The Cat’s Meow? Recent Developments Trend Toward Pet-Friendly Custody Laws
The province of British Columbia (B.C.) and the State of New York are leading the way in the field of pet custody and could be just the nudge needed to signal others to catch up. In the United States, pets are generally categorized as property to be distributed pursuant to the applicable state’s property distribution…
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New M&A Broker Exemption: To Be or Not To Be, That Is the Question
On March 29, 2023, a new exemption from SEC registration for brokers providing services in mergers and acquisitions (“M&A”) transactions officially went into effect. The exemption, outlined in Section 501 of the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023, is welcome news to the many M&A practitioners whose practices had previously been reliant solely on the SEC…
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Don’t Let Bad Indemnity Provisions Become Your Environmental Disaster
Successor liability is a phrase that corporate officers hope to never have to utter to their board of directors or shareholders. Unfortunately, it’s a common phrase in environmental litigation and a need-to-know concept in transactional law. Successor liability can arise directly from the activities of an entity that has been acquired or merged into your…
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2023 Employment Law Updates: Q1 Developments from Pregnancy to Polyamory
As we discussed in our annual update back in December, employers continue to see extensive developments on the labor and employment front as they progress through 2023. Aside from the minimum wage increases, pay equity/transparency, cannabis, and other updates which you can read about in our previous DE Insight, there are several new developments that…
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Protect Ya Neck: The Wu-Tang Clan, Independent Contractors and the Potential Expansion of Negligent Hiring Claims
Instead of toiling over a 130-page private placement memorandum as an attorney or reviewing payroll as the head of the family business, imagine for a moment that you are Method Man, the de-facto lyrical leader of the Wu-Tang Clan. You and your Wu brethren have inked a deal with Escobar himself — Nas — to…
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AmeriSource Decision a Difficult Pill to Swallow for Securities Plaintiffs
The opioid crisis has garnered nationwide attention for decades and has resulted in thousands of lawsuits, subjecting pharmaceutical distributors to billions of dollars in damages. AmerisourceBergen (“Amerisource”) — one of the “big three” largest pharmaceutical distributors in the U.S. — has frequently been accused of failing to adequately monitor and report suspicious orders of prescription…
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Protection From Panic Starts With These Proactive Banking Strategies
The fast and furious developments related to Silicon Valley Bank (“SVB”), Signature Bank, and others had depositors, employees, landlords, lawyers, accountants, and fiduciaries from nearly every sector scrambling for solutions to very real and challenging liquidity problems for their businesses and clients. Fortunately, after stepping in as receiver last Friday, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation…
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Born in the USA? Product Origin Claims Nothing to Mess With
The interconnectedness of the global economy has resulted in consumers being faced with a wide selection of substitute products from many different countries. A ”Made in the United States” claim could be, and often is, a difference maker in the eyes of the consumer. This could be attributed to a patriotic trust factor in the…
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How Earnout Provisions Can Supply Great Value for Buyers, Sellers
Earnout provisions can be an effective tool for addressing the potential disconnect between a seller’s expectations and a buyer’s ability to pay when negotiating a business combination transaction. Earnout provisions, or contingent purchase price agreements, allow buyers to limit their upfront payment and spread the purchase price over time. From the seller’s perspective, earnouts can…
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Outside the Playground: California’s Child Privacy Act Sets Rules for Child’s Play
In his State of the Union address on February 7, 2023, President Biden affirmed his position on consumer data privacy protections and specifically his focus on strengthening protections for children. With several state data privacy acts now effective (and more scheduled later this year), compliance with the complex mesh of data privacy laws in the…
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