Federal Crackdown on Hoarding and Gouging During COVID-19 Crisis
May 01, 2020
Storage and Hauling Companies Take Note
Imagine that it's Spring 2020 and you run a warehousing company and you discover that your warehouse contains containers of goods that could help combat the spread of the COVID-19 virus — masks, medical gowns, gloves or other personal protective equipment (PPE). Or imagine you own a trucking company and learn that your drivers are delivering pallets of hand sanitizer and disinfectants to a residential address. What, if any, liability might you have if it turns out a customer is hoarding PPE?
Conducting Internal Investigations During the COVID-19 Pandemic
April 01, 2020
In times of crisis, criminal activity — particularly crimes involving theft and fraud — tend to spike. There is no reason to believe that the Covid-19 pandemic and the unrest in the financial markets will be any different. An important difference for company counsel, however, will be in how the malfeasance, negligence or wrongdoing can be investigated.
Force Majeure and the Doctrine of Impossibility
April 01, 2020
The COVID-19 pandemic is resulting in landlords and tenants closely reviewing a clause in their lease that was long considered unimportant boilerplate. Yes, we are referring to the "force majeure" provision.
The Importance of 'Particulars' in Criminal Fraud Cases
April 01, 2020
This article discusses the standard for ordering a bill of particulars in the Second Circuit, drawing a comparison with the standard for civil fraud claims, and then describes a recent decision ordering a bill of particulars in the high-profile prosecution growing out of the Theranos blood-testing scandal. The decision in that case highlights the importance of seeking bills of particulars in fraud cases.
Agency: A New Frontier for FCPA Jurisdiction
March 01, 2020
The Hoskins case highlighted the manner by which the DOJ (and the SEC, which has civil enforcement jurisdiction under the FCPA) can harness the common-law doctrine of agency to expand the reach of the statute.
Stockholder Derivative Litigation Update
March 01, 2020
The Delaware Court of Chancery recently addressed a nearly unprecedented issue: the discovery and privilege implications of a special litigation committee's (SLC) decision to hand over control of a company claim to a stockholder derivative plaintiff who initiated the claim and survived a motion to dismiss.