On March 30, 2022 the Division of Examinations of the United States Securities & Exchange Commission published the 2022 Examination Priorities. As in other years, the 2022 Examination Priorities document provides certain data regarding the scope of the examination program and the growth of the investment adviser community ...
Prescription is the legal rule in Scotland that prevents a person from pursuing their legal rights to a claim after a certain time period has elapsed (the equivalent in England is limitation). A claim ‘prescribes’ when the relevant time period runs out (known as the ‘prescriptive period’). For contractual claims, the prescriptive period is five years ...
There has been concern within the agricultural industry for some time the race to achieve carbon net-zero is leading to the loss of productive agricultural land to forestry purchasers. Another perceived threat is from investors, both private and institutional, looking to invest in natural carbon, for example, by way of peatland restoration and rewilding projects ...
Controversially, the ‘Everyone Wins’ goody bags gifted to this year’s Oscar nominees included “the title of Lord or Lady of Glencoe, along with a small plot of land in Scotland”. However, the recipients may be disappointed to learn that this particular ‘freebie’, distributed alongside gourmet foods, cosmetic surgery, and luxury trips, confers neither title nor ownership ...
In April 2021, President Biden issued Executive Order 14026 to increase the minimum wage for federal government contractors to $15 per hour. On November 23, 2021, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued its final rule implementing Executive Order 14026. The rule requires any federal “contractor” to pay employees a minimum hourly wage of $15 and overtime wages for work beyond 40 hours per week. This wage is subject to yearly increases determined by DOL ...
Decree-Law 30-A/2022was published on 18 April to approve the exceptional measures intended to ensure the simplification of the procedures for producing energy from renewable sources. These measures came into force on 19 April and will be in force for a period of 2 years. These exceptional measures have been published by the Government in the current macroeconomic and geopolitical situation ...
Governor Inslee’s March 24, 2022 signing of House Bill 1329 marks the introduction of changes to the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA), the focus of which concerns public meetings’ accessibility and participation in the same. While the majority of these changes take effect at the fast approaching date of June 9, 2022, the Governor’s signing immediately implemented others ...
Sunoco Partners Marketing & Terminals L.P. v. U.S. Venture, Inc., Appeal Nos. 2020-1640, -1641 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 29, 2022) Our case of the week has a little bit for everyone, including lost profits, reasonable royalties, enhanced damages, claim construction, and more. However, the primary issue was application of the experimental use exception to the on-sale bar. The experimental use exception, which traces to City of Elizabeth v. Am. Nicholson Pavement Co., 97 U.S ...
Governor Inslee’s March 24, 2022 signing of House Bill 1329 marks the introduction of changes to the Open Public Meetings Act (OPMA), the focus of which concerns public meetings’ accessibility and participation in the same. While the majority of these changes take effect at the fast approaching date of June 9, 2022, the Governor’s signing immediately implemented others ...
The Central Electricity Regulatory Commission (“CERC” or “Commission”) on May 9, 2022 notified the CERC (Terms and Conditions for Renewable Energy Certificates for Renewable Energy Generation) Regulations, 2022 (“REC Regulations, 2022”)[1]. The reasons for framing of the REC Regulations, 2022 can be found in the Explanatory Memorandum to the draft of the REC Regulations, 2022 published by the Commission ...
Economic sanctions (also called restrictive measures) are an instrument of influence of states or international organisations (EU, UN) on states and individuals whose activities violate international law and pose a threat to peace and security. Sanctioning states impose certain restrictions on sanctioned entities (e.g ...
Niazi Licensing Corporation v. St. Jude Medical SC, Inc., Appeal No. 2021-1864 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 11, 2022) The Federal Circuit’s only precedential patent decision this week comes on appeal from a district court decision finding invalidity, granting summary judgment of no induced infringement, and imposing sanctions pursuant to Fed. R. Civ. P. 37 ...
On March 28, 2022, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) announced the resolution of three investigations and one matter before an Administrative Law Judge related to compliance with the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) Privacy Rule ...
President Joe Biden has signed into law the Ending Forced Arbitration of Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment Act of 2021, which allows an individual asserting sexual assault or sexual harassment claims to bring such claims to court, even if they had previously agreed to mandatory arbitration. Dinsmore employment attorney Aly St. Pierre wrote about what employers need to know about this new law for The Indiana Lawyer. An excerpt is below ...
Our Shoospeak HR podcast welcomes special guest Pavan Sumal who explains the options open to Ukrainians looking to flee the current conflict. Shoosmiths colleagues Andy Graham and Amy Leech are joined by special guest Pavan Sumal (Associate within Shoosmiths’ Immigration Team) to discuss visa options and other immigration support available for Ukrainians fleeing the current conflict ...
Recently, in Beal v. Outfield Brew House, LLC, 2022 U.S. App. LEXIS 7748 (8th Cir. Mar. 24, 2022) the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld two district court decisions, each of which found that the marketing software called “Txt Live” used by the defendants to send promotional text messages to phone numbers randomly selected from a customer database is not an automatic telephone dialing system (ATDS) under the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) ...
On April 7, 2022, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland tabled the federal government?s new budget for 2022. This budget includes several tax measures relevant to the mining industry in Canada. The Canadian federal government intends to provide $3.8 billion over eight years to implement Canada?s first critical minerals strategy ...
Littelfuse, Inc. v. Mersen USA EP Corp., Appeal No. 2021-2013 (Fed. Cir. Apr. 4, 2022) Our Case of the Week focuses on the issue of claim construction, and, more specifically, the doctrine of claim differentiation. The patent at issue was directed to a “fuse end cap for providing an electrical connection between a fuse and an electrical conductor ...
On March 30, 2022, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals issued a decision in Oertwich v. Traditional Village Of Togiak, No. 19-36029 (9th Cir.) that has potential implications for tribal sovereign immunity, including recognizing that tribal sovereign immunity extends to tortious conduct occurring on non-tribal lands. Ronald Oertwich (“Oertwich”) was a non-tribal member living in the City of Togiak, Alaska (the “City”) ...
The government have introduced various visa concessions for Ukrainian citizens affected by the conflict. Legal director of immigration, Rachel Harvey and Pavan Sumal, associate specialising in immigration law discuss the routes available and what you can do to assist. In country options Concessions are available for those who were in the UK at the start of the conflict ...
