Commercial Contracts

  • September 18, 2024

    Waste Mgmt. Sued For $3.8M Over Renewable Energy Credits

    A Constellation Energy Corp. unit slapped Waste Management Inc. with a complaint in Texas federal court on Tuesday, saying the company has refused to cough up more than $3.8 million for renewable energy credits Constellation paid for but never received.

  • September 18, 2024

    'Bling Empire' Star Owes $900K To Ex-Partner For Show Idea

    A California jury has concluded that the executive producer and star of Netflix's series "Bling Empire," Kelly Mi Li, owes a former business partner nearly $700,000 for breach of contract and fiduciary duties, along with $200,000 in punitive damages. 

  • September 18, 2024

    5th Circ. Favors Excess Insurer In Marina Coverage Dispute

    The Fifth Circuit upheld a ruling in an inter-insurer dispute over coverage responsibilities of a $13.7 million judgment entered against their mutual client, holding Wednesday that while the excess insurer breached its duties, the primary insurer bears the larger financial burden because it failed to properly settle the underlying dispute.

  • September 18, 2024

    5th Circ. Axes Bargaining Order Against Legal Support Firm

    The Fifth Circuit reversed a National Labor Relations Board bargaining order Wednesday against a legal support consulting firm, determining certain workers within the unit are supervisors who can't unionize under federal labor law.

  • September 18, 2024

    Pa. Jury Clears SeaWorld-Owned Park In Race Bias Trial

    A Pennsylvania jury on Wednesday freed SeaWorld's Philadelphia-area park Sesame Place of claims that minority children endured discrimination by costumed performers who were accused of ignoring them during character parades.

  • September 18, 2024

    Toss Atty Input Overboard, Says Org. In Blackbeard Image Spat

    A marine research organization and a state cultural resources agency have urged the North Carolina Business Court to scrap testimony from attorneys from trial evidence in a contract battle over the use of images and video of Blackbeard's shipwreck.

  • September 18, 2024

    IP Firm Prevails In Malpractice Suit Over Dueling Patent Apps

    A Boston intellectual property law firm on Wednesday ducked a legal malpractice suit brought by a Colorado technology company alleging the firm betrayed it while filing patents on behalf of another client, after a Massachusetts federal judge found an absence of attorney-client relationship sunk the claims.

  • September 18, 2024

    Pa. AG Sues Robot Co. Over $2M In Unfilled Orders, Refunds

    A Pittsburgh robotics company took orders for more than $4 million worth of robot toys but failed to deliver many of them — and in the case of a toy based on the TV show "Rick and Morty," didn't secure the intellectual property rights — according to a consumer protection lawsuit announced by the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office on Wednesday.

  • September 18, 2024

    Toshiba Loses Bid To Sanction Mich. Energy Cos. Over Depo

    A Michigan federal judge has rejected Toshiba and its subsidiary's request for sanctions against the state's largest energy companies despite Toshiba's claim that their witness failed to answer certain questions at a deposition, ruling Toshiba didn't properly lay out what it wanted the witness to talk about and that his other answers were appropriate.

  • September 18, 2024

    Del. Justices Grapple With Noncompete Litigation Limits

    An attorney for residential solar power system dealer Sunder Energy LLC told Delaware's top court Wednesday that the Chancery Court last year relied on a case record "procedurally anomalous and bereft of fact" when it denied a preliminary injunction in a noncompete suit targeting a co-founder and two competitors.

  • September 18, 2024

    Staffing Co. Ex-CEO Gets Prison Time For $6M Billing Scheme

    The former CEO of a purported Georgia-based staffing company was sentenced to nearly eight years in federal prison after pleading guilty to fraud-related charges in a $6 million scheme using fake payroll invoices he sent to a financing business in Florida while pretending to be someone else.

  • September 18, 2024

    Conn. Investment Adviser Stole Secrets, Ex-Employer Says

    An employee of a Connecticut investment advisory firm started a competing company and solicited his employer's clients before suddenly resigning and taking trade secrets to his new business, according to a new lawsuit in state court.

  • September 18, 2024

    Thermo Fisher Late To Pay Departing Workers, Engineer Says

    Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. and a subsidiary failed to promptly pay all final wages and unused vacation time to departing employees and must now cough up three times the amount of that compensation because of its violation of Massachusetts law, according to a proposed class action filed in state court.

  • September 18, 2024

    Gibson Dunn Loses Fee Fight With Ex-Partner

    Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP must pay an additional $141,000 in legal fees to ex-partner and hotshot appellate attorney Mark A. Perry, on top of the roughly $585,000 the firm owes him after losing a legal battle over his departure to Weil Gotshal & Manges LLP.

  • September 18, 2024

    Accounting Firm Prunes Flower Bulb Co.'s $2M Tax Bill Case

    The North Carolina Business Court has narrowed a flower bulb retailer's negligence suit alleging its former accounting firm failed to sound the alarm about a major change in tax law, finding there was no fiduciary duty owed but that there may have been a breach of contract.

  • September 18, 2024

    Federal Judge Won't Abstain From Pot Payment Co. Dispute

    A Nevada federal judge has declined to abstain from a dispute between a pair of investment firms over the collapse of their joint venture, saying while one company is a subsidiary of a cannabis payment processing company, the dispute can be resolved without dipping into the murky waters of cannabis's federal illegality.

  • September 17, 2024

    Chancery Sides With Truth Social Backer In SPAC Deal Payout

    A Delaware Chancery judge sided Tuesday with the investment sponsor of the entity that took former President Donald Trump's Truth Social media company public, on claims it was shortchanged in the deal, ordering a larger share of the stock be handed over from the transaction.

  • September 17, 2024

    FDIC Proposes Rule On Bank-Fintech Partnership Risks

    The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s rulemaking board on Tuesday proposed new recordkeeping rules aimed at both shoring up consumer protections as more fintech firms enter the banking space, and preventing a repeat of account freezes that have occurred after fintech service provider Synapse entered into bankruptcy earlier this year.

  • September 17, 2024

    Ford Barred From Using InterMotive Mark After $13M Verdict

    A Michigan federal judge permanently barred Ford Motor Co. from using the name of a California tech company's vehicle control module, following last year's jury award of more than $13 million to the tech maker for infringement by Ford.

  • September 17, 2024

    Ex-Worker Suing Over Bonuses Backed Axing Them, X Says

    X Corp. urged a California federal court to reject a former director's bid to certify a class that could exceed 2,000 members in his suit accusing it of reneging on promised bonuses after Elon Musk took over, saying the former employee was the one who axed the bonuses in the first place.

  • September 17, 2024

    Texas Fertility Clinic Hid 'Catastrophic' Lab Issue, Couples Say

    Five couples accused a Houston fertility institute of hiding "catastrophic" laboratory issues that affected patients' embryos, saying in a lawsuit that the entity instead injected multiple hopeful mothers with "dead or dying" eggs.

  • September 17, 2024

    Ashurst Hires Fintech Pro From EY Law In London

    Ashurst LLP has recruited an expert in financial technology from EY Law to strengthen its capability to advise clients on digital transformation projects.

  • September 16, 2024

    CEO's AI Fraud Detection Tool Contract Was Fraud, Feds Say

    A former technology company CEO has pled guilty to a charge that he cooked his company's books and raised tens of millions of dollars from investors off phony claims that an artificial intelligence program his firm developed was being used to spot digital ad fraud, the Manhattan U.S. Attorney's Office said Monday.

  • September 16, 2024

    9th Circ. Won't Review Tribal Jurisdiction In Virus Suit

    An en banc panel of the Ninth Circuit on Monday upheld a panel's finding that the Suquamish Tribal Court has jurisdiction over the tribe's coronavirus coverage dispute with its insurers, though a dissent claimed the panel decision "gutted any geographic limits of tribal court jurisdiction."

  • September 16, 2024

    Swedish Amazon Aggregator Files Ch. 15 To Halt Arbitration

    Swedish Amazon aggregator Go North Group AB, a business that consolidates small sellers into one platform, filed for Chapter 15 recognition in a New York bankruptcy court Monday, aiming to halt arbitration over a post-merger earnout dispute until it completes a roughly $75 million reorganization in its home country.

Expert Analysis

  • Addressing The Growing Hazards Of Mass Arbitration

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    Though retail companies typically include arbitration provisions in their terms of service, the recent trend of costly mass arbitrations filed by plaintiffs may cause businesses to rethink this conventional wisdom, say attorneys at BCLP.

  • Opinion

    Prejudgment Interest Is A Game-Changer In Ill. Civil Suits

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    Civil litigation can leave plaintiffs financially strained and desperate for any recovery, especially when defendants use delaying tactics — but the Illinois Legislature's move to allow prejudgment interest has helped bring litigants to the table earlier to resolve disputes, minimizing court expenses and benefiting all parties, says Benjamin Crane at Coplan + Crane.

  • Series

    Teaching Scuba Diving Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    As a master scuba instructor, I’ve learned how to prepare for the unexpected, overcome fears and practice patience, and each of these skills – among the many others I’ve developed – has profoundly enhanced my work as a lawyer, says Ron Raether at Troutman Pepper.

  • Lawyers Can Take Action To Honor The Voting Rights Act

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    As the Voting Rights Act reaches its 59th anniversary Tuesday, it must urgently be reinforced against recent efforts to dismantle voter protections, and lawyers can pitch in immediately by volunteering and taking on pro bono work to directly help safeguard the right to vote, says Anna Chu at We The Action.

  • 2nd Circ. Ruling May Limit Discovery In Int'l Arbitration

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    The Second Circuit's recent Webuild v. WSP decision, affirming a discovery order's nullification in arbitration between Webuild and the government of Panama, demonstrates courts' unwillingness to find that arbitral tribunals in investor-state cases fall within the scope of the discovery statute, say attorneys at Cleary.

  • How To Grow Marketing, Biz Dev Teams In A Tight Market

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    Faced with fierce competition and rising operating costs, firms are feeling the pressure to build a well-oiled marketing and business development team that supports strategic priorities, but they’ll need to be flexible and creative given a tight talent market, says Ben Curle at Ambition.

  • Series

    Rock Climbing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Rock climbing requires problem-solving, focus, risk management and resilience, skills that are also invaluable assets in my role as a finance lawyer, says Mei Zhang at Haynes and Boone.

  • NY Ruling Offers A Foreclosure Road Map For Lenders

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    A New York appellate court recently upheld a summary judgment ruling in favor of a commercial lender's foreclosure in U.S. Bank v. 1226 Evergreen Bapaz, illustrating the proofs lenders will need to prosecute a foreclosure action, especially where the plaintiff is an assignee of the originating lender, say attorneys at Sherman Atlas.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Dance The Legal Standard Two-Step

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    From rookie brief writers to Chief Justice John Roberts, lawyers should master the legal standard two-step — framing the governing standard at the outset, and clarifying why they meet that standard — which has benefits for both the drafter and reader, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Opinion

    OFAC Sanctions Deserve To Be Challenged Post-Chevron

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's Loper Bright decision opens the door to challenges against the Office of Foreign Assets Control's sanctions regime, the unintended consequences of which raise serious questions about the wisdom of what appears to be a scorched-earth approach, says Solomon Shinerock at Lewis Baach.

  • Series

    Being A Luthier Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    When I’m not working as an appellate lawyer, I spend my spare time building guitars — a craft known as luthiery — which has helped to enhance the discipline, patience and resilience needed to write better briefs, says Rob Carty at Nichols Brar.

  • Lead Like 'Ted Lasso' By Embracing Cognitive Diversity

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    The Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso” aptly illustrates how embracing cognitive diversity can be a winning strategy for teams, providing a useful lesson for law firms, which can benefit significantly from fresh, diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

  • Ambiguity Ruling Highlights Deference To Arbitral Process

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    A New York federal court’s recent ruling in Eletson v. Levona, which remanded an arbitral award for clarification, reflects that the ambiguity exception’s analysis is not static and may be applied even in cases where the award, when issued, was unambiguous, says arbitrator Myrna Barakat Friedman.

  • 2 Rulings Serve As Conversion Fee Warnings For Banks

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    A comparison of the different outcomes in Wright v. Capital One in a Virginia federal court, and in Guerrero v. Bank of America in a North Carolina federal court, highlights how banks must be careful in describing how currency exchange fees and charges are determined in their customer agreements, say attorneys at Weiner Brodsky.

  • Expect CFPB To Enforce Warning Against 'Coercive' Fine Print

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    The recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warning against unenforceable terms "deceptively" slipped into the fine print of contracts will likely be challenged in court, but until then, companies should expect the agency to treat its guidance as law and must carefully scrutinize their consumer contracts, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

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