Commercial Contracts

  • June 06, 2024

    Investors Say Fund Preyed On Alums For RICO Scheme

    A group of Chinese and American investors alleged this week that they were ripped off to the tune of millions of dollars by a group of fraudsters who, through a series of fraudulent bank loans, bogus tax filings and false advertising, induced them into putting their money into a Los Angeles real estate project.

  • June 06, 2024

    8th Circ. Affirms Cigna Noncompete Applies To CVS Hire

    The Eighth Circuit has backed a lower court finding that blocked a healthcare industry executive from making a move to CVS, handing a win to Cigna in a case over trade secrets.

  • June 06, 2024

    Judge Trims Claims From Resume-Builder IP Suit

    A California federal judge partially granted a win to Rocket Resume in Bold Ltd.'s copyright infringement suit, agreeing that Bold had not met its burden to prove an important portion of the case.

  • June 06, 2024

    MLBPA Says Bad Bunny Sports Firm Hurt By Its Own Actions

    The Major League Baseball Players Association told a Puerto Rico federal judge that the sports agency linked to music superstar Bad Bunny has grossly overstated the impact it had on the business, arguing it is the agency's actions, not the association's "unreasonable sanctions," that caused injury.

  • June 06, 2024

    Getty Images Removed From Barry Sanders Statue Suit

    The number of defendants in the copyright fight over a photo used to create the statue of legendary running back Barry Sanders has continued to dwindle, after the photographer dismissed Getty Images Inc. from the suit while he continues to pursue claims against the Detroit Lions and others.

  • June 06, 2024

    High Bar For Booking.com Price Limits, EU High Court Told

    A European Court of Justice advocate general recommended a high bar Thursday for Booking.com assertions that price parity clauses imposed on contracts with hotels are "ancillary" to, and thus protected as, legitimate business arrangements.

  • June 06, 2024

    Meta Can't Get Section 230 Shield Over Scam Ads At 9th Circ.

    The Ninth Circuit has ruled that Section 230 is "not limitless" and doesn't shield Meta from contract claims in a proposed consumer class action over Chinese vendors' scam ads on Facebook and Instagram, with one judge calling on the Ninth Circuit to rethink precedent that broadly interprets Section 230's scope.

  • June 06, 2024

    UK, US Team Up On Standard-Essential Patents

    The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office and U.K. Intellectual Property Office each announced a five-year agreement Thursday to collaborate on policy for standard-essential patents.

  • June 06, 2024

    Co. Won't Face Defect Claims In Suit Over Lost Fingers

    A worker who lost her fingers after her right hand was pulled into an industrial laminating machine won't get the chance to add design defect claims to her lawsuit against the manufacturer, a Texas federal judge has ruled, saying she squandered her opportunity to investigate those claims.

  • June 06, 2024

    5th Circ. Sides With Miss. In Pipeline Permitting Row

    The Fifth Circuit has found a lower court properly threw out an interstate pipeline company's assertion that annual levee crossing fees sought by Mississippi regulators were unconstitutional because they fell outside the scope of the company's 75-year-old permit.

  • June 06, 2024

    Biote Investors Sue Cooley, SPAC After Huge Merger Loss

    Family trust investors in Biote Corp. have sued Cooley LLP and the "hormone optimization" company's top brass over the $700 million merger Biote completed with a special purpose acquisition company, saying the deal was a "disastrous transaction to divert approximately $70 million of merger consideration to themselves and gain control of an enterprise they did not build."

  • June 06, 2024

    North Carolina AG Narrows Target In Hospital Contract Suit

    The North Carolina Attorney General's office has agreed to drop for-profit hospital network HCA Management Services from a lawsuit over allegedly unsafe and unsanitary conditions at its Asheville hospital, although an affiliate remains as a defendant, according to a joint stipulation in the state Business Court.

  • June 06, 2024

    Law Firms Accused Of Missing 'Red Flags' In NJ Fraud Deal

    A legal malpractice suit filed in New Jersey state court accuses Rivkin Radler LLP and Kunstlinger Law Firm LLC of costing clients millions of dollars by failing to detect "obvious 'red flags'" amid a fraudulent business deal.

  • June 05, 2024

    Denver Nuggets Owner Says Hot Dog Biz Owes $860K

    Billionaire Stan Kroenke's sports holding company, which owns the Denver Nuggets and other professional sports teams, sued a Denver-based hot dog shop chain in state court, alleging the food vendor owes more than $860,000 in sponsorship fees as part of a deal to promote its brand at Ball Arena during sporting events.

  • June 05, 2024

    Bank Shareholders Say Venezuelan Takeover Cost Them $27M

    Shareholders in a small Miami bank told jurors Wednesday that board members working for the Venezuelan government had taken control of the bank and cost shareholders $27 million by engaging with the sanctioned Venezuelan government.

  • June 05, 2024

    Kanye West Faces Sex Harassment Suit By Ex-Assistant

    Kanye West repeatedly sexually harassed a woman who worked as his assistant by sending her inappropriate and profane texts and forcing her to watch him masturbate, according to a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court against the rapper and some of his companies. 

  • June 05, 2024

    9th Circ. Won't Review Cathay Pacific Ticket Refund Fight

    The Ninth Circuit on Wednesday refused to reconsider its decision ordering a couple who were left stranded in the Philippines during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic to arbitrate their breach of contract dispute with Cathay Pacific Airways under their contract with a third-party booking site.

  • June 05, 2024

    Judge Denies Fubo Bid For Texts On Streaming Bundle

    A New York federal judge on Wednesday denied FuboTV's bid to obtain text messages from executives at Disney, ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery discussing the joint venture streaming plan at the heart of Fubo's ongoing antitrust suit.

  • June 05, 2024

    Axos Says Money Market Account Suit Should Be Arbitrated

    Axos Bank has urged a California federal judge to either toss or force into arbitration a proposed class action alleging it reclassified customers' high-yield money market accounts into lower-yield investment accounts without informing them, saying federal law allows banks to offer accounts with variable rates that the bank can change at its discretion.

  • June 05, 2024

    Aluminum Co. Seeks Reversal Of $10M Coverage Cap

    An aluminum supplier is urging the Fourth Circuit to reverse a lower court's ruling capping its damages at $10 million because of a molten material endorsement, arguing that the fire and water damage it sustained is separate and not subject to any sublimit or exclusion.

  • June 05, 2024

    Texas Tamale Co. Wins Partial Injunction In Trademark Case

    A Texas federal magistrate judge has found that a Fort Worth tamale outfit called Texas Lone Star Tamales can't use certain phrases in its advertising but limited some language in a requested injunction.

  • June 05, 2024

    Microsoft Blasts Gamers' Bid To Add To Activision Appeal

    Microsoft Corp. says the Ninth Circuit should reject a "bevy of additional, extra-record 'facts'" seeking to hold up the recent layoffs of 1,900 Activision and Xbox employees as proof that the tech giant's acquisition of Activision Blizzard Inc. was anticompetitive.

  • June 05, 2024

    Synchrony Charges Were Unlawful 'Veteran Penalty,' Suit Says

    Synchrony Bank was hit with a proposed class action accusing it of promoting a misleading 0% interest rate for veterans and failing to disclose that the bank applies retroactive high interest rates on service members' outstanding balances when they leave duty.

  • June 05, 2024

    Toshiba Unit CEO Can Be Deposed In $500M Mich. Plant Suit

    The leader of a Toshiba Corp. subsidiary can be deposed in a lawsuit from Michigan energy companies alleging Toshiba's overhaul on a plant was shoddy and will cost more than $500 million to fix, as a Michigan federal judge has found the executive has relevant knowledge about the defective work.

  • June 05, 2024

    French Bulldog Breeder Says Partner Conned Her Out Of $95K

    A woman has told a federal court that a Houston-area French bulldog breeder inflated the price of four dogs by $95,000 and has refused to pay her her share of breeding fees stemming from their 2022 partnership.

Expert Analysis

  • 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.

  • Insurance Types That May Help Cos. After Key Bridge Collapse

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    Following the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge, businesses that depend on the bridge, the Port of Baltimore and related infrastructure for shipment and distribution of cargo should understand which common types of first-party insurance coverage may provide recoveries for financial losses, say Bert Wells and Richard Lewis at Reed Smith.

  • Exploring An Alternative Model Of Litigation Finance

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    A new model of litigation finance, most aptly described as insurance-backed litigation funding, differs from traditional funding in two key ways, and the process of securing it involves three primary steps, say Bob Koneck, Christopher Le Neve Foster and Richard Butters at Atlantic Global Risk LLC.

  • Businesses Should Take Their AI Contracts Off Auto-Renew

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    When subscribing to artificial intelligence tools — or to any technology in a highly competitive and legally thorny market — companies should push back on automatic renewal contract clauses for reasons including litigation and regulatory risk, and competition, says Chris Wlach at Huge Inc.

  • What To Know About NIGC's Internal Review Process

    Excerpt from Practical Guidance
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    If the National Indian Gaming Commission disapproves of a tribal management contract for gaming operations, it's important to properly go through the commission's internal hearing mechanism before litigating in federal court, or else an action may be dismissed for failure to exhaust administrative remedies, says Rebecca Chapman at the University at Buffalo School of Law.

  • What The Justices' Copyright Damages Ruling Didn't Address

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    While the U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling in Warner Chappell v. Nealy clarified when a copyright owner may recover damages in jurisdictions that apply the so-called discovery rule, it did not settle the overriding question of whether the Copyright Act even permits applying the rule, say Ivy Estoesta and William Milliken at Sterne Kessler.

  • Series

    Teaching Yoga Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Being a yoga instructor has helped me develop my confidence and authenticity, as well as stress management and people skills — all of which have crossed over into my career as an attorney, says Laura Gongaware at Clyde & Co.

  • A Vision For Economic Clerkships In The Legal System

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    As courts handle increasingly complex damages analyses involving vast amounts of data, an economic clerkship program — integrating early-career economists into the judicial system — could improve legal outcomes and provide essential training to clerks, say Mona Birjandi at Data for Decisions and Matt Farber at Secretariat.

  • 7 Effects Of DOL Retirement Asset Manager Exemption Rule

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    The recent U.S. Department of Labor amendment to the retirement asset manager exemption delivers several key practical impacts, including the need for managers, as opposed to funds, to register with the DOL, say attorneys at Ropes & Gray.

  • Del. Rulings Make Clear That 'Arbitrator' Isn't A Magic Word

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    Recent decisions by the Delaware Chancery Court clarify that calling a process an "expert determination" or "arbitration" in a purchase agreement is not sufficient to define it as such, so practitioners must consider how to structure dispute resolution provisions to achieve their clients’ desired result, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Protecting IP May Be Tricky Without Noncompetes

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    Contrary to the Federal Trade Commission's view, trade secret law cannot replace noncompetes' protection of proprietary information because intellectual property includes far more than just trade secrets, so businesses need to closely examine their IP protection options, say Aimee Fagan and Ching-Lee Fukuda at Sidley.

  • A Look At FERC's Plan To End Reactive Power Compensation

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    A recent notice of proposed rulemaking indicates that the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is likely to eliminate compensation for reactive power within the standard power factor range — causing significant impacts for the electric power industry, which relies on income from providing this service, say Norman Bay and Matthew Goldberg at Willkie and Vivian Chum at Wright & Talisman.

  • 8 Legal Issues Influencing Investors In The Creator Economy

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    The rapidly expanding digital creator economy — funding for which more than doubled in the U.S. in the first quarter — comes with its own set of unique legal issues investors must carefully consider before diving in, say Louis Lehot and Alan Pate at Foley & Lardner.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: Recent Rulings On Text Message Data

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    Electronically stored information on cellphones, and in particular text messages, can present unique litigation challenges, and recent court decisions demonstrate that counsel must carefully balance what data should be preserved, collected, reviewed and produced, say attorneys at Sidley.

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