Federal statutes provide for forfeiture of real property used in conjunction with a variety of criminal activity. Although the primary focus of federal civil forfeiture statutes has been on drug-related offenses, the reach of these statutes now extends to a variety of other crimes. A recent Southern District case, however, raises an issue not explicitly resolved by the forfeiture statutes: when is the property of a corporate owner subject to forfeiture?
The Internal Revenue Service has provided guidance Notice 2005-86 on the interaction of the 2.5-month grace period for a health flexible spending arrangement (health FSA) (established earlier this year by Notice 2005-42 and an individual's eligibility to contribute to Health Savings Accounts (HSAs).
A franchisor's ability to enforce system standards and sustain the positive image of the brand is critical to the long-term success of a franchising system. To some degree, a franchisor's threat of termination or non-renewal contributes to that enforcement effect. But what can a franchisor do when a contract has a long duration and/or a franchisee has a strong legal presumption of renewal?
Corporate structures have long been likened to military organizations, though this is the less popular style today. In attempts to increase productivity, morale and loyalty, corporate managers and analysts of corporate management have looked to sports models for fresh ideas which go deeper than the cliched sports metaphors. <br>Several models of the organization's operations and culture have been identified: Football as epitomizing managerial control and centralization; baseball as a model of individual autonomy and situational teamwork; basketball and soccer as focusing on voluntary cooperation and shared decision-making. Which characterizes your firm ' or the culture you desire?
Looking into the New Year: What should the legal profession, specifically those who lead their practices to success through professional development, think about?
With trillions of dollars to keep watch over, the last thing we need is the distraction of costly litigation brought on by patent assertion entities (PAEs or "patent trolls"), companies that don't make any products but instead seek royalties by asserting their patents against those who do make products.
“Baseball arbitration” refers to the process used in Major League Baseball in which if an eligible player's representative and the club ownership cannot reach a compensation agreement through negotiation, each party enters a final submission and during a formal hearing each side — player and management — presents its case and then the designated panel of arbitrators chooses one of the salary bids with no other result being allowed. This method has become increasingly popular even beyond the sport of baseball.
Insiders (and others) in the private equity business are accustomed to seeing a good deal of discussion ' academic and trade ' on the question of the appropriate methods of valuing private equity positions and securities which are otherwise illiquid. An interesting recent decision in the Southern District has been brought to our attention. The case is <i>In Re Allied Capital Corp.</i>, CCH Fed. SEC L. Rep. 92411 (US DC, S.D.N.Y., Apr. 25, 2003). Judge Lynch's decision is well written, the Judge reviewing a motion to dismiss by a business development company, Allied Capital, against a strike suit claiming that Allied's method of valuing its portfolio failed adequately to account for i) conditions at the companies themselves and ii) market conditions. The complaint appears to be, as is often the case, slap dash, content to point out that Allied revalued some of its positions, marking them down for a variety of reasons, and the stock price went down - all this, in the view of plaintiff's counsel, amounting to violations of Rule 10b-5.
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.
While the DOJ Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative is still in its early stages and cybersecurity regulations are evolving, whistleblower plaintiffs have already begun leveraging the FCA to pursue alleged noncompliance with government cybersecurity requirements.
