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California
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May 20, 2013
FDA, Groups Can't Reach Consensus On Food Safety Rules
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration and two consumer groups asked a California federal judge on Friday for more time to create new deadlines for the release of highly anticipated food safety rules, with the groups asserting that the agency is disregarding the judge's instructions.
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May 20, 2013
Calif. Insurer Accused Of Bilking Policyholders
A California man claiming he is being shortchanged on his medical insurance benefits lodged a putative class action in state court accusing Unum Life Insurance Co. of America of denying an annual benefit increase guaranteed in its long-term care policies.
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May 20, 2013
LSI Tried To Pump Up Royalties With ITC Probe, Judge Says
A California federal judge on Monday ruled that LSI Corp. initiated a patent complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission in an attempt to force a Wi-Fi chipmaker suing for breach of contract to pay higher royalties for the standard-essential patents.
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May 20, 2013
Macy's Security Checks Violate Wage Laws, Suit Says
An ex-Macy's Corporate Services Inc. employee urged a California federal judge Monday to certify a class of 84,000 current and former workers who claim the department store chain required them to submit to off-the-clock loss-control inspections of their belongings, but didn't pay them for that time.
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May 20, 2013
Squire Sanders Beats Hartford's Appeal Over $15M Legal Tab
A California appeals court held Friday that Hartford Casualty Insurance Co. could not sue Squire Sanders directly to win back some of the $15 million it paid the firm to independently defend J.R. Marketing LLC against claims that its founders stole business from a former employer.
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May 20, 2013
Federal Law Preempts BofA Seating Suit, Judge Says
A California federal judge on Monday tossed a putative class action against Bank of America Corp. over suitable seating for its tellers, finding a California regulation requiring suitable seating in the workplace “offends and frustrates” the intent of the National Banking Act.
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May 20, 2013
Vista Equity Puts Up $1B For Security Software Co. Websense
Vista Equity Partners LLC will absorb cyberattack protection and anti-theft software firm Websense Inc. in a $1 billion go-private deal that gives the San Francisco investment firm a substantial boost in the lucrative security software sector, it said Monday.
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May 20, 2013
FDIC Loses Fight Over $30M In Imperial Capital Bankruptcy
A California judge on Thursday rejected a bid by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to claim $30 million in tax refunds as the receiver of the failed Imperial Capital Bank, saying the funds belong instead to the bank's parent under the terms of a prebankruptcy contract.
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May 20, 2013
Friend Of Ex-KPMG Partner Pleads Guilty To Insider Trading
A jeweler at the center of the recent KPMG LLP insider trading scandal pled guilty to a felony conspiracy charge Monday in California federal court, admitting he received illicit stock tips from a close friend who was a partner in the accounting firm's Los Angeles office.
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May 20, 2013
Crate & Barrel Must Face Privacy Suit Over Recorded Calls
A California federal judge Thursday declined to dismiss a proposed class suit alleging the furniture store Crate & Barrel unlawfully recorded customer phone calls, saying she was skeptical that the California Legislature intended to exempt customer service calls from state privacy laws.
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May 20, 2013
Snoop Dogg Shakes Claims Over Role In Druggy Video
Rapper Snoop Dogg lost a bid Friday to dismiss breach of contract and fraud claims filed by a Lebanese businessman, but did defeat an accusation that he had violated the man's publicity rights by including him in a drug-filled music video.
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May 20, 2013
Deals Rumor Mill: Freeport-McMoRan, Blackstone, Billabong
Executives at Freeport-McMoRan have hinted that they are revisiting their $6.9 billion bid for Plains Exploration after the target company's shareholders have been slow to support the landmark buyout, while Billabong continues to bleed value as negotiations with prospective buyers drag on.
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May 20, 2013
Yahoo Posts $1.1B Acquisition Of Blog Site Tumblr
Yahoo Inc. will acquire social media and personal blog platform Tumblr for $1.1 billion in cash, the search giant announced Monday, promising not to "screw up" the popular blog site that will give Yahoo access to hundreds of millions of new customers.
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May 17, 2013
Winston & Strawn Faces DQ Bid In Calif. City Bankruptcies
Citing an alleged conflict of interest, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System told a California federal judge on Friday that Winston & Strawn LLP should be disqualified from representing a creditor in the Chapter 9 bankruptcies of the cities of Stockton and San Bernardino.
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May 17, 2013
Latham Witness Can't Claim Piece Of $10M Judgment
Latham & Watkins LLP didn't break the law when it refused to pay a portion of a $10.3 million judgment won by one of its clients in a real estate lawsuit to an auditor who testified at a deposition, since the auditor was a witness, not an expert, a California appeals court ruled Friday.
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May 17, 2013
Investor Says Bain's $7B Bid For Software Co. Is Too Low
A pension fund that invests in Houston-based BMC Software Inc. on Thursday sued in Delaware Chancery court to challenge a $6.9 billion take-private deal led by Bain Capital LLC and Golden Gate Capital, saying it undervalues the company and cheats shareholders.
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May 17, 2013
Monsanto's Modified Alfalfa Isn't 'Plant Pest,' 9th Circ. Says
The Ninth Circuit on Friday cleared the way for widespread cultivation of Monsanto Corp.'s genetically modified alfalfa, agreeing with a trial judge that federal regulation of the plant cannot continue because it is not a “plant pest” that will damage or injure other plants.
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May 17, 2013
9th Circ. Allows Expert Testimony In Pepsi Toxic Tort
The Ninth Circuit on Thursday overturned the exclusion of expert testimony made on behalf of two women suing PepsiAmericas Inc. and others over their alleged exposure to toxic chemicals from a chrome-plating plant, ruling it was better left for consideration at trial.
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May 17, 2013
Juniper Ducks Securities Suit Over Alleged Misstatements
A California federal judge on Friday threw out a putative class action brought against Juniper Networks Inc. for purportedly assuring investors that the company was doing well when it was actually facing several problems, saying the allegations didn’t give reasonable inference that Juniper’s projections were false and misleading.
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May 17, 2013
Schwab Fund's Changes Breached Contract, 9th Circ. Hears
Northstar Financial Advisors Inc. urged the Ninth Circuit on Friday to revive its shareholder suit against Schwab Investments, arguing that a lower court was wrong to find that a Schwab fund prospectus isn't a contract and that financial advisers do not have standing to sue on behalf of investors.
Expert Analysis
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Inside EPA's Plan For Startups, Shutdowns And Malfunctions
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently proposed a state implementation plan requiring 36 states to revise their provisions governing excess emissions associated with emission unit or control device startups, shutdowns and malfunction events. The agency has effectively offered to split the difference between the goals of environmental groups and industry, says Stacie Fletcher of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP.
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Recession Not 'Extraordinary' Enough For Revising Ch. 11
A Ninth Circuit bankruptcy appellate panel recently held that a relapse into economic recession following a Chapter 11 debtor’s emergence from bankruptcy was not an “extraordinary circumstance” that would justify modifying a previously confirmed plan of reorganization. From a creditor’s perspective, In re Caviata Attached Homes LLC underscores the importance of testing a plan proponent’s assumptions, says David Marks of Jones Day.
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Reading The Labels Of Par And Harkonen
Following the Second Circuit’s ruling in U.S. v. Caronia, two recent developments, the Par Pharmaceutical Companies Inc. settlement and the Ninth Circuit's affirmation of Scott Harkonen's conviction, demonstrate a shift in the battleground for First Amendment challenges to the prohibition on off-label promotion under the federal Food, Drug and Cosmetic Act, say attorneys with King & Spalding LLP.
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An Important Approach To Early Patentee Damages Disclosure
The Northern District of California seems to be at the forefront in formulating a process for early disclosure of damages theories by patentees. The reasoning behind this approach is laid out very well in a short, but considered, opinion that was recently handed down in Eon Corp. IP Holding LLC v. Sensus USA Inc., says Gaston Kroub of Locke Lord LLP.
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Flying Into Greater Uncertainty Of FAA Preemption
The Ninth Circuit has further narrowed the scope of federal preemption in the aviation field in Gilstrap v. United Airlines. We conclude that the new standard promotes more uncertainty than it resolves, vests plaintiffs with the strategic advantage of deciding when to invoke federal preemption and invites gamesmanship through artful pleading, say attorneys with Morrison Foerster LLP.
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Forum Selection Clauses In The Intra-Corporate Litigation Era
The lessons of the Northern District of California ruling in Galaviz v. Berg inform that corporations will do well to ensure that shareholders consent to the adoption of a forum selection provision within their governing documents. This can be achieved in a few ways, says Onome Okpewho of McCarter & English LLP.
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Higbee May Escalate Unfair Competition Claims In Calif.
Though the California Court of Appeal warned against the revival of shakedown lawsuits, its decision in Law Offices of Mathew Higbee v. Expungement Assistance Services may nonetheless trigger a blunderbuss of suits between business competitors seeking to police each other’s activities, say Seth Gerber and Candace Frazier of Bingham McCutchen LLP.
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Delaware Rethinks Reverse Triangular Mergers
Meso Scale Diagnostics v. Roche Diagnostics, a case of first impression in Delaware, will likely be viewed with relief by corporate practitioners because it both resolves the ambiguity created by an earlier ruling in this same case and because it sits in stark conflict with two previous federal district court opinions in California and New Jersey, say attorneys with Ropes & Gray LLP.
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Copyrighting Yoga Poses Is Too Much Of A Stretch
Fitness innovators who wish to protect their intellectual property may be sweating a bit more after a U.S. district court in Los Angeles told the founder of Bikram yoga he couldn’t copyright his famous yoga. The court’s ruling and a statement from the U.S. Copyright Office appear to deal a major setback to Bikram, says Brian Thompson of Sedgwick LLP.
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A New Roadmap For Northern Calif. E-Discovery
New e-discovery guidelines from the Northern District of California will require an early and substantial knowledge of the preservation and discovery of electronically stored information — including where and how much data may be stored, which custodians have the most relevant information, and whether and how to conduct the ESI discovery in phases. For many parties, there will be a steep learning curve, says Ary Chang of Foley & Lardner LLP.