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The Recorder
07-24-2008
Changes proposed by the Financial Accounting Standards Board that would force public companies to disclose more about the risks of litigation have caused a howl of protest among general counsel and corporate and defense lawyers. Under the revised rules for FASB Statement No. 5, the threshold for reporting the potential loss from a lawsuit would be lowered from "probable" to anything but "remote." Public companies would also have to estimate just how much legal threats might cost and the likely outcome. They'd also have to disclose more details about the underlying litigation and the reasoning behind their predictions.
New York Law Journal
07-24-2008
New York has established for the first time statewide guidelines for the qualifications and training of mediators and neutral evaluators who are called into cases by judges seeking to encourage out-of-court settlements. The guidelines require that mediators who want to make the rosters from which judges make assignments must have at least 24 hours of training in basic mediation skills and at least 16 hours of additional training in specific mediation techniques in the types of cases referred to them.
Daily Business Review
07-23-2008
After a false start, a settlement was reached on July 22 in the $10 billion trade secrets dispute in Florida between Motorola and a defunct Fort Lauderdale, Fla.-based company. The confidential agreement was reached hours after an earlier hearing to discuss a settlement was canceled because both sides hadn't come to terms, despite telling the judge they had.
The Legal Intelligencer
07-22-2008
A federal appeals court on July 21 ruled that the Federal Communications Commission should not have imposed fines on CBS for the infamous "wardrobe malfunction" at the 2004 Super Bowl in which singer Janet Jackson?s breast was exposed for a split second because the agency had unfairly imposed a new, stricter standard without first informing broadcasters.
The National Law Journal
07-21-2008
The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 attempt to push federal courts off a path that has led, by one group's study, to the rejection of 97 percent of plaintiffs' ADA-related job bias claims in 2004 alone. The legislation, approved on June 25 by an overwhelming House vote of 402-17, explicitly rejects the standards and reasoning in Sutton v. United Air Lines, and Toyota Motor Mfg. v. Williams.
The National Law Journal
07-21-2008
The Recorder
07-21-2008
An intense patent fight with rival Synopsys cost Magma Design Automation $12.5 million to settle last year. But an explosive declaration in the case that caused Magma's stock price to plunge will cost the company even more. U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer gave preliminary approval last week for Magma to pay $13.5 million to settle a securities class action lawsuit over a 40 percent stock drop that followed Magma's chief scientist's admission that he developed the disputed patents as a Synopsys employee.
07-18-2008
In-house counsel and executives within the railroad, logistics, and transportation industries need to be aware of an increasing likelihood of litigation-related to global warming. In the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court?s 2007 decision in Massachusetts v. EPA, suits have been filed seeking to impose liability on companies whose activities emit carbon dioxide. As additional suits arise, they will doubtless reach companies in the oil, electric power, auto, and railroad sectors.
Business Crimes Bulletin
07-16-2008
At times in the past decade, health care fraud seemed to be the top priority of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ). Although nationally it's now been eclipsed by corporate accountability, the DOJ has focused on health care fraud and abuse in two of the nation's largest federal prosecutors' offices: Los Angeles and Houston. The Central District of California and the Southern District of Texas ? supposedly fraud and abuse hot spots ? are setting up dedicated Medicare Fraud Task Forces based on a model that enjoyed great success in the Southern District of Florida.
The Corporate Counselor
07-10-2008
Having the smallest possible litigation team in place and having a person with adequate litigation experience to monitor the team effectively are two important elements for any general counsel intent on keeping litigation costs in check. This is particularly so if you insist upon working under the old paradigm of paying your outside counsel on an hourly basis. But I am going to try to persuade you to adopt or least consider a different fee arrangement ? contingency.
UNKNOWN: UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS FOR THE SECOND CIRCUIT August Term, 2007
05-28-2008
Magistrate judge's authority to hear and determine pretrial matters under Federal Magistrates Act does not include power to decide motion to remand case to state court; instead, remand order is equivalent of final decision or dispositive motion that must ultimately be made by district court (considering issue as one of first impression in circuit).
11th Cir.
05-22-2008
Where district court failed to enter judgment on separate document, and thus judgment was deemed entered 150 days after district court's last order (which counsel purportedly did not receive), proper avenue of relief was not Fed. R. Civ. P. 60(b) motion for relief from judgment, but rather motion to extend time to file appeal under Fed. R. App. P. 4; latter rule provides exclusive method for extending party's time to appeal for failure to receive actual notice of judgment or order.
11th Cir.
05-28-2008
Principles of international comity mandated deference to Belizean judicial decisions interpreting articles of association of Belizean limited liability company, with result that district court should have abstained from ruling on disputed article.
