Hunton Retail Law Resource

This month serves as a reminder to manufacturers, distributors, retailers and importers that consumer products carry strong liability risks when they pose risks of serious injury or death. Steps should be taken to reduce that liability, including the issuance of alerts and recalls to remove the products from the stream of commerce.

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has imposed the first penalty for violations of its new rule limiting formaldehyde emissions from composite wood products just over one year after the rule became effective. The $544,064 penalty assessed against construction product supplier Global Sourcing Solutions, a Division of Turner Logistics, LLC (Global Sourcing Solutions), comes as part of a consent agreement between EPA and the company, which will also be required to implement a corrective action plan.

On August 8, 2019, the SEC proposed rules that would revise disclosures for Regulation S-K Item 101 (description of business), Item 103 (legal proceedings) and Item 105 (risk factors), in an effort to make disclosures more useful for investors and make compliance easier for registrants.

In a recent article in the ABA Business Law Section publication Business Law Today, Hunton Andrews Kurth insurance attorneys Syed Ahmad and Geoffrey Fehling discuss several important D&O insurance coverage issues that can have far-reaching implications with retailers and other businesses involved in mergers, acquisitions, and other M&A deals. In the article, the authors discuss the intersection of M&A and insurance and how those transactions can impact the potential risks and protections afforded by D&O and other insurance policies. A copy of the article can be found here