On September 14, 2020, Governor DeWine signed House Bill 606 into law which provides civil immunity to employers facing COVID-19 related lawsuits.  HB 606 provides, in part:

SECTION 2. (A) No civil action for damages for injury, death, or loss to person or property shall be brought against any person if the cause of action on which the civil action is based, in whole or in part, is that the injury, death, or loss to person or property is caused by the exposure to, or the transmission or contraction of, MERS-CoV, SARS-CoV, or SARS-CoV-2, or any mutation thereof, unless it is established that the exposure to, or the transmission or contraction of, any of those viruses or mutations was by reckless conduct or intentional misconduct or willful or wanton misconduct on the part of the person against whom the action is brought.

To read our complete Legal Alert that outlines the details of this new bill, please click here.

Eligible businesses will have an additional five weeks to apply for Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loans, after President Trump signed a bill on July 4, 2020, extending the application deadline to August 8, 2020. The deadline otherwise would have expired on June 30, 2020.

The deadline extension is just the latest of many changes to the PPP, which offers low interest, forgivable loans to small- and medium-sized businesses that maintain their payrolls during the COVID-19 pandemic. The program initially attracted overwhelming interest from businesses – so much so that the original $349 billion allocated to the program was exhausted in less than two weeks.  But shifting rules – and fears that businesses could face civil or even criminal penalties for misusing loan funds – caused some potential borrowers to avoid the program and even return their loans.

Please read our full Legal Alert detailing this latest development and additional insight of interest to borrowers.

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Hahn Loeser is proud to be recognized by Construction Executive Magazine in the 2020 list of The Top 50 Construction Law Firms in its June issue that was just released.  Ranking in the top half of the list at number 24, Hahn Loeser is the only Ohio-based firm to be included in this year’s list.

This ranking was the result of research conducted by Construction Executive surveying hundreds of U.S. firms with construction law practices.  The ranking was determined by an algorithm that weighed 2019 revenues from the firm’s construction practice, number of attorneys in the firm’s construction practice, percentage of total revenues derived from its construction practice, number of states in which the firm is licensed to practice, year in which the construction practice was established and the number of construction clients served in 2019.

This issue also includes Executive Insights from attorneys from ranked firms. Here, you can read my insights on what questions a construction company should ask before retaining a law firm.

I would like to thank our impressive team of attorneys and professionals and all of our amazing clients for this honor.

Members of our Construction Law Team joined forces with Suhas Shah, a partner with Intyllus Advisors for a three-part webinar series for the construction industry on critical topics of interest related to COVID-19.  If you missed any of our programs, you can watch the recordings and download the slides at the links below.

Part 1: Employment Provisions of FFCRA and the CARES Act
Presented on Thursday, April 23 at 1 p.m. EST
Follow these links to download the recording and the slides.

Part 2: Making the Most of SBA Loans
Presented on Thursday, April 30 at 1 p.m. EST
Follow these links to download the recording and the slides.

Part 3:  A Review of the Main Street Lending Program
Presented on Thursday, May 7 at 1 p.m. EST
Follow these links to download the recording and the slides.

 

We want to thank Foundation Software for inviting us to present a three-part webinar series for their clients.  You can view each of these complimentary sessions and access the slides at the links below.

Part 1:  Make the Most of the Coronavirus Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) Loans
Presented on Friday, April 24 at 1 p.m. EST
Follow these links to download the recording and the slides.

Part 2:  How to Document Delays, Count Costs and File Legal Claims Related to Coronavirus
Presented on Wednesday, April 29 at 1 p.m. EST
Follow these links to download the recording and the slides.

Part 3:  Safety First: Employer Considerations, OHSA Guidelines, Illness Reporting and New Laws during the Coronavirus Pandemic
Presented on Wednesday, April 29 at 1 p.m. EST
Follow these links to download the recording and the slides.

Recent guidance from the U.S. Small Business Administration (“SBA”) is causing some businesses to reconsider whether they are eligible for Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) loans and to contemplate returning loans they have already received.

The PPP, part of the $2.2 trillion federal stimulus bill enacted in response to COVID-19, was intended to provide low-interest, forgivable loans of up to $10 million to businesses that maintain their payrolls during the pandemic. Businesses that use PPP loan funds for employee payroll and certain other permitted expenses during an eight-week period beginning on the loan disbursement date generally are eligible to have the loans forgiven, with the forgiveness amount excluded from borrowers’ gross incomes.

To read our full Legal Alert, please click here.

 

Last Friday, April 24, we had record turnout for the first program in our webinar series with Foundation Software and we look forward to another great program this afternoon! This complimentary series provides guidance on critical issues impacting the construction industry.

You can listen to the recording and download the slides from last week’s topic and register for the next two in our series at the links below.

We hope you can join us!

Download the 4/24 Recording – Making the Most of PPP Loans
Download the 4/24 Slides

Register for 4/29 Webinar – How to Document Delays, Count Costs and File Legal Claims Related to Coronavirus

Register for 5/6 Webinar – Safety First:  Employer Considerations, OSHA Guidelines, Illness Reporting and New Laws During the Coronavirus Pandemic

We had a great turnout for last week’s webinar with Intyllus Advisors discussing Employment Provisions of the FFCRA and the CARES Act.

To view the recorded webinar, please click here.

To download the slides, please click here.

Please tune in to our next webinar this Thursday, April 30, where we will discuss Making the Most of SBA Loans.  To register, please click here.