On October 23, 2019 the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (“OFAC”) removed the Specially Designated National (“SDN”) designations on the Government of Turkey’s Ministries of National Defense and Energy, as well as the SDN designations on the Turkish Ministers of National Defense, Energy, and Interior. On October 14, 2019, President […]
Throwing an office Halloween party is a great way to boost employee morale and have fun with your colleagues. However, if not handled properly, a Halloween party can create some scary legal and HR problems. Below are a few guidelines to help ensure your party is an enjoyable event for all attendees: (1) Create Costume Guidelines. […]
Keith Swirsky, President of GKG Law, gave a presentation entitled “Key Federal Tax Issues and Audits” at the 2019 NBAA Tax, Regulatory & Risk Management Conference held October 20 – 21, 2019 in Las Vegas, NV. Keith was joined by Alan Burnett of CenterPoint Aviation PLLC to lead this educational session covering the federal tax planning issues most frequently dealt with in aircraft ownership and […]
As you are likely aware, there has been recent news regarding the U.S. economic sanctions imposed on Turkey (i.e., the “Syria-related Sanctions”). The Treasury’s press release is available here. Based on our review of the new sanctions, here are some things to note for both US and foreign based forwarders that do business with Turkey. […]
GKG Law's Keith Swirsky and Troy Rolf recently led a detailed webinar on the topic "Bonus Depreciation Update / TCJA Update Provisions." The webinar consisted of two parts: (i) Part 1 included an update regarding the availability of bonus depreciation and rules relating to the application of bonus depreciation in the context of an aircraft acquisition; (ii) Part 2 provided a detailed […]
GKG Law recently prevailed on summary judgment in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against The Containership Company (“TCC” ) in a case involving claims in excess of $8 million. GKG Law serves as counsel for over 20 defendants in this litigation which began in 2011 after TCC filed for bankruptcy in […]
On September 26, 2019, the Federal Maritime Commission issued a Notice of a series of new notices of proposed rulemakings that have significant potential effect on OTIs and vessel operators. At this point, the actual NPRMs have not been issued, so it is not clear what issues are to be specifically addressed. Nevertheless, the press […]
In the 19th century, interest in populating the West grew but there was not a sufficient transportation structure to do so. To facilitate the settlement and development of the West, Congress granted railroads various rights of way under the “pre-1871 Acts” and the General Railroad Right-of-Way Act of 1875. The Acts were intended to provide […]
On September 12, 2019, the Surface Transportation Board (“Board’) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking that would streamline the process by which a rail shipper demonstrates the Board has jurisdiction to review whether the shipper’s rates are reasonable because the railroad has “market dominance” over the transportation, i.e., no effective competition exists to discipline the […]
On September 12, 2019, the Surface Transportation Board (“Board”) announced it will hold a public hearing on December 12, 2019 in an area of railroad policy that is extremely important to the STB’s regulation of railroad rates and the procedures for challenging them: railroad “revenue adequacy.” How “revenue adequacy” is determined by the Board and […]