There were conflicting judicial opinions of first instance courts as to whether the exception in summary judgment applications under Order 14, rule 1(2)(b) of the Rules of the High Court (Cap. 4A) (Fraud Exception) covers actions in which the defendant is not alleged to be a party to the fraud, but where allegations of fraud are made against a third party. In R. Stahl Inc ...
Key Points The California Court of Appeal has issued the first published opinion interpreting California Senate Bill 35's (SB 35) new laws that streamline the approval of much-needed housing projects. Under SB 35, qualifying housing projects are eligible for ministerial review, which can reduce entitlement processing times by months if not years. In Ruegg & Ellsworth v. City of Berkeley (Cal. Ct. App., April 20, 2021, No ...
On October 31, 2012, the California Court of Appeal affirmed a finding that two chemicals classified by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) as possibly carcinogenic pursuant to the Labor Code do not meet the standard for inclusion on the Proposition 65 list ...
Court Limits Authority of DOJ to Dismiss Relator Claims April 23, 2019 TheGranston Memoraised concerns that the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) would employ its authority under 31 U.S.C. § 3730 tounderminequi tamrelator actions. Since the Memo was issued, the DOJ moved to dismiss 11 Anti-Kickback Statute cases brought by a professional relator, the National Health Care Analysis Group (“NHCAG”) ...
Arbitration provisions are becoming more common in construction contracts, but a recent court decision reveals that enforcing these provisions requires more than just placing them in a contract. Contractors, especially those seeking to arbitrate claims involving multiple property owners or an entire homeowner or condominium association, must sufficiently establish that enough of the property owners agreed to arbitrate their claims. Mattamy Florida LLC .v ...
In the case with number 609/2018 TA decided on the 29th of September 2022, the employee was alleging that he had suffered an injury whilst performing his duties as a gardener. The defendant company employing the plaintiff rejected responsibility for this alleged incident ...
On November 9, 2012, a federal District Court in Washington certified a national class and a Washington state sub-class in an action alleging that Papa John’s International, Inc. (“Papa John’s”) violated the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (“TCPA”) by sending unsolicited text messages advertising its pizza products. The court determined that plaintiffs had standing and satisfied all other requirements for class certification ...
On 7 August 2019 the Federal Administrative Court annulled a Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) order that had limited the price increase of a medicinal product on the list of specialities to two years. The product manufacturer had requested a price increase under Article 67(2) of the Healthcare Insurance Ordinance (SR 832.102), having incurred higher costs following the loss of two suppliers ...
In January, Florida’s Second District Court of Appeal affirmed a $638,794.10 award for damages in favor of a utility contract, and reversed an award of $177,750 in liquidated damages in favor of the county that hired it. The damages awarded arose from an improper stoppage of work and delay in construction by the county. Sarasota County Florida v. Southern Underground Industries, Inc ...
Please find a summary of regulations related to COVID-19 in more than 32 countries (including Indonesia prepared by our Firm) as per 22 April 2020 below. Economic Measures Loan Facilities: The Indonesian Financial Services Authority (OJK) issued Regulation No. 11/POJK.03/2020 (March 16, 2020), which relaxes the loan quality assessment and restructuring requirements for borrowers affected by COVID-19 until March 31, 2021 ...
Environmental, social and governance (ESG) reporting is a major and evolving regulatory area in Europe. Disclosures play a crucial role in helping the financial sector address climate change and sustainability. They are also being used to address issues such as poor workplace diversity and gender pay gaps. Several jurisdictions have introduced or plan to introduce measures dealing with ESG risks in supply chains ...
On 3 October 2019, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) published its groundbreaking ruling in case C-18/18 establishing that the EU enables national courts to order information societies such as Facebook to remove defamatory information. This also encompasses equivalent versions of previously declared illegal information. In doing so, the ECJ effectively held that EU law does not preclude injunctions issued by national courts from producing worldwide effects ...
One of the key issues raised consistently in the discussions around a no-deal Brexit is the impact it would have on the customs duties payable on goods that are imported in to the UK. Whilst MPs have now voted against a no-deal Brexit, this does not change the legal position – that unless a deal is agreed, there will be a no-deal Brexit, (or no Brexit at all) ...
The year 2023 was marked by the further strengthening of control over transactions involving the sale of Russian assets owned by “unfriendly” foreign entities, as well as over Russian strategic companies. As for antimonopoly regulation, after several years of discussions and revisions, the fifth antimonopoly package was adopted, and a number of precedent-setting cases were considered. Please see below for more details about the key developments and highlights of 2023. 1 ...
New biodiversity net gain (BNG) requirements are set to be enforced in November 2023, giving developers and the wider real estate industry less than 12 months to prepare. The legislation will require all new developments in England, bar a few exceptions, to deliver at least 10 per cent BNG – impacting commercial and residential developers. The requirements form part of the Environment Act 2021, which received Royal Assent in November 2021 ...
Companies found guilty of manslaughter under new law could have their finances and reputations ruined. The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 comes into force on 6 April 2008. After much controversy and delay the legislation is almost with us. In a nutshell: The Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 (the “Act”) comes into force in the UK on 6 April 2008 ...
Under the current law, for an organisation to be liable for a fatality the 'identification' principle must apply. This first requires an individual to be personally guilty of the wrongdoing. This individual must then be identified as the "controlling mind" of the company. There are several problems with the current system. It is often impossible to identify the "controlling mind" behind the decision which results in the death ...
The de novo medical device process is a little-used but potentially valuable means of securing approval for your medical device. The pathway was established in 1997 subject to the Federal Food Drug & Cosmetic Act, Section 513 (f) (2). It was designed to employ a risk-based strategy for novel devices that have not yet been classified. Basically, it establishes a new device type including classification, regulation, appropriate controls and product code ...
That’s the question Shoosmiths and Cornwall Insight’s recent report sought to answer, investigating the role the Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) model could play as part of the UK’s electric vehicle charging network. In a new video, Jonathan Smart, partner and head of mobility at Shoosmiths, discusses the BaaS model, which enables electric vehicle owners and business fleets to swap out depleted batteries for fully charged ones at a service station via a subscription service ...
The Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) is intended to provide nearly $700 billion of economic relief to small businesses adversely affected by COVID-19 ...
Public comment closed August 1 on the rulemaking process for a final ban on TikTok and other social media applications (“apps”) from federal contractors’ devices. The new regulation will expand upon the interim Department of Defense, General Services Administration, and NASA (“the agencies”) ban, which went into effect on June 2, 2023. Over half of all states have banned TikTok on state government devices, with more likely to follow ...
Under the Companies Act a company is prohibited (subject to certain exceptions) from making loans to its directors. A recent case highlighted the dangers to a director who is aware that his company has made loans in breach of that prohibition. The case involved a father and son who were the directors of a company. Over time, the father had become less involved in the day-to-day management of the company in question ...
“We simply cannot go on with this utterly outmoded way of working…Endlessly re-keying in the same information; repeatedly printing and photocopying the same documents; moving files about, losing all or parts of them in the process… It is a heavy handed, duplicative, inefficient and costly way of doing our work and it is all about to go. Considerably past time, we will finally catch up with the world.” Sir Brian Leveson ...
