MVA Litigation Blog

As home to the second largest banking center in the country, North Carolina has stepped onto the leading edge of innovation in the FinTech and InsurTech arenas. Late last year, Governor Cooper signed into law H624, the North Carolina Regulatory Sandbox Act of 2021  (“Sandbox Act”), which established what is known as a “regulatory sandbox” program to encourage innovation in the development of FinTech and InsurTech products to be offered to consumers. The regulatory sandbox program provides a modified regulatory environment in which companies can have licensing or other ...

This week Chief Justice Paul Newby announced that Grant Buckner will serve as the 17th Clerk of Court for the N.C. Supreme Court.  Buckner will assume the position next month when Amy Funderburk departs after serving four years in the role.  This office will be a natural fit for Buckner, who has served the Supreme Court in various capacities since 2014.  He is currently lead counsel for the Court’s Office of Administrative Counsel—an office he helped to establish.  Among other things, Buckner has provided legal counsel to the Supreme Court, supported the Chief Justice’s Rules Advisory Commission, and assisted the Chief Justice in responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Today the Supreme Court issued an order staying the OSHA Emergency Temporary Standard (ETS) that would have required all employers with 100 or more employees to enforce Covid-19 vaccination or testing requirements. 

When state and local governments began issuing shutdown and stay-at-home orders a little over a year ago, it was difficult to fathom how long businesses would be struggling to operate within the boundaries of the unprecedented restrictions. The economy has been hit hard across the board, with the U.S. travel and hospitality industry suffering an estimated $1.1 trillion in direct and indirect losses in 2020, hospitals and healthcare systems losing at least $323 billion in 2020, the NCAA and the four major U.S. sports leagues losing at least $14.1 billion, many major retailers

The losses sustained by American businesses in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic will be measured at a level that may never be seen again in our lifetime. On July 30th, the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis issued an advance estimate stating that the nation’s real gross domestic product (GDP) decreased at an annual rate of 32.9% in Q2 2020, which reportedly is the worst recorded drop in American history. It was estimated early on that “business interruption losses from the coronavirus just for small businesses in the U.S. could be between $220-$383 billion per month,” resulting ...

After months of discussion and drafting, H.R.7011, the Pandemic Risk Insurance Act of 2020 (PRIA) was introduced by Representative Carolyn Maloney and twenty co-sponsors on May 26, 2020. If passed as currently drafted, the Act would mandate that insurance companies offering business interruption insurance policies must cover losses incurred due to pandemics and it would establish a Pandemic Risk Reinsurance Program (PRRP) within the Department of the Treasury under which private insurance companies and the federal government would share the responsibility to pay claims for ...

For the last two months, the doors of millions of businesses and homes have been shuttered due to government mandated stay at home orders. Through it all, the individuals who have served on the front lines and in essential businesses have been required to risk exposure to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) to continue to serve and keep those businesses running. Several North Carolina Representatives recently introduced H.B. 1057 - WC/COVID-19 Front Line Coverage/Funds, a bill that would amend North Carolina’s workers' compensation law by creating a rebuttable presumption that ...

A few weeks ago we were discussing what was believed to be the first COVID-19 lawsuit related to business interruption insurance and a handful of state legislative efforts to redefine the scope of coverage for businesses impacted by COVID-19. Now, dozens of lawsuits have been filed across the nation, including several class actions, and legislation is circulating at the federal (and international) level proposing to provide a backstop to private insurers who pay out to policy holders. The impact of COVID-19 shutdowns on businesses is being felt wide and deep. The Risk & Insurance ...

In just a few weeks, we have gone from discussing what was believed to be the first COVID-19 lawsuit related to business interruption insurance and a handful of state legislative efforts to redefine the scope of coverage for businesses impacted by COVID-19 to dozens of lawsuits filed across the nation, including several class actions, and legislation circulating at the federal (and international) level proposing to provide a backstop to private insurers who pay out to policy holders. The impact of COVID-19 shutdowns on businesses is being felt wide and deep. The Risk & Insurance ...

*By Chris Tomlinson, Bill Butler, & Jim McLoughlin.  Businesses are facing this system hack with ever-increasing frequency:  An accounts payable employee receives new or updated payment instructions from a vendor via email.  The email appears to be from a familiar counterpart at the vendor; it contains accurate details specific to a current transaction; the new bank is well known; and the new instructions have the vendor’s name, or a version of it, as the beneficiary. The accounts payable employee executes the electronic transfer payment consistent with the wiring instructions.  ...