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Disclosure orders against banks' overseas branches

In <i>A1 v R1</i> a novel point appears to have arisen as to whether the High Court could grant <i>Norwich Pharmacal</i> relief in relation to the disclosure of documents and information concerning a bank account held not in Hong Kong but with the overseas branch of a Hong Kong bank. The Court of First Instance decided that it did have such power and, in doing so, reviewed the usual procedures for the grant of <i>Norwich Pharmacal</i> orders against a bank and the general principles that underpin <i>ex parte</i> applications.

Hong-kong , Macau , Cayman , 00 , Cayman-islands , Bernard-lukat , Hong-kong-monetary-authority , High-court , Norwich-pharmacal , First-instance , Charles-allen , Law

Aviation 2020: year in review

In 2020 the Civil Aviation Authority Bahamas (CAAB) made several important advances despite the COVID-19 pandemic, including:
restoring and boosting air travel to, from and within The Bahamas – efforts which are ongoing;
presenting three pieces of legislation to Parliament; and
addressing other ongoing challenges.
Air travel protocols
The Bahamas Travel Health Visa website updates users on the protocols to follow when travelling to and from The Bahamas in light of the Emergency Powers (COVID-19 Pandemic) (8) Order 2020 (for further details please see "Efforts to restore and boost air travel"). The protocols have resulted in an increase in the number of arrivals to The Bahamas.

Bahamas , The , Navigation-services-authority , Bahamas-travel-health-visa , Civil-aviation-authority-bahamas , International-civil-aviation-organisation , Ministry-of-tourism , Aviation-administration , Civil-aviation-authority , Emergency-powers , Civil-aviation-act

Supreme People's Court promulgates opinions on copyright

Soon after the recent adoption of the third amendment to the Copyright Law, the Supreme People's Court promulgated the Opinions on Strengthening the Protection of Copyright and Copyright-Related Rights. The opinions aim to encourage the development of emerging industries and improve the quality and efficiency of copyright trials.

Supreme-people-court , Supreme-people , Big-data , Law , Lawyers , Legal , Law-firms , Law-updates , Legal-updates , Legal-developments , Law-developments

Short-form mergers: Changyou.com judgment confirms appraisal rights

The Grand Court has confirmed that shareholders of companies that effect a short-form merger pursuant to Section 233(7) of Part XVI of the Companies Act (2021 Revision) are entitled to be paid the fair value of their shares on dissenting from the merger under Section 238 of the act. The eagerly awaited judgment in <I>Changyou.com</i> clarifies an issue which was previously the subject of extensive debate and provides welcome certainty to minority shareholders of Cayman companies.

China , Grand-cayman , 00 , Cayman-islands , Cayman , Farrah-sbaitiat-ogier , Exchange-commission , Court-under-section , Nasdaq , Grand-court , Companies-act , Cayman-islands-incorporated

Expansion of premises liability for construction owners

A property owner is generally liable for hazards on the property that injure others. On construction projects, this presents a significant risk for owners because there are always multiple hazards present, and the owner, generally, has very little control or knowledge of all the work being performed. Chapter 95 of the Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code alleviates some of this risk by limiting a commercial property owner's liability for personal injury claims by contractors and subcontractors under specific circumstances. The Texas Supreme Court's recent decision in
Chapter 95 requires an injured contractor or subcontractor to prove the owner had control over the work and actual knowledge of the hazardous condition causing the injury. This is a greater burden than under Texas common law, which imposes liability on a property owner who "reasonably should have known" of a condition or danger. However, Chapter 95 is limited in scope and only applies to claims that "arise from the condition or use of an improvement to real property where the contractor or subcontractor constructs, repairs, renovates, or modifies the improvement."

Texas , United-states , South-padre-island , Alfredo-teran , Juang-valdez , Los-compadres-pescadores , Texas-supreme-court , Texas-civil-practice , Remedies-code , South-padre , Law , Lawyers

Supreme Court: mere retention of property does not violate automatic stay

On January 14, 2021, the U.S. Supreme Court held in
City of Chicago v. Fulton, 592 U.S. __ (2021), that a creditor in possession of a debtor's property does not violate the automatic stay, specifically section 362(a)(3) of the Bankruptcy Code, by retaining the property after the filing of a bankruptcy petition. The Court's decision provides important guidance to bankruptcy courts, practitioners, and parties on the scope of the automatic stay's requirements.
Fulton arose from four separate bankruptcy cases. In each case, the City of Chicago ("City") had impounded the debtor's vehicle due to the debtor's failure to pay fines for motor vehicle infractions. Each debtor filed a chapter 13 bankruptcy petition and requested that the vehicle be returned. When the City refused, the bankruptcy court sanctioned the City for violating the automatic stay. In a consolidated appeal of the four cases, the Seventh Circuit affirmed, reasoning that the City had acted "to exercise control over property of the estate," 11 U.S.C. § 362(a)(3), especially in light of the Bankruptcy Code's turnover obligation under 11 U.S.C. § 542(a), which mandates that an entity in possession of estate property "shall deliver" the property to the trustee. A majority of circuits to address this question reached the same conclusion.

Justice-sotomayor , Justice-alito , Us-supreme-court , Bankruptcy-code , Seventh-circuit , Law , Lawyers , Legal , Law-firms , Law-updates , Legal-updates

Royal Court intervenes to set aside trustee decision

In
B v Erinvale, the Royal Court intervened to set aside a decision of the trustee not to make the spouse of the settlor a beneficiary in her own right. The court's decision has implications for trustees and their obligation to act reasonably despite the trustee setting out reasons for its original decision.
Summary
This case concerned an application made by B under Article 51 of the Trusts (Jersey) Law 1984 to be added as a beneficiary of the A Settlement in her own right. B was already a beneficiary of the A Settlement in her capacity as the spouse of the settlor. However, the settlor was in ill health and had issued divorce proceedings, such that B had become concerned about her status as a beneficiary. The trustee had previously resolved not to add B as a beneficiary in her own right and had set out its reasons for not doing so in a detailed minute. However, the Royal Court found that despite the detailed and carefully considered minute, the decision ultimately reached by the trustee not to add B as a beneficiary in her own right was one which no reasonable trustee would have made. The Royal Court therefore intervened in order to set that decision aside.

Jersey , Michael-birt , Chancery-division-of-the-high-court , Family-division , Matrimonial-court , Royal-court , Sir-michael-birt , Chancery-division , Bedell-cristin , Law , Lawyers , Legal

No more chasing rainbows: advantages of black and white when filing Canadian trademark applications

Some foreign brand owners may be surprised to learn that in Canada, when seeking to protect design (or figurative) marks, it is sometimes better to register marks in black and white in cases where the marks would normally be displayed in colour. Moreover, broader protection can typically be secured in Canada by registering design (or figurative) marks in black and white as opposed to including a colour claim.

Canada , Canadian , Law , Lawyers , Legal , Law-firms , Law-updates , Legal-updates , Legal-developments , Law-developments , Legal-newsletters

Come hell, high water or pandemic – COVID-19 will not frustrate aircraft lease agreements

Salam Air SAOC v Latam Airlines Group SA ([2020] EWHC 2414 (Comm)), the Commercial Court:
dismissed Salam Air's application for an injunction against Latam, which sought to prevent Latam making a demand for payment under three letters of credit issued in its favour; and
rejected Salam Air's argument that the COVID-19 pandemic had frustrated the underlying aircraft leases.
Facts
In 2017 Salam Air accepted a delivery of three aircraft from Latam, which were leased to it pursuant to operating lease agreements governed by English law and which it intended to operate from Muscat International Airport, Oman. Each aircraft lease agreement had a six-year term and contained customary dry lease provisions – significantly, a 'hell or high water' obligation to pay rent.

Oman , Manhattan , New-york , United-states , Sea-angel , Justice-rix , National-carriersv-panalpina , Vedder-price , Muscat-international-airport , Chase-manhattan-bank , Oman-public-authority-for-civil-aviation , Latam-airlines-group

Tariff-free trade? Understanding rules of origin

Introduction
Following its exit from the European Union, a key aspect of the United Kingdom's trade policy has been to conclude free trade agreements (FTAs) with other countries and trading blocs (for further details please see "Back to basics: free trade agreements").
To that end, the United Kingdom has been negotiating 'roll over' FTAs to replace the European Union ones.
(1) This includes the most significant of the United Kingdom's FTAs, the Trade and Cooperation Agreement (TCA), which was concluded with the European Union on 24 December 2020.
A clear benefit of an FTA is the ability for businesses to make use of 'preferential tariff treatment' (ie, reduced or zero tariffs and quotas) when shipping their products between parties to the FTA.

Norway , Iceland , Japan , Egypt , United-kingdom , Morocco , Liechtenstein , Switzerland , Turkey , James-stuntat-gowling , European-union , Cooperation-agreement