Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%
Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.
The Costs of Code Upgrades
When a property is physically damaged by some insurable event ' such as a flood or fire ' laws or ordinances that were not in place when the original property was first constructed must be considered in the repairing or rebuilding of that property. After Hurricane Andrew in 1992, for example, Dade County Florida required that ruined houses be rebuilt in compliance with stricter severe-weather standards than the damaged houses had previously exhibited. These upgrade requirements must be reconciled with replacement-cost insurance for property owners, which puts the insured in the same position, with the same quality of property, as existed before the insured event ' not in a better position, with a higher quality of property (eg, a stronger roof, better ventilation, wider egresses, and the like). Consequently, courts, insurers and insureds need to resolve the question of which party pays the costs of compliance with changed construction codes.
The courts offer several lines of analysis. Where contracts are silent on the matter, some courts find coverage for code upgrades to be part of the replacement coverage, while the majority seems to hold that it is not. In other circumstances, replacement insurance contracts expressly address the cost of code upgrades between the parties. To illustrate, the contract may say that the policy does, or does not cover, “any loss occasioned by enforcement of any local or state ordinance or law regulating the construction, repair or demolition of buildings.” Allowing for these variations in wording, the case law focuses on a number of key analytic questions.
The DOJ's Corporate Enforcement Policy: One Year Later
The DOJ's Criminal Division issued three declinations since the issuance of the revised CEP a year ago. Review of these cases gives insight into DOJ's implementation of the new policy in practice.
The DOJ's New Parameters for Evaluating Corporate Compliance Programs
The parameters set forth in the DOJ's memorandum have implications not only for the government's evaluation of compliance programs in the context of criminal charging decisions, but also for how defense counsel structure their conference-room advocacy seeking declinations or lesser sanctions in both criminal and civil investigations.
Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar Investigations
This article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
Compliance Officers: Recent Regulatory Guidance and Enforcement Actions and Mitigating the Risk of Personal Liability
This article explores legal developments over the past year that may impact compliance officer personal liability.