“As Qatar Petroleum readies its long-awaited expansion of the world’s largest offshore gas field, it is likely to face pressure from LNG buyers for more flexible contract terms in an increasingly competitive market QP has historically relied almost solely on oil indexation in its long-term contracts, but as global LNG markets increasingly commoditize and the use of benchmarks grows, Qatar’s commercial strategy has shifted, including greater use of the Japan Korea Marker,” reports Katie McQue in S&P Global.

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“County Commissioners approved a five-year contract with the Mighty Thomas Carnival for fair rides, sideshows, carnival games and concessions on the grounds for the Montana State Fair at Montana Expo Park. The 2020 fair is included in the contract though it was cancelled due to COVID-19 and the contract covers fairs for 2021-2024. The Mighty Thomas Carnival has provided the midway services to the Montana State Fair for the last 26 years, according to county staff,” reports Jenn Rowell in The Electric.

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“Seaspan Corporation has sealed its sixth newbuild order since December, entering into agreements for two 12,000 teu containerships. The vessels are scheduled be delivered during the fourth quarter of 2022, when they will enter long-term charters with a global liner. The charters include purchase options at the end of the initial charter period and at the end of any renewal terms thereafter. Seaspan did not reveal the yard involved although it has opted to use both China’s Yangzijiang and Samsung Heavy Industries,” reports Grant Rowles in Splash 247.

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“Like every team, the Chicago Bears have both underpaid and overpaid players. But every contract is unique, and there are varying degrees of underpaid and overpaid. Pro Football Focus recently conducted a review of all 32 teams and identified which players on each roster have the best and worst contracts. It should come as no surprise that Jimmy Graham was the pick for the worst contract on the Bears,” reports Bryan Perez in Bears Wire.

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“Aerotek utilized an online-only hiring application process. At the outset of the process, applicants were required to access an invite email from Aerotek that sent the applicant to a registration page. At the registration page, the applicant created a unique user ID, password, and selected security questions. Each time the applicant logged into the application system, the applicant was required to enter his or her unique user ID, password, and security question combination,” reports Bradley Arant Boult Cummings in JD Supra.

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“The Ohio Legislature passed S.B. 13 (the Act) which, among other things, shortened the statute of limitations for causes of actions predicated on written and non-oral contracts. The revisions to the Ohio Revised Code take effect June 16, 2021, and counsel and litigants that practice in Ohio should be aware of these new shortened time frames to commence lawsuits based upon contracts in Ohio,” reports McGlinchey Stafford in JD Supra.

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“The Springfield Symphony Orchestra board and its musicians are waging a public debate over union contracts, including the length of the upcoming season,” post Jill Kaufman in Wbur

“The SSO, touted as Massachusetts’ largest symphony outside Boston, faces many financial challenges, according to its board. And they say the problems existed well before the pandemic.”

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“Pittsburgh’s Point Park University said students choosing between in-person and online classes didn’t create an “implied contract” guaranteeing in-person classes to those who chose them, and pointed to other universities’ recent victories against similar suits seeking tuition refunds for semesters moved entirely online during the COVID-19 pandemic,” post Matthew Santoni in Law360

“The university said Thursday that Pennsylvania courts have long held that only express, written contracts apply to the relationship between schools and their students, including in recent cases where Temple University, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Pennsylvania had defeated students’ proposed class actions because they had no express promises of in-person, on-campus learning.”

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“The legal staffing industry is seeing a surge in contract staffing, echoing the demand seen in the 1990s recession. Leslie A. Firtell, CEO of Tower Legal Solutions, says this is because many law firms and legal departments laid off or furloughed lawyers in 2020, plus attorneys are choosing to leave their permanent, full-time positions for more work-life flexibility,” post Leslie A. Firtell in BloomBerg Law

“The saying “History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes” is proving to be true in the area of contract legal staffing. The burgeoning demand for contract attorneys post-pandemic is reminiscent of what took place in the late 1990s following the recession at the beginning of the decade. I joined the legal staffing industry in 1997, just as contract staffing was about to come into its own.”

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“After years of debate and prosecutorial overreach, the Supreme Court has now narrowed the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA). In Van Buren v. U.S., the Court ruled that obtaining information by “exced[ing] authorized access” is limited to information on the computer that one is not authorized to access at all, rather than to information simply gathered for an improper purpose,” posts Michael Risch in their blog.

“To explain, consider the facts of Van Buren. Van Buren had rightful access to a database of DMV license plate information. He accessed that database using valid credentials, but looked up information for an improper purpose. He was convicted under the CFAA for exceeding his authorized access. I have blogged about this issue before. The broad reading that sent him to jail is a really scary interpretation< of the statute, one in which many ordinary people could go to jail for innocuous use of the internet.”

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“Established in 1855 as the United States Court of Claims, the COFC was granted bid protest jurisdiction through the Tucker Act, 28 U.S.C. § 1491, as amended by the Administrative Dispute Resolutions Act (ADRA) of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-320, § 12, 110 Stat. 3870, 3874 (1996),” posts DBL Lawyers in their blog.

“The Tucker Act grants the COFC jurisdiction to decide any claim for damages against the United States founded upon the Constitution, an Act of Congress, agency regulation, or express or implied-in-fact contracts with the United States (with the exception of torts). Through the ADRA, the COFC was granted jurisdiction to hear pre- and post- award bid protests.”

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“Judicial Watch today announced that it obtained 280 pages of documents from the Department of Health and Human Services revealing that from 2014 to 2019, $826,277 was given to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for bat coronavirus research by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which is headed by Dr. Anthony Fauci” posts Judicial Watch in their blog.

“The documents, some of which were redacted or withheld in their entirely, were obtained through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit seeking records of communications, contracts and agreements with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in China (Judicial Watch, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (No. 1:21-cv-00696)). The agency is only processing 300 pages records per month, which means it will take until the end of November for the records to be fully reviewed and released under FOIA.”

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“Commercial contracts allow you to include a variety of clauses, including one that dictates where disputes will be litigated. Even if you agreed to this kind of forum selection clause, you may still desire to litigate your case somewhere other than the forum required in your contract. If that’s you, it is important to recognize that you potentially may be able to get this done. Successfully doing this requires many things, and those things often include representation from a skilled Atlanta commercial contracts lawyer.” writes Poole Huffman in Poole Huffman’s Blog.

“One way you can succeed in litigating outside the forum required by your contract is if the other side waives its right to demand enforcement of the forum selection clause.”

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“Earlier this year, President Biden announced that all adult Americans would be eligible to get one of the Covid-19 vaccines approved for Emergency Use Authorization (EUA) by the FDA no later than May 1, 2021. Given that vaccines are now widely available, employers are grappling with various issues, including bringing employees back into the workplace,” writes Ellis L. Bennett in Dunlap Bennett & Ludwig’s Blog.

“Various issues associated with employer-imposed vaccine requirements are almost certain to be litigated in courts around the country over the coming months and year, and the results of the litigation may change the landscape. However, the current prevailing view is that employers may impose vaccine requirements upon employees.”

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“A Cohabitation Agreement is a legal agreement put in place by a couple who have chosen to live together but are not married. The agreement allows the couple to enter into a legally binding contract that can help them safeguard their rights as a couple, while at the same time protecting their individual interest and assets. As the lives of cohabiting partners become more intertwined, it can be complicated to resolve issues if they split up or if one of the partners passes away,” posts The Law Offices of Roger W. Stelk in their blog.

“In Illinois, unmarried couples do not have legal rights to each other’s assets just because they’ve lived together for many years. A cohabitation agreement details mutually agreed upon decisions regarding such things as ownership of property, household costs, inheritance, debts, spousal support, health care decisions, and allocation of shared assets if the relationship ends.”

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“Filevine, the top legal tech platform, announced today that they have acquired Outlaw. Outlaw became the G2.com #1 Momentum Leader in contract management by reimagining document creation, editing, and realtime end-to-end collaboration. The companies believe that the future of legal work will be one where contracts, databases, and documents are merged together,” reports Filevine in Cision PR Newswire.

“Both Outlaw and Filevine have been dedicated to providing a connected and seamless experience for legal teams and their clients. The areas considered ‘legal work’ are quickly expanding and it is critical that legal tech expand to keep up. Today, Filevine is growing the capabilities of their platform to include contract management. This is a combination of the top legal tech platform with the most innovative contract and document editing software to create the core operating system for highly collaborative, connected legal work.”

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“New York recently became the latest state to enact strict laws regarding the provision of automatic renewal and continuous service clauses in paid subscription or purchasing agreements with consumers (N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law §§ 527 and 527-a). The new law went into effect on February 9, 2021,” post Craig M. Spierer and Edward J. Karan III in Harris Beach’s Legal Alert.

“New York joins other states such as California, District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Louisiana, New Mexico, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, and Virginia who have enacted similar laws broadly regulating the use of auto-renewal clauses by sellers of goods and services in contracts with their consumers.”

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“Liability shield laws take different forms, but typically, they raise the threshold for anyone who wants to bring a lawsuit in connection with the COVID-19 outbreak, or eliminate the ability to bring a suit entirely. Although no state has provided total immunity to businesses facing claims related to COVID-19, these laws generally make it much more difficult for employees or patrons to bring a lawsuit based on harm that allegedly stems from a business’s handling of COVID-19 matters,” post Locke Lord in their News & Events.

“Notably, many of the laws apply retroactively to a date at or before the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak. For example, West Virginia’s COVID-19 Jobs Protection Act dates back to January 1, 2020.”

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“The world is powered by data and technology. With all the focus and new legislation on data privacy, organizations need to keep governance at the forefront when reconciling the use of emerging technologies with compliance and privacy considerations. One area where this becomes particularly important is when organizations utilize platforms, solutions, and other technologies powered by artificial intelligence (AI) for business purposes. Some examples include creditors automating decisions on consumer approvals or employers using AI technology to assist with hiring determinations. The question becomes what framework should be placed around these processes and how can organizations implement some level of governance to avoid violations under laws like the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or overall data mismanagement that can result in a myriad of other issues?, posts in Epiq in their blog.

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“The focus on environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues and workforce diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) efforts is now more prominent than ever. With that has come an increased focus on collecting so-called “DEI data” such as race, ethnicity, gender identity, sexual orientation, disability, and preferred pronouns from employees around the globe, report Marjorie Culver and Caitlin Lane in Seyfarth’s News & Insights.

“While collection of these data points in the US is common, and in some cases even legally required, employers should be aware of potential pitfalls and consider how to take both a legal and meaningful approach to DEI data collection for their global workforce outside the US.”

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