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March 11, 2014
PGA Officials' Union Seeks Revival Of Malpractice Suit
The Professional Association of Golf Officials asked the Texas Supreme Court Monday to revive a malpractice suit against its former law firm over allegedly bad advice it received concerning its collective bargaining agreement with the PGA.
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March 11, 2014
Jury Awards SanDisk $28M In Trial Over Flash-Memory Patent
Memory card manufacturer PNY Technologies Inc. was hit with a $28.5 million jury verdict in California court for failing to pay SanDisk Corp. royalties in a flash-memory patent licensing agreement, SanDisk announced Tuesday.
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March 11, 2014
Armstrong's Tour De France Prize Row Goes To Appeals Court
Former Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong on Friday took his fight to end an ongoing arbitration with prize insurer SCA Promotions Inc. over millions he earned from the race victories to a Texas appeals court, after a trial judge denied his bid to bring the case to an end.
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March 11, 2014
Frank Ocean Inks Check To Settle Chipotle Song Deal Suit
Singer Frank Ocean has agreed to write out a sizable check that will likely settle a California lawsuit lobbed by restaurant chain Chipotle Mexican Grill Inc. over his backing out of a deal to record a song for a company promotional campaign, a Chipotle representative told Law360 on Tuesday.
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March 11, 2014
United Asks Judge To Ground Frequent Flier Suit
United Airlines Inc.’s parent company on Friday asked an Illinois federal judge to toss two proposed class actions accusing it of stiffing its rewards program members, saying the contract consumers signed to enroll in the program allowed United to change benefits at any time.
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March 11, 2014
NJ Supreme Court Won't Revive Nursing Home Class Action
A New Jersey nursing home contract and collection efforts targeting a resident's daughter didn't breach state nursing home or consumer fraud laws because they didn't assert that she had to pay her mother's bills with her own money, the state Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
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March 11, 2014
Oscar Winner's Fraud Claim Tossed In Endorsement Row
A Los Angeles judge has tossed the fraud claim from Academy Award-winning actress Octavia Spencer’s lawsuit against Sensa Products Ltd. for allegedly breaching a $1.2 million endorsement deal for the company's diet supplement after its advertising campaign flopped, according to court documents.
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March 11, 2014
NLRB Judge Puts Brakes On Pep Boys Arbitration Pact
A National Labor Relations Board judge said Friday that a Pep Boys Manny Moe & Jack of California arbitration agreement barring worker class actions was unlawful, adding that the NLRB's D.R. Horton decision remains the law of the land unless the U.S. Supreme Court says otherwise.
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March 11, 2014
Female Powerbrokers Q&A: McCarter & English's Pastor
Successfully handling high-profile matters, with and against so many well-known insurance coverage professionals, offered me a chance to break into, then gain prominence and respect in, an industry dominated by men, says Sherilyn Pastor, leader of McCarter & English LLP's insurance coverage group and a member of the firm's executive committee.
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March 11, 2014
Female Powerbrokers Q&A: Thompson Hine's Goldstein
When you are in the middle of a trial or a large transaction and have missed one too many soccer games, it is easy to say you must make a change. But the best thing to do is to get through the madness, and then re-evaluate your personal and professional balance, says Heidi Goldstein, leader of Thompson Hine LLP's women's initiative.
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March 10, 2014
Gatto & Reitz Third-Party Suit Pared In $3M Escrow Row
A Pennsylvania federal court on Monday dismissed part of Pittsburgh oil and gas law firm Gatto & Reitz LLC's lawsuit seeking to pull RIDEC Inc. into a case in which an energy company accuses the law firm of pocketing a $2.7 million escrow fund, warning the parties have “entangled themselves in a very murky setting.”
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March 10, 2014
Exelon Can't Dodge $14M Wind Power Row With Deere
A Delaware state court judge on Friday trimmed Deere & Co.’s lawsuit accusing Exelon Generation Acquisitions LLC of breaching an agreement to pay Deere $14 million after a Michigan wind power plant was completed, but allowed Deere to pursue the bulk of its claim.
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March 10, 2014
Producer Can't Escape Contract Suit Over Jimi Hendrix Film
A California judge on Monday refused to dismiss a suit brought by Jimi Hendrix's estate seeking to exit an agreement to produce a concert film, saying a jury should decide whether a producer acted unreasonably in blocking the estate's agreement with Sony Music Entertainment to distribute the film.
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March 10, 2014
Loew's Theatre Nonprofit Sues Jersey City For Lease Breach
Jersey City, N.J., was hit with a suit in state court Friday that accuses the mayor of violating the terms of a lease by trying to oust a nonprofit as manager of the Landmark Loew’s Jersey Theatre in favor of an outside management firm.
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March 10, 2014
Liberty Medical Blames Bankruptcy On Former Owner Medco
Bankrupt Liberty Medical Supply Inc. launched an adversary suit Friday alleging that former owner Medco Health Solutions Inc. breached the terms of their 2012 sale agreement, costing Liberty tens of millions of dollars and spurring its quick decent into Chapter 11.
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March 10, 2014
Safeway Shopper Wins Class Cert. For Contract Breach Claim
A California federal judge on Monday granted partial class certification in a suit accusing Safeway Inc. of overcharging customers for groceries purchased online, finding that the class met commonality and predominance requirements for the purposes of the plaintiff's breach of contract claim.
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March 10, 2014
NJ Condo Developers Can't Flip $4.8M Blocked-View Ruling
A New Jersey appellate panel on Monday upheld a $4.8 million award to a group of Jersey City, N.J., condominium owners who were sold on panoramic views that were later obstructed by a new building the developers failed to disclose to the buyers.
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March 10, 2014
Barnes & Thornburg Faces $2.2M Malpractice Suit By Doctors
Barnes & Thornburg LLP was hit with a $2.2 million legal malpractice suit in Illinois court on Thursday by a group of former medical group employees and shareholders who say the firm gave “admittedly erroneous” advice related to whether the doctors were bound by noncompete provisions.
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March 10, 2014
Female Powerbrokers Q&A: Manatt's Linda Goldstein
The path to success for women is the same as it is for men — building relationships, delivering an excellent work product and earning the trust of your clients by serving as both a legal and strategic business adviser. I must confess, however, that I also had to learn to drink scotch and play golf, says Linda Goldstein, chairwoman of Manatt Phelps & Phillips LLP's advertising, marketing and media division.
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March 10, 2014
Female Powerbrokers Q&A: Nossaman's Yuliya Oryol
I will never forget stories I heard of what it was like to be a woman attending law school in the early 1960s, which included being called up to the front of the class to answer the professor’s questions on designated "Ladies’ Days," says Yuliya Oryol, chairwoman of Nossaman LLP's puplic pensions and investments practice group and administrative partner for the firm's San Francisco office.
Expert Analysis
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A Primer On Intercreditor Agreements
A properly drafted intercreditor agreement among parties to a complex debt financing transaction, including “mezzanine” debt financiers, is necessary to ensure that their relative rights and obligations are enforced in a distress or bankruptcy situation. Setting forth lien priority in intercreditor agreements, for example, serves to mitigate against the risk of the senior creditor not being “first in time” in filing a lien, says Ata Dinlenc of Dentons.
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ADR: A Silver Lining In The Legal Industry’s New Normal
The economy has had a marked impact on the alternative dispute resolution industry, but much of that impact comes directly from the new dynamics between law firms and their clients. ADR providers have been keen observers of these trends and are learning to react creatively. It’s not all a bed full of roses from the ADR side, but there have been some positive changes, says Chris Poole of JAMS.
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How To Avoid Discovery Problems While Using The Cloud
Cloud users must know how to use the cloud responsibly to prevent later difficulties with document production. When negotiating a cloud service agreement, users should look for certain services that will prove useful when responding to discovery requests, such as comprehensive search options, instant suspension of the auto-delete function, and preservation of metadata and embedded data, say attorneys with Sidley Austin LLP.
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SOX Whistleblowers Find A New Friend In Supreme Court
In Lawson v. FMR LLC — the first whistleblower case heard under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act — the U.S. Supreme Court recently held the law protects virtually anyone hired by a publicly traded company, or its employees, either directly or indirectly, and forbids reprisal for a huge range of fraud reports. The decision throws into doubt the Fifth Circuit's ruling last year in Asadi v. GE Energy LLC and will likely reshuffle future whistleblower opinions, says R. Scott Oswald of The Employment Group PC.
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As Legal Profession Evolves, GCs Outpace The Norm
In stark contrast to the changing environment for the majority of lawyers today, the evolution for the general counsel is driven less by necessity than by opportunity. Today’s GC may touch every aspect of his or her organization to solve challenges and propel the company forward, keeping the GC far ahead of what is expected of the average lawyer, says James Merklinger, vice president and general counsel of the Association of Corporate Counsel.
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Risk Analysis Is A Valid, Valuable Tool For Litigators
In a recent Law360 guest column, Judge Wayne D. Brazil of JAMS shares the products of his research into decision analysis and gives several reasons why it is not a reliable tool for assessing the discounted settlement value of civil cases. Without question, however, his research has misinformed him, says Marc Victor, president of Litigation Risk Analysis Inc.
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Why London Courts Are So Popular With Foreign Parties
Commercial courtrooms in London are bustling with foreign litigants. England has many of the advantages of the U.S. system — like robust interim orders — without some of the U.S.’s distinct procedural disadvantages. And in addition to simplified discovery, litigating in England allows U.S. litigants to avoid punitive cost rules and the sometimes arbitrary verdicts of juries, say Ben Holland and Arielle Goodley of Covington & Burling LLP.
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Contracts — And Facts — Matter For Franchise Noncompetes
Three recent cases illustrate the importance of carefully drafting noncompete covenant provisions in franchise agreements, and being mindful that even a well-drafted covenant may not be enforced in certain factual situations — for example, if the franchisor fails to demonstrate any urgency in enforcing its rights, says Kimberly Sikora Panza of Wiley Rein LLP.
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5th Circ. Analyzes Additional-Insured Endorsement Scope
The Fifth Circuit’s recent ruling in construction case Woodward v. Acceptance Indemnity Insurance Co. demonstrates that whether an additional insured is entitled to a defense will depend on the additional-insured endorsement. Moreover, the ruling — that an insurer can restrict coverage by excluding liability for injury or property damage occurring after work is completed — holds potential application for both additional insureds and named insureds, say Virginia White-Mahaffey and Mary Woodson Poag of Steptoe & Johnson LLP.
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FRCP Discovery Amendments Prove Highly Controversial
The recently closed comment period for the proposed Federal Rules of Civil Procedure amendments generated passionate antipodal responses over discovery rules that appear to benefit large corporate litigants at the expense of individual plaintiffs and civil rights groups. The nature and intensity of the response should lead the committee to reconsider the overall fairness of the proposed discovery amendments, says Henry Kelston of Milberg LLP.