Limited liability companies and stock companies must file for the opening of insolvency proceedings if they are unable to pay their open debts (illiquidity) or over-indebted without a positive prognosis. If such ground to file for insolvency has occurred, managers are obliged to file for insolvency as soon as possible, but at the latest within 60 days. Otherwise they are personally liable - without limitation - for damages caused by a delayed filing for insolvency (i.e ...
Can a company collect data about a (potential) infection with COVID-19? Both, in case of information on a suspected case and in a confirmed case, special categories of personal data are processed. Whether a company may process such health data of employees, customers, suppliers or other third parties is exclusively governed by Art 9 GDPR ...
When should we hold our annual shareholders' meeting this year? The shareholders' meeting of a stock corporation must be held each year within eight months as of the end of the financial year. Therefore, if the financial year corresponds to the calendar year, there is time until the end of August. If possible, we would therefore recommend holding the annual shareholders' meeting a bit later this year in order to be better prepared ...
At Spilman, we are often asked to review the "colder" legal aspects of human events of all types. The COVID-19 pandemic will be no different. To get a jump start on some of the questions we have faced or will face, we offer some thoughts on the contractual implications of COVID-19. Over the past week, Americans have witnessed countless unprecedented responses to the COVID-19 pandemic. The NBA postponed its season. The NHL soon followed ...
In the early hours of Saturday, March 14, 2020, the House of Representatives passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act, which is designed to expand relief in response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, through access to free testing, enhancing food assistance, increasing Medicaid funding, and providing paid sick leave and unemployment benefits to workers ...
Dear Clients, Friends and Partners, Since day one, our firm has been responding to the challenges of the Coronavirus emergency with proactive and socially responsible strategies. In these difficult times, our first thoughts are with all those impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak as well as with the health professionals working to help them ...
On March 14, 2020, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (“FFCRA”). While the bill has not yet been passed by the Senate, the White House has indicated that it supports and intends to sign the bill into law once the Senate has an opportunity to address its provisions, which will likely be sometime early this week ...
The Coronavirus pandemic is presenting companies and their directors with many challenges. Simply planning for “business as usual” requires change to usual practices, involving a balance between compliance obligations and official public health advice. Holding general meetings, particularly as we enter AGM season for listed companies with a 31 December year-end, is one such challenge ...
It seems that business disruption due to coronavirus is pretty inevitable. What should you as a company director be doing if the disruption means your business starts to suffer? What changes for me as a director? As a director, you know that you owe duties to the company ...
How do you protect the privacy of people who have been infected by Covid-19, while still usefully informing those who have been put at risk? At a time of public health emergency, shouldn't GDPR take a back seat? As companies struggle to get new processes in place to cope with the potential ramifications of Covid-19, the aim of this note is to highlight how EU data protection law applies to this unusual set of circumstances ...
Force majeure clauses in business-critical contracts are coming into sharp focus at the moment as coronavirus continues to sweep the globe and the extent of the impact on global supply chains is becoming increasingly apparent. Many businesses concerned about potential disruption as a result of the coronavirus outbreak are reviewing their key contractual arrangements to understand potential contractual implications ...
On top of the multiple challenges hitting retail and leisure landlords and occupiers arising from COVID-19, the news that Intu has had to write down the value of its shopping centre portfolio by nearly £2 billion came as further bad news. Intu owns multiple high-profile retail and leisure locations across the UK (including The Trafford Centre in Manchester and the Lakeside complex in Essex) and on 12 March was widely reported as being at risk of insolvency ...
California has implemented procedures for employees to obtain unemployment, paid family leave, or disability insurance benefits related to COVID-19. Here are the main points: If employee is unable to work due to having or being exposed to COVID-19 and has the necessary supporting medical documentation, employee may file a Disability Insurance (DI) claim (1-week waiting period waived) ...
As each day that passes while COVID-19 spreads throughout the country, more businesses are closing their doors to protect their employees, customers, vendors, and other people with whom they come into contact. And many of them are wondering whether there is coverage for their business losses during this time. Business interruption or business income coverage is sometimes included in commercial property coverage ...
On March 11, 2020, the City of San Francisco announced measures to support small businesses in light of the COVID-19 outbreak. The City’s support efforts include the deferral of business taxes and licensing fees, as well as the launch of an economic relief fund ...
Privileged information and financial reporting The rapid spread of COVID-19 (Coronavirus) throughout the world and the impact of administrative measures to contain it represent a growing challenge for the management of companies. On 11 March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the existence of a pandemic. The main focus now is to guarantee the safety of workers and employees ...
With Decree-Law 10-A/2020 of 13 March, the Government has introduced a broad set of exceptional and temporary measures on preventive isolation (often referred to as “quarantine”), social protection for those affected by the disease, absence from work due to the closure of educational establishments, and the arrangements for home working ...
On March 15, 2020, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office announced its offices will be closed to the public until further notice, "out of an abundance of caution for the health and safety of the public and USPTO employees." The closure began Monday, March 16, 2020 until further notice. Offices remain open for employees, contractors, and those with access badges. Unless otherwise notified, USPTO operations will continue without interruption ...
On March 15, 2020, Governor Whitmer issued an Executive Order, effective 9 a.m. March 16, 2020, through April 13, 2020, imposing two restrictions aimed at preventing price gouging during the COVID-19 emergency. These restrictions, issued pursuant to her powers after declaring a State of Emergency on March 10, 2020, apply to offers or sales of products in Michigan. The first restriction applies only to resales of products acquired from retailers ...
Due to the corona outbreak and the disease covid-19, various legal issues have arisen. The spread of the coronavirus has, inter alia, lead to several companies deciding to take measures before upcoming shareholders’ meetings, which for many public companies involve the gathering of a large number of shareholders ...
Since the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19), the Bank of Mauritius has been closely monitoring its economic impact on the banking sector and the Mauritian economy.On 10 March 2020, the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of Mauritius reduced the key repo rate by 50 basis points to 2.85% per annum and on 13 March 2020, the Bank of Mauritius introduced a Support Programme to further assist Mauritian Businesses across all economic sectors ...
In light of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa’s speech on the country’s response to the coronavirus (COVID-19) last night, there are a number of new questions that we anticipate will be plaguing employers. Given all the restrictions on travel and gatherings, should employers close their doors and send employees home? No. An employer has the obligation to provide, as far as is reasonably practicable, a safe and healthy working environment ...
Following the South African President’s speech on 15 March 2020 that a national state of disaster has been declared in terms of the coronavirus (COVID-19), a number of measures were implemented to counteract the impact of the virus by the South African Government. We cover below the legal implications of some of these measures, particularly the repayment of bookings and data protection ...
