Commercial Contracts

  • November 05, 2025

    Helium Financial Says Fired Employees Nabbed Trade Secrets

    Two former employees of Washington-based Helium Financial Group LLC stole trade secrets and used them to start their own wealth management firm after they were fired, allowing them to create "a 'clone' of Helium's business model in startup form," Helium claimed in a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Seattle federal court

  • November 05, 2025

    NC Court Says NFL Player Firms Must Arbitrate Profit Dispute

    A North Carolina appeals court on Wednesday instructed two sports management firms to arbitrate their dispute over profits generated by representing NFL athletes through their joint comprehensive football sports agency, affirming that their agreement included a valid arbitration clause.

  • November 05, 2025

    Disney Can Try Another SLAPP At Village People's $20M Suit

    A California appellate court has revived The Walt Disney Company's anti-SLAPP motion against a lawsuit claiming the entertainment giant fraudulently banned the Village People from performing at Disney Venues, saying Disney's musical act selection is conduct protected by the First Amendment.

  • November 05, 2025

    Deutsche Bank Must Live With Vik Losses, Conn. Judge Told

    The daughter of billionaire Alexander Vik asked a Connecticut federal judge Wednesday to block Deutsche Bank from litigating a $235 million English debt judgment in Norway and force the German financial giant to accept the two losses it suffered in Connecticut state court while pursuing the money.

  • November 05, 2025

    Mallinckrodt Faces Antitrust Suit Over Oxycodone Supply Halt

    A generic-drug company has claimed in a lawsuit filed in Pennsylvania federal court that Mallinckrodt LLC and a subsidiary have cut off the supply of active ingredients necessary to make competing drugs that include oxycodone and acetaminophen.

  • November 05, 2025

    Aerospace Co. Urges Justices To Hear 'Toxic Lender' Case

    Aerospace company Xeriant Inc. is petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a lawsuit over a stock-as-collateral loan it entered into with Auctus Fund LLC, arguing the Second Circuit's dismissal of the case clashes with another circuit decision that allowed the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to pursue so-called toxic lenders in the microcap space.

  • November 05, 2025

    Ex-Bassist Makes Key Changes In Suit Against Metal Band

    The founding bassist of the Grammy-nominated metal band Hatebreed has asked a Connecticut judge not to trim claims from a lawsuit over his sudden termination, saying a new version of the complaint will cure any legal defects identified by the group's vocalist and its business arm.

  • November 05, 2025

    Ex-Mashpee Tribal Leader Gets 3.5 Years For Casino Bribes

    The former chair of the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe on Wednesday was sentenced to a 42-month prison term for orchestrating a bribery scheme tied to the tribe's $1 billion casino project, as a Massachusetts federal judge chastised him for characterizing his yearslong conduct as "mistakes."

  • November 05, 2025

    Chancery Won't Let Pfizer Block $10B Novo Bid For Metsera

    A Delaware vice chancellor Wednesday refused Pfizer Inc.'s emergency bid for a temporary restraining order to block Metsera Inc. from closing a now $10 billion competing bid by Novo Nordisk for the GLP-1 weight-loss drugmaker, saying Pfizer hasn't demonstrated Metsera's board acted in bad faith or that the company would suffer immediate irreparable harm.

  • November 05, 2025

    NC Justices Probe Tech Parent Co.'s Bid To Escape Fraud Suit

    North Carolina's top court on Wednesday seemed reluctant to provide an off-ramp to the parent company of a technology business and one of its executives in a lawsuit alleging they conspired to devalue the majority member's stake and ferret assets to avoid paying distributions.

  • November 05, 2025

    Atty Owes More Than $1M For Note Default, Ga. Bank Says

    An attorney and his companies defaulted on a promissory note for more than $1.1 million, as well as interest, fees and costs, a Georgia-based bank alleges in a complaint filed Tuesday in Louisiana federal court.

  • November 05, 2025

    Conn. Firm Says Departing Atty Failed To Pay For Clients

    A five-attorney family law firm based in Stamford, Connecticut, told a state court that a contract attorney violated her employment agreement by failing to pay a fee for clients who went with her when she started a new practice at the end of her employment.

  • November 05, 2025

    Drone Cos. Lose Bid To Ground Ex-Exec's New Biz

    A Utah federal judge has refused to block a former executive of a drone company from working with a competitor or to stop the competitor from making or selling any military drones for a year, the latest episode of a trade secret dispute.

  • November 04, 2025

    Hagens Berman Owes $2M Over Failed Suit, Tech Giants Say

    Amazon and Apple have told a Seattle federal judge that Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP should cover nearly $2 million in defense costs because of the firm's "misrepresentations" while litigating a lawsuit accusing the two companies of conspiring to limit device sales on the e-commerce platform.

  • November 04, 2025

    Calif. Justices Doubt 'Illegible' Arb. Pact Is Enforceable

    California Supreme Court justices Tuesday doubted that an employer's "illegible" arbitration agreement is enforceable, with multiple justices observing that it's impossible to read terms of the contract at issue, which had been photocopied so many times the words are blurry.

  • November 04, 2025

    Venezuela's PDVSA Seeks Rehearing On Rig Seizure Claims

    Venezuela's state-owned oil company is asking the D.C. Circuit to revisit its ruling from last month ordering the company to face allegations it unlawfully seized an Oklahoma-based petroleum contract drilling company's rigs more than a decade ago, saying the ruling risks "diplomatic friction."

  • November 04, 2025

    NASCAR Has Monopoly, Judge Rules Ahead Of Antitrust Trial

    NASCAR has a monopoly over premier stock car racing, a North Carolina federal judge ruled late Tuesday in handing two teams — including one owned by basketball legend Michael Jordan — a pretrial win on what the judge described as "two core elements" of their antitrust case.

  • November 04, 2025

    Clippers Owner, BakerHostetler Named In Fintech Fraud Suit

    Nearly a dozen investors have filed an amended lawsuit in California state court alleging Los Angeles Clippers owner Steve Ballmer and others, including BakerHostetler, helped financial technology company Aspiration Partners Inc. defraud them by propagating a false narrative that the business was financially solvent.

  • November 04, 2025

    Ga. Panel Mulls Courts' Leeway To Alter Restrictive Covenants

    A Georgia appeals court pressed attorneys Tuesday for answers on how trial judges should determine how or when to modify restrictive covenants, during oral arguments on a motorcycle dealership chain's push to enforce a noncompete against its former chief operating officer.

  • November 04, 2025

    Insurer Must Turn Over Docs In $6.8M Fraud Dispute

    An electronic payments company's insurer must turn over claim files and underwriting materials as they continue to litigate whether the company's roughly $6.8 million loss from two fraud schemes falls within its policy's coverage for "computer fraud," an Iowa federal court ruled Tuesday.

  • November 04, 2025

    Feds Tell 11th Circ. Delta, Aeromexico Can't Halt JV Split Order

    The Trump administration fired back at Delta Air Lines and Aeromexico's Eleventh Circuit bid to freeze a U.S. Department of Transportation order directing them to scuttle their joint venture by Jan. 1, saying the airlines' contention that it'd be too burdensome to disentangle their networks is overblown.

  • November 04, 2025

    States' Zillow, Redfin Suit In Va. Paused Amid Gov't Shutdown

    A Virginia federal judge has granted a joint motion to pause an antitrust suit filed by Virginia and four other states against Zillow Group Inc., Zillow Inc. and Redfin Corp., ruling the suit will be paused until the current federal government shutdown ends.

  • November 04, 2025

    Ice Cube, Co. Didn't Pay For Video Shoot Work, Suit Claims

    A video company and rapper Ice Cube failed to pay a crew member who worked briefly on one of the rapper's music videos, a lawsuit in California state court claims.

  • November 04, 2025

    Grindr Gets Teen Death Suit Sent To Arbitration

    A Florida federal judge has sent to arbitration a suit against Grindr LLC over the death of a 16-year-old girl who was lured in by a 35-year-old man on the platform, finding that federal law does not block arbitration here.

  • November 04, 2025

    Ohio School Says Liberty Mishandled Roof Collapse Claim

    A Liberty Mutual unit must cover losses stemming from a roof collapse at a high school after a heavy snowfall, an Ohio school district told a federal court, saying the insurer's handling of the claim prolonged the building's exposure to the elements and worsened the damage.

Expert Analysis

  • Opinion

    It's Time For The Judiciary To Fix Its Cybersecurity Problem

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    After recent reports that hackers have once again infiltrated federal courts’ electronic case management systems, the judiciary should strengthen its cybersecurity practices in line with executive branch standards, outlining clear roles and responsibilities for execution, says Ilona Cohen at HackerOne.

  • Series

    Writing Novels Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Writing my debut novel taught me to appreciate the value of critique and to never give up, no matter how long or tedious the journey, providing me with valuable skills that I now emphasize in my practice, says Daniel Buzzetta at BakerHostetler.

  • SDNY OpenAI Order Clarifies Preservation Standards For AI

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    The Southern District of New York’s recent order in the OpenAI copyright infringement litigation, denying discovery of The New York Times' artificial intelligence technology use, clarifies that traditional preservation benchmarks apply to AI content, relieving organizations from using a “keep everything” approach, says Philip Favro at Favro Law.

  • In NY, Long COVID (Tolling) Still Applies

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    A series of pandemic-era executive orders in New York tolling state statutes of limitations for 228 days mean that many causes of action that appear time-barred on their face may continue to apply, including in federal practice, for the foreseeable future, say attorneys at Sher Tremonte.

  • Opinion

    High Court, Not A Single Justice, Should Decide On Recusal

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    As public trust in the U.S. Supreme Court continues to decline, the court should adopt a collegial framework in which all justices decide questions of recusal together — a reform that respects both judicial independence and due process for litigants, say Michael Broyde at Emory University and Hayden Hall at the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware.

  • FTC's Consumer Finance Pivot Brings Industry Pros And Cons

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    An active Federal Trade Commission against the backdrop of a leashed Consumer Financial Protection Bureau will be welcomed by most in the consumer finance industry, but the incremental expansion of the FTC's authority via enforcement actions remains a risk, say attorneys at Hudson Cook.

  • Amazon Ruling Marks New Era Of Personal Liability For Execs

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    A Washington federal court's recent decision in FTC v. Amazon extended personal liability to senior executives for design-driven violations of broad consumer protection statutes, signaling a fundamental shift in how consumer protection laws may be enforced against large public companies, say attorneys at Orrick.

  • Series

    Traveling Solo Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Traveling by myself has taught me to assess risk, understand tone and stay calm in high-pressure situations, which are not only useful life skills, but the foundation of how I support my clients, says Lacey Gutierrez at Group Five Legal.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Client Service

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    Law school teaches you how to interpret the law, but it doesn't teach you some of the key ways to keeping clients satisfied, lessons that I've learned in the most unexpected of places: a book on how to be a butler, says Gregory Ramos at Armstrong Teasdale.

  • How The FTC Is Stepping Up Subscription Enforcement

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    Despite the demise of the Federal Trade Commission's click-to-cancel rule in July, the commission has not only maintained its regulatory momentum, but also set new compliance benchmarks through recent high-profile settlements with Match.com, Chegg and Amazon, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Enter The Wu-Tang Ruling That May Change Trade Secret Law

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    A New York federal court's recent holding that a Wu-Tang Clan album qualifies as a trade secret provides the first federal framework for analyzing trade secret claims involving assets valued primarily for exclusivity, potentially reshaping Defend Trade Secrets Act jurisprudence for the digital economy, says Jason Bradford at Jenner & Block.

  • Where 4th And 9th Circ. Diverge On Trade Secret Timing

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    Recent Fourth and Ninth Circuit decisions have revealed a deepening circuit split over when plaintiffs must specifically define their alleged trade secrets, turning the early stages of trade secret litigation into a key battleground and elevating the importance of forum selection, say attorneys at Skadden.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: 3 Tips On Finding The Right Job

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    After 23 years as a state and federal prosecutor, when I contemplated moving to a law firm, practicing solo or going in-house, I found there's a critical first step — deep self-reflection on what you truly want to do and where your strengths lie, says Rachael Jones at McKool Smith.

  • Breaking Down The Intersection Of Right-Of-Publicity Law, AI

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    Jillian Taylor at Blank Rome examines how existing right-of-publicity law governs artificial intelligence-generated voice-overs, deepfakes and deadbots; highlights a recent New York federal court ruling involving AI-generated voice clones; and offers practical guardrails for using AI without violating the right of publicity.

  • Series

    Painting Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Painting trains me to see both the fine detail and the whole composition at once, enabling me to identify friction points while keeping sight of a client's bigger vision, but the most significant lesson I've brought to my legal work has been the value of originality, says Jana Gouchev at Gouchev Law.

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