Commercial Contracts

  • September 11, 2026

    Solar Contractor, CBRE Unit Blamed In $1B LA Building Fire

    Lineage Inc., which owns a massive cold-storage facility in Los Angeles that caught fire in June, has sued a commercial solar operator and a CBRE Group subsidiary in California state court, blaming the incident on their negligence in reenergizing a defective rooftop solar array before critical safety checks were completed. 

  • September 11, 2026

    Austrian Device-Maker Exits Suit Over Medicare Fraud

    A Colorado federal court Friday dropped an Austrian medical device-maker from a lawsuit brought by a podiatrist who alleged the company helped create a scheme to bill Medicare using improper codes, finding he failed to detail the alleged fraud sufficiently and defend several other claims.

  • September 11, 2026

    Mass. Fund Says It Was Sidelined After Lining Up $300M

    A Massachusetts life sciences investment fund says SPRIM Global Investments strung it along on a pledge to bring it in as a co-general partner in a new joint fund, then backed out of the agreement and took control of the fund after the plaintiff lined up a $300 million investment, according to a lawsuit filed in Massachusetts state court.

  • September 11, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Questions Medical Training Co.'s $100M Deal Theory

    A medical training startup urged the Federal Circuit on Friday to revive claims accusing Galderma of a "classic catch-and-kill strategy" to derail what it says could have been a $100 million deal with Allergan, but a three-judge panel questioned whether that theory had been properly presented below.

  • September 11, 2026

    Colo. Investors Accuse Startup League, Owner Of Fraud

    A high school football league startup and its owner fraudulently induced a Colorado youth sports foundation and related companies to buy a $2.5 million Denver franchise by misrepresenting the league's size and corporate sponsors and reneged on a settlement agreement, according to a lawsuit in Colorado federal court.

  • September 11, 2026

    Retiree Says Pot Entrepreneur Scammed Him Of $3M Savings

    A California retiree and his relative are suing a cannabis entrepreneur and his businesses in Los Angeles court, alleging that the entrepreneur duped them into investing more than $3 million into a cannabis business, only to string them along and fail to live up to his promises of repayment.

  • September 11, 2026

    Altria Signals Appeal Of Order Ending Reynolds' Royalty Tab

    Philip Morris's parent company plans to appeal a North Carolina federal judge's ruling finding a sublicensing agreement between R.J. Reynolds Vapor Co. and Juul Labs Inc. relieves Reynolds of its obligation to pay ongoing royalties under a 2022 jury verdict, according to a notice filed Friday.

  • September 11, 2026

    Fed. Circ. Scrutinizes Presumptive Date In Turkish Rebar Row

    A Federal Circuit panel on Friday looked to clarify the effect of the U.S. Department of Commerce's presumption that invoice dates are generally the best option for determining dates of sale during duty investigations, with a Turkish company claiming the presumption cost it $20 million.

  • September 11, 2026

    Insurer May Be On The Hook For Debt Collector's Defense

    Claims that a debt collector engaged in an illegal collection scheme aren't covered under its policy with a Nationwide unit, but the insurer may owe coverage if it is found to have acted in bad faith while defending the company, a Washington federal court ruled.

  • September 11, 2026

    LA Judge Rejects Bid For $134K Default In Pot Co. Loan Suit

    A California state judge has rejected a lender's bid for default judgment in a suit alleging that a cannabis oil extraction company's owner failed to pay back a $134,000 loan, saying the lender is asking for too much without sufficient evidence.

  • September 10, 2026

    Huawei Ripped Off Amazon Cloud Platform IP, Jury Hears

    A former engineer for a U.S. subsidiary of Huawei on Thursday testified that she was shocked and upset after a colleague boasted of co-opting patented code used in Amazon's cloud computing platform, the first of several Huawei employees that are expected to take the stand in the Chinese telecommunications company's RICO trial in New York federal court. 

  • September 10, 2026

    Lilly Owes Nektar $1B If It Breached Rezpeg Deal, Jury Told

    Nektar Therapeutics' damages expert told a California federal jury on Thursday that Eli Lilly & Co. could owe the biotechnology company nearly $1 billion if it finds that the pharmaceutical giant breached a license agreement to co-develop Nektar's autoimmune-disease drug Rezpeg.

  • September 10, 2026

    JPMorgan Aided Ex-Atty Kossoff's $18.5M Theft, Trustee Says

    The Chapter 7 trustee representing bankrupt firm Kossoff PLLC on Wednesday sued JPMorgan Chase Bank NA, claiming the bank helped the firm's principal steal at least $18.5 million from clients, and it "should be made to account."

  • September 10, 2026

    SpaceXAI Says Alleged Grok Child Porn Maker Must Indemnify It

    SpaceXAI LLC on Thursday accused a Pennsylvania man of using its artificial intelligence tool Grok to generate child sexual abuse material, telling a Texas federal court that the man breached the terms of service agreement and must indemnify the company.

  • September 10, 2026

    Princeton Must Face Title IX Claim Tied To Gender Bias

    A New Jersey federal judge refused to end a former Princeton University student's claims stemming from his expulsion after an investigation into his ex-romantic partner's allegations of violence, finding that a jury could conclude that gender played a role in the outcome.

  • September 10, 2026

    Nielsen Tells 2nd Circ. Court Altered Terms Of Cumulus Order

    Nielsen is headed back to the Second Circuit after a New York federal court changed the terms of a preliminary injunction that the appellate court had already upheld, the company said, requiring Nielsen to not only unbundle its national radio ratings data from its local offerings but also to provide that data on specific terms.

  • September 10, 2026

    6th Circ. Nixes $31.8M Pot Farm Judgment Against Curaleaf

    The Sixth Circuit on Thursday reversed a $31.8 million jury judgment against cannabis giant Curaleaf, saying the federal illegality of cannabis precluded federal courts from enforcing contracts that require parties to commit federal crimes.

  • September 10, 2026

    US, Ohio Settle 15-Year Dam Mining Dispute

    The federal government and Ohio have decided to settle their more than 15-year legal battle over the state's authorization of coal mining near a federal dam and reservoir.

  • September 10, 2026

    Clinical Trial Buyer Says Ex-Owner Breached $100M Deal

    Surge ECN Holdings LLC and ECN Operating LLC have accused the former owner of a clinical trial research network of violating a five-year noncompete and other restrictions tied to a deal worth more than $100 million, alleging he diverted customers, recruited key physicians and used confidential information to build a competing business.

  • September 10, 2026

    Drone Co., Ex-VP Reach Deal Resolving Pay, Sabotage Claims

    A company that makes emergency response drones and its former vice president of sales have settled a dispute in which the executive alleged he was stiffed on pay and the company accused him of trying to sabotage its business, court records show.

  • September 10, 2026

    Hospitals Say Mich. BCBS Unit Owes For Out-Of-State Care

    A Michigan Blue Cross Blue Shield unit owes a group of hospitals more than $800,000 in reimbursement for health services they provided to patients covered under out-of-state BCBS plans, the hospitals allege in a complaint in Michigan federal court.

  • September 10, 2026

    EchoStar Says Ex-VP Violated Noncompete In Move To Rival

    A former executive vice president of EchoStar Corp. violated his noncompete agreement when he left his role at the company to take a COO position with a rival company just two weeks later, the telecommunication giant alleged in Colorado state court Wednesday.

  • September 10, 2026

    Deutsche Bank Says Viks Seek To Delay Norway Case Fight

    Deutsche Bank AG has urged a Connecticut state court to reject a request by billionaire Alexander Vik and his daughter to hold two trials as they seek an anti-suit injunction, arguing that they are just trying to extend a court-ordered block on litigation in Norway despite a recent appellate decision gutting the rationale for the injunction.

  • September 10, 2026

    Cold Brew Equipment Co. Owner Must Hand Over Assets

    The founder and minority owner of a cold brew equipment company has agreed to hand over passwords, customer information, software and other company assets to its majority owner in a dispute over control of the business following a 2024 acquisition, according to a Colorado state court filing.

  • September 09, 2026

    Nektar CEO Opens Door To Finance Questions In Eli Lilly Trial

    Nektar Therapeutics failed Wednesday to block evidence of its financial condition from entering into a California federal trial over a failed deal to codevelop its drug Rezpeg with Eli Lilly, after its CEO's testimony on cross-examination prompted the judge to allow the evidence for impeachment purposes.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Studying Foreign Languages Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Studying Italian and Japanese has shown me that learning a new language can benefit a legal career in several ways, including by demonstrating the importance of approaching problems from a fresh perspective and the value of practicing patience with colleagues and clients, says Anna King at Genworth Financial.

  • NIL Contracts Test Limits On College Football Transfers

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    College football's new legal era of direct payments to players and fewer transfer restrictions has put contractual provisions in play, and stipulations such as termination clauses and repayment obligations require added scrutiny as the name, image and likeness system evolves, says Kevin Paule at Hill Ward Henderson.

  • How The High Court Expanded Freight Broker Liability

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Montgomery v. Caribe Transport II that freight brokers may be liable for selecting unsafe motor carriers, the key question will be whether brokers used reasonable care in selecting a given motor carrier, with the concurring opinion offering some clues as to what reasonable care might look like, says Marc Blubaugh at Benesch.

  • DOJ Activity Indicates Rising Antitrust Risk For Hospitals

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    Two civil actions filed by the U.S. Department of Justice against New York-Presbyterian Hospital and OhioHealth, both alleging that the hospital systems used their market power to stifle competition, highlight the government's growing scrutiny of barriers to lower-cost insurance options, say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • Series

    NY Times Word Puzzles Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Every morning I let The New York Times humble me with word games, which offer a chance to recalibrate my brain before the day's chaos arrives and remind me that a solution — whether to a puzzle or employment law issue — almost always exists once I find the right angle, says Amy Epstein Gluck at Pierson Ferdinand.

  • Tracking Tech Suit Is A Risk Management Reminder For Cos.

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    The Fifth Circuit recently heard oral argument in Rand v. Eyemart Express — an appeal that could reshape the legal landscape for businesses that deploy tracking tech on their websites — underscoring the importance of proactive risk management for companies across multiple industries, say attorneys at Blank Rome.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lesson: Diagnose Before Arguing

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    Law school often skips over explicitly teaching students how to determine what kind of problem a case presents before they commit to a particular doctrinal path, which risks building arguments that are internally coherent but externally misaligned, says Melanie Oxhorn at Kobre & Kim.

  • Becoming The Biz-Savvy GC That Portfolio Companies Need

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    Candidates for general counsel roles at private equity-backed portfolio companies should prioritize proving their sector-specific experience, commercial judgment and ease with uncertainty — and attorneys hoping to be candidates in five to 10 years should start working on those skills now, says Dimitri Mastrocola at Major Lindsey.

  • Nielsen Appeal Tests Antitrust Limits Of Pricing And Bundling

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    In Cumulus v. Nielsen, the Second Circuit is considering a structural pattern in which a monopolist exploits upstream market power to foreclose downstream competition, which could potentially offer broad insight into how courts will assess exclusionary bundling and pricing defenses under antitrust law, says Luke Hasskamp at Bona Law.

  • Series

    Judges On AI: How Courts Can Survive The Tech Revolution

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    Colorado Supreme Court Justice Maria Berkenkotter and Colorado Court of Appeals Judge Lino Lipinsky de Orlov discuss how artificial intelligence has already fundamentally altered the legal system and offer tips for courts navigating deepfakes, hallucinations and a gap in access to AI tools.

  • 3 AI Adoption Mistakes GCs Should Avoid

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    The pressure in-house legal teams face to quickly adopt artificial intelligence tools, combined with budget constraints and the need to evaluate a crowded market of options, sets the stage for implementation mistakes that are often difficult to undo, says former 23andMe general counsel Guy Chayoun.

  • Series

    Playing Basketball Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My grandfather used to say "I wear your jersey" as shorthand for wholly committing to support someone with loyalty and integrity — ideals that have shaped my life on the basketball court and in legal practice, says Tracy Schimelfenig at Schimelfenig Legal.

  • Salt-N-Pepa Suit May Shake Up Music Copyright Issue

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    James v. UMG Recordings is a copyright termination rights case that provides an opportunity for the Second Circuit to make concrete choices about grant language, authorship, work-for-hire status and survival of derivative works, says attorney Abdul Abdullahi.

  • Series

    The Biz Court Digest: Georgia Court Has Business On Its Mind

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    Thanks to recent legislation, the Georgia State-wide Business Court will soon offer business litigants greater access to the court than ever before, further enhancing the court's emphasis on efficiency, predictability and accessibility for sophisticated commercial disputes, says former GSBC judge Walt Davis at Jones Day.

  • 4 Emerging Approaches To AI Protective Order Language

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    Over the last year, at least five federal district courts have issued or analyzed specific protective order provisions restricting the use of generative artificial intelligence platforms with protected materials, establishing that proactive AI-specific provisions are now standard practice and demonstrating that no single model works for every case, says Joel Bush at Kilpatrick.

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