Commercial Contracts

  • June 14, 2024

    Amazon Sued For Locking Up Audiobooks, Charging Up To 75%

    A romance novelist challenged Amazon.com Inc.'s control of up to 80% of the U.S. audiobook market Thursday in a Washington federal court proposed class action accusing the retail giant of using exclusivity restrictions to lock in independent authors, extracting up to 75% of the sales price on Audible.

  • June 14, 2024

    'Cockamamie' Live Nation Arbitration Rules Perplex 9th Circ.

    An attorney for Live Nation Entertainment Inc. argued to skeptical Ninth Circuit judges on Friday that a California district judge was wrong to remove ticket buyers' antitrust class claims from arbitration by finding the arbitration agreements unconscionable, with one judge calling the language in the agreements "drafting malpractice," "cockamamie" and "just nuts."

  • June 14, 2024

    Publishing Exec's Family Says Ohio Law Allowed His Ouster

    The board of an Ohio-based media company have said state law empowered them to oust former CEO Allan Block from his family's namesake company and urged an Ohio state court to dismiss the suit he brought over the potential sale of the company that publishes newspapers in Toledo and Pittsburgh.

  • June 14, 2024

    Mistrial Declared In Florida Student Debtor Lawsuit

    A Florida federal judge on Friday declared a mistrial in the lawsuit against a Boca Raton-based law firm accused of falsely promising to eliminate student loan debts in exchange for a fee following testimony from a former client.

  • June 14, 2024

    BP Unit Slapped With $300M Franchise Termination Suit

    A trio of entities controlled by two self-proclaimed franchise veterans filed suit in Ohio federal court against a travel center operator acquired by BP in 2023, alleging the company terminated a franchise agreement without warning and caused at least $300 million in damages.

  • June 14, 2024

    FAA Probes Fake Titanium Docs From Boeing Supplier

    The Federal Aviation Administration said Friday that it's investigating whether certain Boeing Co. jets were manufactured with titanium components that may have been sold to the plane maker with falsified authenticity documents.

  • June 14, 2024

    Off The Bench: Ex-Players Claim NIL, Loss For Trans Swimmer

    In this week's Off The Bench, the 1983 men's college basketball champions want a piece of the loot the NCAA made off of their names, swimmer Lia Thomas loses in her bid to overturn an international trans athlete ban, and the House gets a bill through committee that would keep college athletes from becoming employees.

  • June 14, 2024

    Trucking Co. Whittles $11.5M Suit Over Stolen Cellphones

    A North Carolina federal court pared an $11.5 million lawsuit brought by a cellphone dealer and its insurer after a truckload of devices was stolen, reasoning that a negligence claim was preempted.

  • June 14, 2024

    McDermott Says Financial Firm Owes $800K In Atty Fees

    McDermott Will & Emery LLP says it is owed more than $800,000 in legal fees for representing a financial firm's employee in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation and a lawsuit by his former employer.

  • June 14, 2024

    Florida Attorney, Philly Firm Settle Pay Dispute

    A Florida-based attorney who ran a side business as a litigation fee expert while also working for a Philadelphia-based personal injury law firm has settled her allegations that the firm stiffed her on a referral fee.

  • June 14, 2024

    Daimler Truck Unit Says Mexican Supply Slowdown Cost $18M

    A Daimler Truck subsidiary claimed in a lawsuit filed in Michigan federal court that a supplier's failure to keep up with production volumes has forced the diesel-engine manufacturer to stall its own production and lose more than $18 million.

  • June 14, 2024

    Calif. Software Co. Hits UnitedLex With Copyright Suit

    California-based technology company Scalr Inc. has filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against data and professional services company UnitedLex in federal court , accusing the Kansas-based company of continuing to use its infrastructure software after its contract expired on Dec. 31.

  • June 14, 2024

    NC AG Wants Counterclaims Canned In Hospital Contract Suit

    North Carolina's attorney general has sought to dodge counterclaims in a suit accusing a for-profit health network of reneging on promises it made when it bought an Asheville hospital, saying he should be immune and the claims are otherwise redundant.

  • June 14, 2024

    4 Big ERISA Decisions From The 1st Half Of 2024

    A California federal court allowed a novel type of 401(k) mismanagement suit to advance to discovery, the Ninth Circuit elaborated on the pleading standard for mental health parity claims, and workers beat back an attempt to force their federal benefits suit into arbitration at the Second Circuit. Here, attorneys discuss four consequential ERISA decisions in 2024's first half.

  • June 14, 2024

    Real Estate Broker Claims Lewis Brisbois Breached Deal

    A real estate broker who had exclusive rights to represent Lewis Brisbois Bisgaard & Smith LLP has slammed the firm with a breach of contract suit in California state court, alleging its abrupt termination of their deal will cost him millions in commissions.

  • June 14, 2024

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen toy company Jellycat hit supermarket Aldi with an intellectual property claim, AIG start proceedings against firefighting foam company Angus International Safety Group, and the Solicitors Regulation Authority file a legal claim against the Post Office amid the ongoing Horizon IT scandal. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • June 13, 2024

    Alston & Bird Wins Bid To Arbitrate COVID Vax Claims

    Alston & Bird LLP can arbitrate a former aide's allegations that she was fired after refusing to get the COVID-19 vaccine, a Georgia federal judge ruled Thursday, putting the litigation on ice pending the outcome of arbitration.

  • June 13, 2024

    Equipment Maker Looks To Chill Ice Creamery's Use Of Its IP

    A company that holds a patent for making ice cream using cryogenics has accused a Florida franchisor of falsely claiming to operate under a patent, saying in Washington federal court that the dessert purveyor has even been charging franchisees an "intellectual property fee."

  • June 13, 2024

    Lil Uzi Vert Owes Production Co. Over $500K, Suit Says

    A California-based music touring company has accused rapper Lil Uzi Vert of stiffing the company of more than half a million dollars in unpaid fees for designing and producing the musician's concerts, according to a Georgia federal lawsuit filed Thursday.

  • June 13, 2024

    Subway Can't Nix Arb. Award To Family Of Murdered Worker

    A Texas appellate panel on Wednesday declined to vacate an arbitration award to the family of a woman killed while working at Subway after rejecting Subway's argument the neutral arbitrator's Facebook posts complaining about State Farm and its attorneys are evidence of bias, finding neither are involved in the underlying case in any way.

  • June 13, 2024

    Oral Arguments Granted In $51M NOLA Airport Defect Row

    A Louisiana federal judge will hear oral arguments next month over a counterclaim brought by the city of New Orleans concerning damages at a $1 billion terminal project for the Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport.

  • June 13, 2024

    Theater Co. Cites Prior Ruling Against Cruise Biz In IP Suit

    A Louisiana theatrical production company is urging a Florida state court to rule in its favor on damages in a lawsuit alleging Celebrity Cruises Inc. continued to use intellectual property beyond licensing agreements, saying the issue was already ruled on in a previous lawsuit between the same parties.

  • June 13, 2024

    Cannabis Cos. Make Deal Ahead Of Expected DEA Downgrade

    An attorney and cannabis entrepreneur is betting that the federal government will reschedule marijuana before winter, announcing his equipment manufacturing firm will ally with a Native American-owned cannabis oil processing company to build out a pharmaceutical cannabis extraction facility.

  • June 13, 2024

    Feud Over Pickleball Paddle Design Bounces Into Court

    A pickleball paddle manufacturer sued the sport's U.S. regulating body Wednesday, accusing the organization of revoking its approval of a new paddle design after the business had manufactured the paddles, leaving the company with $70 million worth of equipment it can never sell.

  • June 13, 2024

    Turkish Jet Co. To Pay $285K For Russia Charter Flights

    A Turkish aviation company will pay the U.S. Department of Commerce $285,000 to resolve export violations stemming from two private charter flights the company made to Russia in a U.S.-made Gulfstream plane, the agency announced Thursday.

Expert Analysis

  • How Attys Can Avoid Pitfalls When Withdrawing From A Case

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    The Trump campaign's recent scuffle over its bid to replace its counsel in a pregnancy retaliation suit offers a chance to remind attorneys that many troubles inherent in withdrawing from a case can be mitigated or entirely avoided by communicating with clients openly and frequently, says Christopher Konneker at Orsinger Nelson.

  • The Effects Of New 10-Year Limitation On Key Sanctions Laws

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    Recently enacted emergency appropriations legislation, doubling the statute of limitations for civil and criminal economic sanctions violations, has significant implications for internal records retention, corporate transaction due diligence and government investigations, say attorneys at Greenberg Traurig.

  • Supply Chain Considerations For Companies Deploying AI

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    Many businesses will risk failure by embracing artificial intelligence without fully understanding the risks, and the value of a five-step AI supply chain analysis cannot be overstated, say Brooke Berg and Nathan Staffel at Nardello & Co.

  • Using A Children's Book Approach In Firm Marketing Content

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    From “The Giving Tree” to “Where the Wild Things Are,” most children’s books are easy to remember because they use simple words and numbers to tell stories with a human impact — a formula law firms should emulate in their marketing content to stay front of mind for potential clients, says Seema Desai Maglio at The Found Word.

  • Key Lessons From Recent Insurance Policy Reform Litigation

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    A review of recent case law reveals the wide range of misunderstandings that may arise between insurers and policyholders in the purchase and renewal of insurance policies, as well as the utility — and the limits — of reformation and related remedies for these misunderstandings, say Jad Khazem and Seth Tucker at Covington.

  • Compliance Considerations For New Data Protection Law

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    Sam Castic at Hintze Law discusses how to determine if your organization is covered by the newly enacted Protecting Americans' Data from Foreign Adversaries Act, the scope of the law's restrictions, and how to go about compliance as its June 23 effective date approaches.

  • 2nd Circ. Ruling Affirms NY Law's Creditor-Friendly Approach

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    The Second Circuit’s recent ruling in 245 Park Member v. HNA International provides creditors with some reason for optimism that debtors in New York may face rejection in court for aiming to keep creditors at arm’s length by transferring personal assets into an LLC, says Jeff Newton at Omni Bridgeway.

  • Diving Deep Into Sweeping NY Financing Bill — And Its Pitfalls

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    A New York bill seeking to impose state usury limits onto a broader variety of financing arrangements and apply lender licensing requirements to more diverse entities would present near-insurmountable compliance challenges for lenders and retailers, say Kate Fisher and Tom Quinn at Hudson Cook.

  • When Oral Settlements Reached In Mediation Are Enforceable

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    A recent decision by the New Jersey Appellate Division illustrates the difficulties that may arise in trying to enforce an oral settlement agreement reached in mediation, but adherence to certain practices can improve the likelihood that such an agreement will be binding, says Richard Mason at MasonADR.

  • What Transactional Attys Must Know About Texas Biz Courts

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    As Texas prepares to launch its new business courts, transactional attorneys — especially those involved in commercial, securities and internal governance matters — should keep several issues in mind when considering use of the state's business court system to facilitate deals and settle disputes, say attorneys at Katten.

  • Series

    Being An EMT Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    While some of my experiences as an emergency medical technician have been unusually painful and searing, the skills I’ve learned — such as triage, empathy and preparedness — are just as useful in my work as a restructuring lawyer, says Marshall Huebner at Davis Polk.

  • Behind Court Challenges To The FTC's Final Noncompete Rule

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    The Federal Trade Commission's recent final rule banning noncompetes may not go into effect any time soon amid a couple of Texas federal court challenges seeking to bar the rule's implementation, which will likely see appeals all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court, says Michael Elkins at MLE Law.

  • Can Chatbot Interactions Lead To Enforceable Contracts?

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    The recent ruling in Moffatt v. Air Canada that found the airline liable for the representations of its chatbot underscores the question of whether generative artificial intelligence chatbots making and accepting offers can result in creation of binding agreements, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • The Opportunities, Risks And Rewards Of AI Acquisitions

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    As artificial intelligence acquisitions become an increasing area of focus for investors and technology buyers, entities should pay special attention to target identification, due diligence and more when structuring and executing a transaction with a company that has an AI-centric business model, say attorneys at Foley & Lardner.

  • Legal Issues To Watch As Deepfake Voices Proliferate

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    With increasingly sophisticated and accessible voice-cloning technology raising social, ethical and legal questions, particularly in the entertainment industry and politics, further legislative intervention and court proceedings seem very likely, say Shruti Chopra and Paul Joseph at Linklaters.

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