How does a nice frosty Blueberry Muffin sound on a hot summer day? No, not the baked variety, but a blueberry muffin-flavored beer brought to you by the folks at Humboldt Street Collective LLC, dba Great Notion Brewing and Barrel House. If such a brew sounds appealing, that’s great, but you won’t be finding it under the BLUEBERRY MUFFIN trademark.
With this simple advertising taunt featured during the 2019 Superbowl — “Miller Lite uses corn syrup” — Anheuser-Busch has wound up on the receiving end of a lawsuit filed by MillerCoors over the use of corn syrup as a brewing adjunct. While millions of television viewers may have chuckled at the spot, MillerCoors is not among those laughing.
Is this the writing on the wall? In what looks to be the biggest step forward toward the ultimate legalization of marijuana on the federal level, the U.S. House of Representatives just passed the Secure and Fair Enforcement Act, or SAFE Banking Act, a critical step toward clearing the way for cannabis-related businesses to operate outside a cash-only world. Congresspeople voted in favor of the bill 321-103, which, remarkably, included nearly half of the Republicans that cast a vote.
Suffice it to say, this is great news for everyone aboard the “reform our nation’s marijuana laws” train. But the celebration should be kept in check. The legislation now moves on to the Senate, where those in the know suggest that passage appears to be much less likely, at least in its present form.
In the wake of the #MeToo movement, it is increasingly common in corporate transactional documents to see buyers and related parties include so-called “Weinstein” clauses. Such provisions typically request that a target company represent and warrant whether its officers or executives have been the subject of allegations of sexual harassment or misconduct, and if the company has entered into any settlement agreements regarding these kinds of claims.
The purpose of a Weinstein clause is to provide assurance that the target company (including its officers and executives) is not a hotbed of sexual harassment or a ticking time bomb of claims waiting to explode, which would no doubt result in liability, embarrassment and potential loss of value for the acquiring parties. This primer on drafting and negotiating Weinstein clauses should help deal teams balance these risks.
Peter Cifichiello’s article, “Memo to would-be cannabis entrepreneurs: Be diligent,” was published in the January 2020 edition of Marijuana Venture magazine.
When considering their real estate portfolios, every investor should be asking themselves one very important question: have I chosen the best method to hold title in and to my real property assets? And to answer that query, investors should be aware of all their options, including the Series LLC.
Mark Robinson’s article, “Producer Compliance in California: The Top Three Regulatory Danger Zones” was published in the Insurance Journal on May 15, 2017.
From the article . . .
“Some producers allow unlicensed telemarketers to solicit prospective customers. Others permit unlicensed employees to provide insurance quotes or actually sell policies. And there are those who tolerate additional unlicensed activity. Whatever the case may be, far too many insurance professionals dip their toes into these treacherous waters.”
Mark Robinson’s article, “Buying insurance? There’s an app for that,” was published on September 19, 2017, in PropertyCasualty360.
From the article . . .
“As Bob Dylan so eloquently crooned, ‘The times they are a changin’.
When it comes to the insurance marketplace, the lyric certainly rings true. And that is because tech innovators, who have targeted the insurance industry for disruption, are changing the way people access and purchase coverage.”
Many people affiliated with a multi-national insurance company or reinsurer consider the fast-approaching deadline for compliance with the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) to be old news.
But that’s not true of the entire insurance industry. It is less likely that an independent broker — one who has just placed a policy of insurance for a resident of the European Union who purchased property in the United States — realizes the urgency of becoming acquainted with the GDPR.
Pete Seeger, the legendary American folk singer, offered a great distinction between education and experience. “Education,” he said, “is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don’t.” The point being: it is extraordinarily important for parties to an agreement to review and comprehend its terms, or else difficulties may well ensue. But achieving the requisite level of understanding is frequently easier said than done.
