Commercial Contracts

  • April 11, 2024

    BNY Can't Nix Suit Alleging Mutual Fund Conflict Of Interest

    The Bank of New York Mellon must face most of the remaining claims in a proposed self-dealing class action alleging it failed to disclose conflicts of interest when funneling client assets into mutual funds and other investment vehicles that favored the bank.

  • April 11, 2024

    11th Circ. Says Insurer Owes Defense In Home Damage Suit

    A general contractor's insurer must defend it against claims that it abandoned the construction site of a custom-built home, the Eleventh Circuit ruled Thursday, rejecting the insurer's reliance on two exclusions barring coverage for damage to "that particular part" of property the contractor worked on and corresponding repairs.

  • April 11, 2024

    Jury Frees Urban Outfitters From Trade Secrets Suit

    Urban Outfitters on Thursday beat back a lawsuit from a bankrupt online fashion rental company claiming the retailer stole its proprietary information to set up a competing business, with a Philadelphia federal jury finding that the clothing chain did not misappropriate trade secrets.

  • April 11, 2024

    Treasury Proposes Steeper Foreign Investment Law Penalties

    The U.S. Department of the Treasury issued a notice Thursday proposing to sharpen its procedures and enforcement practices for reviewing foreign investment deals for national security issues, according to an announcement.

  • April 11, 2024

    Conn. Attorney Accused Of Unreasonable Fees In VW Case

    Connecticut's attorney disciplinary authority has accused an attorney of charging an unreasonable fee to a plaintiff in a 2022 defective product claim against Volkswagen of America and not providing documentation to support the fee, in violation of professional conduct rules.

  • April 10, 2024

    Texas Panel Seeks Evidence In $1M Real Estate Quagmire

    A Texas appellate panel suggested Wednesday that both sides fighting about a soured real estate financing deal need to do more to make their cases, asking attorneys during oral arguments to point to evidence that either confirms or refutes the existence of a contract.

  • April 10, 2024

    Full 9th Circ. Asked To Rethink Tanker Seizure Ruling

    Several operators of liquid petroleum gas carrier vessels have petitioned the full Ninth Circuit to rethink a circuit panel ruling that a nearly 800-foot crude oil tanker cannot be seized to enforce approximately $10 million in arbitral awards against a defunct gas shipping company.

  • April 10, 2024

    Enforcers Are Learning How To Pursue Suits Against Big Tech

    The pending antitrust cases targeting large technology platforms in the U.S. and Europe, including those against Google, Amazon and Apple, offer important lessons about digital markets, enforcers said Wednesday.

  • April 10, 2024

    Ex-Art Institutes Execs Want Insurers To Avert $336M Suit

    Former executives of a holding company that bought now-defunct for-profit colleges Argosy University, South University and The Art Institutes asked an Ohio federal court to force excess insurers to settle receivership claims before the pair are formally accused of leaving a $336 million debt in their wake.

  • April 10, 2024

    FTX Strikes Deal With Voyager Over $445M Claim

    FTX Trading Ltd. has asked a Delaware bankruptcy court to approve a deal between it and crypto brokerage Voyager Digital Holdings to resolve its $445 million claim against Voyager and Voyager's $130 million claim against FTX.

  • April 10, 2024

    Ex-CBD Exec Says He Was Duped Into Investment

    The former chief operating officer of health goods supplier and CBD seller Premier Beauty and Health LLC told jurors Wednesday that he was misled by the company's executives — who were also his family members — into investing in a company that was less profitable and stable than he had been told.

  • April 10, 2024

    Jet Co. Can't Escape Suit Over Plane Depleting Fuel, Crashing

    A Florida federal judge declined to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a passenger alleging negligence after his chartered plane ran out of fuel and crashed into the ocean, saying the liability waiver cited by the private jet company and pilot can't be enforced under the Warsaw Convention.

  • April 10, 2024

    Honeywell Sues Insurer For $8.75M Performance Bond

    A company that issued a $8.75 million performance bond is refusing to honor its deal with Honeywell International Inc. after a subcontractor declared bankruptcy and didn't finish its work at the Tobyhanna Army Depot in Pennsylvania, Honeywell claims in a suit filed Tuesday in Pennsylvania federal court.

  • April 10, 2024

    Hemp Cos. Win $134K In Investment Spat

    A Colorado federal court has entered final judgment in favor of a hemp processing company sued in an investment dispute, awarding it more than $130,000, following on a judge's findings of fact and conclusions of law last month.

  • April 10, 2024

    Diamond Biz Says PE Firm Had 'No Intention' Of Paying Fees

    A Canadian diamond polisher is suing the private equity owner of a lab-grown diamond company in Michigan federal court, arguing that Huron Capital Partners promised to help fund new facilities to process the diamonds it was sending despite knowing the company was heading for bankruptcy and would be unable to pay the fees.

  • April 10, 2024

    Subcontractor Axes $1.8M Tech Co. Suit Over RTX Project

    A Chicago-based boutique technology subcontractor's $1.8 million lawsuit against a master contractor over an RTX Corp. data migration project has met a swift demise, with Fission Consulting LLC moving to dismiss its own complaint against Dallas-based Delaware North America LLC less than three weeks after filing it.

  • April 10, 2024

    Alston & Bird Pushes Arbitration Of COVID Vax Claims

    Alston & Bird LLP urged a Georgia federal court to reject a former aide's objection to a magistrate judge's recommendation to force her to arbitrate her claims alleging she was fired after refusing to get vaccinated for COVID-19.

  • April 10, 2024

    Botched Herbicide Job Spoiled 'God's Creation,' Ga. Jury Told

    Counsel for a rural Georgia quail hunting operation told an Atlanta federal jury Wednesday that when their client hired a company to thin out the woods on its property with herbicide, it instead brought "death and destruction" to the bucolic retreat.

  • April 10, 2024

    NJ Law Firm Not Covered In Malpractice Suit, Insurer Says

    A law firm in Princeton, New Jersey, is not owed coverage of a malpractice action alleging one of its attorneys misappropriated the assets of a client's husband, the firm's insurer argued, telling a federal court the firm knew of the underlying legal claims before its policy's inception.

  • April 10, 2024

    Chase, Zelle Can Arbitrate Stolen-Funds Reimbursement Case

    A Pennsylvania federal judge on Tuesday granted Chase Bank and Zelle's request to arbitrate customer claims they acted negligently and violated consumer protection laws by refusing to refund stolen funds, with the judge saying that relevant virtual terms of service required by Chase are valid, and that Zelle may enforce the agreement as a third-party beneficiary.

  • April 10, 2024

    Liberty Mutual Says Former Star Sales Rep Poached Clients

    A former high-performing sales representative for a Liberty Mutual Group Inc. subsidiary violated nonsolicitation and nondisclosure agreements when he left to start his own competing agency, the insurer alleged in a Massachusetts state court complaint.

  • April 09, 2024

    Walmart Hit With $101M Verdict In Trial Over PPE Contracts

    An Arkansas jury hit Walmart with a $101 million verdict Tuesday for breaching an agreement to purchase more than $500 million in personal protective equipment amid the coronavirus pandemic, while also finding in favor of the retail giant's tort counterclaims.

  • April 09, 2024

    Investor Can't Get Approval Of Hong Kong Award In Calif.

    A California judge has thrown out a petition filed by a biotechnology company investor seeking to enforce a Hong Kong arbitral award that found she is the proper owner of the company's shares, saying the case has an insufficient connection to the Golden State.

  • April 09, 2024

    Fired Exec For Former SI Publisher Seeks $2M In Lost Pay

    A former executive for the onetime publisher of Sports Illustrated has sued the company in New York federal court for more than $2 million in lost pay, alleging he was unlawfully terminated after he "faithfully executed his duties."

  • April 09, 2024

    'No Merit' To Talent Co.'s Bid To DQ Execs' Attys, Judge Says

    A California state judge on Tuesday told attorneys for A3 Artists Agency and its chair, Adam Bold, that their allegation of a conflict of interest "has no merit" and that she tentatively would deny their motion to disqualify opposing counsel representing executives suing Bold and the agency for breach of contract.

Expert Analysis

  • 3 Key Class Action Trends To Use As Guidance In 2024

    Author Photo

    Telephone Consumer Protection Act, privacy and false advertising class actions saw significant shifts last year — including a trend toward expanding the application of preexisting laws to current technologies — that businesses should keep in mind to navigate the class action landscape in 2024, say attorneys at Mintz.

  • Federal Courts And AI Standing Orders: Safety Or Overkill?

    Author Photo

    Several district court judges have issued standing orders regulating the use of artificial intelligence in their courts, but courts should consider following ordinary notice and comment procedures before implementing sweeping mandates that could be unnecessarily burdensome and counterproductive, say attorneys at Curtis.

  • Wachtell-X Ruling Highlights Trend On Arbitrability Question

    Author Photo

    A growing body of case law, including a California state court's recent decision in X Corp. v. Wachtell, holds that incorporation of specific arbitral body rules in an arbitration provision may in and of itself constitute clear and unmistakable evidence of delegation of arbitrability to an arbitrator, and thus such clauses should be drafted carefully, say attorneys at Norton Rose.

  • 7 E-Discovery Predictions For 2024 And Beyond

    Author Photo

    The legal and technical issues of e-discovery now affect virtually every lawsuit, and in the year to come, practitioners can expect practices and policies to evolve in a number of ways, from the expanded use of relevancy redactions to mandated information security provisions in protective orders, say attorneys at Littler.

  • Trends That Tech Lawyers Should Keep An Eye On In 2024

    Author Photo

    Worldwide technology spending is projected to strengthen in 2024, spurred by artificial intelligence-driven solutions, and five areas of growth may affect lawyers' practice in this sector, says Sonia Baldia at Kilpatrick.

  • 5 Litigation Funding Trends To Note In 2024

    Author Photo

    Over the next year and beyond, litigation funding will continue to evolve in ways that affect attorneys and the larger litigation landscape, from the growth of a secondary market for funded claims, to rising interest rates restricting the availability of capital, says Jeffery Lula at GLS Capital.

  • A Look At Consumer Reporting In 2023, And What's To Come

    Author Photo

    The legal landscape of consumer reporting is evolving as courts, federal regulators and state legislatures continue to weigh in — and while last year may have seen a slight downtick in the overall volume of Fair Credit Reporting Act litigation, 2024 is set to be a watershed year for this area of the law, say attorneys at Troutman Pepper.

  • Opinion

    Noncompete Report Misinterpreted Critique Of FTC Proposal

    Author Photo

    A recent report on core questions surrounding the use of employee noncompete agreements published by the Economic Innovation Group misconstrues our stated views on the issue — and we stand behind our conclusion that the Federal Trade Commission made misrepresentations when proposing a rule to ban such provisions nationwide, say Erik Weibust and Stuart Gerson at Epstein Becker.

  • Series

    Calif. Banking Brief: All The Notable Legal Updates In Q4

    Author Photo

    As 2023 came to an end, we continued to see developments in California that are certain to have an impact on the financial services industry in 2024, including the California Department of Financial Protection and Innovation's request for comments on the state's new digital asset law and the state's continued enforcement actions against debt collectors, say Jennifer Olivestone and Juan Azel at Winston & Strawn.

  • 4 Legal Ethics Considerations For The New Year

    Author Photo

    As attorneys and clients reset for a new year, now is a good time to take a step back and review some core ethical issues that attorneys should keep front of mind in 2024, including approaching generative artificial intelligence with caution and care, and avoiding pitfalls in outside counsel guidelines, say attorneys at HWG.

  • What The Law Firm Of The Future Will Look Like

    Author Photo

    As the legal landscape shifts, it’s become increasingly clear that the BigLaw business model must adapt in four key ways to remain viable, from fostering workplace flexibility to embracing technology, say Kevin Henderson and Eric Pacifici at SMB Law Group.

  • Navigating Class Actions After Papa John's Settlement Denial

    Author Photo

    A Kentucky federal court's surprising denial of preliminary approval for a $5 million settlement in the Papa John's no-poach case may prove to be an outlier but suggests a class action settlement would only be approved when a plaintiff demonstrates that a litigation class would be certified, say attorneys at Robins Kaplan.

  • 4 PR Pointers When Your Case Is In The News

    Author Photo

    Media coverage of new lawsuits exploded last year, demonstrating why defense attorneys should devise a public relations plan that complements their legal strategy, incorporating several objectives to balance ethical obligations and advocacy, say Nathan Burchfiel at Pinkston and Ryan June at Castañeda + Heidelman.

  • Trouble Indemnity: IP Lawsuits In The Generative AI Boom

    Author Photo

    Attorneys at Ropes & Gray explore the contours of the intellectual property indemnification protections offered by providers of generative AI models — including their scope, coverage, conditions, exclusions and caps — to assess where businesses may still face liability exposure.

  • 6 AI Cases And What They Mean For Copyright Law

    Author Photo

    Artificial intelligence cases filed last year, some decided and others pending, demonstrate how the appellate courts that set binding precedent look at the intersection between copyright and AI, so legal frameworks must adapt and provide clarity in order to foster innovation, protect creators, and ensure fair and equitable outcomes, say attorneys at Crowell & Moring.

Want to publish in Law360?


Submit an idea

Have a news tip?


Contact us here
Can't find the article you're looking for? Click here to search the Commercial Contracts archive.
Hello! I'm Law360's automated support bot.

How can I help you today?

For example, you can type:
  • I forgot my password
  • I took a free trial but didn't get a verification email
  • How do I sign up for a newsletter?
Ask a question!