Commercial Contracts

  • February 19, 2025

    Chancery Releases Cannabis Firm Founders From $13M Fee

    The Delaware Court of Chancery ruled that a cannabis investment firm's $39.9 million settlement in a shareholder derivative lawsuit frees it from having to pay a nearly $13 million licensing agreement for the use of Bob Marley's name.

  • February 19, 2025

    Gilead, Janssen Settle HIV Treatment Suits With Lupin, Apotex

    Gilead Sciences Inc. and Johnson & Johnson's Janssen unit settled their patent suits against Lupin and Apotex over generic versions of HIV treatments, according to filings in Delaware federal court on Wednesday.

  • February 19, 2025

    2nd Circ. Backs Amazon In Teri Woods Publishing Dispute

    A unanimous Second Circuit panel backed a lower court's decision to dismiss Teri Woods Publishing's copyright and contract claims against Audible and other audiobook distributors on Wednesday, holding that the parties' licensing agreement allowed them to distribute the publisher's works through their subscription-based streaming services.

  • February 19, 2025

    Space Tech Co. Denied Injunction In Amazon Contract Row

    A Swedish space technology provider did not adequately justify its request for a preliminary injunction against an aerospace parts manufacturer while the companies arbitrate over a supply contract for an Amazon Inc. broadband project, a Connecticut federal judge ruled Wednesday.

  • February 19, 2025

    Casino SPAC Shareholders Sue Execs Over Failed Merger

    A public shareholder of a blank check company that failed to merge with a Philippines-based casino has accused the special purpose acquisition company's directors of orchestrating a deal process with "recklessness, deceit, and bad faith," is and seeking damages beyond the $11 million settlement the company struck in another related suit.

  • February 19, 2025

    PVC Pipe Giant Atkore Discloses DOJ Grand Jury Probe

    Atkore Inc.'s antitrust woes have grown from civil price-fixing litigation targeting the company's PVC pipe manufacturing, according to a new investor filing disclosing a U.S. Department of Justice criminal investigation.

  • February 19, 2025

    COVID Fraudsters Get Prison For Trying To 'Make A Buck'

    Two Florida men who pled guilty to running a scheme that defrauded businesses of millions during the pandemic by bilking them on orders of face masks and other protective equipment were sentenced to prison by a Georgia federal judge Wednesday.

  • February 19, 2025

    Prospect Medical Blames Yale Lawsuit For Ch. 11 Filing

    Bankrupt hospital operator Prospect Medical Holdings is seeking to convince a Connecticut federal judge to have a bankruptcy court oversee a $435 million lawsuit through which Yale New Haven Health is trying to back out of buying three Prospect hospitals, saying the case played a key role in its bankruptcy filing.

  • February 19, 2025

    SL Green Can't Escape Property Transfer Fraud Suit

    A New York federal judge refused Wednesday to let SL Green and several of the real estate investment trust's entities escape a fraudulent property transfer suit, but he narrowed state law claims seeking to collect on a related judgment for nearly $13 million.

  • February 19, 2025

    Insurers Must Cover Soybean Loss, NY Appeals Court Affirms

    A commodities trading company is entitled to coverage for the loss of over 500,000 bushels of soybeans resulting from a Mississippi-based warehouse's entrance into bankruptcy, a New York state appeals court affirmed.

  • February 19, 2025

    Funkadelic Keyboardist Won't Face Sanctions In Royalty Fight

    A Michigan federal judge on Wednesday declined to issue sanctions against the estate of a former Parliament-Funkadelic keyboardist suing the band's frontman in a royalty dispute, finding that the keyboardist's widow did not seem to intentionally lie about or conceal an agreement with a former defendant in the case.

  • February 19, 2025

    NBA Star's Charity Says Tourney Promoters Owe $400K

    A nonprofit founded by San Antonio Spurs player Chris Paul says it and the Massachusetts-based Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame have been stiffed by a promoter and sponsor out of nearly $400,000 in proceeds for tournaments intended to showcase basketball players from historically Black colleges and universities, in a complaint unsealed Tuesday in Connecticut state court.

  • February 19, 2025

    BP Must Face Contract Claim In Bayer's $12M Benzene Suit

    BP can't escape claims that it breached its contract with a chemical supplier currently defending a $12 million lawsuit from Bayer over alleged benzene contamination in two antifungal sprays, an Illinois federal judge ruled on Tuesday.

  • February 19, 2025

    NC Nurse Practitioners Sue Over Commission-Only Pay

    A pair of North Carolina nurse practitioners accused the medical office they used to work for in Jackson County of only paying them commission for services rendered, not making up the difference when those commissions fell below minimum wage and failing to pay overtime.

  • February 19, 2025

    Conn. Trial Firm Split Must Return To Arbitration, Judge Rules

    A dispute over the breakup of a Connecticut personal injury firm known for high-dollar verdicts must for now return to arbitration, a Connecticut judge ruled Wednesday, saying an arbiter, not the court, must decide initial questions about the feud's proper forum.

  • February 19, 2025

    Pot Consultant Says Ex-Partner Breached NDA, Swiped Client

    A Colorado-based cannabis consulting firm is suing one of its subcontractors, saying the other company breached a nondisclosure agreement and used confidential information to steal a contract with a California city.

  • February 18, 2025

    Bath & Body Works Sues Over 'Abysmal' Fulfillment Service

    Bath & Body Works filed suit Tuesday against a commercial fulfillment vendor that allegedly provided "abysmal service" for years at its Atlanta-area fulfillment center before rejecting Bath & Body Works' attempts to terminate its service contract, refusing to cooperate on a transition and rushing to forum shop in a related lawsuit.

  • February 18, 2025

    5th Circ. Questions X's Need For Watchdog's Donor Lists

    Fifth Circuit judges expressed concern Tuesday that X Corp.'s bid to identify a watchdog's donors could chill free speech, questioning how the information could prove the watchdog published an allegedly false article that caused major advertisers to abandon X.

  • February 18, 2025

    Stanley Black & Decker Says Tumbler Maker Violated TM Deal

    Stanley Black & Decker sued the maker of the popular "Stanley" tumbler, claiming in its federal complaint filed Tuesday that Pacific Market International LLC ignored obligations under a trademark agreement to use the brand name in a restricted manner and may have earned billions of sales through infringing activities.

  • February 18, 2025

    Construction Co. Awarded $75M In Colo. Casino Fight

    A Colorado state judge has awarded a Denver construction company $74.6 million in a complicated fight over the quarter-billion-dollar expansion of a casino resort, finding the casino owner was "combative and adversarial" and caused the bulk of the project's delays.

  • February 18, 2025

    Colo. Property Owner Sued For Substandard Conditions

    A proposed class of Denver tenants has claimed in Colorado state court that property manager Centerspace LP neglected its apartment building to the point that it became uninhabitable over the previous three years.

  • February 18, 2025

    Penn State Inks 'Largest Ever' COVID Tuition Deal For $17M

    The Pennsylvania State University will pay $17 million in what the plaintiffs' attorneys have called the biggest settlement of pandemic-related tuition class action claims to date, and the firms representing the students are taking home $5.7 million in attorney fees after a federal judge granted final settlement approval Tuesday.

  • February 18, 2025

    Compliance Boss Took $9M In Clients, Investment Firm Says

    A Connecticut investment firm with $360 million in assets under management says its former chief compliance officer violated trade secrets and computer fraud laws by taking eight clients worth $9.3 million and secretly joining a competitor, all despite bearing responsibility for his now-former firm's data confidentiality measures.

  • February 18, 2025

    Connecticut Art Business Seller Says Buyer Owes $2.3M

    A Wisconsin-based retailer that purchased an art marketing and distribution company from a family trust in 2019 has failed to make a $2.3 million payout based on its 2020 performance, according to a lawsuit in Connecticut state court.

  • February 18, 2025

    Denver Landlord Says Defunct Moye White Owes Nearly $4M

    A Denver landlord accused defunct law firm Moye White LLP in Colorado state court of owing almost $4 million after the law firm closed down in 2024.

Expert Analysis

  • Why Now Is The Time For Law Firms To Hire Lateral Partners

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    Partner and associate mobility data from the second quarter of this year suggest that there's never been a better time in recent years for law firms to hire lateral candidates, particularly experienced partners — though this necessitates an understanding of potential red flags, say Julie Henson and Greg Hamman at Decipher Investigative Intelligence.

  • 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.

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