The Trump Administration has signaled its intent to roll back the scope of federal jurisdiction under the Clean Water Act in an Executive Order issued on February 28. The Executive Order directs U.S. EPA and the Corps of Engineers to consider rescinding or revising the "Clean Water Rule," which defines when the Clean Water Act applies to wetlands, ponds, intermittent streams, and other water bodies that have a "significant nexus" to "navigable waters ...
In the context of a dispute between a Turkish agent and a Belgian principal, the Commercial Court of Ghent (Belgium) referred a request to the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) concerning the legal protection of a Turkish agent under Belgian/EU law. The agent and principal had expressly agreed that their agency agreement was subject to Belgian law ...
On February 21, 2017 the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case San Luis and Delta-Mendota Water Authority v. Haugrud found that water releases under California Fish and Game Code Section 5937 to keep fish in "good condition" creates an exception to the requirement to obtain a water right permit change from the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB). The Haugrud case addresses the Bureau of Reclamation (BOR) 2013 release of Trinity River water from the Lewiston Dam ...
'Close of business' is a term many people use in their day to day working life without much thought. But what does it actually mean and should the term be used in contractual documentation? Agreeing to get something done by 'close of business' is a phrase often used when flexibility is required as to the time a task will be completed. It makes it clear the task will be done that day, but not by a particular time ...
In a decision rendered on December 1, 2016, the Superior Court of Québec had to rule on a situation which, until that time, was completely novel, and to determine whether lawyers can act in a court action against former employees of a client whom they still have to work with in connection with another related proceeding. The Court declared that the lawyers were disqualified ...
The superintending and reforming power of the Superior Court of Québec over the decisions of the Court of Québec is indisputable. It is furthermore confirmed by article 34 of the Code of Civil Procedure1, which grants to the Superior Court powers to judicially review decisions made by the Québec courts, with the exception of the Court of Appeal ...
In its recent judgment of 21 December 2016, the Tournai Commercial Court (‘Court’) declared it did not have jurisdiction to deal with a dispute concerning the termination of an exclusive distributorship that the parties had agreed to submit to arbitration. This judgment was based on the new definition of arbitrability in the Belgian Judicial Code, which entered into force in 2013, and marks a new era for the arbitrability of Belgian distributorship law disputes ...
Disclosure is an essential part of litigation and arbitration under English law as it usually provides both parties with access to the contemporaneous documents which support or adversely affect a party’s case. The exponential growth in recent years of the number of electronic documents created during the course of a project has increased the size and, as a result, the cost of the disclosure exercise ...
It is becoming increasingly common to see allegations of misrepresentation made in shipbuilding and offshore construction disputes ...
accounts throughout Europe with one single order. EU Regulation 655/2014 of 15 May 2014 establishing a European Account Preservation Order procedure to facilitate cross-border debt recovery in civil and commercial matters (‘EAPO Regulation’) came into force on 17 July 2014 and applies from 18 January 2017 ...
November 2016: In the recent Singapore High Court decision of The Enterprise Fund II Ltd v JongHee Sen [2016] SGHC 259, Judicial Commissioner Hoo Sheau Peng (the "Judge") considered whether “withoutprejudice” privilege ("WP Privilege")applied to certain communications between the parties and, consequently,whether those communications could be received into evidence ...
On December 22, 2016, in Augustus v. ABM Security Services, Inc., Case No. S224853, the California Supreme Court issued a split decision on rest periods. In a decision in which four justices concurred, and two concurred and dissented, in part, the Court held that employers “must relieve their employees of all duties and relinquish any control over how employees spend their break time ...
A federal appeals court has rejected two challenges to the environmental review of the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority's (Metro's) planned subway expansion in Downtown Los Angeles. The "Regional Connector" project, approved in 2012, will create a three-station, underground link through Downtown that will allow passengers to travel from points on the Metro Gold Line to the Blue and Expo lines without having to transfer trains ...
For about two years now, most renewable energy projects, particularly wind farm projects, have been financed using a so-called “hybrid” model, i.e. a combination of medium-term bank debt and long-term financing or private placements. The term “hybrid” is derived from the vocabulary of the Public-Private Partnerships industry, particularly projects involving an operational and maintenance component as part of a long-term concession ...
The November 2016 issue of the Asian Legal Business (ALB) includes a regional update article entitled “Evidentiary Issues in Arbitration”, contributed by SyCipLaw Partner Ramon G. Songco and Associate Arvin Kristopher A. Razon. The article enumerated and discussed the laws that aimed to address concerns in resolving disputes in arbitration, such as how evidence is presented, assessed for relevance and competence, and protected during arbitration proceedings ...
Although neither of the parties objects to solving the dispute in the state court, the Supreme Court of Lithuania sends the parties to arbitration after it discovers a prior written agreement to arbitrate. The issuer of a promissory note (Claimant) requested the state court to declare the promissory note null and void ...
Article 257 of the UAE Penal Code (Federal Law No. 3 of 1987) was recently amended by Federal Law No. 7 of 2016 to introduce the concept of criminal liability for arbitrators, experts, and translators who issue decisions and opinions ‘contrary to the duties of impartiality and honesty’ ...
Much has been written regarding the enforcement of foreign arbitral awards in China, but relatively little consideration is given to the treatment in U.S. courts of awards entered by the China International Economic and Trade Arbitration Commission (CIETAC), or to the enforcement of CIETAC arbitration agreements. In fact, CIETAC arbitral awards are rejected by U.S ...
Arbitral institutions strive to provide the parties they serve with a fair and impartial dispute resolution process that results in an unassailable final award. Since “evident partiality” in the arbitrators is one of the limited means to attack an award, the selection of unbiased arbitrators is fundamental to that goal, and most arbitral institutions have some requirement or guidance on arbitrator disclosures ...
On August 28, 2016, the Israeli District Court of the Central District issued a decision regarding the right of publicity under Israeli Law (In re Fundacio Gala Salvador Dali v. V.S Marketing (Israel 2005) Ltd.). The right of publicity is the right of a person to financially exploit his name, picture or voice ...
The contemporary business world has become fundamentally tied in with the progress of globalisation, and for anyone involved in it, that is no secret. Anybody would be hard pressed to find an industry that can exist and sustain itself in a purely national context, without – at least in some regard – relying on either a piece of legislation or a practice trend that is related to whatever kind of international functioning ...
Acceleration clauses are commonly found in loan agreements that require debtors to make repayment in instalments. A standard acceleration clause provides that if a debtor fails to pay an instalment, the creditor may elect to terminate the loan agreement and demand payment of the full amount owing under the agreement ...
As we explained previously, in April 2016 the Second Appellate District held that California’s Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) creates a separate duty to provide reasonable accommodation to an applicant or employee who is “associated” with a disabled person. On rehearing of the Castro-Ramirez v. Dependable Highway Express, Inc. decision (Case No. B261165, B262524), the Court has retreated from its prior holding ...
Streets named after a country’s heroes and heroines can be a hotly contested and emotive issue, especially in a country such as South Africa, with its colonial and apartheid past. This was illustrated in the recent Constitutional Court case of City of Tshwane Metropolitan Municipality v AfriForum and Another (the “AfriForum case”), which not only dealt with this sensitive topic, but also clarified an important legal issue – whether an interim interdict can be appealed ...
