Now that the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act and other related provisions have been signed into law, there are significant questions from many healthcare providers on what funding they are eligible for and how to get that money flowing.

The First District Appellate Court (Chicago) in Epple v. LQ Management, LLC (2019 ILL App 180853) overruled a Cook County trial court’s decision granting summary judgment for a national hotel chain.

The Federal Reserve and the Department of the Treasury announced two new loan programs on April 9, 2020, under the spending authority granted by the CARES Act. First, the Main Street Lending Program (MSLP), which has two variations, will facilitate loans to small and mid-size businesses by providing up to $600 billion in funding.

Faced with obstacles such as social distancing and stay-at-home orders, normal litigation tasks, such as mediation, are either not being considered, or pushed off indefinitely. However, for certain cases, parties and their counsel should give consideration to conducting a mediation “virtually” through the use of technology.

On April 6, 2020, Chief Judge Janet DiFiore announced a plan to expand remote operations currently in place for essential court matters to the court system's non-essential cases, in a video posted on the New York State Court of Appeals' website.

On April 2, 2020, Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Jay Clayton issued a statement that the June 30, 2020 compliance deadline for Regulation Best Interest (Reg BI) remains in place. The statement further indicated that the SEC would not grant industrywide extensions. 

As small business borrowers and their counsel scramble to understand the rules governing eligibility for the low interest small business loans in the CARES Act, questions on how the “affiliation rules” will apply have come up over and over again.