Civil Law

Illinois Federal Court Dismisses One False Advertising Suit Based on Malic Acid, While Sustaining Another

A pair of malic acid decisions recently issued by Judge Coleman in the Northern District Court of Illinois reaffirmed that the statements “natural flavors with other natural flavors” and “no artificial flavors” receive different treatment under state false advertising laws, at least in that district.

In Boss v. Kraft Heinz Co., the plaintiffs alleged that Kraft Heinz’s MiO water-flavoring products contained synthetic malic acid, rendering false and misleading the claim “natural flavors with other natural flavors” on the products’ … Read the rest

Civil Law

Cognizant’s High Court approved scheme of arrangement was held to be a colorable device by Chennai ITAT

Cognizant’s High Court approved scheme of arrangement was held to be a colorable device by Chennai ITAT

The ITAT recently dismissed an appeal and slammed Cognizant India Private Limited (“Cognizant India”) for what it perceived as  using a colorable device to evade taxes during its INR 190 billion share buyback exercise.

Cognizant (Mauritius) Limited (“Cognizant Mauritius”) and Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporations USA (“Cognizant USA”) held around 76% and 22% stake in Cognizant India respectively. The remaining 2% minor shareholding was also held by USA based entities.

In the year 2016, Cognizant … Read the rest

Civil Law

The in duplum rule does not apply to late payment interest on arrear pension fund contributions owed by participating employers

Since 2020, most retirement funds have been faced with a situation where participating employers have failed to comply with section 13A of the Pension Funds Act, 1956 (PFA), by either underpaying employer or member contributions or not paying at all. The non-payment of contributions attracts late payment interest in terms of section 13(7) of the PFA.

It is against this background that the Financial Sector Conduct Authority (FSCA) repealed Regulation 33, which governed payment of pension fund contributions and … Read the rest

Civil Law

No Breach Too Small: OFSI Reports First Breach of UK’s Russian Sanctions Regulations

On 31 August 2023 the UK’s Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI) issued a “Disclosure” against Wise Payments Limited, a UK-registered company, regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority, for breaching Regulation 12 of The Russia (Sanctions) (EU Exit) Regulations 2019 by making funds available to a company owned or controlled by a designated person.

Continue reading the full GT Alert.

LexBlog… Read the rest

Civil Law

Oh Dear!  Does Whitetail Spell the End of Reactive Power Rates for DERs in PJM?

PJM has long permitted generators to collect revenues for the provision of reactive power and voltage support (reactive power) under Schedule 2 of the PJM Tariff. Innumerable generating facilities have availed themselves of this opportunity. Nearly every such reactive revenue requirement case has settled. Although the vast majority of PJM transmission owners (TOs), whose ratepayers pay the majority of the reactive power rates, have divested their generation, few Transmission Owners (TOs), and fewer state commissions/consumer advocates representing such retail ratepayers, … Read the rest

Civil Law

US NAIC Summer 2023 National Meeting Highlights: ESG

At the Summer 2023 National Meeting of the US National Association of Insurance Commissioners (“NAIC”), a number of sessions were focused on environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) initiatives, led by the Special (EX) Committee on Race and Insurance (the “R&I Committee”) and the Climate and Resiliency (EX) Task Force (“C&R Task Force”), both of which report to the NAIC Executive (EX) Committee. While neither the C&R Task Force nor the R&I Committee announced any … Read the rest

Civil Law

Failure Is Just The Cost Of Success

Matthew Homan has what he tongue-in-cheek describes as “Idea Surplus Disorder.”  He’s never short of good ideas. Here is one of his better LinkedIn posts. Paralysis due to fear is one of the leading impediments to productive innovation.

Leaders, start reframing failure as “tuition.”

Tell your teams you’re happy to pay tuition to learn a lesson, but make it clear that you’re not willing to pay to take the same class twice. 

It will encourage your team to experiment and

… Read the rest
Civil Law

PRC Court Pierced the Veil of Co-insurance and Found Reinsurance Relationship Established Between the Insurers

By Jia WAN

In a recent case published by Beijing Financial Court (the “BFC”), which was represented by AnJie Broad and classified as one of the typical financial cases for the year of 2022, the BFC pierced the veil of “co-insurance”, and confirmed that reinsurance legal relationship was established between two insurers.

The dispute arose out of the “co-insurance agreement” entered by PICC and China Life where the two insurance companies had disagreement as to the amount that PICC should … Read the rest