A unanimous Supreme Court held on June 5, 2017, that the SEC’s ability to recover funds through disgorgement is subject to a five-year statute of limitations. The SEC routinely seeks disgorgement as an equitable remedy in actions alleging securities law violations and asserted that disgorgement was not a penalty subject to the five year statute of limitations under 28 U.S.C. § 2462 ...
In a much anticipated opinion, the Supreme Court on Monday held that class action waivers in arbitration agreements are enforceable. In a 5-4 decision written by Justice Neil Gorsuch, the Court stated that “Congress has instructed in the Arbitration Act that arbitration agreements providing for individualized proceedings must be enforced, and neither the Arbitration Act’s saving clause nor the NLRA suggests otherwise ...
In an opinion issued last week, Merck & Co. v. Reynolds, 559 U.S. __ (2010), the Supreme Court significantly curtailed the ability of defendants to assert the statute of limitations as a defense to a securities fraud claim under § 10(b) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. The decision makes it less likely that courts will dismiss, on statute of limitations grounds, cases filed within five years of the alleged fraud ...
Lawyers and clients, take note: on January 9, 2023, the Supreme Court heard oral argument on probably one of the most consequential cases on the scope of the attorney-client privilege in decades.In re Grand Jury, 23 F.4th1088 (9th Cir. 2021),cert granted, 143 S. Ct. 80 (2022), a tax case, addresses the application of the attorney-client privilege to “multipurpose” communications involving legal and non-legal topics ...
On Wednesday, June 23, 2021, the United States Supreme Court issued its decision in Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., a much-anticipated decision regarding schools’ regulation of off-campus speech. The Court held that while schools may discipline students for some off-campus speech, their ability to do so is much more limited than for on-campus speech. B.L. was a student at Mahanoy Area High School and cheered on the junior varsity team during her freshman year ...
June 5, 2023 By: Joshua Robbins and Stephanie Shea While we wait for the U.S. Supreme Court to decide the fate of the Chevron doctrine governing courts’ deference to agencies’ interpretations of law, its recent decision in another case has flown under the radar. In Calcutt, III v. FDIC, 598 U.S ...
Hidden among its flurry of end-of-term blockbusters, on June 27, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court issued a long-awaited opinion inRuan v. United States. InRuan,the Supreme Court addressed the issue of whatmens reaa physician must possess to be guilty of illegally distributing controlled substances through the use of allegedly improper prescriptions ...
Supreme Court's Order No. 13/2020: Extension of the extraordinary judicial recess. Within the state of sanitary emergency declared regarding COVID-19 and the mandatory social, preventive isolation measure duly decreed, the Supreme Court has adopted different measures within the National Judicial Branch, consistent with the National Executive Branch provisions and the recommendations of the national sanitary authority. In order to align with Decree No ...
A wave of settlements with municipal underwriting firms under the SEC’s Municipalities Continuing Disclosure Cooperation (MCDC) Initiative has brought renewed attention to continuing disclosure obligations in municipal offerings. But, it also raises questions about the initiative’s purportedly favorable settlement terms. On July 18, 2015, the SEC announced settlements with 36 municipal underwriters for willfully violating Section 17(a)(2) of the Securities Act ...
The No Surprises Act (Act), which became effective Jan. 1, 2022, is the latest health care law passed with the best of intent: to create consumer protection from unexpected out-of-network medical bills and to create a federal independent dispute resolution (IDR) process to resolve payment disputes between payers and out-of-network providers. Unfortunately, the Act, especially the U.S ...
A recent report in Fin24 entitled ‘MTN named SA and Africa’s strongest brand’ listed South Africa’s top 50 brands in terms of brand value. It was based on research done by the brand valuation company, BrandFinance. As the title suggests, MTN came out on top, followed by Sasol, Vodacom, Standard Bank, Absa, Nedbank, FNB, Mediclinic, Investec and Woolworths. Of the top 50 brands, 16 are in the food and beverages sector, 13 in financial services, and five in telecoms ...
Austrian law distinguishes between composition proceedings in accordance with the Composition Code (Ausgleichsordnung-AO) and bankruptcy proceedings in accordance with the Bankruptcy Code (Konkursordnung-KO). Bankruptcy proceedings have to be opened if the debtor is unable to pay. In particular, inability to pay must be assumed if the debtor suspends payments. Inability to pay does not require that creditors are actively seeking payment ...
On September 15, 2021, the one-year-long suspension of the Philippine Competition Commission’s (PCC) power to review mergers and acquisitions motu proprio under Republic Act No. 11494 (the Bayanihan to Recover as One Act, or the Bayanihan 2) ends. This means that starting September 16, 2021, the PCC may again review mergers and acquisitions motu proprio ...
Activists and government leaders are sounding the death knell for our planet unless something is done about climate change. But while sustainability is important, sustainability reporting may not be the answer. In a headline-hogging speech at the UN last month, 16-year-old environmental activist Greta Thunberg berated politicians and business people for doing too little to arrest climate change, ruining the globe for future generations. High-profile scandals back up her claim ...
The 50th Earth Day has passed this year under the shadow of a global pandemic, where the immediacy of human health has eclipsed, for now, the focus on the long-term health of the planet and humanity’s place within it that had begun to preoccupy businesses and investors. From a corporate governance perspective, that is reasonable, as risks to short-term survival take precedence over the long-term planning and risk mitigation demanded by more epochal trends like climate change ...
Covid-19 is upending capitalism as we know it. Amid the pandemic, how can businesses rewrite their rule books so as to emerge stronger? Americans have allegedly outbid the French for masks “right on the tarmac” just as the goods were to be flown off to their destination. From Amazon to Rakuten to Carousell, traders exploited fears by price-gouging on masks and hand sanitisers ...
Now the dust has settled on this year’s hugely influential SCV2UK Summit – which brings together global entrepreneurs, investors, and tech leaders the UK and Bay Area - Partner James Klein reflects on another successful event which the firm has again supported ...
Background Overseas investors’ participation in the China Inter-bank Bond Market (CIBM) has been steadily increasing in recent years due to the implementation of various opening-up regimes that allow access to the CIBM, such as the CIBM Direct, Bond Connect and QFI regimes, and the inclusion of China bonds in major international indices. At the end of 2021, overseas investors held RMB bonds of RMB 4 trillion, accounting for about 3.5% of the total market size of the CIBM ...
The global spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus infection has led to significant changes in the Russian retail trade. This pandemic has forced millions of people to stay at home, avoid public places and, of course, buy less. To adapt to the new features of consumer behaviour, retailers need to promptly respond, adapt, or dramatically change their business processes and strategies ...
SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan (SyCipLaw) Partners Ricardo Ma. P.G. Ongkiko (Head of the Firm's Litigation Department), Carlos Roberto Z. Lopez, and John Christian Joy A. Regalado authored the Philippine chapter of the latest Global Practice Guide (GPG) on International Arbitration published by Chambers and Partners ...
SyCipLaw Partners Ricardo P.G. Ongkiko (head of Litigation Department), John Christian Joy A. Regalado and Ma. Patricia B. Paz-Jacoba have written "International Commercial Arbitration in the Philippines," a chapter in the recently released Chambers International Arbitration 2023 Global Practice Guide (GPG) ...
SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan (SyCipLaw) has kept its Tier 1 ranking in M&A and Restructuring and Insolvency in the latest rankings released by IFLR1000, the guide to the world’s leading financial and corporate law firms. Earlier this year, SyCipLaw also received Tier 1 rankings in Banking, Capital markets: Equity, Project development, and in Project finance ...
SyCip Salazar Hernandez & Gatmaitan (SyCipLaw) Partners Ricardo Ma. P.G. Ongkiko, Carlos Roberto Z. Lopez, John Christian A. Regalado, and Ma. Patricia B. Paz-Jacoba and Of Counsel Emmanuel M. Lombos have been cited in The Legal 500’s inaugural Arbitration Powerlist: Southeast Asia 2022. This edition of the Private Practice Powerlist, which draws on extensive research by The Legal 500, highlights the region’s leading arbitration lawyers. Mr ...
