Commercial Contracts

  • April 16, 2025

    3rd Circ. Punts Mining Co. Document Fight To Ch. 11 Judge

    The Third Circuit vacated a Delaware bankruptcy judge's order to unseal records a successor of Essar Steel's U.S. unit is seeking to bolster its antitrust claims against Cleveland-Cliffs, ruling Wednesday that the Chapter 11 judge used the wrong standard.

  • April 16, 2025

    AT&T Gets $450M 'Twinning' Patent Suit Tossed Again

    A New York federal judge has held that it is only fitting that she rule twice on a motion to dismiss a $450 million patent lawsuit against AT&T over so-called twinning phone technology, deciding yet again that the patent is not inventive enough to be worth anything.

  • April 16, 2025

    Mont. Tribes Want DOI To Come Through With Police Funding

    Two Montana tribes have told a federal judge in the state that the U.S. Department of the Interior has frozen their law enforcement budget at what it was 28 years ago and that now the government owes the tribes millions of dollars.

  • April 16, 2025

    Texas Oil Cos. Seek Pass-Through Pollution Claims Coverage

    Oil and gas companies told a Texas federal court on Wednesday that their insurer must pay to defend them against pass-through claims in connection with underlying pollution lawsuits thanks to a purchase and sale agreement they entered into with another company.

  • April 16, 2025

    Ex-Twitter Worker Can't Add Claims To Age Bias Suit

    A former Twitter employee leading a conditionally certified collective action on behalf of his fellow workers aged 50 and older who were fired after Elon Musk took over the company cannot amend the complaint to add new claims, a California federal judge ruled Tuesday.

  • 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.

Expert Analysis

  • Takeaways From 2024's Emerging IP Licensing Trends

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    Themes in intellectual property licensing from the past year – including artificial intelligence; risk management; and name, image and likeness rights – highlight key considerations for navigating an evolving landscape, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • Exploring Venue Strategy For Trump-Era Regulatory Litigation

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    Litigation will likely play a prominent role in shaping policy outcomes during the second Trump administration, and stakeholders have several tools at their disposal to steer regulatory litigation toward more favorable venues, say attorneys at Covington.

  • How The UPC, ITC Complement Each Other In Patent Law

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    Attorneys at Ropes & Gray discuss the similarities and differences between the Unified Patent Court and the International Trade Commission, as well as recent matters litigated in both venues and why parties choose to file at these forums.

  • Series

    Playing Esports Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Competing in a global esports tournament at Wimbledon last year not only fulfilled my childhood dream, but also sharpened skills that are essential to my day job, including strategic thinking, confidence and networking, says AJ Schuyler at Jackson Lewis.

  • The 6 Most Significant FCRA Litigation Developments Of 2024

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    From a key sovereign immunity decision at the U.S. Supreme Court to a ruling on creditworthiness out of the Seventh Circuit, several important Fair Credit Reporting Act cases wound their way through the courts in 2024, each offering takeaways for both plaintiffs and defendants, say attorneys at Shipkevich.

  • An Associate's Guide To Career Development In 2025

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    As the new year begins, associates at all levels should consider establishing career metrics, fostering key relationships and employing other specific strategies to help move through the complexities of the legal profession with confidence and emerge as trailblazers, say EJ Stern and Amanda George at Fractional Law Firm.

  • NLRB Likely To Fill Vacuum After NMB Jurisdiction Ruling

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    The National Mediation Board's recent ruling in Swissport Cargo Services LP abandoned decades of precedent by concluding the Railway Labor Act doesn’t apply to airline service providers, likely leading the National Labor Relations Board to assert its jurisdiction instead and potentially causing more operational disruptions and labor strife, say attorneys at Morgan Lewis.

  • Series

    Fixing Up Cars Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    From problem-solving to patience and adaptability to organization, the skills developed working under the hood of a car directly translate to being a more effective lawyer, says Christopher Mdeway at Kaufman Dolowich.

  • Making The Pitch To Grow Your Company's Legal Team

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    In a compressed economy, convincing the C-suite to invest in additional legal talent can be a herculean task, but a convincing pitch — supported by metrics and cost analyses — may help in-house counsel justify the growth of their team, say Elizabeth Smith and Roger Garceau at Major Lindsey.

  • Considering European-Style Lockboxes For US M&A In 2025

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    The lockbox mechanism, commonly used in Europe, offers an attractive alternative to the postclosing price adjustments that dominate U.S. merger and acquisition transactions in private equity, particularly with the market's demand for transparency likely to remain steadfast under Trump, says Laurent Campo at Potomac Law.

  • Using Contracts As Evidence Of Trade Secret Protection

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    Recent federal and U.S. International Trade Commission decisions demonstrate an interesting trend of judges recognizing that contracts and confidentiality provisions can serve as important evidence of the reasonable secrecy measures companies must take to prove the existence of protected trade secrets, say attorneys at Finnegan.

  • When US Privilege Law Applies To Docs Made Outside The US

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    As globalization manifests itself in disputes over foreign-created documents, a California federal court’s recent trademark decision illustrates nuances of both U.S. privilege frameworks and foreign evidentiary protections that attorneys must increasingly bear in mind, say attorneys at Hunton.

  • Why Asset-Based Loans May Suit PE Companies In 2025

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    As the prospect of higher tariffs and interest rates expands the need for liquidity, private equity investors would do well to explore the timing and provisions of asset-based loans offered in the burgeoning credit-fund sector, say attorneys at McDermott.

  • Why Class Cert. Is Unlikely In Cases Like Mattel 'Wicked' Suit

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    A proposed class action recently filed in California federal court against Mattel over the company's "Wicked" doll boxes accidentally listing a pornographic website illustrates the uphill battle plaintiffs face in certifying a class when many consumers never saw or relied on the representation at issue, says Alex Smith at Jenner & Block.

  • Adapting Force Majeure To A Predictably Unpredictable World

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    As the climate and political landscapes get more complicated, force majeure provisions will likely be triggered increasingly often, demanding an evolving understanding of when events and their impacts are truly unforeseeable, say attorneys at Nossaman.

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