Legal News

The Town of Smithtown is considering the adoption of a local law that would allow residential uses as part of mixed-use developments in the Hauppauge Industrial Park.  The proposal follows on the heels of an April 2019 report commissioned by the Suffolk County Industrial Development Agency (“SCIDA”) which called for the park to position itself to become a regional economic hub that fosters the growth of key industries by, among other things, creating a more dynamic live-work-play environment.....

30 June - The Financial Conduct Authority (“FCA”) announced that the deadline for solo-regulated firms to have undertaken the first assessment of the fitness and propriety of their Certified Persons will be delayed from 9 December 2020 until 31 March 2021. The FCA published a statement setting out its expectations to help benchmark administrators and firms using Appointed Representative arrangements to apply the Approved Persons Regime during the Covid-19 pandemic....By: Proskauer Rose LLP

On June 24, John Elias, a former Acting Chief of Staff to the United States Assistant Attorney General for the Antitrust Division, testified in front of the U.S. House of Representative’s Judiciary Committee that last year the Antitrust Division had investigated ten cannabis mergers and the California/automakers emissions agreements based on political pressure from Attorney General Bill Barr and not based on any concerns about harm to competition......By: Foley Hoag LLP - Cannabis and the Law

On June 30, 2020 the Department of Justice’s Antitrust Division and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) jointly issued new guidelines on how antitrust enforcers evaluate “vertical” mergers—mergers between suppliers and purchasers in the same or related markets......By: Seyfarth Shaw LLP

BCLP’s global Antitrust & Competition team have been tracking the various ways COVID-19 is impacting antitrust enforcement, merger control, state aid and foreign direct investment rules ("FDI") in key jurisdictions around the world. Here are some user friendly one-page maps which highlight the key impacts that the COVID-19 pandemic is having – and may have – on competition law and FDI rules - worldwide....By: Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner

In Skanska USA Building Inc v MAP Mechanical Contractors, Inc, (Michigan Supreme Court, Docket Nos. 159510-159511, June 29, 2020) the Michigan Supreme Court held, in a unanimous decision, that a subcontractor’s unintentional defective work is an “accident” and, therefore, an “occurrence” covered under a Commercial General Liability (CGL) policy, allowing insurance coverage for the costs incurred by the construction manager to repair the subcontractor’s defective work....By: Clark Hill PLC

In this episode of Trekking Through Compliance, we consider the episode The Doomsday Machine which aired on October 20, 1967, Star Date 4202.9. Compliance Takeaways: How do you terminate a third party? How do you evaluate your risk assessment? How does your organization respond to findings in an investigation?...By: Thomas Fox

The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (collectively, “Agencies”) released the final version of the Vertical Merger Guidelines (“Vertical Guidelines”) on June 30, 2020. The new Vertical Guidelines, which had not been updated in more than 35 years, outline how the Agencies will evaluate whether vertical mergers violate the federal antitrust laws....By: Shearman & Sterling LLP

On June 30, 2020, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and Federal Trade Commission (FTC) (the Agencies) issued new guidelines governing for vertical mergers and acquisitions. The Guidelines replace and supersede the DOJ's 1984 Non-Horizontal Merger Guidelines and follow an earlier draft the Agencies issued for public comment on January 10, 2020....By: Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

When the pandemic broke, hand brakes were swiftly pulled, and just like that, the record-breaking bull run of M&A activity was over. It's a very different landscape now credit has become tighter and investors have become more measured. Conventional notions of deal certainty and risk are being severely challenged by an unfamiliar and uncertain environment, and even industry veterans are starting to wonder how long the fear of the unknown will linger....By: Dentons