Commercial Contracts

  • April 16, 2025

    Auto Supply Chain Tariffs Chart Tricky Compliance Landscape

    The compliance landmines created by the Trump administration's sweeping new tariffs have sparked a scramble among the automotive supply chain to renegotiate contracts and stockpile inventory to blunt the financial impacts in the short term, but long-term strategies are still being ironed out, experts say.

  • April 16, 2025

    Cannabis Co. Drops Back Taxes Case Against 2 Payroll Firms

    A Washington cannabis company has dropped claims against a pair of payroll services providers accused of leaving the cannabis company with a $172,500 tax bill after failing to pay the Internal Revenue Service on its behalf.

  • April 16, 2025

    9th Circ. Won't Revive Ex-Beach Boy Guitarist's Royalty Fight

    The Ninth Circuit refused to reinstate a former Beach Boys guitarist's suit that sought to revoke his royalty agreements with Universal Music Group since they were based on physical record sales and didn't contemplate the evolution of digital streaming, ruling Wednesday the contracts only paid for physical record sale royalties.

  • April 16, 2025

    Colo. Lawyer Says Disbarred Atty Won't Give Settlement Info

    A Colorado firm that agreed to take over a case from a disbarred attorney has sued her and the client, accusing them of refusing to state how much he is owed from a confidential settlement that ended the underlying employment case.

  • April 16, 2025

    Justices Urged To Deny Insurers' Tribal Jurisdiction Challenge

    The Suquamish Tribe told the U.S. Supreme Court it shouldn't hear a group of insurers' bid to litigate COVID-19-related property insurance claims outside tribal court, arguing the Ninth Circuit correctly held that the insurers' coverage of tribal property sufficiently established tribal jurisdiction.

  • April 16, 2025

    Mass. High Court Revives BU Contract Suit Against Architect

    Massachusetts' highest court ruled Wednesday that a six-year limit on tort claims due to design defects in a construction project under a Boston University athletic field doesn't apply to a contract dispute between the school and an architectural firm that explicitly agreed to cover such costs.

  • April 16, 2025

    Greek IT Co.'s Suit Over Leaked Patent Info Gets Tossed

    A New York federal judge has tossed a Greece-based technology company's suit alleging Ladas & Parry LLP sent proprietary information to a third party while the company had an attorney-client agreement with the firm.

  • April 16, 2025

    Locke Lord Escapes Refinery's Suit Over $2.5M Loss

    A New Jersey state appeals court said Wednesday Locke Lord LLP's office in the state isn't a strong enough tie to establish jurisdiction in an oil company's legal malpractice suit over the company's $2.5 million loss connected to a North Dakota refinery project.

  • April 16, 2025

    Google's $100M AdWords Deal Gets Initial Approval

    A California federal judge said Wednesday he'll preliminarily approve Google's $100 million settlement that would resolve advertisers' long-running certified class action alleging the tech giant overcharged for advertisements through its AdWords service, saying the 14-year-old litigation was hard fought, but the settlement appears to be fair.

  • April 16, 2025

    Jack Nicklaus Granted $1M In Damages After NIL Win

    Jack Nicklaus was granted $1 million Wednesday by a New York state court judge for damages incurred as a result of a preliminary injunction that prevented the golf legend from signing new commercial deals during now-dismissed litigation over the use of his name, image and likeness.

  • April 16, 2025

    UnitedHealthcare Owes $1M Medicare Shortfall, Hospital Says

    UnitedHealthcare owes Connecticut's Danbury Hospital more than $1 million after bungling local Medicare Advantage cost calculations and refusing to correct its payment errors after the hospital provided notice of the problem, the healthcare facility alleged in a state court lawsuit.

  • April 15, 2025

    Biogen, Genentech Head To June Trial Over MS Drug Royalties

    A California federal judge on Tuesday denied Biogen's bid for summary judgment in a high-stakes contract fight with Roche Holding AG subsidiary Genentech over patent royalties on multiple sclerosis drug sales, saying during a hearing that there's a material dispute over the contract's language and the case will be tried in June.

  • April 15, 2025

    Google Failed To Pay $2M In Commissions, Ex-Sales Rep Says

    A former Google Cloud unit salesperson alleged the company blocked him from receiving $2 million in commissions after he landed a $35 million contract with Otis Elevator and fired him while he underwent cancer treatment to avoid paying out nearly $3 million in life insurance benefits.

  • April 15, 2025

    9th Circ. Nixes JustAnswer Arbitration Bid In Membership Suit

    The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday denied website JustAnswer's bid to force into arbitration a putative class action accusing it of trapping customers into expensive subscriptions, ruling that no contract requiring arbitration was formed between JustAnswer and individuals who were allegedly roped into recurring subscriptions costing up to $60 per month.

  • April 15, 2025

    Seller Of NC Concrete Co. Cements Midtrial Victory

    A North Carolina federal judge has cut short a jury trial in which the former owner of a concrete business in the state was accused of manipulating financial records to sell her company, siding with the defense in a directed verdict after the plaintiffs rested.

  • April 15, 2025

    Expeditors' IT Shutdown Suit Nudged Toward Mediation

    A Washington federal judge said Tuesday a sporting gear company's cybersecurity claims against a logistics contractor will likely survive, but suggested the parties try mediation instead of going straight to trial because it will be "next to impossible" for jurors to set aside their preconceived notions about the internet.

  • April 15, 2025

    Apple Sued By Wash. IPhone Buyers Over Missing Repair Info

    Apple Inc. "deceptively" omits information on its iPhone packaging that's required under Washington state law, including warranty terms and the costs to repair the phone, according to a proposed consumer class action filed in California federal court.

  • April 15, 2025

    Japan Orders Google To Stop Android Licensing Practice

    Japan's competition enforcer became the latest global authority to take on Google's Android licensing practices Tuesday, ordering the search giant to stop requiring phone manufacturers and mobile carriers to preinstall its apps on their devices.

  • April 15, 2025

    Meta Used Pirated Data To Evaluate Licensing, Authors Say

    A group of bestselling authors accusing Meta Platforms of copyright infringement allege the tech company downloaded databases with millions of pirated books not just to train its large language models, called Llama, but also to see whether it could develop them without licensing content, according to a newly unredacted summary judgment motion.

  • April 15, 2025

    Kinder Morgan Must Face $100M Texas Storm Billing Dispute

    A Texas state appeals court said Tuesday that Kinder Morgan must face a suit over $100 million in invoices stemming from a February 2021 winter storm that caused a power crisis in the state, finding that the company hadn't shown it was forced to reduce gas supplied to a customer at the height of the storm.

  • April 15, 2025

    Financial Adviser Fights Ex-Employer's Bid To Pierce Privilege

    A financial adviser accused of stealing clients by his ex-employer Wealth Enhancement Group LLC has urged a Connecticut state judge to reject the company's bid to get his communications with legal counsel at Spencer Fane LLP, saying it relies on an "expansive and unfounded reading" of the crime-fraud exception to attorney-client privilege.

  • April 15, 2025

    Strike Nurses Sue Staffing Co. Over Wage, Break Pay

    A group of workers hired by a provider of temporary staff nurses to work at Kaiser Permanente facilities in California during a 2023 strike have filed a lawsuit against the staffing company, alleging it refused to pay for training time and meal breaks.

  • April 15, 2025

    Judge Again Denies Arbitration In Chicago Cubs License Spat

    A Chicago federal court will not reconsider dismissing a lawsuit that accuses a rooftop owner of selling tickets to Chicago Cubs games and other events without a license, ruling it got it right the first time.

  • April 15, 2025

    Meta Accused Of Turning Smart Devices Into Useless 'Bricks'

    Consumers hit Meta Platforms Inc. with a proposed class action in California federal court Monday, accusing the social media giant of a deceptive "bait-and-switch" scheme by advertising Meta's Portal video-calling smart devices with wide-ranging features only to later discontinue key software functionality rendering its hardware "largely obsolete," useless "bricks."

  • April 15, 2025

    Holland & Knight Litigator Heads To Florida Boutique

    Florida-based litigation and appellate boutique Lawson Huck Gonzalez PLLC has added a former Holland & Knight LLP partner to its Miami-area office, bringing on an attorney who has handled high-stakes litigation and appellate matters for clients in private practice.

Expert Analysis

  • Lead Like 'Ted Lasso' By Embracing Cognitive Diversity

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    The Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso” aptly illustrates how embracing cognitive diversity can be a winning strategy for teams, providing a useful lesson for law firms, which can benefit significantly from fresh, diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

  • Ambiguity Ruling Highlights Deference To Arbitral Process

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    A New York federal court’s recent ruling in Eletson v. Levona, which remanded an arbitral award for clarification, reflects that the ambiguity exception’s analysis is not static and may be applied even in cases where the award, when issued, was unambiguous, says arbitrator Myrna Barakat Friedman.

  • 2 Rulings Serve As Conversion Fee Warnings For Banks

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    A comparison of the different outcomes in Wright v. Capital One in a Virginia federal court, and in Guerrero v. Bank of America in a North Carolina federal court, highlights how banks must be careful in describing how currency exchange fees and charges are determined in their customer agreements, say attorneys at Weiner Brodsky.

  • Expect CFPB To Enforce Warning Against 'Coercive' Fine Print

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    The recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warning against unenforceable terms "deceptively" slipped into the fine print of contracts will likely be challenged in court, but until then, companies should expect the agency to treat its guidance as law and must carefully scrutinize their consumer contracts, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • Opinion

    Now More Than Ever, Lawyers Must Exhibit Professionalism

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    As society becomes increasingly fractured and workplace incivility is on the rise, attorneys must champion professionalism and lead by example, demonstrating how lawyers can respectfully disagree without being disagreeable, says Edward Casmere at Norton Rose.

  • Leveling Up IP Protections For Video Game Icons' Film Debuts

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    Video game creators venturing into new realms of entertainment that include their iconic characters, such as television and film adaptations, should take specific steps to strengthen their intellectual property rights, say Joshua Weigensberg and Parmida Enkeshafi at Pryor Cashman.

  • Series

    Serving In The National Guard Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My ongoing military experience as a judge advocate general in the National Guard has shaped me as a person and a lawyer, teaching me the importance of embracing confidence, balance and teamwork in both my Army and civilian roles, says Danielle Aymond at Baker Donelson.

  • A Midyear Forecast: Tailwinds Expected For Atty Hourly Rates

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    Hourly rates for partners, associates and support staff continued to rise in the first half of this year, and this growth shows no signs of slowing for the rest of 2024 and into next year, driven in part by the return of mergers and acquisitions and the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, says Chuck Chandler at Valeo Partners.

  • Mitigating Risks Amid 10-Year Sanctions Enforcement Window

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    In response to recent legislation, which doubles the statute of limitations for actions related to certain U.S. sanctions and provides regulators greater opportunity to investigate possible violations, companies should take specific steps to account for the increased civil and criminal enforcement risk, say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • Opinion

    States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions

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    Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.

  • Keys To Strong Parking, Storage Contracts For NYC Buildings

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    Drafting and enforcing unambiguous parking and storage unit license agreements are essential tasks for co-op and condo boards in New York City, with recent cases highlighting how prudent terms can minimize potential headaches, say Matthew Eiben and Adam Lindenbaum at Rosenberg & Estis.

  • Series

    Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.

  • Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice

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    The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.

  • In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State

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    On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.

  • Series

    After Chevron: FTC's 'Unfair Competition' Actions In Jeopardy

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    While the U.S. Supreme Court's decision ending Chevron deference will have limited effect on the Federal Trade Commission's merger guidelines, administrative enforcement actions and commission decisions on appeal, it could restrict the agency's expansive take on its rulemaking authority and threaten the noncompete ban, say attorneys at Baker Botts.

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