This morning, the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection (“DEP”) filed a proposed interpretive rule (the “Interpretive Rule”) with the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office implementing, in part, the recent Aboveground Storage Tank Act (the “AST Act”), which was enacted in response to the January 9, 2014 event that contaminated the water supply of approximately 300,000 West Virginia residents across nine counties ...
The Federal Court of Canada recently released its decision in Ahousaht First Nation v. Canada (Fisheries and Oceans)(1). The case considered an application by 14 First Nations represented by the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council (“NTC”) for judicial review of a decision of the Minister of Fisheries and Oceans regarding the implementation of a commercial groundfish pilot plan on the British Columbia coast (the “Pilot Plan”) ...
The Sappier Decision: Supreme Court of Canada Recognizes Aboriginal Right to Timber for Domestic Purposes and Clarifies Requirements for Establishing an Aboriginal RightOn December 7, 2006, the Supreme Court of Canada handed down its decision in the cases of Gray v. R and R. v. Sappier and Polchies ...
In response to the extraordinary economic and social impact of the ongoing Covid-19 public health crisis, the Government of Hong Kong has sought to provide support to the beleaguered commercial property sector. In the 2020 Policy Address, the Chief Executive announced the abolition of the Double Ad Valorem Stamp Duty (DSD) on non-residential property (NRP) transactions pursuant to the Public Revenue Protection (Stamp Duty) Order 2020 taking effect from 26 November 2020 ...
Following a period of consultation, the Government has confirmed that legislative changes will be made to ensure that “protected persons” will not be affected by the statutory amendment power being introduced as part of the abolition of defined benefit contracting-out ...
In a recent Federal Court decision, Justice Fothergill dismissed AbbVie?s applications for judicial review of the following decisions of the Minister of Health (the ?Minister?): that JAMP was not a ?second person? for the purposes of s 5(1) of the PM(NOC) Regulations; and to issue NOCs to JAMP for its SIMLANDI Presentations. Background AbbVie's drug HUMIRA first received approval in Canada in 2004 as a 50 mg/mL concentration of adalimumab ...
The American Bar Association (ABA) has issued its second formal opinion concerning Model Rule 4.2 in as many months. The so-called “no-contact rule” prohibits a lawyer from having contact with a represented party about the subject of the representation. The Rule does not, however, account for the “reply all” function in email communications ...
The cornerstone of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) is access to information. CEQA generally requires local and state government agencies ("lead agencies") overseeing proposed projects to prepare project-related documents assessing potential environmental impacts. These documents inform decision-makers and the public of the project's potential environmental impacts ...
In 2021, warehouse distribution centers were at the forefront of California law, regulations, and environmental initiatives. These efforts seek to regulate labor practices of warehouse operators and the environmental impacts caused by the expansion and concentration of distribution centers over the last decade. This article summarizes AB 701 and other initiatives in California targeting warehouse distribution operations ...
On January 1, 2017, most public works projects in California will be subject to new procedural requirements applicable to claims from contractors ...
he designation of critical habitat under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) can result in significant and costly consequences for landowners, industry, government, and other entities—often with little if any evidence of a commensurate benefit to the species involved. In Critical Habitat and the Challenge of Regulating Small Harms, Professor Dave Owen provides a valuable contribution to assessing the role of critical habitat during consultation on federal agency actions under ESA section 7 ...
Good news! The murkiness surrounding declarant rights in North Carolina became a little clearer this summer. On July 7, 2014, Governor McCrory signed an amendment to the Planned Community Act addressing the transfer of declarant rights. This article only addresses lender’s rights or liability surrounding declarant rights if that lender were in acquiring ownership of that collateral in the context of foreclosure or “deed in lieu ...
Despite the highly publicized announcement that enforcement of the “Pay-or-Play” mandate (which requires businesses to provide health insurance to all full-time employees or face yearly penalties of up to $3,000 per employee) has been delayed until 2015, important considerations remain for businesses and consumers about how they will ultimately be affected by the Affordable Care Act ...
In our last two articles, we have considered how transport may change over the coming years. This is of course only half the story. Clean energy production is possible within a city and there are many other technologies currently available, or just around the corner, which may revolutionise both the power grid and the quality of inner-city air. Energy generation It goes without saying that renewable energy sources will be critical to our future energy needs ...
In the first article of this three-part series we looked at the future of personal transport. In this second piece, we turn to consider mass public transport and how it could play a significant part in the future of commuting. Birmingham is beginning to make substantial changes to its transport infrastructure, but are the changes big enough? The Metro Opened on 30 May 1999, the West Midlands Metro provided a link between Wolverhampton and Birmingham ...
On February 10, 2022, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology (“MIIT”) issued a second draft of the Measures for Administration of Data Security in the Field of Industry and Informatization (for Trial Implementation) (Draft for Comment) (the “Measures”), which makes revisions to the first draft in response to public comments received following its issuance on September 30, 2021. This second draft opened for public comments until February 21, 2022 ...
As we indicated a few months ago, the partial reform of the intellectual property law continues its journey towards the Lower House of the Spanish Parliament. On Friday, February 14, the Cabinet approved the text of the preliminary bill, which must now get the green light from the consultative bodies and be debated in Parliament as a bill before its definitive approval. The main lines of the approved text are those we advanced in our previous post: 1 ...
We have previously commented on the impact environmental concerns are having on those working in the traditional energy sectors. In particular, the focus on renewable energy has left many oil and gas workers nervous about their job security and ability to find alternative work if they are made redundant. Thankfully, it appears those concerns might be unfounded ...
In the latest ruling from the contentious Gloria’s Ranch case (Gloria's Ranch, L.L.C. v. Tauren Exploration, Inc., 2018 La. LEXIS 1694), the Supreme Court of Louisiana reversed the lower courts’ decisions that held Wells Fargo Energy Capital, Inc ...
Key Points Monitoring the movement of the COVID-19 virus in untreated wastewater may provide useful information in tracking the spread of the disease. Current methods for treating wastewater supplies appear to be sufficient to protect against further spread of COVID-19. In the absence of widespread testing and contact tracing, could untreated wastewater hold the key to tracking the spread of COVID-19? Increasingly, the answer appears promising ...
