Âé¶¹´«Ã½

Commercial Contracts

  • May 23, 2025

    Musk Doubles Down After OpenAI Drops For-Profit Transition

    OpenAI's decision to abandon its transition into a for-profit enterprise was not enough to appease Elon Musk, who doubled down Thursday with an amended California federal court complaint continuing to allege the ChatGPT maker tricked him into contributing nearly $45 million with false promises of remaining a nonprofit.

  • May 23, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Partly Revives Allstate Challenge To Tech Patent

    The Federal Circuit on Friday threw out the Patent Trial and Appeal Board's finding that Allstate failed to show the invalidity of two claims in a patent on cellphone sensors that can tell if a vehicle has accelerated or crashed, telling the board to take another look.

  • May 23, 2025

    Off The Bench: Tennis Officials, NCAA Stay On The Defensive

    In this week's Off The Bench, tennis players face pushback from the governing bodies they are accusing of antitrust violations, college basketball players claiming the NCAA exploited them want their class action revived, and a baseball player seeking one last year to play in college hits another legal roadblock.

  • May 23, 2025

    Lindberg Urges NC Panel To Rebuff 'Ambush' Sanctions Bid

    A convicted billionaire seeking to unravel a receivership order against him has urged the North Carolina Court of Appeals not to scrap his case as a sanction for alleged procedural violations, saying the only gamesmanship afoot is opposing counsel's monthslong "radio silence."

  • May 23, 2025

    FTC Finally Drops Challenge To Microsoft-Activision Deal

    The Federal Trade Commission has dropped its in-house case seeking to block Microsoft's $68.7 billion purchase of video game developer Activision Blizzard, after its Ninth Circuit loss earlier this month, ending a lingering challenge to a deal that closed in late 2023.

  • May 22, 2025

    Fed. Circ. Ruling Will Spark More Patent Damages Fights

    The full Federal Circuit's decision Wednesday ordering a new trial in a patent case against Google LLC and finding the plaintiff's damages expert unreliable is likely to lead to greater scrutiny of patent damages testimony and more attempts to get it thrown out, attorneys say.

  • May 22, 2025

    Bilfinger Urges NC Justices To Skip Cargill Arbitration Case

    International construction company Bilfinger is urging North Carolina's top court not to review a decision nixing Cargill's bid to revive arbitration it initiated in a dispute stemming from a construction contract, disputing the food conglomerate's argument that the case raises novel issues.

  • May 22, 2025

    Ex-CEO Says Arrow Exec Joined Fraud After Pay Frustrations

    The former CEO of a Colorado database company who pleaded guilty to a scheme to steal almost $2 million from Arrow Electronics testified on Thursday that his alleged co-conspirator at the company became a mutual collaborator in the fraud because he was unhappy with his pay and long hours.

  • May 22, 2025

    Firm Drops $500K Contract Suit Against Cannabis POS Co.

    A federal judge in Seattle dismissed a breach of contract suit between cannabis payment tech companies over a final $500,000 payment in a deal to buy a rival.

  • May 22, 2025

    Gov't Presses High Court To Hear Activist Investor Suit

    The federal government Thursday urged the U.S. Supreme Court to hear a case accusing a series of closed-end funds of shutting an activist investor out of its voting rights, arguing that the investor's lawsuit threatens to have an "unpredictable impact" on the private fund industry.

  • May 22, 2025

    FTC Can't Get Amazon Execs' Financials Yet In Prime Case

    A Washington federal court has refused the Federal Trade Commission's request to immediately force several Amazon executives to turn over sensitive financial information, ruling the agency must instead wait until after trial in its case accusing the company of trapping consumers into renewing Prime subscriptions.

  • May 22, 2025

    Hungarian Co. Fights Croatia Delay Bid In $236M Award Case

    A Hungarian energy company has urged a D.C. federal court to nix Croatia's bid to stay a lawsuit aimed at enforcing a $236 million arbitral award against the country a month after it lost a motion to dismiss the suit.

  • May 22, 2025

    Life Insurer Strikes $335K Deal In Data Breach Suit

    A woman who said her personal information was potentially compromised in a 2023 data breach at a life insurance and financial planning company asked a Connecticut federal court to sign off on the parties' settlement agreement, which would create a $335,000 settlement fund to resolve her proposed class action.

  • May 22, 2025

    Sutter Health's $228.5M Antitrust Deal Gets Initial OK

    A California federal judge on Thursday preliminarily approved Sutter Health's $228.5 million deal settling a 13-year case over claims the hospital chain boosted costs by pushing all-or-nothing networks on insurers, saying that after a trial and a Ninth Circuit reversal, "it's nice that we didn't have to try this case twice."

  • May 22, 2025

    Settlement In Nationals' Ticket Bias Suit Gets Preliminary OK

    A settlement providing restitution to baseball fans who sued the Washington Nationals for age discrimination in a ticket promotion targeting millennials and young professionals has been given preliminary approval by a D.C. federal judge.

  • May 22, 2025

    No COVID-19 Coverage For Hotel REIT, Texas Panel Affirms

    A group of insurers has no obligation to cover an Austin, Texas-based real estate investment trust's pandemic-related losses, a state appellate court ruled Thursday, finding that a contamination exclusion in the REIT's policies unambiguously bars coverage.

  • May 22, 2025

    Servicer, BNY Seek Exit From Mortgage Statement Suit

    Bank of New York Mellon and a mortgage servicing company have urged a Massachusetts federal court to permanently dismiss a proposed class action accusing them of trying to collect on post-bankruptcy liens, saying federal lending law does not obligate servicers to send mortgage statements to borrowers.

  • May 22, 2025

    2nd Suit Says Fla. Investigator Lied About Insurance Fraud

    A Florida man accused of insurance fraud after helping a roofing company sign up customers whose homes suffered hurricane damage has sued the criminal investigator who referred the charges, telling a federal court that the investigator fabricated facts and intentionally misled state attorneys.

  • May 22, 2025

    Ill. Justices Say Wholesalers Had Notice In Cilantro Dispute

    A cilantro distributor should be able to pursue contribution claims against two wholesalers that allegedly sold tainted cilantro responsible for an E. coli outbreak, as the wholesalers' participation in litigation over the product gave them actual notice of the issues, the Illinois Supreme Court determined on Thursday.

  • May 21, 2025

    Calif. Justices Weigh Strict Arbitration Fee Âé¶¹´«Ã½'s Validity

    Counsel for a food supply company urged the California Supreme Court on Wednesday to find the Federal Arbitration Act preempts a state statute automatically waiving arbitration rights for a party that doesn't timely pay arbitration fees, saying the law is so draconian that even an earthquake wouldn't excuse late payment.

  • May 21, 2025

    Colo. Judge Rules Atty Hid Assets To Evade Azar Judgment

    A Colorado state judge has found that a former class action department head at Franklin D. Azar & Associates PC fraudulently transferred assets to her husband and parents to evade the firm's collection of a $1.2 million judgment for her efforts to market the department to other law firms.

  • May 21, 2025

    Zurich Gets Default Win In $4.6M Contractor Coverage Spat

    Zurich American Insurance Co. doesn't owe coverage to two subcontractors accused of bungling work on a Georgia natural gas plant, a federal judge has ruled, granting the insurer a default win in its suit seeking to nullify a $4.6 million claim.

  • May 21, 2025

    Title Insurance Co. Fights Treasury All-Cash Resi Deals Rule

    A title insurance company and a subsidiary have filed suit in Florida federal court challenging new reporting requirements for all-cash real estate closings, saying the rule exceeds the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Financial Crimes Enforcement Network's authority.

  • May 21, 2025

    DraftKings Denied 3rd Circ. Review In MLB Players' IP Case

    A Pennsylvania judge on Wednesday denied a request from DraftKings Inc. to appeal to the Third Circuit the lower court's refusal to dismiss an intellectual property lawsuit that accuses the company of using players' images without permission, saying the issues raised are not appropriate for immediate appeal.

  • May 21, 2025

    What To Know Before VLSI, Intel's Patent License Trial

    Over the last several years, VLSI Technologies has racked up infringement awards in an expansive multibillion-dollar fight against Intel, but those could be rendered moot after a trial next week, when a Texas federal jury reviews a question central to determining whether Intel already has a license to VLSI's patents.

Expert Analysis

  • 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 Âé¶¹´«Ã½yer

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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 Âé¶¹´«Ã½yer

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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 Âé¶¹´«Ã½yers 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.

  • Opinion

    Feds May Have Overstepped In Suit Against Mortgage Lender

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    The U.S. Department of Justice's lawsuit against Rocket Mortgage goes too far in attempting to combat racial bias and appears to fail on the fatal flaw that mortgage lenders should be at arm's length from appraisers, says Drew Ketterer at Ketterer & Ketterer.

  • The Bar Needs More Clarity On The Discovery Objection Rule

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    Almost 10 years after Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 34 was amended, attorneys still seem confused about what they should include in objections to discovery requests, and until the rules committee provides additional clarity, practitioners must beware the steep costs of noncompliance, says Tristan Ellis at Shanies Âé¶¹´«Ã½ Office.

  • Series

    Being A Navy Reservist Makes Me A Better Âé¶¹´«Ã½yer

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    Serving this country in uniform has not only been one of the greatest honors of my life, but it has also provided me with opportunities to broaden my legal acumen and interpersonal skills in ways that have indelibly contributed to my civilian practice, says Phillip Smith at Weinberg Wheeler.

  • Next Steps In The $2.8B Blue Cross Payout To Providers

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    Healthcare providers deciding whether to participate in Blue Cross Blue Shield network's recent $2.8 billion antitrust class action settlement must weigh key recovery factors, including provider type and litigation cost, say attorneys at Hall Render.

  • So You Want To Move Your Âé¶¹´«Ã½ Practice To Canada, Eh?

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    Google searches for how to move to Canada have surged in the wake of the U.S. presidential election, and if you’re an attorney considering a move to the Great White North, you’ll need to understand how the practice of law differs across the border, says David Postel at Henein Hutchison.

  • Key Territory-Split Licensing Lessons For Life Sciences Cos.

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    Territory-split deals can allow life sciences companies to maximize products' potential across a range of geographic areas, but these deals also present unique challenges requiring highly bespoke structures that can make or break the value of an asset, say attorneys at Covington.

  • Notable Q3 Updates In Insurance Class Actions

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    Total loss valuation cases and labor depreciation cases dominated the past quarter of insurance class actions, with courts continuing to reject challenges to condition adjustments in the former, and a pro-insured trend persisting in the latter, say attorneys at BakerHostetler.

  • Promoting Diversity In The Selection Of ADR Neutrals

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    Choosing neutrals from diverse backgrounds is an important step in promoting inclusion in the legal profession, and it can enhance the legitimacy and public perception of alternative dispute resolution proceedings, say attorneys at Lowenstein Sandler.

  • Opinion

    In Visa Case, DOJ Continues To Misapply The Sherman Act

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    The recent U.S. Department of Justice debit market monopolization case against Visa fuels concerns that a misguided Biden administration DOJ is inappropriately expanding its interpretation of the Sherman Antitrust Act beyond the demonstrable economic effects that business conduct has on consumers, says Shubha Ghosh at Syracuse University.

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