The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, in Massachusetts Bay Insurance Company v. Christian Funeral Directors, Inc., No. 18-5267 (6th Cir. Dec. 26, 2018), recently upheld a district court’s declination of jurisdiction over an insurer’s declaratory judgment action on coverage ...
Why is April 1, 2019 Important? April 1, 2019 is the first day U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) may accept H-1B specialty worker petitions for the next fiscal year, which begins October 1, 2019 ...
Minority shareholders – often forced to silently accept the rule of the majority – should be given a voice. In May last year, Jerry Low, a minority investor in Asiatic Group (Holdings), wrote an open letter to the management highlighting concerns regarding the SGX-listed company’s poor performance, juxtaposing this against the high remuneration enjoyed by its senior management team ...
The next 60-day regular session of the West Virginia Legislature commences on Wednesday, January 9, 2019. While much of the nation seemed transfixed by the recent electoral changes, the most significant political change in the West Virginia Legislature actually preceded the 2018 general election. Indeed, the House of Delegates elected a new Speaker, Roger Hanshaw (R-Clay), in August 2018 to replace Tim Armstead who resigned to accept an appointment to the Supreme Court of Appeals ...
Law No. 21,121 (the “Law”), which came into force on November 20, 2018, amends the Criminal Code, Law No. 20,393 on Criminal Liability of Legal Entities, and Law No. 19,913 on Money Laundering, in connection with various criminal conducts relating to corruption and conflicts of interest. The following is a summary of the main aspects of the Law: 1.Domestic Passive and Active Bribery ...
Background The UK invoked the exit procedure under Article 50 of the Treaty on European Union in March 2017. Unless the UK's decision is withdrawn or the period is extended, this will become effective in a little over 80 days ...
As one of the final acts of its 99th Legislative Session, the Michigan Legislature passed amendments to the Medical Marihuana Facilities Licensing Act (MMFLA), as well as changes to the Marihuana Tracking Act. These amendments were signed by outgoing Governor Rick Snyder on December 28, 2018, with the MMFLA amendments effective January 1. The Tracking Act amendments took effect immediately ...
On the last day of the legislative session, the Michigan Legislature passed House Bills 6330, 6331, and 6380 to create the Industrial Hemp Research and Development Act (IHRDA). If signed by the Governor, IHRDA will require the registration of industrial hemp growers and processors as a prerequisite to grow or sell industrial hemp. Oversight authority is given to the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) ...
In the latest development in an eventful year, Federal Decree-Law 24 of 2018 introduces amendments to the Federal Penal Code, originally enacted as Federal Law 3 of 1987. The amendments are designed to make the Penal Code consistent with other recent federal legislation and current federal enforcement policies. Only ten provisions of the statute have been affected, out of the more than 400 total articles contained in the statute ...
“Arbitration agreement” is defined under section 19 of the Arbitration Ordinance (Cap 609) as an agreement by the parties to submit to arbitration all or certain disputes which have arisen or which may arise between them in respect of a defined legal relationship, whether contractual or not. Disputes submitted to arbitration may involve contractual claims and non-contractual claims, such as tortious claims ...
Capturing lightning in a bottle: As fast-growing San Francisco concludes its largest rezoning in 10 years, will its novel new urban-planning guidelines for South of Market represent what the city's downtown needs in a fast-moving business, cultural and economic environment? In early December 2018, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors gave final approval of the "Central SOMA Plan," (the Plan) resulting in the largest rezoning of the commercial heart of the city since the renowned Downt
"What are the 'waters of the United States'? As it turns out, defining that statutory phrase—a central component of the Clean Water Act—is a contentious and difficult task." This observation, recently made by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, understates the difficulty in answering what should otherwise be an anodyne question: Does my project require a Clean Water Act permit? At this moment, answers to this question may be far from certain ...
Last week, State Senator Scott Weiner (D-San Francisco) announced new legislation intended to immediately encourage more residential construction in areas near public transit and job centers. Entitled the More Housing, Opportunity, Mobility, Equity and Stability (More HOMES) Act, SB 50 is essentially version 2.0 of SB 827, a similar housing bill proposed by Senator Weiner that failed in committee earlier this year ...
Michigan voters approved Proposal 1 and made Michigan the twelfth U.S. jurisdiction to legalize recreational marijuana. The Michigan Regulation and Taxation of Marihuana Act (MRTMA) went into effect December 6. What has been lost in all the smoke from the past several weeks is how MRTMA impacts the regulation of industrial hemp ...
Under the Affordable Care Act (“ACA”), large employers (generally those with 50 or more full-time employees or full-time equivalents) must report annually to the IRS information about the health coverage offered to their full-time employees during the prior year using IRS Form 1095-C. The IRS uses the forms to assess whether an employer "shared responsibility" penalty applies. Employers also must provide copies of the forms to their full-time employees ...
Often, board of education members believe what happens in executive session, stays in executive session. However, you and your board’s members, both new and old, are well-served to remember that many issues, including those involving personnel, discussed in executive session are communications that may be subject to discovery in a deposition or other legal proceeding by an affected employee ...
On November 20, 2018, the IRS Criminal Investigation (CI) unit issued a memorandum to IRS Division Commissioners on voluntary disclosure practice following the end of the Offshore Voluntary Disclosure Program (OVDP). How Did We Get Here? For the last 7 years, the IRS maintained a consistent, robust program for taxpayers with exposure to potential criminal liability or substantial civil penalties due to a willful failure to report foreign financial assets ...
The U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments on December 4, 2018, inHelsinn Healthcare SA v. Teva Pharmaceuticals USA Inc.as to whether the “on-sale” bar under the America Invents Act (“AIA”) renders an inventor’s private sale to a third party as prior art for purposes of determining patentability. 35 U.S.C ...
The UAE federal government has recently issued a raft of important legislation. The raft addresses and updates areas of law that are key to businesses in the jurisdiction. Amongst this legislation is Federal Decree-Law 14 of 2018 concerning the central bank and the organisation of financial institutions and activities (the New Banking Law) ...
The SEC’s Division of Enforcement recently issued itsannual reportdetailing enforcement activities, statistics, and changes made in the past fiscal year (“FY 2018”). The report discusses several significant developments in the SEC enforcement landscape, including the creation of new task forces, first-of-their kind enforcement actions, and the impact of the Supreme Court’s decision inKokesh v. SEC, 137 S. Ct. 1635 (2017) ...
The large number of vague terms as well as provisions requiring interpretation in the GDPR create significant application issues for companies. However, it becomes even more of a challenge if companies not established in the EU want to review whether the GDPR is applicable to them. Generally speaking, the European legislator set themselves the goal of creating the most extensive territorial scope of the GDPR possible ...
New State Minimum Wage Effective January 1, 2019, the State minimum wage increases to $12.00 per hour for employers with 26 or more employees, and $11.50 per hour for employers with 25 or fewer employees. New Local Minimum Wages Additionally, several California cities and counties have passed their own minimum wage ordinances with a more aggressive schedule of minimum wage increases ...
Educational institutions (“recipient” or “recipient institutions”) have been waiting for the Department of Education to issue formal Title IX regulations after it issued interim guidance in September 2017. This interim guidance rescinded previous Obama-era guidance that called for strict enforcement of Title IX and indicated that new formal guidance would be forthcoming ...
View a PDF of the November 2018 Edition of the Haynes and Boone Media, Entertainment and First Amendment Newsletter. Must Websites Comply With the ADA? Website ADA compliance litigation is all the rage, manifesting itself as an epidemic of “website drive-by lawsuits.” Beyond the litigation controversy, the issue is whether websites must be accessible to the visually-impaired via screen reader software to comply with the ADA. Circuit Courts are split ...
