Publication
Global rules on foreign direct investment (FDI)
Cross-border acquisitions and investments increasingly trigger foreign direct investment (FDI) screening requirements.
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United States | Publication | June 4, 2021
On May 12, 2021, the Fourth District Court of Appeal in Smith v. BP Lubricants USA, Inc., affirmed in part the trial court's order sustaining defendants' demurrer to plaintiff's complaint. In Smith, plaintiff's employer, Jiffy Lube, held a seminar about a new product from BP Lubricants, which was led by a BP Lubricants salesperson. The salesperson directed remarks at plaintiff, a Jiffy Lube employee, that offended plaintiff and which he thought had a racial connotation. Plaintiff then brought suit against BP Lubricants and the salesperson for among other claims, aiding and abetting racial discrimination and harassment by his employer, Jiffy Lube, in violation of FEHA. BP Lubricants and the salesperson demurred, which the trial court sustained.
On appeal, plaintiff argued the trial court improperly sustained BP Lubricants and the salesperson's demurrer to his FEHA claim because he had sufficiently pled facts showing that they aided and abetted Jiffy Lube's harassment and discrimination against him. The Court of Appeal disagreed. The Court of Appeal noted that under FEHA, BP Lubricants and the salesperson could be found liable for aiding and abetting Jiffy Lube's discrimination and harassment of plaintiff only if: 1) Jiffy Lube subjected plaintiff to discrimination and harassment; 2) BP Lubricants and the salesperson knew Jiffy Lube's conduct violated FEHA, and 3) BP Lubricants and the salesperson gave Jiffy Lube "substantial assistance or encouragement" to violate FEHA. The Court of Appeal held that plaintiff could not meet the second and third elements as plaintiff had not pleaded any concerted activity between Jiffy Lube and defendants to commit FEHA violations, "which are the crux of an aiding and abetting claim," and could not, either at the trial court or on appeal, explain how he could amend his complaint to cure its deficiencies.
Publication
Cross-border acquisitions and investments increasingly trigger foreign direct investment (FDI) screening requirements.
Publication
On February 2, 2024, the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union confirmed that the Committee of Permanent Representatives had signed the Artificial Intelligence (AI) Regulation, referred to as the AI Act. Approval by the EU Parliament followed on 13 March 2024, and the AI Act is likely to appear in the EU’s Official Journal around May 2024. The AI Act aims to establish a stringent legal framework governing the development, marketing, and utilisation of artificial intelligence within the region, thereby marking a significant advancement in the regulation of this burgeoning domain.
Publication
The private credit market and direct lending have grown and diversified immensely in the past decade, offering alternative sources and terms of debt compared to those historically provided by the syndicated leveraged loan and public issuance markets. Consequently, they are fast becoming pivotal components in the capital ecosystem, so much so that the Bank of England consider that the private credit market is currently responsible for approximately $1.8 trillion of debt issuance, which is four times its size in 2015. This growth has been particularly pronounced in Europe and the US but there has also been significant activity in Asia.
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