The Florida Agency for Health Care Administration (“AHCA”) earlier this month fined Humana $3.4 million for failing to promptly report suspected cases of Medicaid fraud and abuse by others, as required by statute and Humana’s Medicaid HMO contract. Though many states have similar laws or regulations, this appears to be the first enforcement action of its kind in the nation ...
Buchalter Client Alert July 17, 2023 By: Melissa Richards Florida has enacted its own Commercial Financing Disclosure Law (“CFDL”) that is similar to California and New York’s disclosure laws. The Florida CFDL applies to covered “Commercial Financing Transactions” consummated on or after January 1, 2024 that are $500,000 or less and originated by a covered “Provider ...
Florida’s construction lien laws require a contractor to serve a contractor’s final payment affidavit “at least five days” before filing a lawsuit to enforce the lien. A general contractor recently had its lien rights reinstated when a court clarified how the number of days between the service of the affidavit and the filing of the lawsuit should be calculated and reversed a dismissal of the contractor’s lawsuit ...
There has been a great deal of interest generated by the Bankruptcy and Diligence etc (Scotland) Bill on its passage through the Scottish Parliament ...
Flexibility in Bermuda trusts afforded by Section 47 What is Section 47 Section 47 of Bermuda’s Trustee Act 1975 provides trustees of Bermuda trusts with a very useful and flexible tool for varying trusts in the absence of the necessary power either in the trust instrument or otherwise under the relevant legislation. Trusts not governed by Bermuda law can be migrated to Bermuda to take advantage of section 47 and, in such cases, it may be desirable to appoint new trustees in Bermuda ...
“Government efforts to manipulate markets and prices on consumer goods never work as intended, and in this case, would be counterproductive.” The waning days of summer signal the approaching midterm election season. Amid inflation, recession and voter discontent, it’s understandable that a group of congress members are anxious to put points on the board with a price-control scheme that they wrongly believe will lower prescription drug prices ...
In Belgium, contracting agreements are subject to the Belgian Civil Code (‘BCC’) plus several other regulations. In this article, we briefly discuss five rules which foreign investors or principals may be surprised apply to Belgian contracting agreements. Make sure you avoid these pitfalls!1 ...
The new guides provide the latest legal information on litigation funding, initiating a lawsuit, pre-trial proceedings, discovery, injunctive relief, trials and hearings, settlement, damages and judgment, appeals, costs, alternative dispute resolution and (ADR) arbitration. To access our guides please click on the jurisdictions below: Bermuda British Virgin Islands Cayman Islands Guernsey Jersey To access the complete series of guides, please click here ...
On 21 February 2023, Government published its much-anticipated response to its consultation on biodiversity net gain (BNG) regulations and implementation from January 2022 - Government response and summary of responses - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) (“the Response”). This was accompanied by refreshed government guidance to developers and local authorities - Biodiversity net gain - GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) (“the Guidance”) ...
The UK Information Commissioner’s Office (the “ICO”) experienced a surprising setback recently after the Information Rights Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) ruled that a fine of £250,000 issued by the ICO in relation to a breach of the Data Protection Act 1998 (the “DPA”) by Scottish Borders Council (the “Council”) was excessive ...
The Crowdfunding Service Providers Bill reached First Reading stage in Parliament on the 17th of May, 2023. This proposed Act aims to implement provisions of Regulation (EU) 2020/1503 on European crowdfunding service providers for business and it provides for the establishment of a regulatory framework for crowdfunding service providers (hereinafter referred to as “CSPs”) for business, including the organisation, authorisation and supervision of CSPs ...
The Autonomous Bus and Minibus Pilot Project 1 (the “Pilot Project”) came into effect in Quebec recently. The project provides guidelines for the regulated driving of the first autonomous vehicles on Quebec’s roads ...
Out of general interest, we are forwarding the following Informative Note with respect to the first oral trial in Mexico, something that took place in the Municipality of Montemorelos, State of Nuevo Leon, in February 2005. Oral trials have been possible since November 25 of last year when the law of Nuevo Leon changed to allow this in non-serious culpable felonies. The trial was an example of judicial speed. Within a period of five hours, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m ...
In what appears to be a first under the False Claims Act, a case based on flawed cybersecurity has been settled, for nearly $9 million. On July 31, 2019, the Attorney General of New York announced that, alongside the U.S. Department of Justice, New York, eighteen other states, and the District of Columbia have reached an $8.6 million settlement with Cisco Systems, Inc. (“Cisco”) over sales of surveillance video software allegedly vulnerable to hacking ...
Starting around October 26, 2020, the Small Business Administrations (the “SBA”) asked Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) lenders to provide certain questionnaires to PPP borrowers with loans of $2 million or greater. There are two questionnaire forms on the Treasury: Form 3509 for for-profit borrowers and Form 3510 for non-profit borrowers ...
BUSINESS STABILIZATION AND RESTRUCTURING ACT (STARUG) On 18 September 2020, the German Federal Department of Justice published a first draft bill for the implementation of the EU Directive 2019/1023 on preventive restructuring frameworks of 20 June 2019 (the „Draft Bill“) ...
The Health Care Arbitral Tribunal (Arbitral Tribunal) has pronounced a decision on a dispute between an independent medical specialist and a Medical Specialist Company (MSC) for the first time since the introduction of the comprehensive rates on 1 January 2015. Although neither party has terminated the existing (membership) agreement between them, the Arbitral Tribunal is of the opinion that termination of membership and deregistration of the specialist from the members' register are justified ...
On August 6, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit affirmed the conviction of Massachusetts gynecologist Rita Luthra for criminal HIPAA violations and obstructing a health care investigation. Although such HIPAA prosecutions are uncommon, the case underscores the risks health care providers and others run when handling protected patient information and when speaking with government investigators ...
On Tuesday, December 22, 2105, the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit issued a much- anticipated opinion regarding the constitutionality of the prohibition against “disparaging” trademarks. In an 9-3 en banc opinion, the Federal Circuit held that the exclusion of disparaging trademarks under Section 2(a) of the Lanham Act violates the First Amendment.Many of the marks rejected as disparaging convey hurtful speech that harms members of stigmatized communities ...
Charles Arrand considers the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005, with a focus on both the potential business and human costs of failing to discharge obligations under the Order. Fire safety is regulated by the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 (the Order), which applies to almost all buildings, places and structures other than individual private homes ...
The Finnish government proposes significant changes to transfer taxation. Transfer tax is levied on the acquisition of shares and other securities and real property. The proposed changes may have significant effects to the taxation of M&A and real estate transactions. Some of the proposed changes will decrease the tax burden while some will result in increased tax liability. The most significant changes include: The general rate for securities (1 ...
This newsletter features a look into ongoing Finnish legal reforms and recent law. The Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority's jurisdiction in merger control to be expanded by lowering turnover thresholds The Finnish Ministry of Economic Affairs and Employment published in June 2022 a draft government bill on lowering the Finnish merger control turnover thresholds ...
This newsletter features a look into notable recent Finnish competition and regulatory case law. New rules on fines and the FCCA's powers introduced to the Finnish Competition Act Concurrently with the implementation of the ECN+ Directive (Directive 2019/1 of the European Parliament and of the Council), the Finnish Parliament approved a set of other notable amendments to the Finnish Competition Act at the end of May 2021 ...
This newsletter features a look into notable recent case law and other developments in Finnish competition law and other regulatory issues. The Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority proposes a first ever fine for an alleged obstruction of a dawn raid In May 2024, the Finnish Competition and Consumer Authority (FCCA) proposed that the Market Court imposes an infringement fine of approximately EUR 4.4 million for an alleged obstruction of the FCCA's unannounced inspection ...
