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Prohibition of assignment clause did not prevent a transfer of rights by operation of law
The Court of Appeal has held that a clause in a contract that prohibited the parties from assigning their rights under the contract did not prevent one party’s rights being transferred automatically to an insurer by operation of law. The case shines a light on how the courts may interpret a prohibition of assignment clause.
What did the court of appeal say, what does this mean for me.
Dassault Aviation SA v Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd [2024] EWCA Civ 5 involved a contract for the sale of two aircraft and spare parts.
Under the contract, which was governed by English law, Dassault Aviation would sell the aircraft to Mitsui Bussan Aerospace (MBA). Under a separate contract (governed by Japanese law), MBA would subsequently on-sell the aircraft to the Japanese Coastguard.
MBA was concerned that, if Dassault delivered the aircraft late to MBA, this would affect delivery times under MBA’s contract with the Coastguard and MBA could be liable for late delivery to the Coastguard.
To protect itself against this risk, MBA took out an insurance policy from Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance (MSI) (which, despite the name, was not connected in any way with MBA). The insurance policy was governed by Japanese law.
As it happened, the aircraft were delivered late. MBA claimed under the insurance policy, and MSI duly paid the claim.
Under article 25 of the Japanese Insurance Act (No. 56 of 2008), where an insurer pays out under a Japanese policy of insurance, the insurer is automatically subrogated to any claim the policyholder may have in connection with the event that led to the pay-out. In other words, the policyholder’s right to claim damages passes automatically to the insurer.
Essentially, the same position applies in England and Wales under the common law. See the box “ What is subrogation? ” for more information.
In this scenario, this would mean that MBA’s right to claim against Dassault for breach of contract (due to the late delivery by Dassault) would pass to MSI, so that MSI could claim directly against Dassault.
However, the sale contract between Dassault and MBA contained the following clause (the assignment prohibition):
“[T]his Contract shall not be assigned or transferred in whole or in part by any Party to any third party, for any reason whatsoever, without the prior written consent of the other Party and any such assignment, transfer or attempt to assign or transfer any interest or right hereunder shall be null and void without the prior written consent of the other Party.”
Dassault argued that the prohibition prevailed and prevented MBA’s rights under the contract from transferring to MSI under the Insurance Act. If correct, this would mean that MSI would have no right to claim against Dassault to recover the amount it had paid out to MBA.
Subrogation is a broad doctrine which essentially states that, if a person (X) pays or discharges a debt or obligation of someone else (Y), then X steps into Y’s shoes and acquires Y’s rights.
Under English law, subrogation applies in a wide range of circumstances, including the following.
Subrogation can be complicated and how it works in practice varies greatly depending on the legal and factual circumstances. In many respects, subrogation is less a doctrine and more a form of remedy which a person who has discharged someone else’s obligations can seek in an appropriate form. The principal point of subrogation is that the person whose obligations have been discharged should not be unjustly enriched by failing to perform those obligations themselves.
However, one common factor to all types of subrogation is that it involves an automatic transfer of rights , which occurs by operation of law and does not require a specific assignment by anyone.
Initially, the dispute was referred to arbitration at the ICC in London. The arbitration panel held (by a majority) that MBA’s rights under the sale contract had transferred to MSI under the Insurance Act.
Dassault appealed to the High Court of England and Wales. The High Court overturned the arbitrators’ decision, finding that the prohibition was wide enough to capture a transfer by operation of law.
The High Court noted the words “by any Party” in the assignment prohibition were ambiguous and needed to be interpreted. It therefore embarked on the traditional process of contractual interpretation that applies when the wording of a contract is unclear. See the box “ How will the court interpret a contract? ” for more information.
It held that the words indicated an element of action or willingness by a Party, and that this was what was required for the prohibition to apply. A transfer would fall outside the prohibition only if it were outside the voluntary control of the transferring party (here, MBA).
In this case, although MBA had not directly assigned its rights to MSI, it had entered willingly into the insurance policy and made a claim under it, with the direct and predictable result that its rights would be transferred to MSI under the Insurance Act. In the High Court’s view, this amounted to an assignment by MBA and was caught by the prohibition.
MSI appealed to the Court of Appeal of England and Wales.
The court re-examined the words “by any Party” and found that they were unambiguous and clear. They covered a transfer effected by a party to the sale contract, but that did not include a transfer that occurred automatically by operation of law (as was the case under the Insurance Act).
The judges disagreed with the High Court’s approach that the key question was whether the transfer was outside MBA’s voluntary control. Rather, it was a simple case of reading the contract to decide whether the transfer had been made by MBA.
It had not. The transfer had taken place automatically under the Insurance Act and so was not prohibited by the assignment prohibition.
In reaching its decision, the court noted that the sale contract between Dassault and MBA contained provisions that specifically contemplated the parties taking out insurance (Dassault insurance against loss or damage to certain specific equipment, and MBA insurance in connection with ferry flight delivering the aircraft).
Although these specific provisions did not cover the insurance policy that MBA had placed with MSI, they did indicate that the parties were happy for insurance to cover the arrangements, suggesting in turn that they understood that rights under the contract might transfer to an insurer.
The court found, therefore, that MBA’s rights had transferred to MSI and the assignment prohibition did not apply.
If the wording of an agreement is clear, the courts will assume that it reflects the parties’ intentions and enforce the literal word of the contract. This will be the case even if the result is unusual or uncommercial.
The only exception to this is where the parties’ agreement is in some way restricted by law. For example, the court may find that a clause is unenforceable as a restraint of trade, a contractual penalty, and unreasonable exclusion or limitation of liability, or an attempt to carry out unlawful acts. In these cases, the courts may be able to strike parts of the contract out to make it work.
However, if the wording of a contract is ambiguous and could have more than one meaning, the court must embark on a process of contractual interpretation (also called construction).
The law on contractual interpretation is now settled, following three landmark cases ( Rainy Sky SA v Kookmin Bank [2011] UKSC 50; Arnold v Britton [2015] UKSC 36; and Wood v Capita Insurance Services Ltd [2017] UKSC 24).
In short, the court will examine the wording of the contract and ascertain what a reasonable person with all the relevant background knowledge at the time of the contract would have understood.
The court will look not only at the text of the contract, but also the surrounding context at the time. This is a single exercise, and the court will not automatically prefer the wording (textualism) over the surrounding circumstances (contextualism) or vice versa. However, the weight the court will give the text and the context will vary depending on the nature and formality of the contract.
If, after doing this, the court finds there is still more than one plausible interpretation of the contract, it will prefer the interpretation that is most consistent with business common sense.
The case shows the importance of formulating any prohibition of assignment provisions properly.
Here, the court felt that the wording of the sale contract was clear. By using the words “by any Party”, the prohibition extended only to direct attempts by a party to assign their rights.
Had those words not appeared (e.g. “[T]his Contract shall not be assigned or transferred in whole or in part to any third party…”), the court may have been required to embark on a deeper analysis of the clause to understand whether it would have prohibited transfers by operation of law. Indeed, the court might have concluded that it would have done so.
The case revolved around automatic transfers under Japanese law. The position might well be different under English law. This point was not argued – both Dassault and MSI appear to have accepted that, had the contract been governed by English law, the transfer of rights to MSI would have taken place – and so the court did not need to decide the issue.
But that does not mean that it is impossible to exclude the right to subrogation through a prohibition of assignment, and contract parties may wish to ensure any contractual prohibitions are worded broadly enough that they at least make an attempt to do so.
However, whether this is appropriate will need to be judged on a case-by-case basis, and may be more obviously covered by agreeing a subrogation waiver. For example, it is very common for a buyer of a business to deploy warranty and indemnity (W&I) insurance and for the seller(s) to require the W&I insurer to expressly waive any rights of subrogation.
Conversely, most liability insurance policies contain an express obligation on the insured party not to enter into any agreement with a third party that might restrict the insurer’s right of recovery. A prohibition of assignment that excludes a right of subrogation may do exactly that and could, in theory, invalidate the insurance policy itself.
Where insurance arrangements are contemplated under a contract, the parties should have a mind to the potential implications from an insurance-law perspective, including any potential subrogation following a claim under an insurance policy.
Any contractual provisions that do contemplate insurance are unlikely to stipulate a particular governing law for the insurance, so it may not be possible to make an informed assessment. In addition, the party taking out insurance may well not inform the other party that they are doing so and/or might take out insurance of a type not contemplated by the contract.
In each case, this could lead to a contract party facing legal proceedings under the contract by a third party whose identity is not known at the date of the contract.
Ultimately, where a contract party intends in advance to procure insurance in relation to the subject matter of the contract, it is important to seek legal advice to ensure that the policy and the contract operate smoothly and clearly alongside each other.
Access the court’s decision on whether a contract prohibited an assignment by operation of law ( Dassault Aviation SA v Mitsui Sumitomo Insurance Co. Ltd [2024] EWCA Civ 5)
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30 September 2021 23 June 2011 | Ken Adams
In Meso Scale Diagnostics, LLC v. Roche Diagnostics GMBH (go here for a PDF copy), the Delaware Court of Chancery held that it’s not clear whether for purposes of a no-assignment provision a reverse triangular merger constitutes an assignment “by operation of law.” (A reverse triangular merger is when Sub merges into Target.)
I’m not going to go into any detail regarding the case, as that information is readily available elsewhere. (Plucking a couple of examples at random, go here for Milbank’s analysis and go here for Shearman & Sterling’s analysis.)
Transfers by operation of law are generally considered involuntary transfers. They include court-ordered property transfers, bankruptcy-related transfers, and transfers to or from an executor or an administrator. Whether mergers and consolidations are transfers by operation of law is an open question. The cases reach inconsistent results.
That suggests that if you use the phrase by operation of law , you run the risk of getting into a fight over exactly what it means. And the Meso Scale Diagnostics case provides a great example of exactly that.
So what should you do instead? Koncision’s confidentiality-agreement template uses a bare-bones no-assignment provision that doesn’t get into by-operation-of-law territory, so here’s a more detailed version that I’ve just come up with:
Without the prior written consent of the other party, neither party may voluntarily or by court order (1) assign any of its rights under this agreement, whether by contract or by merger (whether that party is the surviving or disappearing entity), consolidation, dissolution, or otherwise, or (2) delegate any of its obligations under this agreement or its performance in satisfaction of any conditions to any obligations of the other party under this agreement. Any assignment or delegation in breach of this section X will be void.
Some observations:
But once you have your broad no-assignment wording, you have to determine whether for a given transaction you need the full monty , something less, nothing at all, or a provision authorizing assignment. I won’t get into that here.
About the author
Ken Adams is the leading authority on how to say clearly whatever you want to say in a contract. He’s author of A Manual of Style for Contract Drafting , and he offers online and in-person training around the world. He’s also chief content officer of LegalSifter, Inc., a company that combines artificial intelligence and expertise to assist with review of contracts.
Ken, thanks for the mention of the book. Language involving “by operation of law”, seems a bit specialist for a confidentiality agreement. As to what it means, I think it is a sweep-up that may cover oddities, eg:
– contracts with an individual that may continue when he dies, eg copyright licence agreements? – contracts that become contracts with a new entity by virtue of a law.
In the latter category, I can cite my former client Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, which was dissolved and whose assets transferred to University College London under the University College London Act 1996 (see section 5 which deals with automatic transfer of property without any assignment). See http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukla/1996/3/contents/enacted
To tee up a potential Plan B, counsel for a non-assigning party might ask for a termination right — if the other party engages in a merger that the non-assigning party doesn’t like, and the merger would not be considered an “assignment” under applicable law, then the non-assigning party can terminate the agreement.[1] [2]
[1] Of course, the consequences of termination would have to be thought through and suitably addressed.
[2] I’ve never been 100% comfortable with the concept of terminating the Agreement. My late partner and mentor Tom Arnold was of the school of thought that contracts per se are historical facts and can never be terminated – only specific rights and duties can be terminated.
I have some nitpicks.
The Texas statute on the effect of a merger (section 10.008 at http://www.statutes.legis.state.tx.us/Docs/BO/pdf/BO.10.pdf ) specifically says that a merger vests rights in property in the successor organization without any assignment or transfer having occurred. Someone who knows this law better than me might be able to comment on whether that would include, for example, a lease to either real property or capital equipment. If you nonetheless want to prohibit the lease vesting int he successor, i think your language will have to use a word other than “assign.”
Along the same lines, the statute makes the successor entity be the primary obligor without calling it a delegation, so the non-delegation language might not be effective. The statute does allow a contract to specify additional obligors.
The two points above are important mainly because Texas law allows a merger to have multiple surviving or new entities result from the merger. So, your valuable lease might end up being held by a much less creditworthy entity. I don’t have a solution for this problem that would be generally applicable. I think instead, the drafter will have to look towards protections elsewhere, like warranties that the lessee would breach by becoming less creditworthy or a termination right that kicks in on any organic event.
You might want to change “court order” to “government action” to handle situations where regulatory bodies take control of a company (e.g. banks, insurers) and also have statutory, quasi-judicial power to transfer obligations to successors.
Finally, your construction of “neither party may” seems to run afoul of the guidance in MSCD 2.150. But the meaning of “may” in the construction remains consistent with MCSD and the alternative construction — each party shall not — is a clunky here, so I see why you chose the alternative.
Chris: Hmm. Regarding your first two points, I’ll have to put on my thinking cap. I might take a while to respond.
Yes, I will change “court order” to something that refers to “Government Body” or some such. I did something similar for purposes of Koncision’s confidentiality-agreement template.
I periodically fall foul of my own guidelines, and I’m delighted when people point that out. But regarding “neither party may,” have a look at MSCD 2.152.
“By operation of law” could also cover death, if one of the parties is an individual. I doubt it would be any more effective than trying to prohibit assignment by court order. There are, of course, ways of addressing the effect of death directly, if it’s a real issue.
One senior lawyer advised me a one-sided transfer of shares from A to B under “operation of law” without any transfer deed or court order. He explained the following: 1. A breached the shareholders agreement. The agreement said that in case any shareholder breaches, his shares will be bought by other shareholders. 2. Since the agreement was breached, hence the shares were transferred to other shareholders under “operation of law”. 3. Since it came under operation of law, hence the transfer of shares became “transmission of shares” which needs no court order or transfer deed. I was shocked to listen this approach. Can you comment.
so does permanent disability fall under operation of the law and therefore Transmission applies?
Your page is very useful for us mortals to understand some technical language. I am grateful indeed.
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Earlier this year, I wrote a blog post about assigning commercial leases generally. Sometimes, contractual rights or obligations get transferred without an express assignment. This can happen, for example, where a party to the contract gets acquired by someone else, or where the party’s ownership or control changes hands. An entity tenant under a commercial lease might be a corporation which gets bought up by another corporation, or an LLC tenant might have a change in its underlying membership. Such a transfer of rights under a contract occurs “by operation of law” rather than through an express assignment; under such circumstances, the law ordinarily presumes that someone who buys the tenant or acquires control of the tenant naturally acquires and assumes the tenant’s rights and obligations under the lease. We therefore refer to this succession as an assignment “by operation of law.”
But the landlord may not be happy with the new situation for a number of reasons. Perhaps the successor entity does not have the same financial strength as the original tenant; perhaps the new tenant has a different reputation or operates a business which would create an unpleasant or off-putting atmosphere for neighboring commercial tenants; perhaps the landlord has a specific objection to people or personalities who now control the tenant entity.
Sometimes, tenants intentionally structure transactions to avoid triggering the need to obtain the landlord’s consent for the transfer of tenant rights under the commercial lease. The landlord may see this as a de facto assignment which violates the spirit of an anti-assignment provision, while the tenant or successors with new control of the tenant view themselves as absolutely entitled to continue the lease over the landlord’s objection.
Under Washington law, even though they may be valid, lease provisions prohibiting or restricting rights to assignment are strictly construed as they are not favored in the law. Therefore, where the lease is silent regarding assignments by operation of law, and where there is otherwise no breach of the lease agreement, the landlord probably has no right to object to the de facto transfer of rights and may not unilaterally terminate the lease. In other jurisdictions, the majority view is that, “The fact that the members of the entity change, such as when the stockholders at the time the lease is made later transfer their stock, or a partner in the partnership drops out and a new partner replaces him, or the beneficiaries of the trust change, does not constitute an alienation by the landlord or the tenant that is in violation of a restraint on alienation, absent specific language in the restraint provision that covers such change in the nature of the entity involved.” There does not appear to be any Washington case expressly adopting or rejecting this view, but Washington case law on this subject generally appears consistent with this majority view.
All of this is to say that it is critical for parties to a commercial lease to specify when a lease can or cannot be assigned. If the landlord’s willingness to lease is based upon the personal reputation or relationship with key persons associated with an entity tenant, the landlord should carefully take the time to contemplate and negotiate an assignment provision to cover acceptable and unacceptable transfer scenarios.
Whether you are a commercial tenant looking to assign your lease, or you are a landlord being asked to consent to an assignment, the lawyers at Beresford Booth can help. We have extensive experience advising clients on real estate matters.
To learn more about commercial lease assignments, please contact Beresford Booth at [email protected] or by phone at (425) 776-4100 .
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Barry Klayman and Mark Felger writing in the Delaware Business Court Insider , discuss a recent decision by the Superior Court of Delaware holding that an anti-assignment clause prohibiting an assignment “by operation of law” without the other party’s consent applied to a subsequent merger in which the contracting party was not the surviving entity. The article also discusses some ways the parties could have avoided that result.
To read the article, click here .
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By Monique Mulima
The two largest Canadian railroad companies will shut down operations Thursday if no agreement is reached with their unionized workers, forcing industries to brace for billions of dollars in losses.
Canadian National Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd. issued lockout notices to a union representing more than 9,000 employees at both companies, essentially starting a countdown for a nationwide work stoppage unless parties reach a last-minute deal.
The looming strike has already begun to affect the movement of products including wheat, chemicals and fertilizers throughout Canada and the US. The two rail operators started a phased shutdown of ...
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Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, signed legislation allowing Minnesota courts to take “temporary emergency jurisdiction” in a child custody case involving “gender-affirming” care.
The April 2023 law does not change when the state can take custody away from parents or enable the state to take away custody in connection with such care.
The law defines gender-affirming care as “medically necessary” care that can include aligning “the patient’s appearance … with the patient’s gender identity.”
The law enables Minnesota to take temporary jurisdiction in a child custody dispute between parents in another state if one wants a child to obtain gender-affirming care in Minnesota.
Twenty-five states restrict gender-affirming care.
A spokesperson for Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance cited the Minnesota law to back Vance’s claim Aug. 7, 2024, in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, that Walz supports removing custody from parents who “don’t want to consent to sex changes.” This fact brief is responsive to conversations such as this one .
Minnesota Legislature: HF 146 Status in the House for the 93rd Legislature (2023)
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An enormous amount of sensitive information including Social Security numbers for millions of people could be in the hands of a hacking group after a data breach and may have been released on an online marketplace, The Los Angeles Times reported this week.
The hacking group USDoD claimed it had allegedly stolen personal records of 2.9 billion people from National Public Data, according to a class-action lawsuit filed in U.S. District Court in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, reported by Bloomberg Law. The breach was believed to have happened in or around April, according to the lawsuit.
Here's what to know about the alleged data breach.
Social security hack: National Public Data confirms massive data breach included Social Security numbers
The class-action law firm Schubert, Jonckheer & Kolbe said in a news release that the stolen file includes 277.1 gigabytes of data , and includes names, address histories, relatives and Social Security numbers dating back at least three decades.
According to a post from a cybersecurity expert on X, formerly Twitter, USDoD claims to be selling the 2.9 billion records for citizens of the U.S., U.K. and Canada on the dark web for $3.5 million.
Since the information was posted for sale in April, others have released different copies of the data, according to the cybersecurity and technology news site Bleeping Computer.
A hacker known as " Fenice " leaked the most complete version of the data for free on a forum in August, Bleeping Computer reported.
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National Public Data is a Florida-based background check company operated by Jerico Pictures, Inc. USA TODAY has reached out to National Public Data for comment.
The company has not publicly confirmed a data breach, but The Los Angeles Times reported that it has been telling people who contacted via email that "we are aware of certain third-party claims about consumer data and are investigating these issues."
If you believe your information has been stolen or has appeared on the dark web, there are a few steps you can take to prevent fraud or identity theft.
Money.com recommends taking the following steps:
It is billed as a policy "wish list" for the next Republican president that would vastly expand presidential powers and impose an ultra-conservative social vision on the US.
Donald Trump has disavowed the Heritage Foundation's Project 2025 document, though many of its authors worked for his previous administration.
Links between the Trump campaign and Project 2025 have been highlighted by the former president's critics, and this attack line will likely continue at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago this month.
Here's your guide to what the document contains.
It is common for Washington think tanks of all political stripes to propose policy wish lists for potential governments-in-waiting.
The conservative Heritage Foundation first produced policy plans for future Republican administrations in 1981, when Ronald Reagan was about to take office.
It has produced similar documents in connection with subsequent presidential elections, including in 2016, when Trump won the presidency.
A year into his term, the think tank boasted that the Trump White House had adopted nearly two-thirds of its proposals.
The Project 2025 report was unveiled in April 2023, but liberal opposition to the document has ramped up now that Trump has extended his polling lead.
The Republican nominee himself has distanced himself from the proposal.
"I know nothing about Project 2025," he posted on his social media website, Truth Social. "I have no idea who is behind it.
"I disagree with some of the things they're saying and some of the things they’re saying are absolutely ridiculous and abysmal."
But the team that created the project is chock-full of former Trump advisers, including director Paul Dans, who was chief of staff at the Office of Personnel Management while Trump was president.
Mr Dans left the project in late July, clearing the way for Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts to take over. He said he was leaving during the presidential election season in order to "direct all my efforts to winning, bigly".
Russell Vought, another former Trump administration official, wrote a key chapter in the document and also serves as the Republican National Committee’s 2024 platform policy director.
More than 100 conservative organisations contributed to the document, Heritage says, including many that would be hugely influential in Washington if Republicans took back the White House.
The Project 2025 document sets out four main policy aims: restore the family as the centrepiece of American life; dismantle the administrative state; defend the nation's sovereignty and borders; and secure God-given individual rights to live freely.
Here's an outline of several of its key proposals.
Project 2025 proposes that the entire federal bureaucracy, including independent agencies such as the Department of Justice, be placed under direct presidential control - a controversial idea known as "unitary executive theory".
In practice, that would streamline decision-making, allowing the president to directly implement policies in a number of areas.
The proposals also call for eliminating job protections for thousands of government employees, who could then be replaced by political appointees.
The document labels the FBI a "bloated, arrogant, increasingly lawless organization". It calls for drastic overhauls of this and several other federal agencies, as well as the complete elimination of the Department of Education.
What does the Republican party platform say?
The party platform includes a proposal to "declassify government records, root out wrongdoers, and fire corrupt employees", pledges to slash regulation and government spending. But it stops short of proposing a sweeping overhaul of federal agencies as outlined in Project 2025.
Increased funding for a wall on the US-Mexico border - one of Trump's signature proposals in 2016 - is proposed in the document.
Project 2025 also proposes dismantling the Department of Homeland Security and combining it with other immigration enforcement units in other agencies, creating a much larger and more powerful border policing operation.
Other proposals include eliminating visa categories for crime and human trafficking victims, increasing fees on immigrants and allowing fast-tracked applications for migrants who pay a premium.
Not all of those details are repeated in the party platform, but the overall headlines are similar - the party is promising to implement the "largest deportation programme in American history".
Climate and economy.
The document proposes slashing federal money for research and investment in renewable energy, and calls for the next president to "stop the war on oil and natural gas".
Carbon-reduction goals would be replaced by efforts to increase energy production and energy security.
The paper sets out two competing visions on tariffs, and is divided on whether the next president should try to boost free trade or raise barriers to imports.
But the economic advisers suggest that a second Trump administration should slash corporate and income taxes, abolish the Federal Reserve and even consider a return to gold-backed currency.
The party platform does not go as far as Project 2025 in these policy areas. The platform instead talks of bringing down inflation and drilling for oil to reduce energy costs, but is thin on specific policy proposals.
Project 2025 does not call outright for a nationwide abortion ban.
However, it proposes withdrawing the abortion pill mifepristone from the market, and using existing but little-enforced laws to stop the drug being sent through the post.
The document suggests that the department of Health and Human Services should "maintain a biblically based, social science-reinforced definition of marriage and family".
On this issue at least, the document differs fairly substantially from the Republican platform, which only mentions the word "abortion" once. The platform says abortion laws should be left to individual states and that late-term abortions (which it does not define) should be banned.
It adds that that access to prenatal care, birth control and in-vitro fertilisation should be protected. The party platform makes no mention of cracking down on the distribution of mifepristone.
Under the proposals, pornography would be banned, and tech and telecoms companies that allow access would be shut down.
The document calls for school choice and parental control over schools, and takes aim at what it calls "woke propaganda".
It proposes to eliminate a long list of terms from all laws and federal regulations, including "sexual orientation", "gender equality", "abortion" and "reproductive rights".
Project 2025 aims to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs in schools and government departments as part of what it describes as a wider crackdown on "woke" ideology.
Project 2025's proposals in this policy area are broadly reflected in the Republican platform, which in addition to calling for the abolishing the Department of Education, aims to boost school choice and parental control over education and criticises what the party calls the "inappropriate political indoctrination of our children".
Although Heritage has long supported reforming the country's public pension plan, Project 2025 barely touches this third rail of American politics.
The platform says Social Security is a "lifeline" for millions of retired Americans and Republicans will "restore Economic Stability to ensure the long-term sustainability" of the programme.
Project 2025 is backed by a $22m (£17m) budget and includes strategies for implementing policies immediately after the presidential inauguration in January 2025.
Heritage is also creating a database of conservative loyalists to fill government positions, and a programme to train those new workers.
Democrats led by Jared Huffman, a congressman from California, have launched a Stop Project 2025 Task Force.
And many of the proposals would likely face immediate legal challenges from Trump's opponents if implemented.
Where biden and trump stand on key issues, four things that could decide who wins us election.
IMAGES
COMMENTS
Nonetheless, " [w]hen an anti-assignment clause includes language referencing an assignment 'by operation of law,' Delaware courts generally agree that the clause applies to mergers in which the contracting company is not the surviving entity.". [3] Here the anti-assignment clause in the original acquisition agreement did purport to ...
Assignments by Operation of Law. In Canada, the assignment of a contract as part of an asset sale, or the change of control of a party to a contract pursuant to a share sale - situations not normally effected via legal statute or court-ordered proceeding in M&A transactions - will not in and of itself effect an assignment of that contract ...
In addition, British Columbia's Business Corporations Act—which was the statute under which the amalgamation at issue proceeded—expressly contemplates that an amalgamation does not constitute an assignment by operation of law. The decision in MTA Canada Royalty may have been informed by a misunderstanding of the effect of a Canadian ...
The amalgamation therefore constituted an assignment by operation of law of the acquisition agreement, and was rendered void by the anti-assignment clause. ... amalgamation at issue proceeded—expressly contemplates that an amalgamation does not constitute an assignment by operation of law. The decision in MTA Canada Royalty may have been ...
According to MTA, such alternatives should allow successor companies to enforce agreements without running afoul of anti-assignment clauses prohibiting "assignment by operation of law".[2] [1] The transaction was an amalgamation under Canadian law, which the parties and the Court agreed was the equivalent of a merger under Delaware law.
In MTA Canada Royalty v. Compania Minera Pangea, Judge Abigail LeGrow considered whether an agreement's anti-assignment clause operated to void an assignment that occurred as a result of a ...
Notably, the amalgamated party conceded that the amalgamation at issue in the case was "equivalent to a merger under Delaware law." As a result, the surviving entity was unable to benefit from a contract of the Canadian predecessor that included an anti-assignment clause prohibiting assignment "by operation of law or otherwise".
It then held that the Anti-Assignment Clause clearly barred Alberta's transfer of rights through a merger because the clause prevented assignment "by operation of law", which Delaware case ...
Mergers and Restrictions on Assignments by "Operation of Law". Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP. USA September 22 2020. Few things are more fundamental to M&A due diligence than determining whether ...
The general rule is that change of control of a corporate entity is not an assignment by operation of law, and therefore does not violate a basic anti-assignment provision. Courts have reasoned ...
Notably, the amalgamated party conceded that the amalgamation at issue in the case was "equivalent to a merger under Delaware law." As a result, the surviving entity was unable to benefit from a contract of the Canadian predecessor that included an anti-assignment clause prohibiting assignment "by operation of law or otherwise".
Commercial l andlords often rely on anti-assignment provisions to restrict the ability of tenants to assign their interest in a lease to a third party. Such provisions will often explicitly restrict assignments by " operation of law, " which are generally considered involuntary assignments mandated via a court order. Commercial landlords may assume that a change of control transaction ...
Assignment by Operation of Law. Assignments by operation of law typically occur in the context of transfers of rights and obligations in accordance with merger statutes and can be specifically included in or excluded from assignment provisions. ... M5V 1J9 Canada. 1 888 710 3454. How Kira Works. Patented Machine Learning Technology; Built-In ...
Assignments by Operation of Law. In Canada, the assignment of a contract as part of an asset sale, or the change of control of a party to a contract pursuant to a share sale - situations not ...
An outline of the ways in which contractual rights may be transferred to third parties by means of assignment, and the rule against assigning the burden, or obligations, of a contract. Thomson Reuters Practical Law Home. Canada Home Global Home NEW. Open navigation ... Get full access to this document with Practical Law. Try free and see for ...
Endnotes (↵ returns to text). And remember not all mergers even constitute transfers. See Glenn West, Mergers and Restrictions on Assignments by "Operation of Law," Weil Insights, Weil's Global Private Equity Watch, September 22, 2020, available here. ↵; See Glenn West, Pondering One of Diligence's Seemingly Imponderable Questions: The Effect of Restrictions on "Indirect ...
Assignment (law) Assignment[ a] is a legal term used in the context of the laws of contract and of property. In both instances, assignment is the process whereby a person, the assignor, transfers rights or benefits to another, the assignee. [ 1] An assignment may not transfer a duty, burden or detriment without the express agreement of the ...
Dassault appealed to the High Court of England and Wales. The High Court overturned the arbitrators' decision, finding that the prohibition was wide enough to capture a transfer by operation of law. The High Court noted the words "by any Party" in the assignment prohibition were ambiguous and needed to be interpreted.
In Meso Scale Diagnostics, LLC v. Roche Diagnostics GMBH (go here for a PDF copy), the Delaware Court of Chancery held that it's not clear whether for purposes of a no-assignment provision a reverse triangular merger constitutes an assignment "by operation of law." (A reverse triangular merger is when Sub merges into Target.). I'm not going to go into any detail regarding the case, as ...
We have extensive experience advising clients on real estate matters. To learn more about commercial lease assignments, please contact Beresford Booth at [email protected] or by phone at (425) 776-4100. BERESFORD BOOTH has made this content available to the general public for informational purposes only. The information on this site is not ...
Assignment - Mergers. Many courts narrowly construe anti-assignment provisions as prohibiting only voluntary assignments. To prohibit other types of assignments, add "by operation of law, merger or otherwise". May need to be even more explicit for some states (including TX and CA) that have statutes providing that mergers do not constitute ...
Barry Klayman and Mark Felger writing in the Delaware Business Court Insider, discuss a recent decision by the Superior Court of Delaware holding that an anti-assignment clause prohibiting an assignment "by operation of law" without the other party's consent applied to a subsequent merger in which the contracting party was not the surviving entity.
The lockout is expected to start after midnight on Thursday Economy could lose billions of dollars due to work stoppage The two largest Canadian railroad companies will shut down operations Thursday if no agreement is reached with their unionized workers, forcing industries to brace for billions of ...
The April 2023 law does not change when the state can take custody away from parents or enable the state to take away custody in connection with such care. The law defines gender-affirming care as "medically necessary" care that can include aligning "the patient's appearance … with the patient's gender identity."
According to a post from a cybersecurity expert on X, formerly Twitter, USDoD claims to be selling the 2.9 billion records for citizens of the U.S., U.K. and Canada on the dark web for $3.5 million.
Increased funding for a wall on the US-Mexico border - one of Trump's signature proposals in 2016 - is proposed in the document. Project 2025 also proposes dismantling the Department of Homeland ...