News & Events

            On March 31, 2020, UKS attorney Richard S. Order went to court in Hartford and obtained a domestic violence restraining order protecting a woman and her year-old child from an abusive husband.  Although the Connecticut courts had been closed for most business by that time due to the COVID-19 pandemic, a few courts have remained open for high priority matters such as restraining orders and certain criminal arraignments.              “The court staff implemented social distancing meas ...

On April 14, 2020, Governor Lamont signed Executive Order No. 7Z.  The following is a brief summary of such Executive Order, but the Order can be read in its entirety here.  Executive Order No. 7Z temporarily modifies certain state contracting statutes in order to facilitate the emergency procurement of essential goods.  More specifically, for any contract entered into on or after March 10, 2020, the Order authorizes the head of a state contracting agency to waive the following Connecticut Gene ...

On February 14, 2020 UKS attorneys Christopher Brigham, Kevin McEleney, and Donald Doeg were featured speakers for a webinar entitled “Looking Ahead - Getting Back to Business.” The webinar was hosted by the Middlesex Chamber of Commerce as part of its Tuesday Tips series and was co-moderated by UKS Attorney Richard Carella.  The attorneys discussed Landlord/Tenant, Employment and Insurance Law issues related to the current Covid-19 pandemic and addressed matters that businesses and individuals ...

The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”), the largest economic stimulus package in the history of the United States, was recently passed by Congress to provide financial relief to individuals and companies harmed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Anticipating potential abuse of the opportunities under the CARES Act and other federal stimulus packages, the United States Department of Justice (“DOJ”) has announced that it will “prioritize the investigation and prosecution of Co ...

On April 9, 2020, Governor Lamont signed Executive Order No. 7W.  The next day, April 10, 2020, Governor Lamont signed Executive Order No. 7X.   The following is a general summary of both Executive Orders: Executive Order No. 7W.  Executive Order 7W covers a broad range of directives and is available in its entirety here.   The Order begins by clarifying the applicability of Executive Order No. 7S, Section 6 to quasi-municipal corporations and changing how the related time periods for tax dea ...

On March 27, 2020, President Trump signed into law the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act (“CARES Act”).  The CARES Act provided, in part, $200 million to the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) to assist healthcare providers in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.  The FCC responded by issuing a new emergency program—the COVID-19 Telehealth Program (“Program”)—to provide eligible healthcare providers with funding of up to $1 million to purchase telecommunications services, in ...

Part I: Foreclosures and Evictions Connecticut state courts remain open but under severely reduced operations. Currently, the courts are only processing “Priority 1 Business Functions,” which, for purposes of commercial litigation, only include limited emergency motions. That means that all civil trials, trial management conferences, pre-trials, status conferences, J-ADR mediations, and short calendar matters have been cancelled so long as the judicial branch is limited to Priority 1 functions ...

            Like almost all other aspects of our lives, the COVID-19 crisis is also affecting the ways in which parties approach the bargaining table in the context of mergers and acquisitions (M&A).  Buyers and sellers are now thinking about the effects this global pandemic has had on target companies the subject of M&A transactions and the respective negotiating leverage of the parties thereto.  Specifically, principals on both sides of the table are asking themselves whether COVID-19 ...

On April 1, 2020, Governor Lamont signed Executive Order No. 7S.  In addition to a number of other directives, paragraph 7 of the order allows Connecticut municipalities to suspend in-person voting requirements for critical and time sensitive municipal fiscal deadlines.  The entire Executive Order 7S is available here.  Paragraph 7 permits Connecticut municipalities to suspend the requirement of in-person voting whether at annual or special town meetings or by referenda in order to approve (i) ...

Updated 4/7/2020 to include OPM issued guidance on Paragraph 6 1.0          OVERVIEW On April 1, 2020, Governor Lamont issued Executive Order 7S, effective immediately, requiring municipalities to, among other things, enact a temporary program for relief from collection of property taxes, utility charges, and assessments (“Taxes”), extend certain filing deadlines for some municipal taxpayers, and suspend all non-judicial tax sales.  The Order provides for other action that is not the subject o ...