Legal News

As a small year-end gift to building developers, the NYC Council passed Int. 2033-2020 to ease the move-in process for owners and occupants. This bill allows the Department of Buildings (DOB) to issue Interim Certificates of Occupancies (ICOs) to authorize the occupancy of specific portions of a building—deemed safe for occupancy—prior to completion of all permitted construction work comprising the project. Importantly, no further DOB approvals are required following issuance of an ICO....By: ...

The Department of Justice Antitrust Division (the “Division”) recently released updated guidance outlining when and how the Division will use arbitration in civil cases and merger investigations in the place of traditional litigation. The Division now encourages the use of arbitration in “appropriate” cases that would benefit from the use of such alternative dispute resolution techniques. The Divisions Approach to Arbitration - Historically, the Division has not used its authorization to....

In AB Stable VIII LLC v. Maps Hotels and Resorts One LLC, the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a precedential decision addressing whether a buyer could walk away from an M&A transaction because the target company’s responses to the COVID-19 pandemic constituted either a “material adverse effect” (MAE) or a breach of the covenant to operate in the ordinary course of business between signing and closing (“Ordinary Course Covenant”). Although the MAE definition did not include an exception f...

As 2020 comes to a much anticipated close and we approach the one-year anniversary of the start of the global COVID-19 pandemic, it is worth reflecting on the impacts the health crisis has had on the construction marketplace and surety industry and its likely lasting effects in the years to come. As we grappled with these issues from a legal perspective over the past nine months and surveyed our industry colleagues on their thoughts about how the world has (or hasn’t) changed, some clear themes...

On December 8, 2020, in Taylor Morrison of Texas, Inc. v. Kohlmeyer, a Texas Court of Appeals rejected a contractor’s appeal of a trial court order denying the contractor’s motion to compel arbitration in a home construction defect dispute. The appellate court concluded that the theories of direct benefits estoppel and implied assumptions did not permit the contractor to bind a subsequent purchaser to mandatory arbitration required under the original purchase agreement......By: Bradley Arant B...

Another day, another new Google antitrust lawsuit—this time thanks to a group of 30-plus states that have accused the company of “illegally arranging its search results to push out smaller rivals.” Oh, and money likely won’t be enough for resolution....By: Robins Kaplan LLP

All eyes were on health care in 2020, as the industry faced unprecedented challenges presented by the global coronavirus pandemic. Stories and images of overburdened frontline health care workers dominated the news cycle for most of the year, and the rapid development of one or more seemingly effective vaccines has engendered a cautious optimism for a return to normalcy in 2021......By: Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP

The European Commission (EC) has published its draft Digital Markets Act (DMA), which will introduce broad reforms to the application of EU competition law to ‘gatekeepers’ in the digital sector. The proposals set out in-principle criteria for companies that offer ‘core platform services’, which, if met, raise the rebuttable presumption that the company is a gatekeeper. Companies that meet the criteria will either need to prove to the EC that they are not gatekeepers or will need to abide by...

The U.K. Competition & Markets Authority (CMA), which is on the cusp of becoming an independent merger regulator post-Brexit, is already known for its readiness to investigate global digital deals, issue freezing orders and apply future-gazing theories of harm based on long-term horizons (five or more years). The CMA’s 2019 Lear Report recommended using merger control more aggressively to intervene in digital markets, and these recommendations have been taken up in recent consultations on...By:...

Asset managers across geographies and asset classes are increasingly incorporating environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) considerations at all levels of the investment management business. Increased focus on ESG has been driven by investor demand and the introduction of new regulatory requirements in certain key jurisdictions. ESG considerations now have a more important role to play in the development and implementation of investment strategies, analysis of investment opportunities,......