Commercial Contracts

  • April 30, 2025

    Allstate Settles Law Firm's Wrecked Car Fee Coverage Suit

    A settlement has been reached in a Georgia law firm's proposed class action against Allstate Insurance Co. over allegations that it failed to pay title transfer fees and license registration fees to insured people who incurred total loss claims.

  • April 29, 2025

    5th Circ. Backs $1.6M Pipeline Project Arbitration Award

    The Fifth Circuit on Tuesday unanimously affirmed a more than $1.6 million arbitration award covering stand-by costs an underground drilling company incurred on a subcontract for a pipeline construction firm, saying in a published opinion that the construction company failed to show that an arbitration panel exceeded its authority.

  • April 29, 2025

    5th Circ. Hints Exclusivity Could End Tata's $168M Woe

    A Fifth Circuit panel asked whether Tata Consultancy Services had taken trade secrets to solely build a product for a specific customer, questioning Tuesday whether to keep intact a $168 million judgment finding Tata stole an IT company's technology concerning source code and life insurance software documentation.

  • April 29, 2025

    Duke Energy Rival Tells Justices Not To Review Monopoly Suit

    Independent power producer NTE Energy is urging the U.S. Supreme Court not to review a decision that revived its monopoly suit against Duke Energy, saying the North Carolina-based company is asking the justices to issue an advisory opinion answering a hypothetical question.

  • April 29, 2025

    Deal Terms An Issue In $60M Mortgage Loan Sale Con Case

    A Washington federal judge suggested on Tuesday that she might hold off on interpreting the terms of a multimillion-dollar mortgage loan sale agreement at issue in a racketeering suit, since a contractual dispute involving the same deal is slated for a bench trial before her in October.

  • April 29, 2025

    'Alvin And The Chipmunks' Owner Says Arbitrator Overstepped

    The owner of the "Alvin and the Chipmunks" franchise is urging a California federal court to vacate a $2.2 million arbitral award favoring its international distributor based on the arbitrator's alleged "egregious errors," including inflating the damages owed over a rejected Nickelodeon deal.

  • April 29, 2025

    Sports Illustrated Owner Ends TM Row With Former Publisher

    Sports Illustrated's owner has agreed to permanently end its trademark dispute against its former publisher over claims that the publisher tore apart a long-standing licensing agreement while sabotaging the brand and holding hostage valuable intellectual property, according to a stipulation filed Tuesday in New York federal court. 

  • April 29, 2025

    Amazon Can't Shake Return Policy Suit, Wash. Judge Rules

    A Washington federal judge refused Tuesday to dismiss claims accusing Amazon of unlawfully recharging consumers under its "advanced refund" return policy, ruling that the e-commerce giant could face tort and quasi-contract liability alongside breach of contract allegations.

  • April 29, 2025

    Insurers Say 9th Circ. Extended Tribal Jurisdiction Too Far

    A group of insurers again urged the U.S. Supreme Court to review a Ninth Circuit decision ordering them to litigate COVID-19 coverage claims in Suquamish Tribal Court, saying Tuesday that the lower court's conception of tribal sovereignty is so broad that even the tribe is unwilling to defend it.

  • April 29, 2025

    Kroger-Owned Chain Fights To Keep UFCW Suit Alive

    The Kroger-owned grocery chain King Soopers urged a Colorado federal judge Tuesday to preserve its lawsuit against a United Food and Commercial Workers local, saying the company can prove that the union is placing unlawful pressure on it to bargain with multiple locals at once.

  • April 29, 2025

    4th Circ. Rules Honeywell Royalty Fight Belongs In Fed. Circ.

    The Fourth Circuit on Tuesday found that a fight over royalty payments between technology conglomerate Honeywell and its Japan-based rival should be kicked to the Federal Circuit, which has jurisdiction over all patent-related lawsuits.

  • April 29, 2025

    BNSF Says Tribe's $400M Trespass Win Unjustly Taps Profits

    BNSF Railway Co. has urged the Ninth Circuit to derail the nearly $400 million a trial judge ruled it owes for years of illegally running oil cars across a Washington tribe's land, saying the disgorgement judgment goes after legitimate profits far removed from where the trespassing occurred.

  • April 29, 2025

    NCAA Says NY Case's Demise Dooms NC State '83 Team's Suit

    The NCAA told North Carolina's business court that a New York federal judge's decision to throw out a proposed antitrust class action against it brought by former men's basketball players should also doom a similar suit brought by the 1983 North Carolina State University men's basketball national championship team.

  • April 29, 2025

    Highmark Must Face Bulk Of Data Breach Lawsuit

    A group of individuals who said their personal information was compromised in a phishing attack against health insurer Highmark can largely proceed with their proposed class action against the company, a Pennsylvania federal court ruled, finding the plaintiffs sufficiently alleged they'll suffer imminent and concrete injuries, thereby establishing standing.

  • April 29, 2025

    Dominican Republic Not Immune In Postal Suit, 11th Circ. Told

    A Florida company suing the Dominican Republic over allegations it failed to pay $10 million after breaching a contract to modernize its postal service told an Eleventh Circuit panel Tuesday the country isn't exempt from legal action, arguing the country can be held liable under exceptions to the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act.

  • April 29, 2025

    OKCoin Says Crypto Holders Can't Tie Firm To $2M Theft

    Digital asset exchange OKCoin and its affiliates urged a California federal judge to dismiss a proposed class action accusing them of enabling cryptocurrency thieves, arguing the real cause of the plaintiffs' losses was the initial theft, not any actions by the exchange.

  • April 29, 2025

    No 'Hobson's Choice' For Foley & Lardner, Ex-Clients Say

    Two former Foley & Lardner LLP clients are slamming the law firm for telling a Texas appellate court it was faced with a "Hobson's choice" in their suit alleging the firm failed to disclose conflicts of interest.

  • April 29, 2025

    X Can't Escape Unjust Firing Claim In Severance Suit

    Three former Twitter executives can proceed with their claim that Elon Musk and the company owe them millions in severance benefits after falsely claiming they were fired justly, a California federal judge ruled, pointing to another suit mirroring nearly identical allegations.

  • April 29, 2025

    Boston Seafood Co. Says Salmon Exec Stole Trade Secrets

    A former C-suite executive and head of salmon accounts at a Boston-area seafood distributor spent months emailing sensitive trade secrets from his work account to a Norwegian competitor before joining it to launch a rival business in the U.S., according to a federal lawsuit filed Tuesday. 

  • April 29, 2025

    3rd Circ. Denies Post-Gazette Bid To Tweak Benefits Order

    The publisher of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette can't get the Third Circuit to clarify or tweak an order to put its newsroom employees back on their old health insurance plan, despite concerns from the newspaper company that it may not have been eligible to reenroll them in the plan and would rather go back to bargaining instead.

  • April 29, 2025

    Firm In Salmon Antitrust Case Owes Referral Fee, Suit Says

    A Boston law firm says another firm that served as co-lead counsel in a salmon purchaser antitrust case is refusing to honor a referral fee agreement for 15% of the attorney costs in the Florida litigation, according to a federal complaint filed Monday in Massachusetts.

  • April 29, 2025

    Ex-Homeland Security Secretary Joins Pillsbury As Consultant

    Former Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen will work as a strategic consultant at Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman LLP, where she'll be a senior policy adviser supporting a range of defense, national security and government practice groups, the firm recently announced.

  • April 29, 2025

    BCBS Wants Hospital Sanctioned For 'Cat-And-Mouse' Tactics

    Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Carolina asked a federal judge to sanction a hospital company and its related entities for their purported "evasion, obfuscation, misdirection and outright misrepresentation" during discovery in a $32 million billing dispute that has gone on for seven years.

  • April 28, 2025

    Second Round Of Conn. Firm Windup Fight Sent To Arbitration

    A Connecticut state court judge has paused a derivative lawsuit that an attorney filed against his onetime 50-50 law partner at Connecticut Trial Firm LLC, sending it instead to arbitration.

  • April 28, 2025

    Wash. Judge Tosses Investor's $42M Real Estate Con Suit

    A federal judge in Seattle threw out a Las Vegas investment company's lawsuit accusing four businessmen of a $42 million fraud scheme, saying on Monday that the firm hasn't shown a "substantial part" of the allegations occurred in western Washington.

Expert Analysis

  • Digesting A 2nd Circ. Ruling On Food Delivery App Arbitration

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    The Second Circuit recently rejected Grubhub's attempt to arbitrate price-fixing claims, while allowing Uber Eats to do so, reinforcing that even broad arbitration clauses must connect to the underlying dispute and suggesting that terms of service litigation may center on websites' design and content, say attorneys at Greenspoon Marder.

  • E-Discovery Quarterly: The Perils Of Digital Data Protocols

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    Though stipulated protocols governing the treatment of electronically stored information in litigation are meant to streamline discovery, recent disputes demonstrate that certain missteps in the process can lead to significant inefficiencies, say attorneys at Sidley.

  • Decoding Arbitral Disputes: Precision In Jurisdiction Clauses

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    The High Court recently held that a contract requiring disputes to be heard by U.K. courts superseded arbitration agreements between long-time business affiliates, reinforcing the importance of drafting precise jurisdiction clauses that international commercial parties in multiagreement relationships will use to resolve prior disputes, says Josep Galvez at 4-5 Gray's Inn.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Preparing For Corporate Work

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    Law school often doesn't cover the business strategy, financial fluency and negotiation skills needed for a successful corporate or transactional law practice, but there are practical ways to gain relevant experience and achieve the mindset shifts critical to a thriving career in this space, says Dakota Forsyth at Olshan Frome.

  • Strategizing For Renewable Energy Project Success In Texas

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    The Electric Reliability Council of Texas has long been a key market for renewable energy projects, but rising financial and regulatory uncertainty means that developers and investors must prepare for inflation and policy risks, secure robust insurance coverage, and leverage tax equity transferability to ensure success, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • A Cold War-Era History Lesson On Due Process

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    The landmark Harry Bridges case from the mid-20th century Red Scare offers important insights on why lawyers must be free of government reprisal, no matter who their client is, says Peter Afrasiabi at One LLP.

  • Series

    Improv Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Improv keeps me grounded and connected to what matters most, including in my legal career where it has helped me to maintain a balance between being analytical, precise and professional, and creative, authentic and open-minded, says Justine Gottshall at InfoLawGroup.

  • How BigLaw Executive Orders May Affect Smaller Firms

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    Because of the types of cases they take on, solo practitioners, small law firms and public interest attorneys may find themselves more dramatically affected by the collective impact of recent government action involving the legal industry than even the BigLaw firms named in the executive orders, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • 4th Circ. Health Data Ruling Opens Door To State Law Claims

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    In Real Time Medical v. PointClickCare, the Fourth Circuit recently clarified that state law claims can rest in part on violations of a federal law that prohibits electronic health information blocking, expanding legal risks for health IT companies and potentially creating exposure to a range of competitive implications, say attorneys at BCLP.

  • Opinion

    Lawsuits Shouldn't Be Shadow Assets For Foreign Capital

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    Third-party litigation financing amplifies inefficiencies from litigation and facilitates national exposure to foreign influence in the U.S. justice system, so full disclosure of financing arrangements should be required as a matter of institutional integrity, says Roland Eisenhuth at the American Property Casualty Insurance Association.

  • How To Accelerate Your Post-Attorney Career Transition

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    Professionals seeking to transition to nonattorney careers may encounter skepticism as nontraditional candidates, but there are opportunities for thought leadership and to leverage speaking and writing to accelerate a post-attorney career transition, say Janet Falk at Falk Communications and Evgeny Efremkin at Toronto Metropolitan University.

  • 5 Key Licensing Considerations For AI Innovations

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    As businesses increasingly integrate artificial intelligence technology into their operations, they must prepare to address complex intellectual property challenges and questions surrounding licensing AI-based innovations, which require careful consideration of ownership, usage rights and regulatory compliance, says Lestin Kenton at Sterne Kessler.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Be An Indispensable Associate

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    While law school teaches you to research, write and think critically, it often overlooks the professional skills you will need to make yourself an essential team player when transitioning from a summer to full-time associate, say attorneys at Stinson.

  • Series

    Birding Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Observing and documenting birds in their natural habitats fosters patience, sharpens observational skills and provides moments of pure wonder — qualities that foster personal growth and enrich my legal career, says Allison Raley at Arnall Golden.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From DOJ Leadership To BigLaw

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    The move from government service to private practice can feel like changing one’s identity, but as someone who has left the U.S. Department of Justice twice, I’ve learned that a successful transition requires patience, effort and the realization that the rewards of practicing law don’t come from one particular position, says Richard Donoghue at Pillsbury.

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