Latin American Blog : Hispanic Latino Business Lawyers & Attorneys : Sheppard Mullin Law Firm : Cross Border Transactions, Government Contracts

By Marcos Vergara del Carril

On May 23, after the approval of 24 Mexican states (Aguascalientes, Baja California Sur, Campeche, Chiapas, Chihuahua, Coahuila, Colima, Durango, Guanajuato, Hidalgo, Jalisco, México, Morelos, Nayarit, Puebla, Querétaro, Quintana Roo, San Luis, Potosí, Sonora, Tamaulipas, Veracruz, Yucatán and Zacatecas) the president of the Permanent Commission (Comisión Permanente) has declared constitutional the Telecommunications’ Reform and sent the bill to President Peña Nieto for his signature and publication in the Official Gazette.

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By Juan Castañeda

As an executive or in-house counsel, your work likely reaches across the globe.

90% of companies in the United States are involved in litigation—much of it international. American companies have increased overseas business from 49% in 2008 to 72% as late as 2010.

If you work for a medium to large corporation, you are liking working overseas or interacting with colleagues that are. This means that you are likely working around the clock putting out fires, making deals, and juggling regulatory hurdles. Are you worried of running so fast in such unknown territory that you may miss something? Do you wish you had more time to learn everything to minimize your company’s business and litigation risks?

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By Brian Arbetter and Terese Connolly

Mexico’s new Federal Labor Law (FLL) took effect on December 1, 2012. The reform seeks to modernize Mexico’s labor law. The new FLL’s major, employment related amendments include increased regulation of outsourcing jobs, increased flexibility in hiring and payment of wages, the addition of the concepts of diversity, nondiscrimination and anti-harassment, and parental leave rights.

Previously, companies entering Mexico would set up two entities, one of which would be used to outsource employment to avoid paying worker benefits, including avoiding Mexico’s mandatory 10% employee profiting sharing requirement. Now, among other requirements, employers may only outsource employees if the outsourced employees perform work of a specialized character. In other words, under the new FLL, companies will need to evaluate the way they are structured or risk paying all employees (outsourced or otherwise) all employment related liabilities (such as notice requirements, severance payments, profit-sharing and social security).

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By Brian Weimer and Douglas Svor 

In August 2012, the Coalition for Broadcast Investment (“CBI”), a group comprising national broadcast networks, radio and television station licensees, and community and consumer organizations, filed a letter with the FCC requesting clarification of the foreign ownership rules contained in Section 310(b)(4) of the Communications Act. Specifically, CBI requested clarification that “the FCC will conduct a substantive, facts, and circumstances evaluation of proposals for foreign investment in excess of 25 percent in the parent company of a broadcast licensee.…” If adopted, this approach would represent a marked change of course for the FCC, which has in the past “categorically refused” to consider transactions involving investment in broadcasters above the 25% benchmark, according to CBI. 

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By Amy McEvoy

International buyers invested $82.5 billion in U.S. residential real estate (4.8% of total U.S. sales) according to the most recent survey conducted by the National Association of Realtors for the 12 month period ending with March 2012. According to that survey, the top states in the U.S. for international buyers were Florida, California, Arizona and Texas. That survey also finds that the top-five international buyers were from Canada, China, Mexico, India, and the United Kingdom and that Brazil also remains a major source of purchasers. Homes are bought in the U.S. for investment, vacation-use, temporary use for professional, educational (which could include providing a home to a child who is pursuing his or her education in the U.S.), and a myriad of other reasons.

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By Marcos Vergara del Carril 

In what the Financial Times has called “the sovereign debt restructuring case of the century,” Argentina has timely submitted its proposal as requested by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, with which it is willing to make payments on approximately $1.3 billion of unpaid debt obligations that stem from the country’s $95 billion debt default of December 2001.

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By Marcos Vergara del Carril 

The new President of Mexico, Mr. Peña Nieto, has reached an unprecedented multi-party agreement between his party, the Partido Revolucionario Industrial (PRI), and the rest of the major political forces: the Partido Acción Nacional (PAN), which governed Mexico between 2000 and 2012, the Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD) and the Partido Verde Ecologista (PVE).

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Under the leadership of President Enrique Pena Nieto, Mexico has recently approved a historic constitutional amendment reforming the country’s archaic education system. In order to push this historic reform, which is commonly known as the “education reform”, President Pena Nieto overcame great opposition from the country’s teachers union, which is the largest union in Latin America. The powerful union has been led by Elba Esther Gordillo for over thirty years and has wielded great power over elections throughout the country. In an unprecedented turn of events, the union lost the battle against the reform and its omnipotent leader was arrested and now faces embezzlement charges. If found guilty, Gordillo could face thirty years in prison.

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By Gabriel Matus

On March 1, 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ordered Argentina to submit its proposal for the terms on which it is prepared to make payment on approximately $1.3 billion of unpaid debt obligations stemming from the country’s $95 billion debt default a decade ago. The court’s ruling is the latest milestone in the marathon court battle between the Republic of Argentina and NML Capital Ltd., a vulture fund affiliate of the hedge fund firm Elliott Associates, run by billionaire Paul Singer.

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By Neil A.F. Popović and Rachel Tarko Hudson

In the latest U.S. chapter of the long and hard-fought battle over claims of pollution and adverse health effects from oil development in the Ecuadorian rain forest by Texaco (acquired by Chevron in 2001), a potentially important court victory has gone to the so-called Lago Agrio plaintiffs. On January 26, 2012, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals issued an opinion in Chevron Corp. v. Naranjo, ___ F.3d ___, 2012 WL 232965 (2d Cir. Jan. 26, 2012), ordering vacation of a preliminary injunction that prohibited the Lago Agrio plaintiffs from enforcing or preparing to enforce a potential Ecuadorian judgment against Chevron anywhere in the world outside Ecuador.

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By Bram Hanono

In the recent case of Bauman v. DaimlerChrysler Corp. (No. 07-15386 (9th Cir. May 18, 2011)), the Ninth Circuit expanded the use of "agency theory" to impose personal jurisdiction over a foreign corporation doing business in the U.S. solely through its U.S. subsidiary. The court found jurisdiction based on the subsidiary's contacts within California, even though the lawsuit was initiated by non-U.S. residents regarding acts allegedly committed in a foreign country that had nothing to do with the subsidiary's contacts.
 

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By Curt Dombek

U.S. importers and their suppliers breathed a collective sigh of relief this month after U.S. Customs and Border Protection announced that it was not going forward with its planned rule change that would have essentially eliminated the "first sale" rule.
 

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By Larissa Calva-Ruiz

Mexico's Federal Law for the Protection of Personal data (la Ley Federal de Protección de Datos Personales en Posesión de los Particulares) (the "Law") protects an individual's personal data by restricting its use and prescribing the way in which both private and public entities must treat the collection, use, and disclosure of personal data relating to Mexican citizens. The owner of the information has the right to decide who can access his/her personal data and in which ways it might be disclosed to others. The owner has the right to correct such information, control the transfer of the information and block or cancel its use. Also, the owner of the information has the right to access his own information regardless of the holder.
 

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