Over much of the last decade it has been widely reported that Australia's export infrastructure is in a state of crisis. The focus of these concerns has been the supply chain serving the multi-billion dollar coal export industry. Lengthy ship queues became a symbol for a lack of planning and investment in rail and port infrastructure.This issue lost much of its prominence as commodity prices tumbled and the demands on the supply chain eased ...
This alert summarizes the major provisions of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“PPACA”) and the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010 (together with the PPACA, the “Act”) that will impact employers and their group health plans (“GHPs”) ...
The Bribery Bill has finally become law, introducing a completely new regime with which British businesses will need to comply. The old law has been widely criticised, with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development stating recently that it was ‘characterised by complexity and uncertainty’ ...
On April 8, 2010, the United Kingdom adopted The Bribery Act, and all U.S. companies with operations in the U.K., that employ U.K citizens, or that engage in activities involving U.K. facilities or resources, such as British bank accounts, should take note. In summary, the Bribery Act creates a corporate criminal offense for bribes paid by the company unless the company shows that it had “adequate procedures” in place ...
The Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) issued a Regulatory Notice to its members (FINRA Regulatory Notice 10-22) outlining and reminding them of their regulatory responsibilities in connection with Regulation D private placement offerings. Among other things, members are required to conduct a reasonable investigation of any offering in order to satisfy suitability obligations ...
Haynes and Boone, LLP Partner Larry Pascal hosted a seminar addressing important business and legal developments in Costa Rica, including opportunities in the electricity, telecommunications, transporation infrastructure, insurance, outsourcing and the real estate sector ...
With increased scrutiny and regulation by Congress and the Internal Revenue Service, it is becoming more important for non-profits to focus on compliance with both federal and state rules. Under Texas law, non-profit corporations are prohibited from making loans to officers, directors, or members. Directors who approve a prohibited loan and officers who participate in making a prohibited loan are jointly and severally liable to the corporation for the total amount of the loan until it is repaid ...
New legislation means it is more important than ever that organisations have effective anti-bribery measures in place. The dissolution of Parliament took place on 12 April. As part of the 'wash-up' process before this date the Bribery Bill received Royal Assent and will become law throughout the UK later this year ...
[a version of this article first appeared in the May 2010 Issue of Competition Law Insight] A Competition Law Injection into the Health Service? Introduction The injection of competition and market-based principles into the UK's National Health Service (NHS) during recent years has, to state the obvious, been (and remains) highly controversial ...
European Court ready to reject privilege protection for in-house lawyers The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) is on course to continue to deny legal professional privilege (LPP) to legal advice given by in-house lawyers in EU competition law investigations ...
The recent healthcare reform legislation requires group health plans to provide coverage for children up to age 26, without regard to marital or student status ...
In an opinion issued last week, Merck & Co. v. Reynolds, 559 U.S. __ (2010), the Supreme Court significantly curtailed the ability of defendants to assert the statute of limitations as a defense to a securities fraud claim under § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The decision makes it less likely that courts will dismiss, on statute of limitations grounds, cases filed within five years of the alleged fraud ...
Just one day after the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit indicated that it would consider the current state of the inequitable conduct doctrine en banc in Therasense, Inc. v. Becton Dickinson and Co., a split panel of the Federal Circuit issued a decision in the case of Avid Identification Systems, Inc. v. Crystal Import Corp. affirming a lower court’s finding of inequitable conduct ...
The Quebec Court of Appeal recently rendered a long-awaited decision in a consumer protection class action. On February 26th, the Court dismissed the main appeal and cross-appeal in Brault & Martineau Inc. vs. Riendeau(1) for the reasons for which were written by Justice Duval Hesler, which were endorsed by both Justice Gendreau and Justice Dal phond ...
When reviewing the portfolio of services, authorities are often faced with the question of how it can obtain more value for money for particular services. This usually involves considering whether to outsource a particular service to private sector. Sometimes authorities look to combine their respective operations of a particular service to achieve economies of scale (and/or scope) or to swap capacities or services with each other ...
In a decision of first impression, a federal district court has held that the “clawback” provision of Sarbanes-Oxley permits the SEC to seek reimbursement of incentive-based compensation from CEOs and CFOs of companies that restate their financial statements as a result of misconduct, even if the CEO and CFO had no personal involvement in such misconduct ...
A new campaign finance bill, introduced on April 29 in the House, April 30 in the Senate, and sponsored by Senator Chuck Schumer and Representative Chris Van Hollen, would impose new spending restrictions and disclosure requirements. The bill is the Democrats’ first response to the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent opinion in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, which struck down certain restrictions on corporate and union political expenditures encompassed in the McCain-Feingold Act ...
The recent volcanic cloud and flight bans in Europe remind us of the damaging impact that mother nature can have on businesses. Even after the ash has cleared and flights are fully operational again, the extent of the disruption caused by the ash clouds may linger for many years in the form of contractual disputes ...
* SMEs are not Immune from Class-Actions Suits in Competition Law * SMEs and Trade-Marks * Dividing up Corporate Shares in the Event of Divorce, Separation from bed and Board, or Dissolution of a Civil Union. SMEs ARE NOT IMMUNE FROM CLASS -ACTION SUITS IN COMPETITION LAW ...
In an opinion issued last week, Morrison v. National Australia Bank Ltd., 559 U.S. __ (2010), the Supreme Court held that foreign plaintiffs cannot use the U.S. Securities laws to sue foreign issuers based on foreign stock purchases: a ruling that sounds the death knell for these so-called “foreign cubed” cases. Rejecting decades of lower-court case law on the extraterritorial reach of the U.S ...
On June 28, 2010, the United States Supreme Court announced its decision on Bilski v. Kappos regarding what inventions are eligible for patent protection. The decision affirms that business methods are patentable, although the specific business methods at the center of the case are not. While stating that no single test governs the issue, the Court approved of the use of the “machine-or-transformation test” that the Federal Circuit had distilled from earlier Supreme Court cases ...
The U.S. Supreme Court today (June 28, 2010) handed down its highly-anticipated opinion in the case of Bilski v. Kappos, Case No. 08-964. The Supreme Court affirmed the decision of the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and held that the subject matter of Mr. Bilski’s patent application was not patentable subject matter. However, in ruling against Mr ...
Insolvency Law can hardly reconcile business preservation and creditors satisfaction, so it usually sacrifices one or the other principle being therefore qualified as more or less debtor friendly. The question is whether preservation of business should take place in a prior stage, that of the pre- insolvency, leaving liquidation for the terminal insolvency situations ...
On June 30, 2010, the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) formally adopted Rule 206(4)-5 (the “Pay-to-Play Rule”) under the Investment Advisers Act of 1940, as amended (the “Act”). The Pay-to-Play Rule is primarily designed to prohibit investment advisers from making political contributions to influence their selection as investment advisers for government investment accounts such as public pension plans ...
The use of hydraulic fracturing has made it economically possible to produce hydrocarbons from reservoirs which previously would have been uneconomical to develop. Now, an extraordinary oil and gas boom is afoot in America, and onshore natural gas production is advancing at an extraordinary pace. For some states, this production is without historical precedent ...
