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Midwest
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October 1, 2012
Firms Must Spend Big To Enter Crowded E-Discovery Market
As the market for e-discovery services becomes increasingly crowded with law firms launching in-house programs in an effort to satisfy companies’ demands for greater cost-savings, law firm leaders said Friday that the substantial investment in technology and people needed means not every firm should attempt it.
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September 27, 2012
Insurer Must Cover TCF Settlement Over Portfolio Co. Buy: Suit
Private equity fund Thoma Cressey Fund VIII LP sued Houston Casualty Co. in Illinois state court Wednesday, alleging the insurer has wrongfully refused to cover the settlement of a suit accusing the fund of failing to cough up $7 million it promised a portfolio company.
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September 26, 2012
Marriott Hotel Fountain Caused Legionnaires' Death, Suit Says
Marriott International Inc. was hit with a wrongful death suit Wednesday brought by the family member of a man who allegedly died after inhaling water containing Legionella bacteria from the fountain in front of the company's Chicago hotel.
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September 25, 2012
Staffing Co. Urges 7th Circ. To Revive Trade Secrets Suit
Tradesmen International Inc.'s attorney told the Seventh Circuit on Tuesday that the construction staffing firm had provided enough damages evidence to keep alive its suit accusing four former employees of breaching their employment agreements and stealing trade secrets to start their own competing company.
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September 24, 2012
Wis., Unions Face Off In 7th Circ. Over Act 10 Provisions
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s administration and state labor unions on Monday squared off in the Seventh Circuit over provisions axed from Wisconsin’s controversial labor law that would make union recertification more difficult and prevent public unions from deducting dues from workers’ paychecks.
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September 24, 2012
Joan Rivers Film Invaded Fan's Privacy, 7th Circ. Hears
A Wisconsin woman asked the Seventh Circuit on Monday to revive her suit accusing Joan Rivers and IFC Films LLC of invading her privacy by including a backstage conversation she had with the comedienne in a documentary film without her consent.
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September 24, 2012
7th Circ. Broadens ERISA Whistleblower Protections
An Employee Retirement Income Security Act provision preventing employers from retaliating against workers who protest meddling with their pensions includes informal communications as well as formal legal action, the Seventh Circuit has ruled.
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September 21, 2012
Russian Co. Offers Up $13M To Ditch Potash Antitrust Claims
Russia-based JSC Uralkali has agreed to pay $12.75 million to settle class action allegations that it was involved in an international conspiracy to fix the global price of the fertilizer ingredient potash, the company said Thursday.
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September 21, 2012
Ex-Krahl Construction CFO Admits To Role In Billing Scheme
The ex-chief financial officer of defunct general contractor Krahl Construction admitted Friday to taking part in a billing fraud and kickback scheme that allegedly cost two clients nearly $11 million combined, joining a handful of other defendants who have pled guilty in connection with the plot.
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September 21, 2012
Wrong Standard Used In Acid Antitrust Suit, 7th Circ. Hears
An attorney for a class of customers who accused NorFalco LLC and other sulfuric acid producers and distributors of running a price-fixing scheme in the U.S. and Canada told the Seventh Circuit on Friday that a lower court applied the wrong antitrust analysis standard to the case.
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September 21, 2012
Stryker Pays $1.5M To End Investors’ Kickback, FCA Suits
Medical technology company Stryker Corp. has agreed to pay $1.5 million and beef up its corporate governance policies to end shareholder litigation stemming from alleged False Claims Act and foreign kickback schemes, according to settlement papers filed Thursday in Michigan federal court.
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September 21, 2012
Insurers Want Off Hook For Palm Cellphone Radiation Suit
Three Illinois insurers on Thursday asked a Cook County state court to declare it is not obligated to defend or indemnify Palm Inc. in an underlying suit alleging Palm’s cellphones exposed consumers to radiation, saying the allegations aren’t covered in Palm’s policies.
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September 20, 2012
EPA Urges 7th Circ. To Revive Portion Of ComEd CAA Suit
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency asked the Seventh Circuit on Thursday to revive part of its suit against Commonwealth Edison Co. and Edison Mission Energy Inc. over alleged Clean Air Act violations at Illinois power plants, saying time limits don't apply to its bid for injunctive relief.
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September 20, 2012
Disney Beats Suit Claiming It Stole 'Santa Paws' Idea
A Missouri federal judge on Thursday threw out a copyright infringement lawsuit claiming Disney Enterprises Inc. and others ripped off the idea for two holiday movies about a dog named Santa Paws, saying Disney's films aren't substantially similar to the plaintiffs' illustrated children's story.
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September 20, 2012
Insurer Sues Consulting Co. Over Pollution Suit Defense
Savers Property & Casualty Insurance Co. asked an Indiana federal court Tuesday to declare it is not obligated to defend or indemnify its insured in a Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations suit over the alleged cover-up of illegal hazardous waste dumping by several steel companies.
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September 20, 2012
SEC Faces FOIA Suit Over High-Frequency Trading Docs
A company alleging it has evidence of a high-frequency trading firm's securities fraud scheme sued the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in Wisconsin federal court Wednesday after the agency denied its Freedom of Information Act requests for information on the firm.
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September 20, 2012
Peregrine Trustee Gets OK To Return $123M In Customer Funds
Peregrine Financial Group Inc.'s bankruptcy trustee won court approval Thursday to dole out $123 million to certain customers, after putting to bed the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission's concerns and overcoming an objection from customers not included in those distributions.
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September 20, 2012
Pot Law Doesn't Protect Fired Wal-Mart Worker, 6th Circ. Says
The Sixth Circuit on Wednesday said Michigan's medical marijuana law doesn't apply restrictions to private businesses in a decision upholding the dismissal of a former Wal-Mart Stores Inc. employee who has an inoperable brain tumor and was fired after failing a drug test.
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September 19, 2012
RBS, Wells Fargo Win Timeliness Appeal In $1B MBS Suits
A Kansas federal judge Wednesday allowed appeal of his decision to preserve mortgage-backed securities fraud lawsuits filed against Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC and Wells Fargo & Co. after a statute of limitations expired, aiming to resolve whether time extensions apply to a government conservator's claims.
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September 19, 2012
Ex-CME Group Engineer Admits To Stealing Trade Secrets
An ex-CME Group Inc. senior software engineer pled guilty to two counts of trade secrets theft in Illinois federal court Wednesday, admitting he made off with the company's source code while planning to launch a business to boost trade on a Chinese futures exchange.
Expert Analysis
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Raising The Bar On CMBS Loans
The recent opinion by the Court of Appeals of Michigan in Wells Fargo Bank NA v. Cherryland Mall Limited Partnership could potentially have a significant negative effect on guarantors of nonrecourse commercial mortgage-backed securities loans if adopted by other jurisdictions, says Jennifer Lifschitz of Pashman Stein PC.
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How SB 315 Changes Ohio’s Oil, Gas Regulatory Process
Ohio Substitute Senate Bill 315, signed into law in June 2012, is a wide-ranging energy bill that includes midstream regulatory proposals. However, the more detailed provisions in the bill are the update to the 1509 oil and gas regulatory program, including clear provisions to allow operators and service companies to protect their trade secrets, says Jonathan Airey of Vorys Sater Seymour and Pease LLP.
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Chesapeake-Encana: Antitrust Lessons For Energy Cos.
The investigation into activities between Chesapeake Energy Corp. and Encana Corp., following quickly on the heels of the U.S. Department of Justice's joint bidding challenge earlier this year, serves as a reminder that companies in the oil and gas industry must exercise care in situations where they may want to work with potentially competing bidders, say Jon Dubrow and Shauna Barnes of McDermott Will & Emery LLP.
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Are Your Waivers Worth The Paper They Are Printed On?
Decisions by bankruptcy courts in the Second, Third, Fifth and Eleventh circuits have favored enforcement of subordination agreements that go beyond mere subordination of payment rights. Meanwhile, bankruptcy courts in the First, Fourth and Seventh circuits have reached a contrary conclusion. Creditors who are parties to subordination agreements that contain waivers of bankruptcy rights should approach bankruptcy with the unsettled state of the law in mind, says Eric Daucher of Chadbourne & Parke LLP.
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A Rare Judicial Perspective On Clayton Act Section 8
Since Section 8 of the Clayton Act, which prohibits competing corporations from sharing directors, has received surprisingly little attention from government enforcers or judicial opinions lately, it is worth noting the perspective recently offered by two of the leading antitrust voices on the federal bench — Judges Frank Easterbrook and Richard Posner of the Seventh Circuit — in Robert F. Booth v. Crowley, say attorneys with Jones Day.
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Sex Offenders' Right To Use Facebook — Ind. Weighs In
The prevalent use of social media for everyday communication raises untested legal questions about the effect of a social media ban on a convicted sex offender's right to free speech. Indiana recently joined several states that have considered the constitutionality of such a social networking ban, says Erin Webley of Ice Miller LLP.
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Further Steps Forward In Ohio Oil And Gas Laws
Ohio Gov. John Kasich has signed into law Senate Bill 315, ushering in several changes to Ohio’s existing oil and gas laws — the third such bill in two years. That yet another oil-and-gas law was enacted within such a short time frame speaks volumes about just how much the oil and gas industry in Ohio has taken off in the past couple of years, says Mary Ann Poirier of Dinsmore & Shohl LLP.
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Apple V. Motorola: Implications For Patent Damages
Unfortunately, the level of economic coherence in patent law with respect to damages today is roughly comparable to what existed in antitrust law in 1955. However, Judge Richard Posner’s recent opinions in Apple Inc. v. Motorola Inc. help clarify legal and economic standards for measuring patent damages, says Gregory Sidak of Criterion Economics LLC.
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Expanding The Extraterritorial Reach Of US Antitrust Law
The Seventh Circuit's unanimous en banc decision in Minn-Chem v. Agrium Inc. on June 27 substantially narrowed the application of the Foreign Trade Antitrust Improvements Act. The decision has two important ramifications for companies engaged in foreign commerce, say James Bo Pearl and Alicia Hancock of O'Melveny & Myers LLP.
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Tort Is Not An Option In Ill. Employee Asbestos Exposure
The impact of the Illinois Cook County Circuit Court's ruling in a workplace asbestos exposure case is that employees are now essentially barred from bringing suit against their employers “in tort” under virtually any circumstance, even if the disease doesn't manifest itself until after the applicable Workers’ Compensation Act’s statute of limitations period, say Craig Liljestrand and Lyndon Flosi of Hinshaw & Culbertson LLP.