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Commercial Contracts
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April 16, 2024
Mercedes Rusty Subframe Suit Is Too Vague, Judge Is Told
Mercedes-Benz argued in court Tuesday that a proposed class action over a claimed subframe defect should be dismissed as an improper shotgun pleading as it directs allegations at "Mercedes" without specifying whether the German parent company or its Atlanta subsidiary are supposedly to blame.
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April 16, 2024
NY Outdoor Stadium Can Host Concerts During Noise Row
A century-old outdoor stadium in New York where the Beatles once played can continue operating as it battles disgruntled neighbors after a state judge denied the residents' request for a preliminary injunction because they had not shown that noise from the stadium was unreasonable.
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April 16, 2024
Staffing Co. Drops Contract Fight With Panthers Stadium
The Carolina Panthers' stadium operator and the event staffing company that accused it of wrongly pulling back from an arrangement the parties had made to staff the National Football League team's home games came together Tuesday to drop their dispute from North Carolina federal court.
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April 16, 2024
3rd Circ. Cuts Claims In Geico Vehicle Value-Adjustment Suit
A New Jersey couple can't bring class-action claims against Geico over it allegedly knocking too much off the payout value on totaled cars, since the company ultimately adjusted their personal claim settlement offer upward, a Third Circuit panel has ruled.
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April 16, 2024
DraftKings Workers Say Ex-Boss Tried To Lure Them To Rival
Two DraftKings higher-ups testified Tuesday that their former boss had tried to lure them to join rival sportsbook Fanatics with multimillion-dollar compensation offers, contradicting their former supervisor's claim that he never attempted to get his top lieutenants to help him set up a new office for Fanatics in Los Angeles.
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April 16, 2024
FTC To Unveil, Vote On Final Noncompetes Ban April 23
The Federal Trade Commission gave a one-week heads up Tuesday of its impending unveiling of — and vote on — the final version of a rule that would ban essentially all noncompete agreements employers impose on their workers.
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April 16, 2024
AT&T Unit Urges Justices To Weigh In On FCC E-Rate Saga
An AT&T subsidiary is asking the U.S. Supreme Court to rule on whether reimbursement requests for the Federal Communications Commission's E-rate program for schools and libraries are "claims" under the False Claims Act, part of a whistleblower suit accusing the company of overcharging public schools and libraries.
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April 16, 2024
NJ Hospital GC Emails Doom $24M Verdict For Surgeons
The New Jersey Supreme Court on Tuesday vacated a $24.3 million award to a group of neurosurgeons on their claim that a hospital didn't operate in good faith, finding the trial court's admission of emails from the hospital's general counsel and remarks made during closing arguments deprived the hospital of a fair trial.
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April 16, 2024
Capital One Escapes Customer Sign-Up Bonus Suit, For Now
A California federal judge dismissed a proposed class action brought by a Capital One customer who claimed he applied for a credit card but never got a promised sign-up bonus, saying that a social media advertisement about a bonus was not enough to allege traceability.
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April 16, 2024
Excess Carriers Say Property Co. Not Covered In Antitrust Suit
Two excess insurers said they don't owe coverage to a property management company for underlying litigation alleging a price-fixing conspiracy involving software company RealPage Inc., telling a Massachusetts federal court that a professional services exclusion in the primary policy bars coverage.
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April 16, 2024
W&T Offshore Accuses Pipeline Co. Of $3M Per Month Losses
A Gulf of Mexico oil producer claims it is losing millions of dollars a month from regulators' forced shut-in of a pipeline network it depends on in a lawsuit filed in Texas federal court alleging the pipeline company violated their contract to follow U.S. law and keep the line operating.
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April 15, 2024
Resistance To Patent Licenses Drives More Suits, Execs Say
Companies that generate revenue from patents are seeing less willingness to negotiate in recent years among businesses they approach about potential licenses, requiring more litigation in order to reach agreements, executives from IBM, InterDigital and others said Monday.
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April 15, 2024
SeaWorld's Sesame Park Visitors Can't Get Cert. In Bias Fight
A Pennsylvania federal judge refused Monday to certify a class of Hispanic and Black customers who allege performers at the SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment Inc.-owned theme park Sesame Place discriminated against and ignored minority children, finding that the proposed 130 children class size is based on inadmissible speculation.
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April 15, 2024
McDonald's, Workers Battle Over Future Of No-Poach Case
Workers suing McDonald's over its past use of no-poach provisions in franchise agreements have told an Illinois federal court the fast food chain is trying to slow down the case after the U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up its appeal.
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April 15, 2024
Mich. High Court To Hear Siblings' Ski Share Valuation Fight
A sibling feud between the CEO of a family-run ski resort company and his sister, a minority shareholder, will get a hearing in front of the Michigan Supreme Court after the justices agreed to look at whether the company honored an agreement for redemption of shares in the family company.
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April 15, 2024
Caterpillar Dealer Calls Keep Antitrust Claims Alive Amid Trial
A Delaware federal judge doubled down Monday on his critique of arguments by Caterpillar Inc., which asked to toss antitrust and hub-and-spoke conspiracy claims from an importer that sought to disrupt the machinery industry before it went belly up.
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April 15, 2024
Allstate Asks Court To Order Takedown Of 'Smear' Posts
Allstate asked a Colorado federal judge to order a former independent contractor to remove false statements on his website accusing the insurer of selling customers' personal information to criminals, arguing it has been irreparably injured and that the defendant has signaled he has no plans to stop his smear campaign.
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April 15, 2024
Exxon Seeks $1.8B Tax Refund As Qatar Deal Trial Opens
Exxon Mobil Corp. argued Monday in Texas federal court that its deal with Qatar to extract natural gas from the country's coast was a partnership, rather than a lease agreement, saying at the start of a trial that it's entitled to get $1.8 billion in tax benefits back from the IRS.
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April 15, 2024
Boeing Says Virgin Can't Use Another Court To Avoid IP Suit
Boeing has urged the Virginia federal judge overseeing its breach of contract and trade secrets dispute with Virgin Galactic to block Virgin from moving forward with a "copycat" lawsuit in California, saying Virgin is wrongly trying to avoid the original lawsuit.
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April 15, 2024
Apple Faces Two Suits Over IPhone Market Dominance
Apple has been hit with a pair of suits alleging it has unfairly stifled competition in the smartphone market and that its practices and iPhone sales have violated federal securities and antitrust laws.
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April 15, 2024
Pet Food Brand Chicken Soup Says Supplier Hiked Costs
A manufacturer that supplied the Chicken Soup for the Soul pet food brand bought ingredients from its own subsidiary, hiked prices and failed to deliver products, according to a response to the manufacturer's $3.1 million allegation that the name brand failed to pay for food already manufactured and sold to consumers.
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April 15, 2024
Worldpay Sues Shuttered Retailer Over Refund Refusals
Payment processor Worldpay LLC is requesting injunctive relief in Ohio federal court to alleviate the millions of dollars in losses it says it has incurred since home appliance retailer Pirch Inc. began refusing to honor its customers' credit card refund requests after halting operations abruptly in March.
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April 15, 2024
Power Seller Presses 5th Circ. To Uphold $25M Contract Win
An electricity seller on Friday told the Fifth Circuit that a lower court got it right when it awarded more than $25 million in a contract fight with a power trader over electricity price-hedging deals that sustained heavy losses during 2021's Winter Storm Uri.
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April 15, 2024
Catching Up With Delaware's Chancery Court
Last week, Delaware justices mulled whether one Chancery Court vice chancellor properly voided four company bylaws — just as another vice chancellor voided one more. Fights among Truth Social investors continued, and shareholders launched new cases involving Macy's, United Airlines, and Clayton Dubilier & Rice LLC and Stone Point Capital LLC.
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April 15, 2024
2nd Circ. Affirms Telecom Co.'s $13M Union Pension Bill
The Second Circuit upheld a New York federal court's determination that a telecommunications company owed $13 million in withdrawal liability to a multiemployer pension plan for electrical and contract workers, agreeing Monday with an arbitrator's finding that a construction industry exception didn't apply to the disputed work.
Expert Analysis
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The NIL Legislation Race: CAEFA And Ted Cruz's Draft Bill
Christina Stylianou and Gregg Clifton at Lewis Brisbois compare legislation pertaining to the name, image and likeness rights of college student-athletes, including the College Athlete Economic Freedom Act and Sen. Ted Cruz's draft bill that would restrict an athlete's eligibility to compete if an NIL agreement violates their university's student code of conduct.
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Developers Are Testing Defenses In Generative AI Litigation
In the rapidly growing field of generative artificial intelligence law in the U.S., there are a few possible defenses that have already been effectively asserted by defendants in litigation, including lack of standing, reliance on the fair use doctrine, and the legality of so-called data scraping, say attorneys at K&L Gates.
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Brand Owners Beware: AI-Generated Ad Content Poses Risks
Since the Association of National Advertisers recently updated its master media buying services template agreement, brand owners should consider how their contracted agencies are using artificial intelligence to create and implement campaigns and media purchases, say Kyle-Beth Hilfer and John Miranda at Cowan Liebowitz.
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Twitter Legal Fees Suit Offers Crash Course In Billing Ethics
X Corp.'s suit alleging that Wachtell grossly inflated its fees in the final days of Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition provides a case study in how firms should protect their reputations by hewing to ethical billing practices and the high standards for professional conduct that govern attorney-client relationships, says Lourdes Fuentes at Karta Legal.
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A Higher Bar For Surviving Summary Judgment In SC Courts
The South Carolina Supreme Court's recent decision in Kitchen Planners v. Friedman, rejecting a lower court's usage of the mere scintilla standard for allowing cases to proceed, suggests that the mere existence of an alleged factual dispute between parties will no longer be sufficient to thwart a well-supported motion for summary judgment, says Denver Smith at Butler Snow.
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Key Strike Considerations For Automotive Industry Suppliers
As the UAW's labor contracts with Detroit's Big Three automakers expire, and the possibility of a strike looms, automotive industry suppliers face a number of possible legal and operational issues — and should have strategic action plans in place to deal with contracts, liquidity, the post-strike environment and more, say experts at Alvarez & Marsal.
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Ore. Warranty Ruling Complicates Insurance Classification
The Oregon Court of Appeals' recent TruNorth v. Department of Consumer and Business Services holding that a service contract — commonly referred to as an extended warranty — covering commercial property is subject to the state's consumer service contract laws raises regulatory questions for contract obligors, sellers and administrators, say attorneys at Locke Lord.
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ABA's Money-Laundering Resolution Is A Balancing Act
While the American Bar Association’s recently passed resolution recognizes a lawyer's duty to discontinue representation that could facilitate money laundering and other fraudulent activity, it preserves, at least for now, the delicate balance of judicial, state-based regulation of the legal profession and the sanctity of the attorney-client relationship, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.
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A Festival Of Litigation Could Arise From 'Electric Zoo' Fiasco
Over Labor Day weekend, thousands of electronic dance music fans were displeased with the organization of the New York City-based Electric Zoo festival, which quickly elicited comparisons to the 2017 Fyre Festival — and three kinds of litigation could ensue from the debacle, say attorneys at Seiden Law.
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Law Firm Professional Development Steps To Thrive In AI Era
As generative artificial intelligence tools rapidly evolve, professional development leaders are instrumental in preparing law firms for the paradigm shifts ahead, and should consider three strategies to help empower legal talent with the skills required to succeed in an increasingly complex technological landscape, say Steve Gluckman and Anusia Gillespie at SkillBurst Interactive.
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A Closer Look At Another HBCU Race Bias Suit Against NCAA
The National Collegiate Athletic Association's Academic Performance Program has become a lightning rod for scrutiny, as seen in the recently filed class action McKinney v. NCAA — where statistics in the complaint raise questions about the program's potential discriminatory impact on student-athletes at historically Black colleges and universities, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.
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5 Takeaways From SEC's First Marketing Rule Action
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's recent settlement — the first under the amended marketing rule — with Titan Global on charges that the fintech company misled investors shows investment advisers that they should expect close scrutiny of marketing materials and that their questions will only be answered through SEC enforcement, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.
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Texas Produced Water Ruling Helps Clarify Oil, Gas Leases
A Texas state appeals court's recent opinion in Cactus Water Services v. COG Operating, holding that the mineral lessee under an oil and gas lease owns the water extracted during oil and gas production, is a first step toward clarity on an issue that has divided the midstream industry, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.
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Pa. Case Highlights Complexity Of Oil And Gas Leases
A Pennsylvania state court's recent decision in Douglas Equipment Inc. v. EQT Production Co. is a reminder that oil and gas leases are rather strange creatures — morphing from something akin to a traditional surface lease to a mineral property conveyance the moment oil and gas is produced, says Christopher Rogers at Frost Brown.
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The Basics Of Being A Knowledge Management Attorney
Excerpt from Practical Guidance
Michael Lehet at Ogletree Deakins discusses the role of knowledge management attorneys at law firms, the common tasks they perform and practical tips for lawyers who may be considering becoming one.