Key Points: Since Governor Newsom announced a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 outbreak, private Proposition 65 enforcement has increased by about 50%. Effective April 1st, new regulations clarify how manufacturers can satisfy their Proposition 65 warning obligations. These new regulations also clarify when retail sellers assume the burden under Proposition 65 to warn Californians ...
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently issued a burst of COVID-19-related guidance documents to facilitate expanded availability of medical products during the current public health emergency created by COVID-19. FDA-regulated products under these temporary policies include: PPE, diagnostic tests, hand sanitizers, disinfectant devices, remote monitoring devices, ventilators, and electronic thermometers for clinical use ...
A West Virginia federal district court recently addressed a plaintiff’s claims that her reverse mortgage violated at least two statutes and West Virginia common law. The plaintiff was one of two borrowers on that mortgage and sued the mortgage lender and its servicing affiliate. The servicer moved to dismiss. The court granted the motion in part and denied it in part ...
At a news conference on April 20, Governor Wolf announced he is extending his stay-at-home order until May 8, 2020. But in a nod to a construction industry that has been particularly hard-hit by the Governor’s shutdown and stay-at-home orders, Governor Wolf said he also will permit construction (both residential and non-residential construction) to resume throughout the Commonwealth on May 8, 2020 ...
It is difficult to capture in a sentence the impact the COVID-19 pandemic is having on our health, our families, our fears, the operations of businesses of all sizes, the world’s governments, and our future. Not one segment of people or group of businesses has reported the pandemic is not affecting them. It therefore should not come as a surprise that the reverse mortgage industry is feeling the effects of the pandemic ...
Federal appeals court gives effect to mortgage servicer’s disclaimers in monthly statements and letters and holds that homeowner is charged with carefully reading them and a basic level of understanding in what they say ...
On April 17, a bill was introduced in the United States House of Representatives seeking to create the Rent and Mortgage Cancellation Act of 2020. The primary feature of the bill is it would suspend all rent and mortgage payments due during the COVID-19 pandemic, beginning on April 1, 2020 and ending 30 days after the termination of the pandemic by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The tenants and mortgagees would have no responsibility to ever make those payments ...
Amidst the rising number of mortgage loan forbearances due to COVID-19, Ginnie Mae has stepped in to limit the damage to issuers with its PTAP/C19 program. The CARES Act provides borrowers with temporary protections in light of the economic distress caused by COVID-19. The CARES Act, signed into law on March 27, 2020, includes a series of protections for borrowers whose financial security has been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic ...
Modus Operandi for a Tenant who has Become a Hostage of Covid-19 Pandemic The pandemic of Covid-19 disease has turned everybody’s life upside down both professionally and personally ...
A new ordinance n°2020-427 of 15 April 2020 on various provisions regarding deadlines for dealing with the covid-19 epidemic (the “Deadlines Ordinance of 15 April 2020”), presented to the Council of Ministers on 15 April, was published in the Official Journal on 16 April 2020, as it was eagerly awaited by real estate and construction professionals, as well as by the renewable energy sector ...
As aresult of the parliament’s intervention, mutual obligations of parties to lease agreements in shopping centres are deemed to have “expired.” Does that mean that the lease agreements have expired? The parliament has introduced into the Polish legal system aspecial regulation directly intervening in lease relationships in commercial facilities with asales area of over 2,000 m2. It is included in Art ...
The government approved a legislative bill to help mitigate the effects of the coronavirus epidemic on lessees of business premises. The proposal will be discussed at the 44th session of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic, which will be held on 7 April 2020 ...
Like other taxpayers, landlords are currently exposed to various economic pressures. On one hand, they have to cover the expenses related to their property, but on the other hand they often do not receive rent from tenants who have had to restrict their operations because of the government measures against the coronavirus ...
Governmental and GSE responses to the COVID-19 crisis continue at a rapid pace. Just within the last few days, new guidelines have been issued regarding several multifamily and single family residential topics. These new guidelines add to existing COVID-19 related guidelines and restrictions issued by federal and state regulators, other state and local government authorities, GSEs and FHA ...
On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization declared a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) following the spread of SARS-CoV2 (Coronavirus) and the disease it causes, Covid-19.A state of emergency was declared in Portugal by Decree of the President of the Republic 14- A/2020 of 18 March and was renewed by Decree of the President of the Republic 17-A/2020 of 2 April ...
Due to the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic, California has implemented eviction restrictions on all landlords. These restrictions have been issued in several forms, and have changed over the last few weeks. The purpose of this alert is to provide a brief overview of the current statewide rules regarding evictions as applied to senior communities. On March 16, 2020, Governor Gavin Newsom first issued an executive order authorizing local governments to halt evictions, among other things ...
Across the country, construction projects of every nature are impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. The situation and governmental response to the pandemic continue to evolve, and owners must keep abreast of these changes to ensure they manage their construction projects appropriately. There are a litany of issues, legal and practical, that owners need to assess when deciding how to manage ongoing projects and those in the pipeline ...
In passing the $2.2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES), Congress provided much-needed relief to project owners by making it easier to modify construction loans. Under the Act, an owner may qualify for a forbearance arrangement, an interest rate modification, or a repayment plan, among other options, and the modification does not adversely impact the credit of the borrower ...
1. Force Majeure - Meaning. The term ‘force majeure’ translates literally from French assuperior force. It is also generally defined in the Merriam Webster dictionary as ‘an event or effect that cannot be reasonably anticipated or controlled’ ...
This newsletter explains the consequences of the texts adopted by the government on the withdrawal period granted to the non-professional buyer (i), the fulfilment of the conditions precedent provided for in the sale commitment (ii) and the notarial deed of sale (iii). (i) THE WITHDRAWAL PERIOD When the legal withdrawal period of 10 days which the non-professional purchaser has following the signature of a sale commitment (Article L ...
Does the COVID-19 pandemic (or actions taken to counter the spread of COVID-19) constitute Force Majeure and is there any implied remedy (e.g. implied force majeure relief) arising as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic? Under English law, unlike civil law systems, force majeure is neither defined nor automatically applicable to commercial contracts ...
Minister of Public Works and Housing recently issued Instruction No. 02/IN/M/2020 on the Protocol for Preventing the Spread of COVID-19 in Construction Works (“MPW Instruction 02/2020”). This instruction is a follow up to President Joko Widodo's instructions related to COVID-19 prevention efforts and the emergency status in Indonesia due to the COVID-19 pandemic up until 29 May 2020 declared under Head of the National Disaster Management Agency Decree No ...
Mortgage servicers are currently being inundated with requests from borrowers impacted by COVID-19 for forbearance and other types of payment relief. Tracking, making sense of, and then complying with the guidance and requirements that are being issued and then modified – seemingly on a daily basis – by the federal government, the GSEs, and various states is proving to be a challenge for many, especially at a time when resources may already be limited or stretched thin ...
With the recent and rapid spread of COVID-19 in the U.S., government contractors have already started experiencing contract performance delays, which inevitably will have a significant financial impact ...
