Commercial Contracts

  • April 26, 2024

    French Auto Parts Co. Can't Nix Ford Supplier's $4.5M Suit

    A French automotive company can't evade a $4.5 million lawsuit accusing it of selling defective speed sensors that were later built into Ford vehicles, causing oil leaks and short circuits, a Michigan federal judge ruled, saying the company is subject to the court's jurisdiction.

  • April 26, 2024

    Texas Justices Rule Trial Court Must Admit Out-Of-State Attys

    An El Paso court that barred two out-of-state attorneys from appearing pro hac vice because they seemed to have signed a filing prior to being admitted must let the lawyers into the case, the state high court ruled Friday, finding the trial court abused its discretion in blocking them.

  • April 26, 2024

    Apple Keeps Win Over Fortnite Player In Calif. Antitrust Suit

    A California state appeals court on Thursday refused to revive a putative class action brought by Fortnite players alleging that Apple's App Store policies violate the state's antitrust and unfair competition laws, saying because the tech giant's conduct is immune from antitrust liability it can't be held to be "unfair."

  • April 26, 2024

    50 Cent's GC Beats Wiretap Claim In Liquor Feud, For Now

    A Manhattan judge on Friday threw out a claim that the general counsel for rapper Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson illegally recorded a former Beam Suntory Inc. sales contractor during an embezzlement investigation, but allowed the consultant to revise his pleading.

  • April 26, 2024

    Truist Unit Survives Early Dismissal Bid In NC Poaching Suit

    Truist Financial Corp. and its real estate finance arm can move forward with the bulk of their suit accusing three former executives of absconding for a competitor with several dozen colleagues in tow, after North Carolina's business court judge largely denied the defendants an early exit.

  • April 26, 2024

    Insurers Say BASF Can't Seek Same PFAS Coverage In 3 Suits

    BASF Corp.'s insurers have said a South Carolina federal court lacked jurisdiction and should toss the chemical manufacturer's case in favor of similar New Jersey state litigation seeking coverage for thousands of underlying allegations that a substance made for firefighting foam caused pollution and injury.

  • April 26, 2024

    No Coverage For Treasure Hunter's IP Row, 9th Circ. Rules

    Great American Insurance Co. had no coverage obligations over a $7.5 million settlement stemming from a treasure hunter's claims that his former partners refused to hand over maps and other intellectual property after they parted ways, the Ninth Circuit ruled Friday, finding the treasure hunter didn't allege insurable, accidental conduct.

  • April 26, 2024

    Conn. Appeals Court Won't Pause Hospital's $1.9M Payout

    A Connecticut hospital cannot hold off on paying a $1.9 million prejudgment remedy to the group of anesthesiologists who accused it of failing to pay $3.2 million for their medical services, according to a new order from a state appeals court.

  • April 26, 2024

    9th Circ. Sends Warner Bros. False Ad Suit To Arbitration

    Warner Bros. can arbitrate a proposed false advertising class action over its Game of Thrones: Conquest mobile app game, the Ninth Circuit said Friday, finding the customers had "reasonably conspicuous notice" of the app's terms of service that contained an arbitration provision via a sign-in wrap agreement.

  • April 26, 2024

    Off The Bench: Nassar Victims, Bush V. NCAA, New ACC Suit

    In this week's Off The Bench, the U.S. Department of Justice cuts a nine-figure deal for botching its sexual abuse investigation of disgraced USA Gymnastics physician Larry Nassar, college football legend Reggie Bush plows ahead with an NCAA defamation suit despite reclaiming his Heisman trophy, and Florida sues the ACC to detail its lucrative media rights contracts.

  • April 26, 2024

    Ga. Residents Want In On $300M Monkey Farm Fight

    Four Georgia residents have asked a federal judge to let them intervene in a dispute over the construction of a sprawling primate-rearing farm in Bainbridge, alleging the local development authority that approved a $300 million bond deal for the project is colluding with the farm's backers to advance the project.

  • April 26, 2024

    Women Can't Tie Rogue Fertility Doc To Yale, University Says

    A Connecticut fertility doctor's former patients don't have probable cause to include Yale entities in their claims that he secretly inseminated them with his own sperm, so a state court should deny their prefiling bid for discovery, the university and its healthcare organizations have said.

  • April 26, 2024

    SafeSport Turned 'Predator Rather Than Protector,' Suit Says

    A New Jersey gymnastics coach has claimed the U.S. Center for SafeSport, which Congress tasked with guarding young athletes from abuse and holding abusers accountable, "turned predator rather than protector" after allegedly unfairly suspending him without due process.

  • April 26, 2024

    JPMorgan Says Ex-Adviser Is Pilfering Clients For Wells Fargo

    J.P. Morgan has accused a former investment management adviser of trying to poach clients for her new job at a competing Wells Fargo unit, saying she's been making unsolicited phone calls and sending emails to convince clients to leave in breach of her employment contract.

  • April 26, 2024

    Tampa Bay Rays Owner Settles Suit With Minority Owners

    Tampa Bay Rays majority owner Stuart Sternberg has agreed to settle a lawsuit by the Major League Baseball team's minority owners accusing him of trying to squeeze them out of profits.

  • April 26, 2024

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen budget airline Ryanair file a claim against NATS PLC after the air traffic controller's system collapsed, Mastercard and Visa Europe face group claims from Christian Dior and dozens of other beauty retailers, an intellectual property clash between the publisher of The Sun and ITV, and ISC Europe sue a former director for alleged money laundering. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • April 25, 2024

    PI Ordered To Stay Away From Jury That Issued $10B Verdict

    A California judge on Thursday kept in place an order for a private investigator to cease contacting jurors who delivered a $10 billion verdict in March against his client, telling him, "it doesn't sit well with me" that he's "going and bothering jurors" by visiting them at their homes.

  • April 25, 2024

    Atty Sued For Malpractice Can't Rep His Firm, Ex-Client Says

    A Seattle real estate broker suing her former attorney for allegedly botching arbitration proceedings has told a Washington state judge that that attorney can't both be a defendant and represent his firm in their counterclaims for unpaid fees. 

  • April 25, 2024

    Judge Reopens Allstate Trade Secrets Case Against Ex-Agent

    A Colorado federal judge has partially reopened a case alleging that a former Allstate exclusive agent poached customers for another agency, directing the ex-agent to explain why he shouldn't be held in contempt in the lawsuit.

  • April 25, 2024

    Stryker Says Sanctions Bid Goes 'Galaxies Beyond' Law

    Medical device maker Stryker urged a Colorado federal judge to reject an ex-distributor's latest request for sanctions, arguing in a brief that the distributor's $2.2 million bid goes "galaxies beyond" what it asked for at trial and what the Tenth Circuit said the court could entertain.

  • April 25, 2024

    Delta Illegally Shares Fliers' Info With Facebook, Suit Says

    Delta Air Lines Inc. was hit with a proposed class action lodged Thursday in California state court by two customers who accused it of unlawfully sharing their personal information with Facebook, including their travel dates, airport destinations, travel class, loyalty status, language and currency used to book flights on the airline's website.

  • April 25, 2024

    Chancery Seeks More Info About Bond In Truth Social Case

    A Delaware vice chancellor said Thursday she needs more information from the sponsor of the blank-check company that took Donald Trump's Truth Social public about a bond it requested during litigation with some of the company's stockholders.

  • April 25, 2024

    Wash. Appeals Court Rejects Seattle High-Rise Permit Dispute

    A Washington state appeals court sided with a developer on Thursday in a challenge to its plan for a 17-story apartment building on Seattle's waterfront, concluding that the project's opponents missed their chance to contest the city's decision not to hold the proposal to certain shoreline regulations.

  • April 25, 2024

    No Coverage For Grants To Fraudulent Charity, Judge Rules

    A Denver-based charity cannot get coverage for the $349,000 in grants it gave to a different charity whose founder was accused by state authorities of lying about its nonprofit status, a Colorado federal court ruled, finding that a computer fraud provision was not triggered.

  • April 25, 2024

    Jury Rejects Ex-Medical Co. GC's Suit Against Loeb & Loeb

    A Colorado federal jury has rejected a former in-house attorney's claim that Loeb & Loeb LLP and one of its ex-partners acted outrageously when they filed a lawsuit on behalf of a medical device company accusing him of stealing trade secrets.

Expert Analysis

  • 7 Common Myths About Lateral Partner Moves

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    As lateral recruiting remains a key factor for law firm growth, partners considering a lateral move should be aware of a few commonly held myths — some of which contain a kernel of truth, and some of which are flat out wrong, says Dave Maurer at Major Lindsey.

  • No AI FRAUD Act Is A Significant Step For Right Of Publicity

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    The No Artificial Intelligence Fake Replicas and Unauthorized Duplications Act's proposed federal right of publicity protection, including post-mortem rights, represents a significant step toward harmonizing the landscape of right of publicity law, Rachel Hofstatter and Aaron Rosenthal at Honigman.

  • Series

    Cheering In The NFL Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Balancing my time between a BigLaw career and my role as an NFL cheerleader has taught me that pursuing your passions outside of work is not a distraction, but rather an opportunity to harness important skills that can positively affect how you approach work and view success in your career, says Rachel Schuster at Sheppard Mullin.

  • Unpacking The New Russia Sanctions And Export Controls

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    Although geographically broad new prohibitions the U.S., U.K. and EU issued last week are somewhat underwhelming in their efforts to target third-country facilitators of Russia sanctions evasion, companies with exposure to noncompliant jurisdictions should pay close attention to their potential impacts, say attorneys at Shearman.

  • Using Arbitration And Class Waivers As Privacy Suit Tools

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    Amid a surge in data breach class actions over the last few years, several federal court decisions indicate that arbitration clauses and class action waiver provisions can be possible alternatives to public court battles and potentially reduce the costs of privacy litigation, say Mark Olthoff and Courtney Klaus at Polsinelli.

  • 6 Pointers For Attys To Build Trust, Credibility On Social Media

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    In an era of information overload, attorneys can use social media strategically — from making infographics to leveraging targeted advertising — to cut through the noise and establish a reputation among current and potential clients, says Marly Broudie at SocialEyes Communications.

  • 5 Lessons For SaaS Companies After Blackbaud Data Breach

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    Looking at the enforcement actions that software-as-a-service provider Blackbaud resolved with state attorneys general, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Trade Commission in the past year can help SaaS companies manage these increasingly common forms of data breaches, say attorneys at Orrick.

  • A Post-Mortem Analysis Of Stroock's Demise

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    After the dissolution of 147-year-old firm Stroock late last year shook up the legal world, a post-mortem analysis of the data reveals a long list of warning signs preceding the firm’s collapse — and provides some insight into how other firms might avoid the same disastrous fate, says Craig Savitzky at Leopard Solutions.

  • 2nd Circ. Ruling Will Guide Social Media Account Ownership

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    The Second Circuit’s recent decision in JLM Couture v. Gutman — which held that ownership of social media accounts must be resolved using traditional property law analysis — will guide employers and employees alike in future cases, and underscores the importance of express agreements in establishing ownership of social media accounts, says Joshua Glasgow at Phillips Lytle.

  • Assessing The Future Of Colorado's Economic Loss Rule

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    The Colorado Supreme Court's decision to review a state appellate court's ruling in Mid-Century Insurance Co. v. HIVE Construction will significantly influence the future of Colorado's economic loss rule, with high stakes for the cost of doing business in the state, says David Holman at Crisham & Holman.

  • Series

    Coaching High School Wrestling Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Coaching my son’s high school wrestling team has been great fun, but it’s also demonstrated how a legal career can benefit from certain experiences, such as embracing the unknown, studying the rules and engaging with new people, says Richard Davis at Maynard Nexsen.

  • What To Know About RWI In Acquisition And Divestiture Deals

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    As a slower pace of merger activity turns underwriters toward new industries, representations and warranties insurance policies are increasingly being written for acquisition and divestiture energy deals, making it important for contracting parties to understand how the RWI underwriting process works in this new sector, say attorneys at Haynes Boone.

  • Freight Forwarders And Common Carriers: Know Your Cargo

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    Freight forwarders and other nonprincipal parties involved in global cargo movement should follow the guidance in the multi-agency know-your-cargo compliance note to avoid enforcement actions should they fail to spot evasive tactics used in supply chains to circumvent U.S. sanctions and export controls, say attorneys at Venable.

  • SG's Office Is Case Study To Help Close Legal Gender Gap

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    As women continue to be underrepresented in the upper echelons of the legal profession, law firms could learn from the example set by the Office of the Solicitor General, where culture and workplace policies have helped foster greater gender equality, say attorneys at Ocean Tomo.

  • Key Considerations For Evaluating An AI Vendor

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    As artificial intelligence technology advances across industries, businesses can mitigate risks, while maximizing the value of their investment, by evaluating technology, expertise, support services, transparency and more when selecting an AI vendor, say Rahul Kapoor and Shokoh Yaghoubi at Morgan Lewis.

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