Commercial Contracts

  • February 14, 2025

    Houston Energy Co. Stiffed For Cleanup Costs, Court Told

    A Houston energy company refused to decommission a toppled oil and gas platform in the Gulf of Mexico and then failed to pay up when another party got stuck with the cleanup duty, an oil company has told a Texas federal court.

  • February 14, 2025

    Farm Asks Judge To 'Please' Add $5M Interest To $32M Verdict

    A cannabis farm is asking a Michigan federal judge to "please, please" award $5 million in prejudgment interest on a $31.8 million verdict reached last month in a contract dispute with Curaleaf units, saying the companies have refused to cooperate in post-judgment talks to resolve the issue.

  • February 14, 2025

    Calif. Insurance Chief Backs Wildfire Mitigation, Recovery Bills

    California Insurance Commissioner Ricardo Lara announced his support Friday for a slew of bills aimed at addressing wildfire mitigation and recovery, including measures to maximize insurance claim payouts and stabilize the state's insurer of last resort.

  • February 14, 2025

    'New Facts' Improper In Penny Stock Action, 2nd Circ. Told

    A Connecticut federal judge violated controlling case law and the constitutional rights of a penny stock CEO when imposing a judgment in a U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission enforcement action, defense counsel told the Second Circuit, arguing that the SEC admitted post-trial that it could not find any victims of the allegedly false public statements at issue.

  • February 14, 2025

    Ben & Jerry's Says Owner Unilever Banned Anti-Trump Posts

    Ben & Jerry's told a New York federal judge overseeing its litigation accusing parent company Unilever of breaching an agreement allowing the ice cream company to take political stances that Unilever has now banned it "from issuing any posts criticizing President Trump" pending further review.

  • February 14, 2025

    Insurer Goes After Another In $3.5M Sewer Damage Suit

    A subcontractor's insurer lodged a third-party complaint against a Liberty Mutual unit in Colorado federal court, accusing it of reaching a "collusive" $730,000 consent agreement in an underlying sewer rupture dispute and arguing that the unit should've paid its full $2 million limit instead.

  • February 14, 2025

    Pashman Stein Gets Arbitration Award Against Atty Confirmed

    Pashman Stein Walder Hayden PC on Friday won confirmation for an $88,000 award against an intellectual property attorney and former client it sued over unpaid legal fees in New Jersey state court.

  • February 14, 2025

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

    This past week in London has seen Spice Girls star Mel B's ex-husband bring a defamation claim against the publisher of The Sun, a hotel sue a former director convicted of embezzling its funds for breach of fiduciary duty, and comedian Russell Brand face a sexual abuse claim. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • February 13, 2025

    Mental Health Group Says Ga. Analyst Lied About Work

    Cheerful Therapy LLC filed suit against Georgia-based Anelyst Accounting LLC and Nicholas Hawkins in federal court, alleging they solicited it to pay for the creation of a mental health group practice with the intent of secretly transferring the group to a new limited liability company in which Cheerful had no rights or interest.

  • February 13, 2025

    Oil & Gas Co.'s Antitrust Suit Baseless, Insurers Say

    Insurers who hold surety bonds in an oil company and have been accused of colluding with other bondholders to demand additional collateral have urged a Texas federal court to dismiss the antitrust allegations against them, saying the dispute is contractual only.

  • February 13, 2025

    NC Biz Court Bulletin: Defaulted Notes, EB-5 Investor Fraud

    The North Carolina Business Court has been handed in the first half of February a receivership case involving a defaulted $17.5 million promissory note, a fraud suit by Chinese EB-5 investors and a request to depose the chief legal officer of Smithfield Foods Inc.

  • February 13, 2025

    Atty Can Keep Fees In Foreclosure Row, Mich. Panel Rules

    A trial court shouldn't have ordered an attorney to refund fees for representing a condominium association in its failed attempt to foreclose on unit owners because the attorney was not a party to the action or accused of conversion, a Michigan appellate panel found Wednesday.

  • February 13, 2025

    Buyer Seeks $3.5M Price Cut Over Bungled Conn. Mill Cleanup

    A property developer has asked a Connecticut Superior Court judge to lower the purchase price of a polluted industrial site in Branford from $6 million to $2.5 million, saying the seller failed to develop legitimate remediation plans and breached a settlement agreement that ended prior litigation.

  • February 13, 2025

    Insurers Say Adjuster Must Cover $66M Suit Over Boat Death

    Insurers told a North Carolina federal court that a company they contracted with failed to perform its agreed-upon adjustment duties on claims related to a 2021 fatal Florida boat accident and didn't pay legal fees when a more than $66 million suit erupted over the incident.

  • February 13, 2025

    Sidley Adds White & Case Litigators In Chicago

    Sidley Austin LLP has grown its litigation offerings in Chicago with the addition of two former White & Case LLP partners, one of whom served as the leader of that firm's Windy City office.

  • February 13, 2025

    Musk's $97B OpenAI Bid Dubbed A 'Stunt' Amid Other Rumors

    After a Wall Street Journal report on Monday revealed that a consortium of investors led by Elon Musk was offering $97.4 billion to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI, rumors began to swirl regarding the true intentions behind the billionaire's bid.

  • February 13, 2025

    Musk Says He'll Drop OpenAI Bid If It Scraps 'For Profit' Plans

    Elon Musk has hit back at OpenAI's claim that his $97.375 billion takeover bid is improper, noting if the ChatGPT maker agrees to nix plans to become a for-profit business, his offer will be dropped. 

  • February 12, 2025

    OpenAI Says Musk Takeover Bid 'Exposes' Intent Behind Suit

    OpenAI on Thursday told a California federal judge overseeing Elon Musk's lawsuit seeking to block OpenAI from becoming a for-profit enterprise that the Tesla founder has proposed acquiring OpenAI's business, saying the takeover effort reveals Musk's lawsuit to be "an improper bid to undermine a competitor."

  • February 12, 2025

    Arkansas Looks To Dismiss Cherokee Gambling License Suit

    Arkansas has urged a federal court to toss the latest version of a casino licensing suit by two Cherokee Nation businesses, arguing that they don't have the right to sue the state and that the court has already dismissed the state and its governor as defendants.

  • February 12, 2025

    Supply Co. Files Failsafe $387M Suit Amid Threat Of Dismissal

    A medical supply procurement company has re-upped claims that a pharmaceutical middleman cut it out of a billion-dollar deal with the U.K. government to sell COVID-19 tests after newly unveiled information threatened to derail the long-running litigation.

  • February 12, 2025

    Software Co. Looks To Keep Ex-Chair From Transferring Stock

    A yearslong feud between The Resource Group International Ltd. and its ousted former chairman has come back to New York federal court, where the software investment company is seeking an order barring the former executive from executing an alleged scheme aimed at regaining control of the company.

  • February 12, 2025

    Labcorp Can't Score New Trial After $384M Patent Loss

    Clinical lab giant Labcorp has failed to land a new trial in front of U.S. District Judge Alan Albright after a $384.4 million patent infringement judgment against it in a case over a method for testing for genetic disorders during pregnancy.

  • February 12, 2025

    Klarna Accused Of Intercepting Creators' Commissions

    Online retail finance company Klarna Inc. got hit with a proposed class action by an internet content creator who claims the firm's automatic coupon-finding browser extension redirects customers who click creators' product affiliate links so that Klarna can take the referral commissions those creators depend on.

  • February 12, 2025

    United Airlines Asks Texas Judge To Toss COVID Vaccine Suit

    United Airlines has asked a Texas federal judge to toss a "mass action" filed by roughly 700 current and former workers accusing the airline of discriminating against employees who resisted COVID-19 vaccination, saying most of the plaintiffs lack jurisdiction.

  • February 12, 2025

    Albertsons To Face Reduced Claims Over Tech Theft

    A Washington federal judge has cleared software company Replenium Inc. to pursue trade secret and promissory estoppel claims against Albertsons, finding it plausibly alleged the grocer misused confidential information from their software partnership to build a competing auto-replenishment platform.

Expert Analysis

  • Google And The Next Frontier Of Divestiture Antitrust Remedy

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    The possibility of a large-scale divestiture in the Google search case comes on the heels of recent requests of business breakups as remedies for anticompetitive conduct, and companies should prepare for the likelihood that courts may impose divestiture remedies in the event of a liability finding, say Lauren Weinstein and Nathaniel Rubin at MoloLamken.

  • Considering Possible PR Risks Of Certain Legal Tactics

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    Disney and American Airlines recently abandoned certain litigation tactics in two lawsuits after fierce public backlash, illustrating why corporate counsel should consider the reputational implications of any legal strategy and partner with their communications teams to preempt public relations concerns, says Chris Gidez at G7 Reputation Advisory.

  • Exploring Practical Employer Alternatives To Noncompetes

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    With the Federal Trade Commission likely to appeal a federal court’s recent rejection of its noncompete ban, and more states limiting the enforceability of these agreements, employers should consider back-to-basics methods for protecting their business interests and safeguarding sensitive information, says Brendan Horgan at FordHarrison.

  • It's No Longer Enough For Firms To Be Trusted Advisers

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    Amid fierce competition for business, the transactional “trusted adviser” paradigm from which most firms operate is no longer sufficient — they should instead aim to become trusted partners with their most valuable clients, says Stuart Maister at Strategic Narrative.

  • Service Agreement Lessons From July's Global Tech Outage

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    The worldwide outages recently caused by Crowdstrike Holdings' misconfigured software update highlight the need to evaluate potential IT vendors, negotiate certain service agreement terms, and review existing agreements and diligence forms to help prevent future disruptions and mitigate the fallout should one occur, say attorneys at WilmerHale.

  • Rise Of Transpo Contractors Brings Insurance Disputes

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    As more independent contractors are contracted and subcontracted in the delivery industry, companies must be prepared to defend claims from drivers who are injured on the job as they are often seeking to establish an employment relationship with one of the entities in the chain, says Nathan Milner at Goldberg Segalla.

  • Co-Tenancy Clause Pointers For Shopping Center Landlords

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    Large retail tenants often require co-tenancy provisions in their leases, entitling them to remedies if a shopping center's occupancy drops in certain ways, but landlords must draft these provisions carefully to avoid giving tenants too much control, says Gary Glick at Cox Castle.

  • What VC Fund Settlement Means For DEI Grant Programs

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    An unexpected settlement in American Alliance for Equal Rights v. Fearless Fund, based on specific details of an Atlanta venture capital fund's challenged minority grant program, leaves the legal landscape wide open for organizations with similar programs supporting diversity, equity and inclusion to chart a path forward, say attorneys at Moore & Van Allen.

  • New Lessons On Managing Earnout Provision Risks

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    Earnout provisions can be a useful tool for bridging valuation gaps in M&A, particularly in developmental-stage pharmaceutical transactions, but the Delaware Chancery Court’s recent decision in Shareholder Representative Services v. Alexion sheds new light on the inherent risks and best practices for managing them, say attorneys at Cleary.

  • How Methods Are Evolving In Textualist Interpretations

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    Textualists at the U.S. Supreme Court are increasingly considering new methods such as corpus linguistics and surveys to evaluate what a statute's text communicates to an ordinary reader, while lower courts even mull large language models like ChatGPT as supplements, says Kevin Tobia at Georgetown Law.

  • Employer Arbitration Lessons From Calif. Consumer Ruling

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    Although a California state appeals court’s recent arbitration ruling in Mahram v. Kroger involved a consumer transaction, the finding that the arbitration agreement at issue did not apply to a third-party beneficiary could influence how employment arbitration agreements are interpreted, says Sander van der Heide at CDF Labor Law.

  • Unpacking Jurisdiction Issues In 3rd Circ. Arbitration Ruling

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    The Third Circuit's recent ruling in George v. Rushmore Service Center could be interpreted to establish three principles regarding district courts' jurisdiction to enter arbitration-related orders under the Federal Arbitration Act, two of which may lead to confusion, says David Cinotti at Pashman Stein.

  • Why Attorneys Should Consider Community Leadership Roles

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    Volunteering and nonprofit board service are complementary to, but distinct from, traditional pro bono work, and taking on these community leadership roles can produce dividends for lawyers, their firms and the nonprofit causes they support, says Katie Beacham at Kilpatrick.

  • Firms Must Offer A Trifecta Of Services In Post-Chevron World

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    After the U.S. Supreme Court’s Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo decision overturning Chevron deference, law firms will need to integrate litigation, lobbying and communications functions to keep up with the ramifications of the ruling and provide adequate counsel quickly, says Neil Hare at Dentons.

  • 5 Tips To Succeed In A Master Of Laws Program And Beyond

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    As lawyers and recent law school graduates begin their Master of Laws coursework across the country, they should keep a few pointers in mind to get the most out of their programs and kick-start successful careers in their practice areas, says Kelley Miller at Reed Smith.

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