Source: https://www.fmglaw.com/FMGBlogLine/2017/06/
Timestamp: 2019-04-21 09:06:47+00:00

Document:
On June 26, 2017, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the Travel Ban cases when it reconvenes next fall. The Court has allowed the government to implement parts of President Trump’s second executive order which bans the entry of nationals of Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan, Syria and Yemen from the United States and suspend the admission of all refugees for 120 days.
This standard is also applied to all refugees hoping to enter the United States.
The Court’s order will go into effect on Thursday, June 29, 2017 and will remain in place until at least October 2017, pending final resolution of the case on its merits.
As we predicted might happen in an earlier blog, the Supreme Court granted certiorari to resolve a split among circuits about whether arbitration agreements containing class and collective action waivers violate the National Labor Relations Act (“NLRA”) and are unenforceable under the Federal Arbitration Act (“FAA”).
The DOJ’s new position is a welcome surprise for employers wishing to use these waivers to limit time-consuming and expensive class and collective action litigation, and creates a unique situation where different branches of the federal government now find themselves on opposite sides of oral argument before the Supreme Court.
For more information, please contact Tim Holdsworth at [email protected].
An association is prohibited from hiring an attorney who also represents the management company for the association.
A board member, manager, or management company may not purchase a unit at a foreclosure sale resulting from the association’s foreclosure of its lien for unpaid assessments or take title in lieu of foreclosure.
An association, unless it is a timeshare condo association, may not employ or contract with any service provider that is owned or operated by a board member or officer, or any person who has a financial relationship with a board member or officer, or certain relatives of board members or officers, unless the board member or officer owns less than 1 percent of the equity shares.
If, after transfer of control to the association, 50% or more of the units in the community are owned by a party contracting to provide maintenance or management services to an association or by a board member or officer of such a party, the contract may be cancelled by majority vote of the unit owners other than the contracting party or the officer or board member of the contracting party.
Certain disclosures must be made by any officer or director proposing to engage in activity that is a conflict of interest. If the board votes against taking the action, the officer or director must notify the board in writing of his or her intention not to take the action or to withdraw from office. If the board finds an officer or director violated this provision, the officer or director shall be deemed removed from office.
A rebuttable presumption of a conflict of interest exists if, without prior notice, (1) a director or officer of an association or certain of their relatives enters into a contract for goods or services with the association or (2) a director or officer or certain of their relatives holds an interest in a corporation or other business entity that conducts business with the association or proposes to enter into a contract or other transaction with the association.
Officers, directors, and managers are prohibited from soliciting, offering to accept, or accepting any kickback for his or her own benefit or that of his or her immediate family, and violation of this provision is considered a violation of the criminal law. A violation of this provision may also subject an officer, director, or manager to civil penalties.
Forgery of a ballot envelope of voting certificate used in an election is a felony of the third degree and punishable by up to 5 years in prison.
The theft or embezzlement of funds of a condo association is considered a theft and punishable pursuant to Fla. Stat. § 812.014.
The destruction of or refusal to allow inspection or copying of an official record of a condo association in furtherance of a crime is punishable as tampering with physical evidence or as obstruction of justice.
An officer of director charged by information or indictment with a crime referenced above must be removed from office until the end of his or her period of suspension or the end of his or her term, whichever occurs first.
If a criminal charge is pending against the officer or director, he or she may not be appointed or elected to a position as an officer or director of any association and may not have access to the official records of any association, except pursuant to court order.
If the charges against the officer or director is resolved without a finding of guilt, the officer or director must be reinstated for the remainder of his or her term in office, if any.
These changes to the laws governing condo community associations will serve to complicate board and board member compliance with the new provisions. For guidance on these changes to condo association law or any aspect of Florida law governing community associations, please contact the attorneys in FMG’s Tampa office.
The U.S. Supreme Court decided one of the most important mass tort/product liability decisions ever Monday, effectively ending forum shopping or “litigation tourism.” In its 8-1 ruling, the Supreme Court in Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court, No. 16-466 (U.S. June 19, 2017) overturned a California Supreme Court decision that had allowed hundreds of out-of-state patients who took Bristol-Myers Squibb’s blood-thinning medication Plavix to sue the company in California.
For years, plaintiffs involved in “litigation tourism” have relied on broad interpretations of personal jurisdiction to sue large companies in plaintiff-friendly jurisdictions. Ever since “general” personal jurisdiction was limited by the Supreme Court three years ago in Daimler AG v. Bauman, 134 S.Ct. 746 (2014) to those states where a corporation is incorporated or has its principal place of business, plaintiffs have tried to use a similar broad interpretation of “specific” personal jurisdiction to forum shop. The California Supreme Court accepted this theory when it allowed plaintiffs from all over the country to sue Bristol-Myers Squibb in California.
But the Supreme Court didn’t buy it and reiterated that the lawsuit itself must arise out of or relate to the defendant’s contacts with the forum.
The Supreme Court rejected the California Supreme Court’s ruling that any “substantial connection” between a corporate defendant’s activities and California, whether or not causally related to a plaintiff’s claimed injuries, would suffice to support jurisdiction. The California Supreme Court conferred jurisdiction over Bristol Myers-Squibb where the plaintiffs did not reside in the state and did not sue over a drug that they purchased in the state. The Supreme Court called this approach a “loose and spurious” form of general jurisdiction.
This ruling ends the days of plaintiffs flocking to accommodating jurisdictions to bring claims against large companies, and it is already having widespread effects. Based on the Court’s ruling on Monday, a St. Louis judge declared a mistrial in a talcum powder trial underway in St. Louis Circuit Court based on lack of personal jurisdiction. The mistrial in St. Louis was declared in a trial where a Missouri man and two out-of-state plaintiffs sued Johnson & Johnson and its supplier Imerys Talc America over a claim that talcum powder in its products caused ovarian cancer. Johnson & Johnson’s lawyers prevailed, arguing that the packaging and labeling company with a plant in Missouri was simply one of the company’s contractors, and played no role in establishing jurisdiction over out of state plaintiffs.
For any questions, please contact Kristian Smith at [email protected] or Robyn Flegal at [email protected].
The California FAIR Plan Association (“FAIR”) is an insurance industry placement facility and joint reinsurance association created by the California Legislature in 1968 to provide basic property insurance to homeowners who live in high risk or otherwise uninsurable areas. Marlene Garnes, residing in just such an area of Richmond — the “Iron Triangle” (named for the intersecting railroad tracks that frame it) — insured her family home through FAIR, with a policy limit of $425,000.
After her home was damaged (but not destroyed) by fire, Garnes submitted a claim to FAIR seeking indemnity for the costs required to repair her home, less depreciation, the net amount of which was $320,549. FAIR declined and instead paid her the $75,000 it determined represented the fair market value of her property in 2011, and filed a declaratory relief action against her regarding the interpretation of Ins. Code § 2051.
After the trial court granted summary judgment in favor of FAIR, the court of appeal reversed.
The FAIR Policy stated that if the cost to replace or repair a damaged dwelling exceeded its actual cash value, which the Policy defined as “Total Loss,” FAIR would pay the actual cash value, but in any other case, which the Policy described as “Partial Loss,” FAIR would pay the lesser of the cost to repair less reasonable depreciation or the actual cash value.
 California FAIR Plan Association v. Garnes (May 26, 2017) __ Cal.App.5th __ [218 Cal.Rptr.3d 246], citing Howell v. State Farm Fire & Casualty Co. (1990) 218 Cal.App.3d 1446; Julian v. Hartford Underwriters Ins. Co. (2005) 35 Cal.4th 747, 754; and Wildman v. Government Emp. Ins. Co. (1957) 48 Cal.2d 31, 39–40.
For any questions, please contact Zach Moura at [email protected].

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