http://www.law360.com/ Latest articles for organization: Vinson & Elkins Copyright 2009 Portfolio Media, Inc. en-US http://www.law360.com/images/headings/logo.gif http://www.law360.com/ http://www.law360.com/articles/135589 After two aborted attempts to weigh in on the murky area of employment law, the U.S. Supreme Court may finally sink its claws in the so-called cat's paw theory of liability, resolving what has become a clear conflict among the federal appeals courts. http://www.law360.com/articles/135589 http://www.law360.com/articles/135321 Dell Inc. and Abstrax Inc. have reached a confidential settlement and licensing agreement in a suit accusing the computer giant of infringing an Abstrax patent related to a method for assembling products with a computer. http://www.law360.com/articles/135321 http://www.law360.com/articles/135447 The U.S. International Trade Commission has agreed to extend its target date for completion of an investigation into whether variable-speed wind turbine parts imported by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. infringe two General Electric Co. patents. http://www.law360.com/articles/135447 http://www.law360.com/articles/135302 A civilian contractor who alleges she was sexually assaulted on two separate occasions while working for Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg Brown & Root Inc. in Iraq has won nearly $3 million in an arbitration against her former employer, though the company has challenged the award. http://www.law360.com/articles/135302 http://www.law360.com/articles/134923 BP America Inc., ConocoPhillips Co., Shell Exploration & Production Co. and other energy companies have told a federal judge that there is no reason for them to be targeted in a putative class action brought by employment drug screening firms alleging that DrugTest Inc. snuffed out competition for oil and gas industry clients. http://www.law360.com/articles/134923 http://www.law360.com/articles/134460 Corporate counsel say they want a law firm that, above all else, knows their business and understands their particular objectives, according a new report. The top-ranked law firms are responding by training their attorneys to step into clients' shoes. http://www.law360.com/articles/134460 http://www.law360.com/articles/134057 They are said to look down their noses at litigation deemed too simple, charge steep fees and give off an aura of haughtiness in court. Eight firms were mentioned most by Fortune 1000 corporate counsel when asked which law firms are most arrogant, according to a new report. http://www.law360.com/articles/134057 http://www.law360.com/articles/133812 API Technologies LLC has dropped business media outlet Thomson Reuters Corp. from a suit accusing two dozen companies of infringing its data network patent. http://www.law360.com/articles/133812 http://www.law360.com/articles/133605 A federal appeals court has affirmed a judgment in favor of the U.S. Internal Revenue Service in a case brought against the government by Enbridge Energy Co. Inc. concerning a conduit transaction the IRS called a sham. http://www.law360.com/articles/133605 http://www.law360.com/articles/132849 Yahoo Inc. has settled a trademark lawsuit brought by cosmetics purveyor Mary Kay Inc. over Yahoo’s use of infringing pop-up links and advertisements that allegedly appeared in e-mails sent by Mary Kay beauty consultants. http://www.law360.com/articles/132849 http://www.law360.com/articles/132042 Private equity firm TPG Capital has purchased a majority stake in natural gas services company Valerus Compression Services LLP for $500 million. http://www.law360.com/articles/132042 http://www.law360.com/articles/131722 Investors accusing oil and gas firm Stone Energy Corp. of overstating its oil reserves and falsifying its financial reports have made a move for class certification. http://www.law360.com/articles/131722 http://www.law360.com/articles/130058 A subsidiary of Alcoa Inc. has said it will appeal a loss in a case over the correct disposal of potassium hydroxide and ask a federal appeals court to weigh in on the question of when exactly an industrial material becomes “spent.” http://www.law360.com/articles/130058 http://www.law360.com/articles/129250 Continental Airlines Inc. has lost a bid to regain retirement money it claims was wrongly paid out to several pilots still working for the airline who allegedly obtained sham divorces and then assigned their pensions to their ex-wives to game the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. http://www.law360.com/articles/129250 http://www.law360.com/articles/113733 Joint venture deals with investors such as private equity funds and foreign companies have helped keep energy development projects in the U.S. moving forward despite a dearth of available financing — and these types of partnership arrangements will remain frequent in the energy sector even as the economy continues to improve, lawyers say. http://www.law360.com/articles/113733 http://www.law360.com/articles/128575 Plains All American Pipeline LP has filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to sell up to $2 billion in common units and debt securities. http://www.law360.com/articles/128575 http://www.law360.com/articles/128174 Bankrupt Crusader Energy Group Inc. has announced it will sell certain oil and gas operations in the Texas Panhandle as part of its reorganization efforts. http://www.law360.com/articles/128174 http://www.law360.com/articles/127573 The court-appointed trustee overseeing the liquidation of Bernard L. Madoff Investment Securities LLC has upped the amount of allegedly fake profit he wants returned from Madoff-linked Cohmad Securities Corp. from $213 million to $245 million. http://www.law360.com/articles/127573 http://www.law360.com/articles/127419 A federal judge has rejected Dell Inc.'s counterclaims of noninfringement and invalidity in tossing its abandonment defense and refusing its request to dismiss a suit accusing the computer giant of infringing an Abstrax Inc. patent related to a method for assembling products with a computer. http://www.law360.com/articles/127419 http://www.law360.com/articles/127226 A Texas appeals court has upheld rulings tossing allegations brought by a one-time workers' compensation claimant against his former attorney and an ex-Vinson & Elkins LLP lawyer who represented a defendant insurer in the 1988 settlement of the underlying case. http://www.law360.com/articles/127226