Farella Braun

1. Honda Recall Signals New Era Post-Toyota Disaster

Friday, Feb 12, 2010

Honda Motor Co.'s expanded recall of vehicles with defective air bags in the wake of Toyota Motor Corp.'s debacle over acceleration-prone cars portends a wave of litigation, regulation and new recalls amid public scrutiny of automobile makers, legal experts say.

2. Changes To $9.5M Atmel Backdating Settlement OK'd

Monday, Jan 25, 2010

A federal judge has approved changes to the settlement of a stock options backdating derivative lawsuit that will see current and former executives of Atmel Corp. hand over $9.65 million to the company and Atmel's board of directors take on additional responsibilities.

3. Infineon Says Volterra Infringes 4 Power Patents

Monday, Jan 25, 2010

German semiconductor giant Infineon Technologies AG has filed an infringement lawsuit against Volterra Semiconductor Corp. claiming the Fremont, Calif.-based company infringed patents for power devices and amplifiers that help power the computer industry.

4. Ex-Broadcom CFO Appeals $118M Backdating Deal

Monday, Jan 11, 2010

Former Broadcom Corp. Chief Financial Officer William J. Ruehle has appealed a federal court's order approving a $118 million settlement in a derivative suit accusing company brass of knowingly orchestrating a $2.2 billion stock options backdating scheme.

5. Ex-CEO Appeals $118M Broadcom Backdating Deal

Thursday, Jan 07, 2010

Former Broadcom Corp. CEO Henry Nicholas has appealed a federal court's approval of a $118 million settlement in a derivative suit accusing company brass of knowingly orchestrating a $2.2 billion stock options backdating scheme.

6. Insurance Law Firms Of The Year

Friday, Jan 01, 2010

Law360's top insurance firms had a banner year in 2009, with wins in major coverage disputes over the massive California wildfires, the Sept. 11 attacks and the Broadcom Corp. stock options cases, among others.

7. Product Liability Defense Lawyers' Wish List For 2010

Friday, Jan 01, 2010

If they had authority over Congress and the U.S. Supreme Court, product liability attorneys said they would ask for federal standards for product liability litigation, including clarity on preemption; a law mandating a prima-facie showing of general causation and a statute to rein in punitive damages; and an overhaul of the Consumer Product Safety Improvement Act.

8. Acacia Unit, BofA Settle 3rd-Party Credit Card IP Suit

Thursday, Dec 17, 2009

Bank of America Corp. has become the latest to reach a settlement with a unit of Acacia Research Corp. in a patent suit accusing more than a dozen credit card issuers of infringing a patent for “third-party credit cards.”

9. Law360 Ranks Firms With Most Female Partners

Friday, Dec 11, 2009

McDonough Holland & Allen PC, Davis Graham & Stubbs LLP and Hanson Bridgett LLP came out on top in Law360's ranking of firms with the highest concentration of female partners.

10. Law360 Ranks Largest Competition Practices

Friday, Dec 04, 2009

Howrey LLP, Gibson Dunn LLP and Kirkland & Ellis LLP topped the Law360 Competition 100 this year, boasting the largest competition practices in the United States, measured by the number of practicing lawyers.

11. Law360 Ranks Largest Environmental Practices

Friday, Dec 04, 2009

Latham & Watkins LLP, Beveridge & Diamond PC and Gordon & Rees topped the Law360 Environmental 100 this year, boasting the largest environmental practices in the United States, measured by the number of practicing lawyers.

12. Clarifying D&O Fiduciary Duty To Creditors In Calif.

Monday, Nov 30, 2009

With the Sixth District Court of Appeal decision in Berg & Berg Enterprises LLC v. Boyle, California has now joined Delaware in holding that directors do not owe creditors a fiduciary duty, even when the corporation is operating in the so-called "zone of insolvency," say Kelly A. Woodruff and Nell K. Clement of Farella Braun + Martel LLP.

13. Injunction Against Infineon Reversed In Volterra Suit

Tuesday, Nov 24, 2009

German semiconductor company Infineon Technologies AG has announced that it and its subsidiaries can continue producing and selling voltage regulator products that Volterra Semiconductor Corp. is challenging in a patent infringement suit, following a federal district court's reversal of a preliminary injunction against it.

14. High Court Declines To Hear Every Penny Counts Suit

Monday, Nov 09, 2009

The U.S. Supreme Court has declined to take on Every Penny Counts Inc.'s appeal of a claims construction ruling that the company claimed misapplied the high court's 1996 ruling in Markman v. Westview Instruments.

15. Final Approval Sought For $118M Broadcom Deal

Tuesday, Nov 03, 2009

The plaintiffs and several defendants in derivative litigation over an alleged $2.2 billion stock options backdating scheme at semiconductor maker Broadcom Corp. have asked a federal judge for final approval of a partial settlement deal under which the company would collect $118 million from insurers.

16. Q&A With Farella Braun & Martel's Kelly Woodruff

Monday, Nov 02, 2009

Panels should allow more time for oral argument and provide the parties with a list of questions for the argument so the lawyers can focus their comments on the things in which the court is most interested, says Kelly Woodruff, a complex commercial litigation partner and a member of the appellate litigation group at Farella Braun & Martel LLP.

17. Farella Braun Nabs Howard Rice Bankruptcy Guru

Wednesday, Oct 14, 2009

San Francisco-based law firm Farella Braun & Martel LLP has hired bankruptcy expert Gary M. Kaplan, formerly of Howard Rice Nemerovski Canady Falk & Rabkin PC.

18. Refco Insurer Drops Former President From D&O Suit

Wednesday, Oct 14, 2009

Tone Grant, disgraced former president of the defunct commodities trading firm Refco Inc., has been let out of a lawsuit by insurer XL Specialty Insurance Co. after agreeing not to seek coverage for defense costs under his policy.

19. Volterra Wins Injunction On Flip Chip Patents

Tuesday, Oct 06, 2009

A San Francisco federal court has granted a preliminary injunction barring German semiconductor company Infineon Technologies AG and its subsidiaries from marketing and selling voltage regulator products that allegedly infringe two of Volterra Semiconductor Corp.'s patents.

20. Chevron Agrees To Pay Up In Landfill Pollution Suit

Tuesday, Sep 22, 2009

A federal judge has approved a deal requiring Chevron Corp. to pay $315,000 to end a suit filed by developers over cleanup of land that the oil giant's predecessor leased more than 40 years ago to the city of Antioch, Calif.