In May 2019, the South African Proposed Regulations Pertaining to the Financial Provision for the Rehabilitation and Remediation of Environmental Damage caused by Reconnaissance, Prospecting, Exploration, Mining or Production Operations, 2019 (the “2019 Regulations”) were released for public comment ...
Last month marked the 50-year anniversary of one of the more infamous and impactful environmental disasters to occur in the United States. On June 22, 1969, the Cuyahoga River, which runs through the heart of Cleveland before emptying into Lake Erie, caught fire for the 13th time. Time magazine ran a story that highlighted the river’s severe pollution ...
Numerous corporate governance scandals over the past 15 years involving S-chips have tarred these mainland-operating, Singapore-listed companies with the same brush. But do all S-chips deserve their bad reputation?It was meant to be one of the Singapore Exchange’s (SGX) success stories. One of our biggest skincare companies, Best World International saw its profits grow almost 40 fold between 2013 and 2017. It was valued at S$1.8 billion at its peak in February 2019 ...
On Monday, June 3, Governor Gretchen Whitmer and the Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (MDARD) announced MDARD’s decision to allow for commercial solar energy development on land currently enrolled in the Farmland and Open Space Preservation Program, commonly known as PA 116. PA 116 was established in 1975 and is designed to preserve farmland and open space in Michigan ...
Beginning next month, used car dealers in West Virginia may sell vehicles directly to consumers without a single warranty that the vehicles are operational or safe to drive. The so-called “As Is” bill – approved last March by the West Virginia Legislature – will allow merchants to make sales on an “as is” basis, effectively eliminating any implied warranties about a vehicle’s merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose ...
Overruling 38 years of precedent, the NLRB has determined employers have no duty to permit union organizers to use “public space” to solicit union support on their property. UPMC and SEIU, 368 NLRB No. 2 (June 14, 2019). UPMC is a hospital system based in western Pennsylvania. SEIU organizers visited the hospital cafeteria and distributed organizing materials to employees over lunch discussing union organizing activity ...
While appealing a $4 million verdict on the basis of willful trade dress infringement, a manufacturer admitted to copying the design of a French coffee press. When asked by an appellate judge to confirm that admission, the manufacturer’s attorney confirmed the copying, adding, “So what? It doesn’t matter.” Bodum USA has accused A Top New Casting of infringing its rights in the design of its Chambord coffee press. A jury in the U.S ...
On June 11, 2019, the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit overturned the 2018 version of MSHA’s workplace examination final rule and ordered the agency to implement the text of the 2017 proposed standard. In United Steel, Paper, and Forestry et al. v. Mine Safety and Health Administration et al., No ...
In a short, unpublished opinion, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that an ERISA pension plan administrator should have treated a deceased participant's registered domestic partner as a surviving spouse and granted his claim for survivor benefits ...
The Government of North Macedonia announced an open call for awarding a contract for the use of a feed-in premium for electricity produced in photovoltaic power plants (“PVPPs”) on state land in North Macedonia, with total installed capacity of 35 MW. Two locations are envisaged for construction of the PVPPs – Azambegovo (Sveti Nikole) and Manastirec (Makedonski Brod) ...
The European Commission consistently emphasises the citizens’ rights and status in its hard Brexit preparations and contingency works. It appealed to EU Member Stats to take a generous approach towards the rights of UK citizens in the EU, given that the UK reciprocates such an approach ...
On May 9, 2019, the U.S ...
On April 23, 2019, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the Community Opportunity to Purchase Act (COPA), a policy designed to stabilize communities by preventing displacement and preserving affordable housing. The Mayor signed the legislation on May 3, 2019 and it went into effect on June 2, 2019 ...
On May 24, 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) proposed revisions to regulations issued under Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) (the Proposed Rule). The Proposed Rule would revise certain provisions of the current Section 1557 rule that federal courts have ruled as likely unlawful, and eliminate the requirement that covered entities publish non-discrimination notices and include taglines in foreign languages on all significant publications ...
On May 24, 2019, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Office for Civil Rights (OCR) issued a new fact sheet providing a compilation of all provisions through which a business associate may be held directly liable with the HIPAA Privacy, Security, Breach Notification, and Enforcement regulations (collectively the HIPAA Rules) ...
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has issued a new rule that will impact the operations of a wide-range of health care facilities and the manner in which those facilities manage hazardous waste pharmaceuticals ...
There have been two recent developments regarding the False Claims Act (FCA) which will impact health care organizations that could be subject to a whistleblower lawsuit or FCA investigation. First, on May 7, 2019, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued formal guidance regarding the manner in which the DOJ would award credits to defendants that cooperate with the DOJ during an FCA investigation (the Policy) ...
On May 10, 2019, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) published its final rule, 42 CFR 403, requiring drug manufacturers to disclose the price of prescription drugs in direct to consumer (DTC) advertisements. Publication of the final rule was preceded by a lively comment period that commenced on October 18, 2018 ...
On Monday, the United States Supreme Court held Title VII’s requirement that an employee-plaintiff file an administrative charge with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) before filing in court is a procedural, not a jurisdictional, requirement. Thus, if a defendant does not timely raise the issue, it can be forfeited. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg authored the unanimous opinion of the Court ...
Dinsmore’s Government Relations team was involved in several significant legislative initiatives affecting the health care sector during the 2019 regular session of the West Virginia legislature. Most notably, Dinsmore was involved in the passage of HB 2010, relating to foster care ...
Article PDF On April 17, 2019, the Treasury Department released a second round of proposed regulations (the "4/19 Regulations") providing additional guidance on the implementation of the Opportunity Zone (“OZ”) tax incentive included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The 4/19 Regulations are taxpayer-friendly and expand upon (but in some cases modify) the guidance provided in the initial proposed regulations released on October 19, 2018 (the "10/18 Regulations") ...
Article PDF On April 17, 2019, the Treasury Department released a second round of proposed regulations (the "4/19 Regulations") providing additional guidance on the implementation of the Opportunity Zone (“OZ”) tax incentive included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The 4/19 Regulations are taxpayer-friendly and expand upon (but in some cases modify) the guidance provided in the initial proposed regulations released on October 19, 2018 (the "10/18 Regulations") ...
Filing for bankruptcy might seem like an unlikely possibility for your company, and it probably is. But it happens. In the past, bankrupt brand owners had no clear answer as to whether, under bankruptcy law, they could both reject and rescind outgoing trademark licenses with the Bankruptcy Court’s approval. Now, the United States Supreme Court has provided an answer: They cannot ...
As seen in Bank Director Banks should not wait on lawmakers taking action on the myriad of proposed cannabis banking bills to make important strategic decisions about servicing marijuana-related business. It is unclear if any of the proposed cannabis banking bills will gain enough traction and support in Washington to pass through Congress. Despite the inaction, a growing number of financial institutions are choosing to provide banking services to the cannabis industry ...
The Mitigation Fee Act, Government Code section 66000 et seq., authorizes local agencies to impose fees on development projects in order to cover the cost of public facilities needed to serve the developments. However, the local agencies' power to impose mitigation fees is not unlimited: the fees must be reasonably related to the increased burden on public facilities caused by the new development. (Gov. Code § 66000(b); 66001 ...
