Commercial Contracts

  • March 03, 2025

    Tobacco, Cannabis Cos. Score Partial Wins In TM Fight

    An Arizona federal court judge has issued a mixed ruling on dueling summary judgment bids in a trademark lawsuit over a tobacco company and a cannabis company's shared use of the word "Raw" in branding.

  • March 03, 2025

    Texas High Court Told Telecom Law Clears State Constitution

    Texas is hoping its highest court will overturn a ruling that found the state violated its own constitutional rules about gift-giving by capping the amount cities can charge telecoms for using their rights-of-way to such a degree that they were basically forced to give away public money.

  • March 03, 2025

    Adviser Funneled Investor Cash Into $300M Ponzi, Suit Says

    A Georgia financial adviser has been hit with a proposed class action alleging that she funneled investors into a company at the heart of what the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has called a $300 million Ponzi scheme.

  • March 03, 2025

    4th Circ. Backs Away From Contractor's Arbitration Fight

    The Fourth Circuit said Monday it doesn't have jurisdiction over a contractor's challenge to a couple's arbitration award for an incomplete home renovation project, citing the U.S. Supreme Court's holding that federal courts have jurisdiction only over motions to compel, but not vacate or confirm, arbitration awards.

  • March 03, 2025

    VLSI Maintains Intel Doesn't Have A Free License To Its IP

    VLSI Technology has urged U.S. District Judge Alan Albright to reinstate his 2022 decision that Intel Corp. doesn't have a license to its patents, saying no facts impacting a potential license have changed in the interim.

  • March 03, 2025

    5 Mass. Rulings You May Have Missed In February

    Justices in Suffolk County Superior Court's business litigation session tackled a range of issues in February, including greenwashing, consumer protection and development disputes.

  • March 03, 2025

    NYT Seeks To Ax Baldoni's 'It Ends With Us' Defamation Suit

    The New York Times urged a New York federal court to toss defamation claims made by Justin Baldoni over the news organization's coverage of the "It Ends With Us" actor-director's legal battle with Blake Lively over the actress's sexual harassment complaints, saying it is legally protected reporting and opinion made without malice.

  • March 03, 2025

    JLL Can't Get Early Win In $7.4M Broker Fee Suit, IT Co. Says

    Information technology staffing company Nityo Infotech Corp. is fighting JLL's early win bid in New York federal court in a $7.4 million brokerage fee dispute, arguing that it doesn't contractually owe anything to JLL.

  • March 03, 2025

    Sutter Settles Years-Old Antitrust Suit On Courthouse Steps

    Attorneys for a class of millions of health insurance premium payors announced an eleventh hour deal staving off a new antitrust trial Monday in California federal court over claims that hospital chain Sutter Health drives up costs by pushing all-or-nothing network deals on insurers.

  • March 03, 2025

    Pa. Supreme Court Snapshot: Negligence Damages Caps

    The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will start and end its March session examining long-standing precedents, beginning Tuesday with an argument that will spotlight damages against government entities, and wrapping up Wednesday with a matter hinging on a rule that lets general contractors share their subcontractors' immunity under the workers' compensation law.

  • March 03, 2025

    Accounting Firm Wants Out Of Fired Credit Union CEO's Suit

    A Connecticut credit union's former chief executive officer has no standing to sue accounting firm Whittlesey PC after following its financial advice allegedly got him fired because he was never its client to begin with, according to a dismissal bid the firm filed in state court.

  • March 03, 2025

    High Court Declines Souvenir Store's TM Fraud Case

    The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it will not consider a Florida souvenir store chain's challenge to a Second Circuit decision shutting down its case that a bankrupt beachwear company fraudulently procured a trademark registration to secure a $3.5 million settlement. 

  • March 03, 2025

    Justices Turn Down Suit By Worker Fired Over Online Post

    The U.S. Supreme Court said Monday it would not review a Sixth Circuit decision holding that a former CSX Transportation Inc. engineer waited too long to try to revive his wrongful termination suit stemming from an online post he made about a fatal train accident.

  • February 28, 2025

    Align Tech Deal Directs Buyers To A Monopolist, Judge Says

    A California federal judge has soundly rejected Align Technologies Inc.'s proposed $27.5 million antitrust settlement with teeth-aligner buyers, slamming Align as a monopolist and saying that the deal "will direct still more customers to the monopolist."

  • February 28, 2025

    9th Circ. Keeps Mass Starz Privacy Arbitration Consolidated

    The Ninth Circuit on Friday refused to allow a consumer whose video privacy arbitration claims against Starz Entertainment LLC have been merged with more than 7,000 similar allegations to break off from the pack, finding that the television network couldn't be blamed for the current "procedural stalemate" in the consolidated arbitration proceedings. 

  • February 28, 2025

    Ex-USF Ballplayers In Uphill Battle For Sex Harassment Cert.

    A California federal magistrate judge said Friday she is unlikely to certify a class of potentially hundreds of ex-University of San Francisco baseball players in a case alleging that former coaches created a sexually abusive environment, but agreed to hold her decision to review additional information on the claims.

  • February 28, 2025

    Intel Wants License Question Settled Before VLSI Trial In May

    Intel Corp. is asking U.S. District Judge Alan Albright to hold that a license it has with Finjan Holdings also covers patents owned by its affiliates, meaning a jury would only decide whether its litigation foe VLSI Technology is one of those affiliates.

  • February 28, 2025

    8th Circ. Backs Auto Co. Exec's Win In $5M Benefits Suit

    The Eighth Circuit declined Friday to overturn a former chief operating officer's win in his lawsuit accusing an automotive company of reneging on the terms of his deferred compensation plan when he left the firm, saying the company can't rely on nonexistent documents to deny his claim to the funds.

  • February 28, 2025

    Judge Stays Mountain West Exit-Fee Suit For Settlement Talks

    A Denver judge on Friday paused an antitrust case from three universities against the Mountain West Conference over its exit fees, after the parties indicated they were in talks to possibly resolve the lawsuit.

  • February 28, 2025

    Curaleaf Sold Assets Before $32M Verdict, Pot Farm Says

    Two subsidiaries of Curaleaf Holdings Inc. must be forced to immediately pay a $36.8 million jury verdict plus interest owed to a Michigan cannabis farm, the cultivator told a federal judge in a scathing motion, saying the companies feign poverty while spending considerable sums in legal representation.

  • February 28, 2025

    NFL Alums Say Vaccine Fund Misuse Claims Should Fail

    The National Football League's largest alumni organization has hit back at a lawsuit that accused it of forcing a biotechnology company out of a COVID-19 vaccine outreach program, arguing Thursday that no underlying contract exists on which to stake the suit.

  • February 28, 2025

    Mich. Atty Says Ex-Firm Foiling Cases Over Retaliation Suit

    A lawyer urged a Michigan federal judge to pause matters in several state court cases as she alleged her former law firm, Olsman MacKenzie Peacock PC, is using the proceedings to retaliate against her for filing a sexual harassment and hostile workplace suit against it and another firm run by a well-known mediator.

  • February 28, 2025

    Online Test Proctor Sued Over Calif. Bar Exam Malfunctions

    ProctorU Inc., which does business as Meazure Learning, was hit with a nationwide class action in California federal court Thursday for its alleged failure to properly administer the state's February bar exam, despite mounting technical issues during the run-up to the test.

  • February 28, 2025

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

    This past week in London has seen the billionaire Zakay brothers, founders of Topland Group, become embroiled in a legal dispute with each other, Unilever sue three major perfume companies over alleged illegal price-fixing, and the publisher of Vogue magazine file an intellectual property suit against Cornucopia Events. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • February 27, 2025

    Split 9th Circ. Won't Let ClassPass Arbitrate Auto-Renew Fight

    A split Ninth Circuit panel Thursday refused to send a proposed class action challenging ClassPass' subscription auto-renewal practices to arbitration, with the majority concluding that its online notices are too "muddled" while a dissenting judge slammed the majority's opinion for purportedly sowing "great uncertainty" in what constitutes a conspicuous notice.

Expert Analysis

  • Firms Still Have The Edge In Lateral Hiring, But Buyer Beware

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    Partner mobility data suggests that the third quarter of this year continued to be a buyer’s market, with the average candidate demanding less compensation for a larger book of business — but moving into the fourth quarter, firms should slow down their hiring process to minimize risks, say officers at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: 1 Type Of Case Complexity Stands Out

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    In contrast to some cases that appear complex due to voluminous evidence or esoteric subject matter, a different kind of complexity involves tangled legal and factual questions, each with a range of possible outcomes, which require a “sliding scale” approach instead of syllogistic reasoning, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Think Like A Lawyer: Note 3 Simple Types Of Legal Complexity

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    Cases can appear complex for several reasons — due to the number of issues, the volume of factual and evidentiary sources, and the sophistication of those sources — but the same basic technique can help lawyers tame their arguments into a simple and persuasive message, says Luke Andrews at Poole Huffman.

  • Series

    Gardening Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Beyond its practical and therapeutic benefits, gardening has bolstered important attributes that also apply to my litigation practice, including persistence, patience, grit and authenticity, says Christopher Viceconte at Gibbons.

  • Litigation Inspiration: Reframing Document Review

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    For attorneys — new ones especially — there is much fulfillment to find in document review by reflecting on how important, interesting and pleasant it can be, says Bennett Rawicki at Hilgers Graben.

  • A Legal Perspective On NYC's Retail Real Estate Evolution

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    As New York City's retail market begins to show signs of resilience after the challenges of recent years, landlords must be cognizant of legal implications from shifting trends toward shorter-term leases and pop-up stores, says Andrea Gendel at Pryor Cashman.

  • The Fed. Circ. In October: Anti-Suit Injunctions And SEPs

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    The Federal Circuit's holding in Ericsson v. Lenovo, a complex global case involving standard-essential patents, will likely have broad consequences for practitioners, including by making it easier to obtain an anti-suit injunction, say attorneys at Knobbe Martens.

  • California Supreme Court's Year In Review

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    Attorneys at Horvitz & Levy highlight notable decisions on major questions from the California Supreme Court's last term, including voter initiatives, hostile work environment and the economic loss rule.

  • How CFIUS' Updated Framework Affects Global Investors

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    The recent change to the monitoring and enforcement regulations governing the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States will broaden administrative practices around nonnotified transaction investigations, increase the scope of information demands from the committee and accelerate its ability to impose mitigation on parties, say attorneys at Simpson Thacher.

  • Service Providers Must Mitigate 'Secondary Target' Risks

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    A lawsuit recently filed in an Illinois federal court against marketing agency Publicis over its work for opioid manufacturers highlights an uptick in litigation against professional service providers hired by clients that engaged in alleged misconduct — so potential targets of such suits should be sure to conduct proper risk analysis and mitigation, say attorneys at Dechert.

  • Series

    Flying Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Achieving my childhood dream of flying airplanes made me a better lawyer — and a better person — because it taught me I can conquer difficult goals when I leave my comfort zone, focus on the demands of the moment and commit to honing my skills, says Ivy Cadle at Baker Donelson.

  • Series

    Circus Arts Make Me A Better Lawyer

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    Performing circus arts has strengthened my ability to be more thoughtful, confident and grounded, all of which has enhanced my legal practice and allowed me to serve clients in a more meaningful way, says Bailey McGowan at Stinson.

  • OpenAI's Patent Pledge Is Not All It Seems

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    A recent statement that OpenAI won't assert its own patents is more of an aspiration than an obligation, and should prompt practitioners to think deeply about the underlying legal mechanisms of patent and contract law when determining the effectiveness of similar nonassertion pledges, say attorneys at McDonnell Boehnen.

  • 3 Ways To Train Junior Lawyers In 30 Minutes Or Less

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    Today’s junior lawyers are experiencing a skills gap due to pandemic-era disruptions, but firms can help bring them up to speed by offering high-impact skill building content in bite-sized, interactive training sessions, say Stacey Schwartz at Katten, Diane Costigan at Winston & Strawn and Lauren Tierney at Freshfields.

  • FERC's Reactive Power Compensation Cutoff Is No Shock

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    While the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's recent final rule ending compensation for reactive power provided within the standard power factor range will mean less revenue for some generators, it should not come as a surprise, since FERC has long signaled its interest in this shift, says Linda Walsh at Husch Blackwell.

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