COVID-19 has caused a swift and unprecedented change to many social institutions in the United States (and worldwide). As a result, lawyers have been compelled to adopt new practices and policies to face the challenges of this time. No discipline has been changed quite as much, however, as that of the litigator. COVID-19, for example, has changed the way depositions will look for the immediate future ...
The Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) is intended to provide nearly $700 billion of economic relief to small businesses adversely affected by COVID-19 ...
On Monday, for the first time in history, the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments via teleconference and live-streamed the conference call to the public. And, if that was not exciting enough, to kick off a planned two-week session of tele-arguments, the Court chose a case whose subject is relatable to the general public – domain names ...
Many clients who are engaged in litigation may also now be facing the added burden of decreased cash flow due to the economic crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic. While courts around the country may view the situation differently, Dinsmore attorneys were recently able to help a corporate client obtain an early, administrative closure of their case due to the economic crisis they are experiencing at this time ...
Now that it appears the COVID-19 quarantine may be on the verge of ending, there are issues to consider before re-starting collection operations. When is too soon? Are there any special notices that could or should be sent? What about voluntary surrender of collateral during shelter in place? We will address these issues as well as lien priority and credit reporting ...
At its Voting Meeting today the Commission adopted a new standard offer contract available to any Qualifying Facility (QF) of 20 megawatts or less seeking to sell electricity to a Commission-jurisdictional utility pursuant to the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA). Under PURPA, Commission-jurisdictional utilities must provide QFs the option of executing any existing PURPA contract for which they qualify ...
During this turbulent period, now is the time to evaluate your facility's admission procedures and paperwork, especially your arbitration agreement. You want to make sure that in the event of litigation they will withstand strict scrutiny by the court. Failure to do so may have dire consequences that will leave your facility vulnerable. If your admission procedures and paperwork are not sufficiently robust, a court will not enforce your facility's arbitration agreement ...
On 5 March, the CMVM published Regulation 2/2020 on the Prevention of Money Laundering and Terrorist Financing, to provide the regulations under Law 83/2017 of 18 August. The CMVM did this as the sector regulator responsible for supervising financial entities including investment companies, investment fund management companies, venturecapital companies, and securitisation companies ...
Michigan Governor Whitmer signed Executive Order 2020-77 today, permitting manufacturing workers to resume work as part of the MI Safe Start Plan. Manufacturing workers, including workers in the automotive industry, are allowed to resume work on May 11, 2020, one week ahead of the planned restart date of certain Michigan automakers. See Executive Order No. 2020-77, Section 10(k) ...
The Ministry of Production (Produce), through the National Fisheries Health Agency (Sanipes), issued a guide with preventive measures to be implemented by operators of fishing and aquaculture infrastructures during the exercise of their activities against the expansion of COVID -19 ...
This sixth edition of Unprecedented, our weekly update on COVID-19 litigation, sees us reporting on many of the same types of cases. Consumers continue to seek refunds for goods and services that have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, with colleges and universities being a particular target. Consumers also have targeted retailers for alleged price-gouging behavior ...
This is a briefing on the following issuances as of May 10, 2020 in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic: A. Suspension of Periods to File Applications and Other Documents with the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) B. Issuances Supplementing the Inter-Agency Task Force on Emerging Infectious Diseases’ (IATF) Omnibus Guidelines on Community Quarantine (Omnibus Guidelines) C ...
Phase 1 of the ‘scaling-down’ process, third tranche of guarantees, extension of ERTE temporary layoffs, potential delay in the application of VAT directives and of DAC6, and measures to support the cultural sector For another week running, Garrigues summarizes the key issues that companies need to be aware of over the coming days ...
Lawmakers and citizens across the country are engaged in disputes over the breadth and duration of shutdown orders intended to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus. Pennsylvania was the first state, however, to have a case reach the U.S. Supreme Court where, despite a setback for the petitioners when their application for stay was denied, it remains pending. And, Pennsylvania may have the distinction of the most contentious dispute, as well ...
The COVID-19 pandemic is paralysing the global economy, but it is not the virus itself preventing businesses from operating. States seeking to protect their citizens against danger are introducing unprecedented limitations on civil rights and freedoms, rendering operations in some sectors of the economy impossible. In other sectors, business has become more burdensome, costly or risky ...
The law is one of the main instruments of social impact, which is particularly evident in the midst of aglobal health crisis, when the situation and applicable regulations are changing every day. New statutes and regulations are key to maintaining the delicate balance between order and chaos, public and private interests, and the common good and individual rights ...
On 5 May 2020 the German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht or BVerfG) issued amuch-noted ruling in a case involving the Public Sector Asset Purchase Programme of the European Central Bank. The judgment has caused agreat stir, as the BVerfG expressly refused to comply with aruling by the Court of Justice of the European Union ...
It is a common concern among commentators on international relations that the COVID-19 pandemic will lead to deglobalisation. Indeed, the havoc wrought by the pandemic in the global economy raises some unsettling questions about the fragility of global supply chains, especially in critical industries, and about the interdependency of national economies. It is nudging sentiment towards reshoring, promoting domestic production and protectionism ...
In March, the European Commission recommended that member states introduce temporary restrictions on travel to the European Union (through 15 May 2020). The vast majority of European countries coordinate border control measures at the EU level. States are again fencing their territories, suspending the free movement of persons also between regions ...
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 ...
Thirteen years after the filing of the initial complaint, the First Circuit recently revived a False Claims Act (FCA) suit, reversing the district court and holding a relator can be an “original source” without participating in or having contemporaneous knowledge about the alleged fraud. See United States ex rel. Banigan v. PharMerica, Inc., 950 F.3d 134 (1st Cir. 2020) ...
In the recent case of 'Ixchel Pharma v. Biogen', the Ninth Circuit asked the California Supreme Court to resolve two questions “because of their significance for business torts in California.” The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit—which includes California—occasionally encounters questions of California law that it cannot resolve ...
This seventh edition of Unprecedented, our weekly update on COVID-19-related litigation, sees a continuation of the trend we identified last week: shutdown challenges, workers' compensation claims, and wrongful death lawsuits have dominated the past week’s news cycle. We expect these latter two types of cases, which we consider more broadly as COVID-19 exposure cases, to pick up significantly as the country reopens over the next several weeks ...
After the start of Phase 2 (which began on 4 May 2020) the Italian government adopted on 16 May Law Decree no. 33 concerning, inter alia, "Further urgent measures to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak" (the "DL 16 May 2020"). Moreover, on 17 May 2020, in implementation of the aforementioned DL 16 May 2020, the Prime Minister issued a new decree with specific implementing provisions (the "PMD 17 May 2020") ...
