In Pakdel v. City and County of San Francisco, filed on March 17, 2020, a three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeal voted 2-1 to affirm the dismissal of a property owner’s takings challenge against San Francisco’s “Expedited Conversion Program ...
The provisions of the newly-enacted CARES ACT that have been receiving the most attention from owners of small businesses that have been devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic are those relating to the business-sustaining forgivable loans and tax benefits that will potentially be available to those companies ...
Many environmental impact reports and negative declarations will breeze through analyses of a development project’s impacts on cultural resources ...
On April 6, 2020, Law No. 21,227 came into force, allowing access to unemployment insurance benefits under Law No. 19,728, in exceptional circumstances. This law, in its Article 14, Title III "Final Provisions", provides for a new criminal offense consisting of fraudulently obtaining supplements, benefits and / or profits due to the pandemic caused by Covid-19 ...
The pledge of equity interests of a privately held company as collateral is a common occurrence in a wide variety of financing structures. What is not as common perhaps is for secured creditors to analyze, at the initial stages of a transaction, the road maps that may serve to mitigate any meaningful delays or diminution in the value of such collateral in a foreclosure scenario ...
Last month, Waller published an article (Bank Interagency group offers guidance on working with borrowers affected by COVID-19) analyzing guidance issued by the federal financial regulatory agencies encouraging lenders to “work constructively with borrowers” and offer loan modification programs in a safe and sound manner to mitigate the adverse effects of COVID-19 ...
In coordination with the EU Commission, the federal government has launched numerous support measures and state aid in the form of grants, loans, and guarantees with facilitated conditions in a short period of time. For this purpose, the federal government mainly used already existing funding programs. An explanatory article on the support measures and state aid provided by the federal government can be found here ...
The pandemic of COVID-19 has severely affected functioning of various business activities across the globe and has posed a threat to legal services. The risks to legal services posed by the spread of COVID-19 were highlighted a few weeks back when international law firm Baker McKenzie closed its London office after a staff member was suspected to have been at risk of contracting the novel coronavirus ...
The Ministry of Finance and Public Credit issued Legislative Decree 518 of 2020, which created the Solidarity Income Program in order to meet the needs of households in situations of poverty and vulnerability throughout the national territory, in the context of the State of Economic, Social and Ecological Emergency ...
The ordinance proving a moratorium on loan installments has been enacted by the Government, and so has been competing legislation by Parliament, causing more instability. There are many uncertainties, the biggest being whether the Ordinance will remain in force at all – the Parliament has already adopted its replacement which is currently in its promulgation stage ...
Last week, the SBA issued guidance concerning the rights of independent contractors with respect to Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) forgivable loans. First, the SBA clarified that employers cannot include compensation paid to independent contractors in calculating their own loan amount. Second, the SBA announced that independent contractors and self-employed individuals will be eligible to apply for a PPP loans starting April 10, 2020 ...
The Treasury Department has recently published the Paycheck Protection Program Loans Frequently Asked Questions (PPP FAQs). The Treasury Department’s publication provides businesses and lenders desperate guidance related to the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and the applicable rules, regulations and guidelines that have been plaguing PPP loan participants. This alert summarizes a number of the key questions in the PPP FAQs as of April 7, 2020 ...
The SECURE (Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement) Act (the "Act") took effect on January 1, 2020, making substantial changes to the rules regarding retirement account distributions, including a required 10-year payout for most non-spouse beneficiaries of IRAs and other retirement plans. Changes to Existing Law For estate planning purposes, the Act's most important change is the elimination of the "stretch IRA ...
When a client or customer files for bankruptcy, a business’ treatment of that customer’s account must change. Many businesses have dedicated bankruptcy departments or teams that deal with these accounts. However, it can take a while before the account is flagged or transferred to the bankruptcy team. Further, some smaller business bankruptcy teams are comprised of other department employees just wearing a “bankruptcy hat” when working on those accounts ...
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 ...
On April 8, 2020, the Small Business Administration (“SBA”) provided additional guidance on the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) through an update to the Frequently Asked Questions document (“FAQs”) originally published on April 2, 2020 and subsequently updated on April 6th and 7th ...
On 30 March 2020, the Ukrainian Parliament adopted the Law "On Amendments to Certain Legislative Acts Aimed to Ensure Additional Social and Economic Guarantees Due to the Coronavirus Disease (COVID-2019) Spread" (the Law), which introduces to the Ukrainian legislative environment new complex rules aimed at minimizing the negative impact of the spread of the COVID-19 in Ukraine. The below summary focuses on key changes introduced by the Law ...
Due to introduction of restrictive measures in the territory of Ukraine during the quarantine period, the National Bank of Ukraine (hereinafter the "NBU"), by its Resolution No. 39 dated 26 March 2020 (the "Resolution"), introduced special rules for application by the banks of Ukraine of the requirements of the Regulation on determination by banks of Ukraine of the credit risk on active banking operations, approved by the Resolution of the Board of the NBU No. 351 of 30 June 2016 ...
Many commercial contracts limit claims between parties, particularly for consequential losses, to instances of gross negligence. Many statutes circumscribe claims against government authorities to the same circumstances. The Police Act, for example, prohibits claims against the police except where the police have been “guilty of dishonesty, gross negligence or malicious or wilful misconduct” ...
On April 9, the federal banking agencies issued an interim final rule to encourage lending to small businesses through the Small Business Administration’s Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) established under the CARES Act. Specifically, the agencies are applying a 0% risk weight to PPP covered loans for regulatory capital purposes ...
As a result of the COVID-19, employers are being forced to reduce the size of their workforces in order to keep costs down for the duration of the pandemic and perhaps beyond. Employers can choose to either furlough employees or lay them off; however, deciding which route is best requires an analysis of the employer’s situation, as well as the needs of the employees ...
In the face of governmental orders shutting down businesses, redirecting business efforts and assets, and even seizing business property to redistribute to others, we see more and more questions about the limits of governmental authority and the remedies for affected people and businesses. Lawsuits already are being filed, and the courts undoubtedly will have to provide the answers. Click here for a more detailed discussion of COVID-19 and governmental takings ...
