Those seeking reasons to be optimistic about Ukraine’s judicial system can rejoice: Justice prevailed, or so ruled the High Commercial Court of Ukraine, the likely final arbiter in a dispute between the state Antimonopoly Committee of Ukraine and ACNielsen Ukraine, a market research firm ...
I OVERVIEW The private equity industry has continued to develop in Chile but at rates lower than in previous years. Growth rates of 2.1 per cent for the year ended 31 December 2015 and an expected rate of 1.6 per cent for the year ended 31 December 2016 have certainly affected the investment activity generally. Chile continues to offer, however, an attractive business environment and a stable legal framework ...
The French market has been known to be restrictive due to the banking monopoly, which classically restricted the origination of loans and the acquisition of unmatured receivables to credit institutions and financing companies, with small exceptions. Due to the overregulation of credit institutions and financing companies, many transactions were structured abroad ...
BREAKING NEWSEnforcement of foreign court judgments in Russia: a wind of change June 06, 2017 Dear Ladies and Gentlemen, We would like to inform you on recent precedents of Russian courts in cases concerning enforcement of foreign court judgments, which we believe represents a major step forward towards the goal of creating a favorable investment climate in Russia ...
On May 15, 2017, the U.S. Supreme Court reaffirmed the long-standing federal policy favoring arbitration agreements. In a lawsuit brought against skilled nursing provider Kindred Nursing Centers, LP, the Court held that states cannot single out arbitration clauses for “disfavored treatment,” because doing so violates the Federal Arbitration Act (FAA). The case involved two wrongful death lawsuits that were consolidated in the Kentucky Supreme Court ...
The May 2017 issue of theInternational Financial Law Review (IFLR) includes an international briefing article by SyCipLaw partner Melyjane G. Bertillo-Ancheta entitled "Philippines: Amendments to the FX Regulations". The article discusses the circulars, issued by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (the central monetary authority of the Philippines), amending the country's foreign exchange regulations ...
Later this year, the Supreme Court of the United States will address the enforceability of class action waivers in employment arbitration agreements in Ernst & Young LLP v. Morris ...
Long-term care (LTC) facilities received a boost last week when the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) reversed its position regarding the use of arbitration agreements in this setting. On June 8, 2017, CMS published a proposed rule amending LTC facilities’ conditions of participation in the Medicare and Medicaid programs to remove prohibitions on binding pre-dispute arbitration agreements ...
Last month, the Supreme Court decided TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC, which narrowed the definition of where a corporate defendant "resides" for the purpose of suing it for patent infringement. In doing so, it overturned the 1994 holding of the Federal Circuit of what constitutes proper venue in patent infringement cases. Federal law allows a Plaintiff to bring a patent infringement suit against a defendant in any district where one of two conditions are met ...
Following South Africa’s sovereign credit rating downgrade by ratings agencies Standard & Poor’s, Fitch and, on 9 June 2017, Moody’s, as well as developments in political circles around allegations of “state capture”, relations between private business and the country’s public entities have become a hot topic ...
The South African Constitutional Court has found that cabinet ministers can now be held personally liable for the costs of legal proceedings to which they are a party. This finding was made in the case of Black Sash Trust v Minister of Social Development and Others (Freedom Under Law NPC Intervening), in which judgment was delivered on 15 June 2017 ...
It was not until the late 1970s that deep-water offshore oil and gas exploration became significantly viable. The driver was the ever increasing demand for oil and gas products that provided the opportunity to raise the capital necessary to design and then build the incredibly complex floating assets needed to explore for and then to produce oil and gas in such hostile environments ...
Earlier this year the Federal Law " On Amendments to Articles 1252 and 1486 of the 4th part of the Civil Code of the Russian Federation and Articles 4 and 99 of the Arbitrazh Procedural Code of Russia" entered into force.The amendments relate to pre-trial procedure for resolving intellectual property disputes.1 ...
On 30 June 2017, after an initial round of public commentary undertaken by the JSE Limited (“JSE”) on the proposed amendments to the JSE Debt Listings Requirements (“DLRs”), the South African Registrar of Securities Services announced that “Part 2” of the 2016 amendments are available on the Financial Services Board’s website for further public comment. The deadline to review and comment on the proposals is 14 July 2017 ...
The trial of murder-accused Henri van Breda has attracted widespread media attention in recent months. Now, the Supreme Court of Appeal (“SCA”) has delivered an important judgment linked to the case regarding the media’s right to broadcast aspects of court proceedings – not only in the Van Breda case, but in other cases too ...
Recent proposed amendments to the rules of Strate, South Africa’s central securities depository (the “Strate Rules”) will effect a significant change to how uncertificated securities are pledged, but will not solve all of the problems that market participants hoped would be addressed ...
The Supreme Court of the Russian Federation (the “SC RF”) has adopted the Resolution of the Plenum No. 23 “On consideration of commercial cases arising from relationships complicated by an international element” (the “Resolution of the Plenum”) ...
Traditionally, investment decisions have focused primarily on increasing economic value. Over the past few decades, however, an investment philosophy focused on creating non-economic value by advancing social or charitable causes has become increasingly commonplace. This investment philosophy, traditionally referred to as socially responsible investing, has historically been assumed to involve the sacrifice of economic gains in furtherance of non-economic objectives ...
The Israeli Supreme Court Ruling earlier this year, which establishes that, for the purpose of service out of the jurisdiction based on Regulation 500(7) of the Israeli Civil Procedure Regulations, 5744-1984 (“Civil Procedure Regulations“) – it is not sufficient to indicate damage which allegedly occurred within Israel, but rather an act or omission in Israel must be shown ...
California defamation law continues to evolve as the courts synthesize well-settled legal principles with ever-changing technological realities. On July 21, 2017, California’s First District Court of Appeal issued a published opinion in ZL Technologies v. Does 1-7 (July 21, 2017) 2017 DJ DAR 6999 ...
Provisions in a trust instrument can expressly limit and define the scope of the PFTC’s fiduciary duties, including the Prudent Investor Rule and the duty to inform and report. Generally, the ability to limit fiduciary duties is subject to “mandatory” rules dictated by state statutes or common law. Some states have stringent mandatory rules, while other states seek to maximize the trust settlor’s freedom of disposition and freedom of contract ...
The financial exploitation of elders is a hot topic in state legislatures, with the federal government, and in the media. In the first few months of 2017 alone, media reports from Gadsden, Fairhope and Dothan chronicle four cases of financial exploitation, with losses in each case ranging from $20,000 to $100,000 over short periods of time. The perpetrator in each case was a family member of the victim ...
In a world that is becoming increasingly globalized, the law serves as a powerful tool in improving economic and social conditions. In such a world, trans-border judicial proceedings, or, as legal scholars call it, "legal disputes with extraneous elements" demand a certain consistency and predictability ...
