June 2010

How to reorganise a business in the Netherlands | Boekel

The current economic situation has forced many companies to reduce costs. Such cost reductions can often only be effected by implementing important changes in the organisation (reorganisation), which most of the time leads to (collective) redundancies. To have a legally valid reorganisation in the Netherlands, there are several statutory requirements to comply with. This article …

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Powering British Columbia’s future: the Clean Energy Act | Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP

On 28 April 2010 the British Columbia (BC) government introduced Bill 17, the Clean Energy Act (the Act), into the legislature for its first reading. The Act provides a foundation to assist the province in achieving its goals of electricity self-sufficiency, job creation and reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. The Act builds on the work …

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Digital Economy Act 2010: who should be worried? | Schillings

Depending on which newspaper you read, the Digital Economy Act 2010 (the 2010 Act), which became law on 8 April 2010 after a speedy parliamentary ‘wash-up’ procedure, is either going to kill or cure the digital ills of the nation. Certain quarters of the press would have us believe that it is only a matter …

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Future of credit rating agencies: reform ahead? | Norton Rose Fulbright

Credit Rating Agencies (CRAs) have recently been on the receiving end of increasingly close scrutiny by regulators as decision-makers on both sides of the Atlantic have asked serious questions of the role and structure of the established CRAs. The ongoing US Senate and New York Attorney General investigations into the financial crisis, together with recently …

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Property litigation: breaking up is hard to do | Bond Dickinson LLP

In the current market, tenants increasingly seek to exercise break clauses of over-rented and unwanted properties, but in so doing have encountered resistance from landlords. Three recent High Court and Court of Appeal decisions underline the difficulties a tenant faces in attempting to effect a break clause in a commercial lease. This article will examine …

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Third party rights: new law quickens procedures | Bond Dickinson LLP

The third party rights against insurers legislation allows a claimant to make a claim against a defendant’s insurers without having to issue court proceedings (and the term ‘defendant’ is used here to describe the party pursued by a claimant, whether or not proceedings have been issued). Furthermore, the rules apply as much where a defendant …

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E-commerce regulation: a tangled web | Byrne Wallace

The internet promised a revolution in retailing. ‘One-click’ shopping was heralded as the ultimate in ease and comfort for savvy shoppers. While this remains largely true, increasingly the online retailing experience is characterised by a myriad of terms and conditions (T&Cs), privacy policies, order confirmation e-mails and delivery status notifications that need to be either …

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Bribery Act 2010: a guide for in-house lawyers | DLA Piper

The Bribery Act 2010 (the 2010 Act) is expected to come into force in October, but it is clear that many companies and their in-house legal teams still have a lot of work to do before they are ready to comply with the new law. At the end of March, with the new law on …

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Trap orders to establish passing off | Rouse

In most litigation, evidence is everything. This is certainly true of passing off actions where, to succeed, the claimant must prove the classic trinity, namely a reputation and goodwill, a misrepresentation and consequential damage. This article is concerned with the second of those elements, the misrepresentation, and one of the methods of obtaining the evidence …

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Insureds’ continuing obligations through the policy period | Debevoise & Plimpton LLP

Apart from specific requirements imposed to minimise the chance of loss, the insurer may also insist on more general obligations, such as a clause requiring the insured to take reasonable care to avoid liability, loss or damage.

Administrators, landlords and tenants: three key cases | Holman Fenwick Willan

Since the introduction of the Insolvency Act 1986 (the 1986 Act), there has been a standard way of dealing with the leasehold premises of a company in administration as part of the sale of the business. Typically, the business sale agreement provides for the purchaser to occupy the leased premises on the basis of an …

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Liability: Transfield revisted | SJ Berwin LLP

In IHL169 we wrote of the effect of the House of Lords judgment in Transfield Shipping Inc v Mercator Shipping Inc [2008] (also referred to as The Achilleas), which cast some doubt on the application of the traditional rule on remoteness set out in Hadley v Baxendale (1854). In short, Transfield found that types of …

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