Overall
Key cases
Industries
Intellectual Property
Labor & Employment
Corporate
Practice Areas
Appellate
-
May 22, 2013
Innovation Beats MGA False Statements Suit In 9th Circ.
The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a lower court ruling tossing MGA Entertainment Inc.’s lawsuit alleging Innovation First Inc. engaged in an anti-competitive scheme by making false statements about the design for a robotic insect toy, ruling IFI lacked jurisdictional ties with California for the suit to proceed.
-
May 21, 2013
Calif. Appeals Court Backs Plans For Desalination Plant
A California appeals court on Tuesday overturned a lower court’s finding that the Marin Municipal Water District certified a substandard environmental impact report for its proposed seawater desalination plant, upending an initial win for an environmental group that had challenged the project.
-
May 21, 2013
Texas Beach Access Bill Clears State Legislature
The Texas Senate on Tuesday passed legislation that would temporarily allow residents to cross privately owned property when necessary to access the state’s beaches following a hurricane, in an effort to limit the impact of a Texas Supreme Court ruling that restricts public beach easements.
-
May 21, 2013
3rd Circ. Solidifies Free Speech Test In EA Likeness Case
The Third Circuit ruled Tuesday that the First Amendment does not shield video game publisher Electronic Arts Inc. from a former quarterback's right of publicity suit, adding to a growing consensus that the use of a person's likeness is protected speech only if it is transformed into an original expression.
-
May 21, 2013
9th Circ. Revives False Ad Suit Over Kohl's Price Discounts
A Ninth Circuit panel on Tuesday revived a putative class action brought against Kohl’s Corp. by a consumer who alleged false advertising, rejecting the company’s argument that the customers suffered no economic injury when allegedly deceived into buying items with falsely advertised discounts.
-
May 21, 2013
NY Starbucks Tip Fight Percolates Beyond Java Giant
Restaurateurs say the outcome of a New York high court fight over which Starbucks Corp. workers get tips could subject the state's massive hospitality industry to crippling liability, but plaintiffs' lawyers say bosses really see the battle as an opportunity to cut payrolls by spreading tips to more employees.
-
May 21, 2013
Ralphs Presses High Court To Take Union-Picketing Case
Ralphs Grocery Co. on Monday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review a California Supreme Court decision allowing a labor union to picket outside one of its stores, saying the “radical” ruling will allow protesters on its private property solely because their speech is about labor.
-
May 21, 2013
Thompson & Knight Dodges $2.5M Shareholder Fraud Appeal
A Texas appeals court declined Tuesday to revive a $2.5 million suit against Thompson & Knight LLP that alleged the firm helped a defunct home theater business transfer assets to a new venture and cut shareholders out of their investment in the company.
-
May 21, 2013
BNY Mellon Win In Lyondell LBO Case Upheld By NY Court
A New York state appeals court on Tuesday said Bank of New York Mellon Corp. did not breach a fiduciary duty in its handling of Basell AF SCA's leveraged buyout of Lyondell Chemical Co. that bankrupted both companies, affirming a lower court's decision.
-
May 21, 2013
Kolon Asks 4th Circ. To Ax $920M DuPont Trade Secrets Award
Kolon Industries Inc. on Friday asked the Fourth Circuit to overturn a $920 million judgment, saying DuPont Co. should have been forced to individually address each trade secret it alleged Kolon had pilfered and the trial judge should have recused himself from the case and a related antitrust suit.
-
May 21, 2013
RJ Reynolds Attacks Engle Ruling In 11th Circ. Appeal
R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Co. told the Eleventh Circuit on Monday that the Florida Supreme Court was wrong to hold that the Engle tobacco litigation did not violate its due process rights, saying it mistakenly ruled that claims against the company could not be relitigated.
-
May 21, 2013
Appeals Court Backs RE Mogul In Nursing Home Buyout Row
A New York state appellate court on Tuesday unanimously affirmed decisions in favor of real estate investor Rubin Schron and against Mariner Health Care Inc. and others in a nursing home purchasing dispute, saying the defendants’ new evidence was cumulative and would not have changed the outcomes.
-
May 21, 2013
Workers' Comp. Judges Not Entitled To Raise, Pa. Justices Say
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday upheld a lower court finding that a state administrative board's decision to eliminate a one-time pay increase for Pennsylvania's workers' compensation judges didn't violate the state or federal constitutions.
-
May 21, 2013
ClearPlay Asks High Court To Weigh DVD-Censor Patent Case
ClearPlay Inc. has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to take up its claims accusing Nissim Corp. of violating a licensing agreement the companies had for DVD-censoring technology, arguing the Eleventh Circuit wrongly found the claims were preempted by federal law.
-
May 21, 2013
Master Tapped In Philly Traffic Judge's Disciplinary Case
The Pennsylvania Supreme Court on Tuesday said it would appoint a special master to gather evidence to weigh legal questions related to the proposed suspension of the only sitting judge on the Philadelphia Traffic Court not indicted as part of a sweeping ticket-fixing scandal.
-
May 21, 2013
Q&A With Zuckerman Spaeder's Paul Shechtman
The Supreme Court’s decision in Crawford v. Washington has radically altered how we think about the Confrontation Clause, says Paul Shechtman, a partner with Zuckerman Spaeder LLP and former director of New York's Criminal Justice Division.
-
May 21, 2013
Chevron Gas Pumpers Fight To Revive ZIP Code Privacy Suit
Motorists who allege Chevron USA Inc. illegally required them to provide their ZIP codes when they paid for gas at the pump with a credit card urged a California appeals court Tuesday to revive their class action, saying their privacy rights trumped Chevron's fraud concerns.
-
May 21, 2013
Landowners Ask High Court To Nix Calif. Water Plan Ruling
Landowners have asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reject an appellate ruling that found a lower court properly enacted a management plan aimed at ending a long-running dispute over water rights in California's Santa Maria Valley, saying the plan improperly allocates water contrary to federal irrigation preference.
-
May 21, 2013
Quorum Fight Should Halt NLRB Injunction Bid, DC Circ. Told
Santa Fe Tortilla Co. on Monday asked the D.C. Circuit for help halting the National Labor Relations Board's efforts to get an injunction against the company while the appeals court determines whether the board has the authority to seek such relief in the wake of the Noel Canning decision.
-
May 21, 2013
Fed. Circ. Nixes Bid To Patent Music Royalty Tech
The Federal Circuit on Tuesday rejected an inventor’s bid to patent his digital rights management technology that allows singers and other music copyright holders to receive their due royalties when their work is publicly performed, ruling the technology behind the invention is obvious.
Expert Analysis
-
1st Amendment Litigation: DC Circ. Edition
The D.C. Circuit’s broadly framed decision in National Association of Manufacturers v. National Labor Relations Board confirms that businesses should evaluate any informational or warning obligations with an eye toward protecting their First Amendment rights, say attorneys with Wiley Rein LLP.
-
EA Right Of Publicity Case Provides Valuable Guidance
An important practice tip that flows from the Third Circuit's recent opinion in Ryan Hart v. Electronic Arts Inc. is that talismanic invocation of the First Amendment does not resolve the legal problem of balancing that amendment with competing rights such as the right of publicity, says Ronald Katz of Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP.
-
Temporary Regulatory Takings Do Exist In Calif.
Property owners rarely succeed with regulatory takings claims — but securing a victory on liability and a damages award for a temporary regulatory taking, well, that is more in the realm of unicorns and the Loch Ness Monster. That all changed recently when the California Court of Appeal issued its decision in Lockaway Storage v. County of Alameda, say attorneys with Nossaman LLP.
-
Pitfalls For Lenders Redeeming Ala. Property
In First United Security Bank v. McCollum, the Alabama Court of Civil Appeals addressed the rights of a lender that redeems property sold at a tax sale as a result of its borrower’s failure to pay his property taxes. In certain situations, the decision will penalize lenders and awards property owners with a financial windfall, says Jack Kubiszyn of Bradley Arant Boult Cummings LLP.
-
DC Circ. Backs FERC's Approach To Return On Equity
Recently, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected Southern California Edison’s challenge to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's methodology for determining a company’s base return on equity. One noteworthy lesson from the case is that this method can have a material affect on the ROE, with a large revenue impact, say attorneys with Day Pitney LLP.
-
Righthaven V. Hoehn: Bad News For Copyright Trolls
In its recent decision in Righthaven LLC v. Hoehn, the Ninth Circuit made clear that courts must look beyond labels in agreements and evaluate the substance of the rights actually assigned in order to determine whether an assignee has standing to pursue a claim for copyright infringement, say Benjamin Marks and Elisabeth Sperle of Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP.
-
Ill.'s Unclear Endorsement For Asbestos-Injury Losses
The Illinois appellate court decision in John Crane Inc. v. Admiral Insurance Co. on joint and several liability of excess insurers covering asbestos-related injury claims left several questions unanswered — most importantly, regarding separate injury triggers and the "all sums with stacking" approach, say attorneys with Wilson Elser Moskowitz Edelman & Dicker LLP.
-
High Court Takes On Declaratory Judgment Burden Of Proof
With the U.S. Supreme Court granting certiorari in Medtronic Inc. v. Boston Scientific Corp., it will help clarify who bears the burden of proof in a declaratory judgment action. If the court affirms the Federal Circuit, the traditional patent law for this type of controversy will be turned on its head, requiring a licensee to disprove infringement, says Shashank Upadhye of Seyfarth Shaw LLP.
-
Rise Of The Machines — Predictive Coding Goes Mainstream
The pros of using predictive coding far outweigh the cons. Given the heavy pressure on law firms and in-house counsel to reduce discovery costs, as well as the Justice Department's recent stance on the subject, it appears predictive coding will continue to emerge from the obscure world of legal technology to the mainstream of legal practice, say Michael Moscato and Myles Bartley of Curtis Mallet-Prevost Colt & Mosle LLP.
-
US V. MedQuest Is Important For Health Care FCA Cases
The Sixth Circuit recently reversed an $11.1 million False Claims Act judgment in U.S. v. MedQuest Associates. The court's refusal to impose the FCA’s “extraordinary penalties” on violations of technical and local Medicare program requirements represents significant precedent for health care providers facing an FCA suit, say attorneys with Ropes & Gray LLP.