The year 2012 saw a deluge of trusts being formed to take advantage of what was perceived as the last opportunity to make large gift transfers before a possible decline in the exemption from $5 million to $1 million. The result of all of this should be the need to evaluate more trusts in more divorce cases in the future.
Just because a company's stock is not publicly traded doesn't mean it doesn't have publicly traded debt. Churches, utilities, and hospitals are common types of debtors that issue debt, but many others do as well.
The duty one Internet user has to another has changed, particularly with respect to cyber-security and privacy. Negligence by Internet users has enabled hackers and creators of viruses to exploit computer systems and engage in crime and unwanted computer intrusions.
One of the most frequent questions that we have at the moment is about the timetable for Europe's changes to data protection laws. Needless to say, there is no definite answer. However, the path forward may recently have become just a little clearer.
Film Production Company Loses Legal Malpractice Suit<br>"Iron Man Theme" Copyright "Owner" Settlement Doesn't Preclude Work-for-Hire Finding<br>No Federal Trademark Registration for "Slants" Band
TheUnited States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit recently held that merely "authorizing" medically necessary services can constitute illegally "referring" patients under the AKS, if improper payments are made to the authorizing doctor.
Certain types of incentive payments and business arrangements that would improve the quality of care and provide needed assistance to indigent patients could actually run afoul of the federal fraud and abuse laws, including the Anti-Kickback Statute (AKS) (42 U.S.C. ' 1320a-7b(b)), and potentially trigger their drastic penalties.
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.
