Today, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced, effective August 28, 2016 and continuing for 180 days, it is expanding its earlier Geographic Targeting Orders (GTO) requiring information about the natural persons behind shell companies used to purchase high-end residential real estate for “all cash.” FinCEN has been collecting this…
My colleagues Anthony Raven, Olivia Matsushita and Andrew White recently published an interesting advisory on the future of carbon dioxide (CO2) injection enhanced oil recovery (EOR). The Future of Carbon Dioxide Injection EOR in the United States is the first advisory in a periodic series exploring legal issues relating to…
Pillsbury’s Policyholder Pulse Law blog recently posted an interesting blog, Use Contractor’s Pollution Liability Insurance to Clean Up Potential Gaps in Your CGL Coverage by Ashley E. Cowgill, on the importance of contractors having the right liability coverage in place in the event that a flash flood or other natural disaster causes damage…
Public development and infrastructure projects are on the rise in California. This is a good thing for the economy. But it also means that private property will often be needed to complete these projects. Public agencies may acquire private property upon payment of just compensation, without the owner’s consent, through an eminent domain action. Property near…
Recently, my colleagues Brian Blum and Jim Chudy published an interesting piece titled Five Things about the IRS’s Proposed Regulations on the Spinoff Device and Active Business Tests discussing the IRS’ recent proposal of long-anticipated regulations tightening the “device” and “active trade or business” tests that are necessary for a corporation to distribute a subsidiary in…
Anyone doing international construction work knows that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC) has been continually increasing its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) focus on U.S. companies doing business overseas. Here’s the latest: Recently my colleagues William Sullivan and Reza Zarghamee wrote an interesting piece, New SEC Payment Disclosure Rules…
This decision is reminiscent of a fairytale about a princess and her frog prince and the croaking chorus of the Frogs of Aristophane. On June 30, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit issued a significant ruling involving critical habitat designations on private land. The case was decided…
A very interesting unclaimed property memorandum opinion was recently issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware in Temple-Inland, Inc. v. Cook, et al. After the State of Delaware conducted an audit going back 22 years and assessed Temple-Inland a liability of $2,128,834.13, which was comprised of…
There are three types of bonds that afford financial protection in connection with a construction project: payment bonds, performance bonds, and bid bonds. Below is a primer on the differences between these bonds and who is protected by them. Construction Bonds Construction bonds may be required by contract or by statute.…
On June 3, 2016, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, in Rhea Lana, Inc., et al., v. Department of Labor, reversed the district court’s holding that a warning letter sent to the plaintiff by the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor (DOL) was not a…