In March 2022, in response to the Russia Federation's actions in the Ukraine conflict, the U.S. Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) issued sanctions targeting Russian “elites and business executives who are associates and facilitators of the Russian regime." This alert details the reach of existing authority exemplified by the seizure of the motor yacht Amadea. The Amadea is a 348-foot yacht worth $300 million owned by sanctioned Russian oligarch Suleiman Kerimov.

On June 17, 2022, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) published two proposed rules targeted at environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investment disclosures. The proposed rules would require certain investment advisers and companies to provide specific disclosures regarding their ESG investment practices and, where applicable, information substantiating their use of ESG-related names.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Department of the Army recently announced plans to amend the Corps Civil Works program to better serve Indian nations and other disadvantaged and underserved communities.

Verdicts in personal injury cases are greatly impacted by the amount of medical expenses a plaintiff can present to juries. In Florida, collateral sources of compensation, such as insurance payments, are generally not disclosed to juries. However, caselaw also typically does not allow plaintiffs to recover the gross amount of medical bills, but instead the amount after insurance adjustments.

Continuing to tighten economic pressure on Russia, on June 2, 2022, the White House announced the imposition of new sanctions against leading Russian government officials and business leaders. Businesses and individuals involved in transactions with or affecting Russian entities face a heightened level of risk in these matters and should take extra care both to ensure compliance and to structure dealings with these complicated factors in mind.

Despite the uncertainty amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, New York’s Appellate Division still decided a number of Labor Law appeals in 2021. Of particular interest were the 118 cases in which the Appellate Division decided appeals regarding Labor Law § 240(1), most of which were in the First and Second Departments. This article compiles statistics about those decisions, including the number of cases decided in plaintiffs’ favor, in defendants’ favor, and the cases in which the courts found questions of fact precluding summary judgment.

In recent years, there has been a concerning development regarding judicial analysis of Labor Law § 241(6). Specifically, courts have – incorrectly – applied a somewhat “absolute liability” interpretation to Labor Law § 241(6). However, § 241(6) is not an “absolute liability” statute, like Labor Law § 240(1), and these recent rulings are contrary to decades of jurisprudence.