrears still due across the real estate sector ...
In Lloyd v Google, the Supreme Court denied claims for mere 'loss of control' and ruled against mass class actions for data claims. Here, Philip Tansley and Matthew MacLachlan consider the court's reasoning and the broader implications for such claims. Case In its landmark judgment today, the Supreme Court unanimously held that a representative class action brought on behalf of approximately 4 ...
In Kabab-Ji SAL v Kout Food Group, the UK Supreme Court recently considered the question of which system of law the English courts must apply to decide whether there is an enforceable arbitration agreement. This case illustrates the different approaches taken in determining questions of applicable law and the consequences this can have for both annulment and enforcement proceedings in different countries ...
Two new categories of tax-exempt bonds were created by the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (H.R. 3684) (the Act) adopted by the House on Nov. 6, 2021: “Qualified Broadband Projects” and “Carbon Dioxide Capture Facilities ...
The HSE has prosecuted a contractor after it identified multiple health and safety issues during a COVID-19 ‘spot check’ at a site in Manchester. This is the first prosecution to arise from the HSE’s Spot Check programme. Background Throughout the pandemic, HSE inspectors performed a number of proactive COVID-19 spot checks (reportedly over 316,000) at construction sites across the UK ...
(Update following the Scottish Government announcement on 8 October 2021) As discussed in our previous article, the Scottish Government is to provide powers for local authorities to address concerns surrounding the unregulated short-term let market. The Scottish Government proposes to do so by way of the Civic Government (Scotland) Act 1982 (Licensing of Short-term Lets) Order 2021 ...
Facts This month, the Inner House (Scottish appeal court) handed down judgment in Van Oord UK Ltd v Dragados UK Ltd, an appeal from the commercial court concerning the interpretation of an NEC3 contract for the dredging of Nigg Bay, part of the Aberdeen Harbour Expansion Project. Dragados Ltd, the main contractor (and Defender and Respondent) was employed by Aberdeen Harbour Board and subcontracted all dredging works to Van Oord Ltd, the Pursuer/Reclaimer ...
Earlier this year I wrote about a court challenge being made by the rewilding charity Trees for Life against NatureScot, challenging the issue of licences to kill beavers. This followed the release of information by NatureScot reporting that, during 2019, 87 beavers were killed and 15 were live trapped under licences that it had issued to farmers and landowners ...
Increased public awareness of data protection regulations has sparked a rise in claims for damages associated with distress caused by data breaches. Many claims are made in response to serious breaches that have caused financial loss or significant distress, however organisations are increasingly receiving significant financial claims for relatively minor breaches ...
If you have ever wondered why property prices in Edinburgh are so high then it is worth considering the relationship between the property market and planning policy. Like most commodities, the prices we pay for properties are heavily influenced by supply and demand. The number of new houses that developers are allowed to build is set by councils using a complicated methodology ...
The FCA has updated its guidance on remote and hybrid working – firms (and applicants) need to ensure they are up to speed with the revisions. On 11 October 2021, the FCA published an update on its guidance to firms (and applicants) on remote and hybrid working models ...
