Commercial Contracts

  • July 23, 2025

    Firm Can't Arbitrate After Filing Suit, 4th Circ. Says

    A Maryland law firm and a debt buyer cannot force a debt collection dispute into arbitration, the Fourth Circuit ruled Wednesday, finding they waived their right to arbitrate when they filed their own collective action.

  • July 23, 2025

    7th Circ. Revives Part Of Solar Firm's Panama Grid Suit

    The Seventh Circuit on Tuesday largely upheld an Illinois federal judge's ruling that Spanish energy company Avanzalia Solar could not pursue its claims that Goldwind Americas blocked and delayed access to the Panamanian power grid.

  • July 23, 2025

    Bird Marella And Bioscience Client Accused Of $87M Fraud

    An investment group that includes a "Toy Story" screenwriter is suing a Culver City, California-headquartered bioscience company and its Bird Marella attorneys in California state court, accusing them of manipulating the valuation of a company whose acquisition they funded, in order to defraud investors of $87 million.

  • July 22, 2025

    Investor Sanctioned For Ignoring Telecom Arbitration Award

    A New York federal judge has sanctioned an investor in telecommunications infrastructure firm Continental Towers LATAM Holdings Ltd. for ignoring an arbitral award issued in a bitter, yearslong dispute over control of the company, saying he hasn't done enough to vacate offending judgments in the British Virgin Islands.

  • July 22, 2025

    Wash. Appeals Court Affirms Biz Tax Rule For Drop Shippers

    The Washington Court of Appeals upheld the state's rule on Tuesday that out-of-state wholesalers in drop shipment transactions are subject to a business tax when the customer that ultimately receives the product is within the Evergreen State's borders, rejecting a challenge from California IT distributor Synnex.

  • July 22, 2025

    NY Judge Backs Calif. Bioscience Co. In $15M Arbitration Row

    A New York federal judge has ruled that a California-based bioscience company can enforce an arbitration award rejecting a more than $15 million claim asserted by a Hong Kong biopharmaceutical firm, saying there is no genuine dispute since the biopharmaceutical firm failed to respond.

  • July 22, 2025

    DOJ Backs Door Maker's Divestiture Order In 4th Circ. Appeal

    The U.S. Department of Justice cleared a door maker's merger twice by the time a rival challenged the tie-up in court and won a landmark divestment order, but now the government is standing behind the company that won the order and asking the Fourth Circuit to keep it in place.

  • July 22, 2025

    Sandals Owes Longtime Ad Partner $50K In Copyright Trial

    Resort giant Sandals owes nearly $50,000 to a former, longtime, advertising partner for copyright infringement regarding 33 photos and videos, a Florida federal judge ruled Monday following a bench trial, but found that over 600 other claimed works don't qualify for damages.

  • July 22, 2025

    Fubo Streamers Get Own Attys In Disney Suit

    DiCello Levitt and Lite DePalma have won out over Bathaee Dunne in a battle to represent FuboTV subscribers suing Disney over ESPN streaming rates, with a judge saying he had "grave doubts" that Yavar Bathaee could adequately represent the plaintiffs after Bathaee undercut their case in a status conference.

  • July 22, 2025

    Fair Use Carveout Applies To Med Device Repairs, Judge Says

    A D.C. federal judge has shot down two industry groups' challenge to a rule that placed medical device diagnostic procedures and repairs under fair use copyright exceptions, saying all of their challenges under the Administrative Procedure Act were unpersuasive.

  • July 22, 2025

    Jordan's Team Says NASCAR Is Trying To 'Rewrite History'

    Michael Jordan's NASCAR team 23XI Racing accused the private stock car racing organization of filing a bad faith countersuit in the parties' antitrust battle, using it to extract a valuable aspect of a joint charter agreement.

  • July 22, 2025

    Pot Co. Claims Landlord Stole Trade Secrets, Started Rival Co.

    A Los Angeles dispensary and cannabis grower has claimed that its landlord, the Art Rubinstein Family Trust, lured it into a business partnership so the landlord could steal trade secrets and later coerce the tenant into extending its lease, according to a lawsuit filed in California state court.

  • July 22, 2025

    Ex-Bank Worker's 401(k) Suit Must Be Arbitrated, 5th Circ. Told

    A Laredo, Texas-based bank told the Fifth Circuit Monday that a former worker should be forced to arbitrate a proposed class action claiming the company failed to prudently invest employee retirement funds, even though the provision was added after his employment ended.

  • July 22, 2025

    Viks Demand End To Deutsche Bank's 'Egregious' Norway Suit

    Billionaire Alexander Vik and his daughter have opened a new front in a 12-year litigation war with Deutsche Bank AG over an outstanding $243 million judgment, arguing in a Connecticut federal court complaint that the financial giant must end its own "vexatious" lawsuit against them in Norway because the issues were already decided in the Viks' favor.

  • July 22, 2025

    Lathrop GPM Adds Partner To Chicago Office

    Lathrop GPM LLP has added a new Chicago-based partner to its tort, insurance and environmental practice group, the firm announced Monday, saying her practice primarily focuses on defending clients against product liability claims and claims involving exposure to toxic substances and transportation-related injuries.

  • July 22, 2025

    Amazon Pushes Back On FTC's Trial Time Extension Bid

    Amazon has urged a Washington federal court to reject the Federal Trade Commission's bid to extend the agency's trial time in a lawsuit over automatically recurring Prime subscriptions, calling the proposal both unfair and baseless.

  • July 22, 2025

    Whitman Breed Asked To Set Aside $3.8M Amid Lease Fears

    Connecticut law firm Whitman Breed Abbott & Morgan LLC should set aside $3.8 million to satisfy its landlord's fears that a wave of departures has rattled the firm's finances and may jeopardize its lease of a 16,000-square-foot Greenwich office, a property manager testified Tuesday.

  • July 22, 2025

    Transportation Cases To Watch: Midyear Report 2025

    Litigation concerning whether local delivery drivers qualify as transportation workers exempt from arbitration and clashes over the scope of federal preemption in personal injury cases involving freight brokers and motor carriers are among the court battles that transportation attorneys are watching in the latter half of 2025.

  • July 21, 2025

    Insurer Can't Get New Trial After $1.75M Loss, 11th Circ. Says

    The Eleventh Circuit on Monday upheld a $1.75 million verdict a Georgia church won against its insurance company in a storm damage coverage dispute, ruling that the insurer largely abandoned its defenses against the judgment before the case ever landed in front of the appellate panel.

  • July 21, 2025

    Intel, VLSI Clash Over Ownership Verdict Effect In Patent Fight

    VLSI Technology argued Monday that a federal jury's finding that Fortress Investment Group controls it and Finjan Holdings doesn't save Intel Corp. from a patent infringement case against the technology giant, while Intel asserted the exact opposite.

  • July 21, 2025

    Software Co.'s Ex-CEO Claims Fraud 'Infects' $9M Award

    The founder and former chairman of a software investment company has asked a New York federal judge to set aside an order enforcing a $9 million arbitral award against him, claiming a Pakistani court ruled the company engaged in a fraudulent scheme that infected the entire arbitration.

  • July 21, 2025

    Not Enough Similarities To Apply DOJ Ad Tech Win: Google

    Google urged a New York federal judge not to let website publishers, advertisers and others lock the company into the Justice Department's win in a separate Virginia federal court monopolization lawsuit over its advertising placement technology business, arguing the cases have key differences in facts and circuit standards.

  • July 21, 2025

    Guinea Tells DC Circ. $22M Award Can't Be Enforced

    The Republic of Guinea has urged the D.C. Circuit not to revive a consulting company's bid to enforce a $22 million arbitration award, saying a lower court correctly found that it was unclear whether the country agreed to arbitrate the dispute in the first place.

  • July 21, 2025

    Danish Furniture-Maker Looks To Arbitrate $25M Fraud Suit

    Luxury furniture-maker BoConcept has urged a federal court to order two businessmen who purchased franchise rights for three of its Southern California stores to arbitrate their $25 million fraud claim in Denmark.

  • July 21, 2025

    Calif. High Court Says Biotech Investor Suit Belongs In Del.

    The California Supreme Court on Monday ruled that a lawsuit pursued by a minority investor alleging San Diego-based EpicentRx and its officers bamboozled investors belongs in Delaware Chancery Court, rejecting arguments that enforcing the biopharmaceutical company's forum selection clause violated Golden State jury trial protections.

Expert Analysis

  • A Look At Trump Admin's Shifting Strategies To Curtail CFPB

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    The Trump administration has so far carried out its goal of minimizing the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's authority and footprint via an individualized approach comprising rule rollbacks, litigation moves and administrative tools, say attorneys at Holland & Knight.

  • Series

    My Opera And Baseball Careers Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Though participating in opera and the world of professional baseball often pulls me away from the office, my avocations improve my legal career by helping me perform under scrutiny, prioritize team success, and maintain joy and perspective at work, says Adam Unger at Herrick Feinstein.

  • 8 Ways Lawyers Can Protect The Rule Of Law In Their Work

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    Whether they are concerned with judicial independence, regulatory predictability or client confidence, lawyers can take specific meaningful actions on their own when traditional structures are too slow or too compromised to respond, says Angeli Patel at the Berkeley Center of Law and Business.

  • Google Damages Ruling Offers Lessons For Testifying Experts

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    The Federal Circuit's recent decision in EcoFactor v. Google represents a shift in how courts evaluate expert testimony in patent cases, offering a practical guide for how litigators and testifying experts can refine their work, says Adam Rhoten at Secretariat.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Communicating With Clients

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    Law school curricula often overlook client communication procedures, and those who actively teach this crucial facet of the practice can create exceptional client satisfaction and success, says Patrick Hanson at Wiggam Law.

  • Rocket Mortgage Appeal May Push Justices To Curb Classes

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    Should the U.S. Supreme Court agree to hear Alig v. Rocket Mortgage, the resulting decision could limit class sizes based on commonality under Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of Evidence as opposed to standing under Article III of the U.S. Constitution, say attorneys at Carr Maloney.

  • 3 Judicial Approaches To Applying Loper Bright, 1 Year Later

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    In the year since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Chevron deference in its Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision, a few patterns have emerged in lower courts’ application of the precedent to determine whether agency actions are lawful, say attorneys at Husch Blackwell.

  • Employer Best Practices For Navigating Worker Separations

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    As job cuts hit several major industries, employers should take steps to minimize their exposure to discrimination claims, information leaks and enforcement challenges, such as maintaining sound documentation, strategic planning and legal coordination, says Mark Romance at Day Pitney.

  • Series

    Adapting To Private Practice: From US Rep. To Boutique Firm

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    My transition from serving as a member of Congress to becoming a partner at a boutique firm has been remarkably smooth, in part because I never stopped exercising my legal muscles, maintained relationships with my former colleagues and set the right tone at the outset, says Mondaire Jones at Friedman Kaplan.

  • Opinion

    IRS Should Work With Industry On Microcaptive Regs

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    The IRS should engage with microcaptive insurance owners to develop better regulations on these arrangements or risk the emergence of common law guidance as taxpayers with legitimate programs seek relief in the federal courts, says Dustin Carlson at SRA 831(b) Admin.

  • Opinion

    Senate's 41% Litigation Finance Tax Would Hurt Legal System

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    The Senate’s latest version of the Big Beautiful Bill Act would impose a 41% tax on the litigation finance industry, but the tax is totally disconnected from the concerns it purports to address, and it would set the country back to a time when small plaintiffs had little recourse against big defendants, says Anthony Sebok at Cardozo School of Law.

  • Series

    Performing As A Clown Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    To say that being a clown in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has changed my legal career would truly be an understatement — by creating an opening to converse on a unique topic, it has allowed me to connect with clients, counsel and even judges on a deeper level, says Charles Tatelbaum at Tripp Scott.

  • Series

    Law School's Missed Lessons: Rejecting Biz Dev Myths

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    Law schools don’t spend sufficient time dispelling certain myths that prevent young lawyers from exploring new business opportunities, but by dismissing these misguided beliefs, even an introverted first-year associate with a small network of contacts can find long-term success, says Ronald Levine at Herrick Feinstein.

  • Move Beyond Surface-Level Edits To Master Legal Writing

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    Recent instances in which attorneys filed briefs containing artificial intelligence hallucinations offer a stark reminder that effective revision isn’t just about superficial details like grammar — it requires attorneys to critically engage with their writing and analyze their rhetorical choices, says Ivy Grey at WordRake.

  • 9th Circ. Has Muddied Waters Of Article III Pleading Standard

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    District courts in the Ninth Circuit continue to apply a defunct and especially forgiving pleading standard to questions of Article III standing, and the circuit court itself has only perpetuated this confusion — making it an attractive forum for disputes that have no rightful place in federal court, say attorneys at Gibson Dunn.

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