BW INSIGHTS

COVID-19 Back-to-Business Limited Liability Act Awaits Governor’s Signature

Last week, the Iowa General Assembly passed Senate File 2338. The legislation includes the COVID-19 Response and Back-to-Business Limited Liability Act. The Act, which applies retroactively to January 1, 2020, provides liability protection from civil actions relating to COVID-19 exposure to certain “premises,” including real property serving a... Read More

Business Considerations for Those Impacted by COVID-19

While businesses have patiently awaited the lifting of closure orders associated with the pandemic, the uncertainty of business recovery looms as state and local governments begin easing closure restrictions. What will business look like in the post-closure world? How long will it take for business to recover? These are amongst the most pressing... Read More

PPP Portal Opens to Small Lenders Only for 8 Hours

On Wednesday, April 29, the U.S. Treasury and Small Business Administration (“SBA”) announced that for eight hours, big banks will be prevented from accessing the Paycheck Protection Program (“PPP”) portal. During this time, small lenders will have exclusive access to submitting applications for PPP loans. A lender with under $1 billion in assets... Read More

Paycheck Protection Program Resumes Monday, April 27th

If you have not already taken advantage of it, the SBA will be accepting PPP applications starting Monday morning. We recommend reaching out to your banker right away to get the ball rolling as the new appropriation will be given on a first-come first-served basis. Let us know what we can do to be of assistance – we have already helped numerous... Read More

Making a big change to your business? We can help.

COVID-19 has drastically altered market demands and in response, some companies are temporarily changing their business models to manufacture products that are desperately needed. We have ethanol plants manufacturing hand sanitizer, clothing companies making surgical gowns, and plastic molding companies making face shields. One hurdle to making... Read More

Negotiating M&A Deal Terms During the COVID-19 Outbreak

If you are in the process of negotiating the purchase or sale of a company’s assets, a large ownership stake in a company or some other merger or acquisition (“M&A”) transaction for a business, consider if and how COVID-19 could impact the terms of your deal, including those listed below. 1 - Purchase Price: Before signing up a deal, the parties... Read More

Federal Bank Regulators Issue New Guidance on Paycheck Protection Program Facility

Type of Action: Interim Final Rule Issued By: Department of Treasury Office of Comptroller of the Currency (“OCC”), the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System (“Board”), and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”). Date issued: April 9, 2020 To provide a bit of background – on April 7, 2020 the Board authorized Federal Reserve... Read More

Is Your Business at Risk for Coronavirus Lawsuits, and What Can You Do NOW To Avoid It?

Whether you are a small business, large business or even a government entity, are you ready (or preparing your business) for the onslaught of lawsuits resulting from the pandemic? Google “coronavirus lawsuits” — over 300 billion hits. Unfortunately, a number of those hits are plaintiffs’ class action law firms asking people to submit information... Read More

Interim Final Rule Issued for Paycheck Protection Program April 3, 2020

On April 3, 2020, the U.S. Small Business Administration issued an Interim Final Rule regarding the Paycheck Protection Program, accessible here: https://content.sba.gov/sites/default/files/2020-04/PPP--IFRN%20FINAL.pdf (the “Rules”). These Rules implement the Paycheck Protection Program sections (sections 1102 and 1106) of the Coronavirus Aid,... Read More

Leading Through Chaos

I recently had the pleasure of participating in a panel discussion on “Leading through Chaos” with Dawn Buzynski of Strategic America and Vince Newendorp of Vermeer. Little did any of us know that about two weeks later the stock market would crater, a global pandemic would cause most of the nation to be placed on lock-down, and vast business... Read More