Client Alerts

Michigan property owners will be receiving their real property summer tax bill within the next few weeks. The amount owed may cause those who have not appealed their property taxes over the last several years to ask whether they are being assessed using inflated taxable values.

A PRACTICAL GUIDE TO CRAFTING REASONABLE NON-COMPETE AGREEMENTS IN LIGHT OF RECENT LEGAL DEVELOPMENTS

By: Phillip C. Korovesis, Bernard J. Fuhs, and Haley Jonna
Butzel Long, a professional corporation

A day after issuing a set of bipartisan principles for self-driving vehicles legislation, the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation held a hearing entitled, “Paving the Way for Self-Driving Vehicles,” where the panel heard testimony from representatives of automotive OEMs, developers of artificial intelligence, the American Center for Mobility, and Mothers Against Drunk Driving. The Chairman gave no formal timetable for committee action but members and staff have indicated an intention to move quickly with a bill that could be ready for introduction later this summer.

The Trump administration’s Department of Labor announced on June 7th and June 8th that it will start the process of rolling back two controversial DOL regulations promulgated by the Obama DOL: the overtime pay regulation and the “persuader” regulation.

The Department of Labor announced on Wednesday, June 7, 2017, that it was rescinding two Obama administration rules, one that expanded the "joint employer" doctrine and one regarding independent contractor classification.

On May 18th, the new U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), Robert Lighthizer, formally notified Congress of the President’s intent to initiate negotiations with Canada and Mexico regarding “modernization” of NAFTA.

If your company is involved in the trade of goods and/or services with Mexico or Canada this is an important opportunity for you to have input into these negotiations.

C-suite officers around the world have been singing this sad song the last couple of weeks.  This has been especially true for any HIPAA covered entity or business that creates, maintains, transmits, or stores unencrypted ePHI. As IT professionals are quick to point out, in the event of a ransomware attack, “there is currently no method of decrypting encrypted files without having the private [decrypt] key.”   Even if you pay the ransom, however, there is no guarantee that you will receive all the necessary decrypt keys.  In many cases, the hackers leave behind a “backdoor”—basically a hidden piece of additional malware that allows the hacker to gain entry at some later time. 

In a unanimous decision, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled today in TC Heartland LLC v. Kraft Foods Group Brands LLC, No. 16-341, that patent infringement lawsuits must be brought in one of two places: (1) wherever the defendant is incorporated or (2) where the defendant has committed acts of infringement and has a regular and established place of business.  This ruling will greatly reduce the number of patent cases litigated in the Eastern District of Texas, a forum popular with patent plaintiffs, and increase the number of filings in the Eastern District of Michigan, and the District of Delaware.  

At the direction of President Trump, the newly installed U.S. Trade Representative (USTR), Robert Lighthizer, formally notified Congress of the President’s intent to initiate negotiations with Canada and Mexico regarding “modernization” of NAFTA. Under section 102 of the Trade Priorities and Accountability Act of 2015 (TPAA), the USTR will consult “closely” with Congress to develop the Administration’s “negotiating positions” to ensure that that they are “consistent” with Congressional priorities and objectives.

As a firm founded in Detroit, Butzel Long sympathizes with the people of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico as they embark upon the uncertain path of governmental bankruptcy. By commencing its proceedings with an estimated $123 Billion in debt ($49 Billion in pension debt and $74 Billion in bond and other claims), Puerto easily surpassed Detroit as the largest ever United States governmental bankruptcy. Puerto Rico’s approximately 3.5 million citizens each carry an unsustainable pro rata debt burden of $35,125 (not including their share of the United States’ national budget deficit), and Puerto Rico’s government has not been able to provide adequate services to its people because of its debt load.

One of the hallmarks of the Trump Administration is its intention to shake up the old way of doing things in Washington. To that end, the President has issued Executive Orders that require Executive Agencies to put in place procedures for reexamining all of their regulations and to develop a comprehensive plan for reorganizing the Executive Branch.

Strong intellectual property (“IP”) rights are the cornerstone of success for many companies looking to keep pace in today’s rapidly developing marketplace for new and advanced automotive technologies. Butzel Long works with automotive suppliers to help them navigate each phase of the IP lifecycle, from procuring rights all the way through enforcement campaigns in federal and state courts, and before the International Trade Commission. To keep our clients informed and up to date on what is happening in the world of IP, the Butzel Long IP Bulletin highlights recent patent, trademark and copyright news, issues and case law with special emphasis on the automotive industry. If you would like to receive more information about a particular case, issue or news item, or have any questions regarding our practice, please feel free to contact your Butzel Long attorney.

Items in this Bulletin:

• NEW AUTOMOTIVE PATENT INFRINGEMENT COMPLAINTS
• MICHIGAN MAY BE SEEING MORE PATENT INFRINGEMENT CASES
• U.S. TRADE REP. SHINES SPOTLIGHT ON AUTOMOTIVE IP

Franchise industry watchers are drawn once again to the “Golden Arches,” as McDonald’s heads toward its annual shareholder meeting later this month in Oak Brook, Illinois.  There, up for vote, will be a proposed shareholder resolution, which, if passed, would assign a new class of preferred stock to the company’s franchisees, enabling them to elect one person to the corporate board of directors without the consent of common shareholders.  Each franchisee would receive one share of the preferred stock for each restaurant he or she owns.  The shareholder that submitted the proposal is a single trust owning more than 5,000 shares in McDonald’s.  

Michigan Gets Aggressive in Its Efforts to Combat Opioid Abuse.

On April 11, 2017, the State unveiled its new Michigan Automated Prescription System (“MAPS”), which significantly overhauled its predecessor system. The updated MAPS is just one step in the State’s Action Plan presented to Governor Snyder in October 2015 by his Michigan Prescription Drug and Opioid Abuse Task Force.  Effective April 4, 2017, Users and Data Submitters of MAPS were no longer able to access the old System. Registration for the new MAPS opened March 8 and 9, 2017 for Data Submitters (Clearinghouses) and certain Users (Practitioners and Pharmacists), respectively. Registration for other Users (government agencies, law enforcement, and Pharmacy Benefit Managers) opened March 16, 2017.

Starting April 3, 2017, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (“USCIS”) will temporarily suspend premium processing for all H-1B petitions. 

On February 24, President Trump issued an “Executive Order on Enforcing the Regulatory Reform Agenda” (“EO”) that requires every executive department and agency to establish within 60 days a Regulatory Reform Officer (“RRO”) to implement the president’s regulatory reform agenda for reviewing and reducing regulatory burdens.

FCA US has revised its Production and Mopar Purchasing General Terms and Conditions to include a new dispute resolution provision which among things, provides FCA with the unilateral right to compel an expedited baseball style arbitration “in cases of disputes relating to quality, warranty, or indemnification under Section 6, 8, or 11 of the terms, including claims in connection with vehicle recalls or customer satisfaction campaign.” (Hereinafter collectively “Recall/Warranty Disputes”). Other matters are arbitrable only by mutual agreement and they too are subject to the expedited rules. (FCA revised terms, § 26(c) and Annex A).

We continue to receive information and updates concerning the Executive Order signed by President Trump on January 27, 2017.

On Friday January 27, 2017, President Trump signed an Executive Order (“Order”) relating to visa issuance, admission to the U.S. procedures, and refugees. The Order is titled "Protecting the Nation from Foreign Terrorist Entry Into the United States."

A New Outlook From The White House? Following eight years of a Democratic President with a career businessman will likely lead to a regulatory climate that is more friendly to business generally. However, the legal framework that emphasizes corporate compliance will not likely change in the near future.