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Commercial Contracts
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June 17, 2024
NJ Firm Defends Lien On Ex-Client's Patents After Unpaid Bills
A major New Jersey law firm said it has a "common law" right to place a lien on its former client's patents without telling it, after the "failed" biopharmaceutical startup fired the firm and stopped paying its outstanding legal bills.
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June 17, 2024
Bitcoin Mining Hosting Vendor Can't Dodge $6.4M Suit
A Washington federal judge told a crypto computer host that it must face a suit from a bitcoin mining company accusing it of failing to return equipment worth $6.4 million, finding the hosting agreement allowed the mining company to demand access to all the equipment if the host failed to meet its obligations.
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June 17, 2024
Teamsters Plan Says Health Network Has Monopoly In Conn.
A Teamsters healthcare benefits plan and a Connecticut public transit provider have sued the healthcare network Hartford Healthcare Corp., accusing it of having a monopoly over healthcare in a half-dozen regions of the state.
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June 17, 2024
Mich. Judge Unsure If Town's Pot Co. Shutdown Broke Lease
A commercial landlord will have to go to trial on claims of unpaid rent against a combination medical marijuana grow and sign-making company, a Michigan state judge ruled, saying a jury must decide if the local government's decision to force the cannabis shop out voids the lease.
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June 17, 2024
Dutch Insurer Says Record Clear To Affirm $160M Arbitration
A Dutch insurer is pushing a North Carolina federal judge to confirm a €150 million (roughly $160 million) arbitration award against insurance mogul Greg Lindberg and his companies, citing a recent order in which the court acknowledged the award as binding.
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June 17, 2024
Drugmaker, PE Investor Sued In Del. Over 'Unfair' Deal Terms
Clinical-stage biotechnology firm Omega Therapeutics' board entered into an "unfair" agreement to develop a new drug with the company's controlling private equity stockholder that was heavily tilted in favor of the majority equity holder and Omega insiders, an investor alleged in a lawsuit in Delaware's Chancery Court.
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June 17, 2024
Exxon Investor Deal Ends Suit Over Emissions Proposal
Activist investor Arjuna Capital has escaped Exxon Mobil Corp.'s lawsuit over a contentious greenhouse gas-related shareholder proposal the investor sought to include in the company's 2024 proxy statement after a Texas federal judge on Monday accepted the investor's promises not to resubmit the proposal.
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June 17, 2024
Chrysler MDL Class Can Fix 'Puzzling' State Claim Skip
A Michigan federal judge has said he will give a class of drivers alleging Chrysler minivans have a defect that causes their batteries to explode unexpectedly an opportunity to fix their "puzzling" choice not to plead state-by-state claims in the first master complaint of the sprawling multidistrict litigation.
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June 17, 2024
No Coverage For Family Shareholder Row, 2nd Circ. Affirms
A Liberty Mutual unit had no duty to defend Paraco Gas Corp. and two of its executives in a family shareholder dispute, the Second Circuit affirmed Monday, finding that all claims in the underlying suit fell within the policy's contract exclusion.
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June 17, 2024
Bookstores Appeal Denied Bid To Join FTC's Amazon Case
A trade association for bookstores is appealing to the Ninth Circuit after a lower court refused its request to intervene in the Federal Trade Commission's antitrust suit against Amazon that raises concerns about the e-commerce giant's sale of books and contracts with publishers.
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June 17, 2024
Foreign Investors Sue Over Lost $7.7M NYC Mall Investment
Fourteen foreign investors who lost the entirety of their $7.7 million investment in a New York City shopping mall project filed suit against two lenders, a developer and the manager of an EB-5 lender in New York federal court, saying they are owed damages.
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June 17, 2024
Huawei Slams Netgear's 'Tenuous' RICO Case
Huawei has responded to a racketeering and antitrust case from a major U.S. maker of Wi-Fi routers by calling it "rife with tenuous legal and factual claims" and comparing its reworking of patent infringement allegations to the U.S. Federal Trade Commission's failed antitrust case against Qualcomm.
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June 17, 2024
Boeing, Virgin Can't Agree To Injunction's Scope In IP Row
Boeing and Virgin Galactic have clashed over whether Virgin can share information with outside contractors gleaned as part of a failed aircraft development contract, as Boeing's suit accusing Virgin of breaching the deal and misappropriating trade secrets moves forward in Virginia federal court.
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June 17, 2024
L3Harris Rips Moog's Counterclaims In $78M Contract Suit
L3Harris Technologies Inc. urged a Florida federal court Friday to throw out breach of contract counterclaims from fellow defense contractor Moog Inc., which it has accused of failing to timely deliver critical satellite parts under several subcontracts worth $77.9 million.
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June 17, 2024
Split Mass. Top Court Backs Strict View Of Prompt Pay Law
The top appeals court in Massachusetts said in a divided opinion Monday that contractors must pay overdue invoices before disputing claims under the state's prompt pay law, with two dissenting judges criticizing the majority for trying to rewrite the law "by judicial fiat."
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June 17, 2024
Hertz Warrant Holder Sues In Chancery For Contract Breach
Two investment affiliates of Discovery Capital Management LP have sued Hertz Global Holdings Inc. in Delaware's Court of Chancery, alleging willful failure to redeem warrants issued in 2021 as part of the company's Chapter 11 and demanding at least $187 million plus interest.
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June 17, 2024
McDonald's Nears Fee Win For Beating $100M Fraud Suit
A California state judge has tentatively granted McDonald's request for over $231,000 in fees after winning an anti-SLAPP victory against Byron Allen's suit claiming that it fraudulently pledged to increase spending on Black-owned media, but the judge asked the restaurant Monday to submit a proposed judgment to account for its work in filing the fee request.
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June 17, 2024
BNSF Owes Wash. Tribe $400M For Oil Shipping Trespass
BNSF Railway Co. must pay a Washington tribe nearly $400 million for years of illegally running oil cars across tribal territory, a federal judge in Seattle ruled Monday.
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June 17, 2024
College Students Say Mass. COVID Liability Shield Unjust
Three former students seeking tuition refunds are urging a Massachusetts court to rule on the constitutionality of a state law wiping away schools' liability for switching to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, a statute that has all but doomed their separate federal complaints.
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June 17, 2024
Nursing Home Co. Owes Fees On Staffing Deal, Recruiter Says
An international recruiter has accused the owners of nursing homes and assisted living communities in several states of failing to fork over fees for placing nurses and nursing assistants in their facilities, saying they owe over $3.4 million in outstanding fees.
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June 17, 2024
Justices To Decide If False Claims Act Applies To E-Rate
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to review whether reimbursement requests made to the Federal Communications Commission's E-rate program for schools and libraries are "claims" under the False Claims Act.
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June 17, 2024
Justices Reject Dispute Over $3.1B South Korean Military Deal
The U.S. Supreme Court declined Monday to consider the scope of commercial activities in a case brought by a brokerage firm fighting the loss of a $3.1 billion South Korean military satellite deal.
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June 14, 2024
Frontier Wins $48.7M In Contract Breach Row After Bench Trial
A New York federal judge on Friday awarded Frontier Airlines nearly $48.7 million following a bench trial over a contract dispute with Irish aircraft leasing company AMCK Aviation Holdings, finding that AMCK had agreed to waive Frontier's payments while they negotiated a new agreement in the wake of COVID-19.
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June 14, 2024
Amazon Sued For Locking Up Audiobooks, Charging Up To 75%
A romance novelist challenged Amazon.com Inc.'s control of up to 80% of the U.S. audiobook market Thursday in a Washington federal court proposed class action accusing the retail giant of using exclusivity restrictions to lock in independent authors, extracting up to 75% of the sales price on Audible.
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June 14, 2024
'Cockamamie' Live Nation Arbitration Rules Perplex 9th Circ.
An attorney for Live Nation Entertainment Inc. argued to skeptical Ninth Circuit judges on Friday that a California district judge was wrong to remove ticket buyers' antitrust class claims from arbitration by finding the arbitration agreements unconscionable, with one judge calling the language in the agreements "drafting malpractice," "cockamamie" and "just nuts."
Expert Analysis
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Inside Del. Determinations Of Specific Performance In M&A
Delaware M&A rulings, including several from the end of 2023, shed light on the facts that courts may consider when determining whether a party to a transaction is entitled to specific performance, say attorneys at White & Case and Odeko.
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9 Contractual Issues Tech Startups Should Be Wary Of
Technology startups often overlook relatively simple but crucial contracting steps that are essential to owning and protecting their intellectual property, and the consequences of this will almost always surface at some point, typically in connection with a key investment or other significant transaction involving the business, say attorneys at Mayer Brown.
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NJ Ruling May Widen Plaintiff Opportunities In LLC Disputes
A New Jersey court’s recent decision in Flor v. GreenbergFarrow found that a court may consider a limited liability company member’s wrongful conduct when determining sale and compensation owed to a dissociate member, and may open doors for plaintiffs seeking relief from wrongful conduct, say Lowry Yankwich and Peter LeVan at LeVan Stapleton.
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Will Justices Settle Decades-Old Split On Arbitrator Conflicts?
Whether an arbitrator's failure to disclose a potential conflict of interest is sufficient grounds to vacate an arbitration award is the subject of an almost 60-year-old circuit split that the U.S. Supreme Court is positioned to resolve if it grants cert in either of two writs pending before it, say attorneys at Norton Rose.
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Companies Should Beware Greater Scrutiny Of Subscriptions
The New York Attorney General's Office has been utilizing a severe interpretation of the law in enforcement against subscription services, as demonstrated in last month's Sirius XM complaint and Cerebral settlement — and this focus is representative of heightened subscription scrutiny in other states and at the federal level, say attorneys at Venable.
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5 Trade Secret Developments To Follow In 2024
Recent cases and trends in trade secret law indicate that significant developments are likely this year, and practitioners should be anticipating their impact on the business and legal landscape, say attorneys at Faegre Drinker.
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Series
Baking Bread Makes Me A Better Lawyer
After many years practicing law, and a few years baking bread, I have learned that there are a few keys to success in both endeavors, including the assembly of a nourishing and resilient culture, and the ability to learn from failure and exercise patience, says Rick Robinson at Reed Smith.
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3 Key Class Action Trends To Use As Guidance In 2024
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.
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Federal Courts And AI Standing Orders: Safety Or Overkill?
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.
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Wachtell-X Ruling Highlights Trend On Arbitrability Question
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.
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7 E-Discovery Predictions For 2024 And Beyond
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.
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Trends That Tech Lawyers Should Keep An Eye On In 2024
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.
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5 Litigation Funding Trends To Note In 2024
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.
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A Look At Consumer Reporting In 2023, And What's To Come
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.
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Opinion
Noncompete Report Misinterpreted Critique Of FTC Proposal
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.