On March 31, seven Bay Area counties issued stricter shelter-in-place orders and extended their effectiveness to at least May 3 (collectively, the “Orders”). As of the morning of April 2, Napa County noted that it will be joining the other Bay Area counties. Solano County extended the effectiveness of its order, but declined to tighten restrictions ...
“With our nation’s health care providers on the front lines in the fight against COVID-19, dollars and cents shouldn’t be adding to their worries.” - CMS Administrator Seema Verma. During this Public Health Emergency, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (“CMS”) has expanded its accelerated and advanced payment program (“Program”) to all Medicare-enrolled providers and suppliers (“Providers”) ...
As the White House and state and local governments begin to assess business re-opening measures in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, employers are evaluating how to transition employees back to the physical workplace. As a threshold matter, employers must assess applicable state and local governmental orders for restrictions, timing, and guidelines regarding business re-opening, as the lifting of shelter-in-place orders and re-opening measures will vary by region and industry ...
On Friday, March 27, 2020, the CARES ACT was signed into law. The Cares Act includes provisions for changing deadlines for patents, trademarks, and copyrights. For patents and trademarks, the Act permits the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and the Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office to change the deadlines imposed by Title 35 of the United States Code, the Trademark Act, Section 18 of the Leahy-Smith America Invents Act ...
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 ...
In addition to proceeds from the U.S. Small Business Administration’s (“SBA”) Payment Protection Program and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ (“CMS”) Accelerated and Advance Payment Program, the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (“HHS”) recently deposited $80 billion into health care providers’ bank accounts as part of its Provider Relief Fund ...
Compliance with environmental regulations is challenging under the best of circumstances, but the COVID-19 crisis and measures taken in response add a new layer of complexity. The lack of a consistent message from elected officials and health officers, on the one hand, and from federal and state environmental regulators, on the other, creates a quandary for the business community ...
On Monday, April 6, 2020, in an Emergency Meeting to address issues arising from the COVID-19 Crisis, the Judicial Council enacted emergency rules that protect tenants and borrowers by temporarily preventing California courts from processing unlawful detainer and judicial foreclosure actions, with limited exceptions. The emergency rules apply to both residential and commercial tenants and borrowers, and govern all California State Courts ...
The stock market has had record declines and many businesses are shuttered, at least temporarily. Long-term prospects may still be positive but in the near-term the value of many entities has reduced. Are there transactions that privately-held businesses and their owners could implement that would allow them to achieve long-term goals that could benefit the business, the owner, and owner’s family? We believe that there are ...
If there is anything to be learned from the FAA’s distribution of the $10 billion in funds allocated to airports in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, it is that allocating billions of dollars in just a few weeks is more difficult than it sounds. On March 27, 2020, the CARES Act was signed into law as Public Law No. 116-136 ...
Now is the time to prepare for when non-essential businesses will be allowed to re-open after the various state and local COVID-19 shutdown orders are lifted. We do not know when that date will be or how the orders will be lifted, but planning now can make that phase go smoother for building owners and managers as well as tenants in those buildings. One thing we can be certain of is that the use and operation of buildings will not be “back to normal” for a while ...
Earlier this week, the US Department of Labor (DOL) added to their long list of Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) to the Families First Coronavirus Response Act or FFCRA. These latest additions raises the total of FAQs from an already robust 79 to a staggering 88. Combined with the DOL’s first FFCRA enforcement action in Arizona, this is the latest warning for employers to get fully prepared ...
In early April as the statewide vaccination rate began to rise and major population centers across California began to see significant decreases in positive COVID cases and hospitalization rates, Governor Gavin Newsom announced that the State plans to reopen in full on June 15, 2021. As of the date of this Alert, California has one of the lowest number of COVID cases per 100,000 people and the fourth lowest number of COVID hospitalizations in the United States ...
On July 23, 2020, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey, Superintendent of Public Instruction Kathy Hoffman and Arizona Department of Health Services Director, Dr. Cara Christ held a news conference to discuss certain executive orders of the Governor regarding re-opening of Arizona businesses and public district and charter schools in Arizona ...
On July 17, San Francisco Mayor London Breed announced that due to a rapid rise in new COVID-19 cases in the last month, and because San Francisco was listed on the State’s County Monitoring List (the “Monitoring List”) for three consecutive days, San Francisco was halting all reopening procedures indefinitely beginning on Monday, July 20 ...
As California continues to move through Stage 2 of its Resilience Roadmap, “Lower-risk workplaces,” where retail (curbside and delivery only), related logistics and manufacturing, office workplaces, limited personal services, outdoor museums, childcare, and essential businesses can now open with modifications, California employers should continue to be vigilant in assessing and complying with up to date health and safety guidance from the Occupational Safety and Health Admini
In the recently-passed Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2021 (the “Act”), Congress provided much-needed cover for landlords that enter into forbearance agreements with their tenants during the COVID-19 pandemic by protecting landlords from exposure to preference litigation arising out of the deferred rent payments if the tenant were to later file bankruptcy ...
September 16, 2021 By: John Epperson The COVID-19 pandemic will likely to be a concern and challenge for employers for longer than anyone had hoped or anticipated. As businesses adjust to what seems to be a “new normal” it is worth a reminder that COVID-19 infection can be a recordable illness on an employer’s Occupational Safety & Health Administration (“OSHA”) 300 Injury and Illness Log. OSHA’s recording criteria under 29 CFR 1904 ...
U.S. Trademark laws are based on the premise that rights in a trademark exist so long as the mark is continuously used in interstate commerce. Once you cease use of the mark without an intention of resuming such use, the mark may be subject to cancellation or abandonment by a third party ...
Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, local municipalities and state governments throughout the country have implemented stay-at-home orders and mandated closures of businesses and restaurants to lower the spread of the disease. California, after having permitted much of the state to reopen businesses, has seen a recent spike in COVID-19 cases and on July 13th implemented a new statewide order to curb the increase, reimposing certain business closures ...
On May 14, 2020, San Francisco Mayor London Breed issued a second extension of the City’s commercial eviction moratorium and rent deferral program for small businesses with less than $25 Million in 2019 gross receipts. The extension grants rent relief for rent due and payable through June 16, 2020. On April 15, 2020, Mayor Breed previously extended the original order through May 17, 2020 ...
On June 8, the Federal Reserve announced a number of changes to the Main Street Lending Program (“MSLP”), involving all three facilities, the Main Street New Loan Facility (“MSNLF”), the Main Street Priority Loan Facility (“MSPLF”), and the Main Street Expanded Loan Facility (“MSELF”) ...
