Coke's Feud With Paul Hastings Highlights Risks of Conflict Waivers: The Morning Minute
The news and analysis you need to start your day.
April 18, 2023 at 06:00 AM
4 minute read
Want to get this daily news briefing by email? Here's the sign-up.
|
WHAT WE'RE WATCHING
CONFLICT WAIVER CONFLICT - A court filing by Coca-Cola last week alleging that the law firm Paul Hastings dropped it in order to represent a company suing the beverage giant gives in-house counsel all the more reason to scrutinize engagement letters with their outside counsel, legal observers told Law.com's Chris O'Malley. Atlanta-based Coca-Cola filed a motion to disqualify Paul Hastings as counsel for SuperCooler, which sued Coke in February alleging the company misused its trade secrets and seeking more than $100 million in damages. According to Coke's motion, Paul Hastings recently hired three Cahill Gordon & Reindel attorneys who represented SuperCooler. Coca-Cola said it found out about the conflict indirectly, through its outside counsel in the SuperCooler case."Paul Hastings abandoned its ethical obligations in managing this situation. It made no attempt to notify Coca-Cola of the conflict," the company alleged.
LUCRATIVE ENVIRONMENT - Law firms in Washington, D.C., have made a string of hires in environmental practices this year, with practice heads seeing opportunities for growth amid signs of increased federal enforcement and new environmental regulations under the Biden administration. And, as Law.com's Abigail Adcox reports, newly proposed regulations for electric cars may lead to more growth in these practices. On Thursday, the EPA proposed ambitious regulations for cutting pollution from vehicles that could require electric vehicles to account for up to two-thirds of new cars sold in the U.S. by 2032. "Every time we see a new issuance, a new sort of statutory provision from the federal government, some sort of mandate from a state like California or New York about clean vehicles, EPA stuff today, I mean the phone just starts ringing off the hook," said Levi McAllister, head of Morgan Lewis' electric vehicles working group and energy commodity trading and compliance working group.
ON THE RADAR - K&L Gates filed a civil rights lawsuit Monday in Oregon District Court against the Portland Public School District over its proposed decision to close its online learning academy. The suit was brought on behalf of two Black students, one with autism spectrum disorder, who contend that returning to in-person schooling will undermine their ability to learn, reintroducing them to racial harassment and a hostile environment with faculty refusing to intervene on their behalf. Counsel have not yet appeared for the defendant. The case is 3:23-cv-00570, K.B., et al. v. Portland Public School District. Stay up on the latest deals and litigation with the new Law.com Radar.
|
EDITOR'S PICKS
|
This content has been archived. It is available through our partners, LexisNexis® and Bloomberg Law.
To view this content, please continue to their sites.
Not a Lexis Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
Not a Bloomberg Law Subscriber?
Subscribe Now
NOT FOR REPRINT
© 2024 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
You Might Like
View AllThe Reason a GC Abruptly Departs May Not Be What You Think
Big Law Lawyers Fan Out for Election Day Volunteering in Call Centers and Litigation
7 minute readElection Outcome Could Spur Policy U-Turns Across Employment Landscape
6 minute readRussia-Linked Deepfakes Are Hitting the US Election. Will It Spur Congress to Act?
Law Firms Mentioned
Trending Stories
- 1Infant Formula Judge Sanctions Kirkland's Jim Hurst: 'Overtly Crossed the Lines'
- 2Guarantees Are Back, Whether Law Firms Want to Talk About Them or Not
- 3Election 2024: Nationwide Judicial Races and Ballot Measures to Watch
- 4How I Made Practice Group Chair: 'If You Love What You Do and Put the Time and Effort Into It, You Will Excel,' Says Lisa Saul of Forde & O'Meara
- 5Abbott, Mead Johnson Win Defense Verdict Over Preemie Infant Formula
Who Got The Work
Michael G. Bongiorno, Andrew Scott Dulberg and Elizabeth E. Driscoll from Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr have stepped in to represent Symbotic Inc., an A.I.-enabled technology platform that focuses on increasing supply chain efficiency, and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The case, filed Oct. 2 in Massachusetts District Court by the Brown Law Firm on behalf of Stephen Austen, accuses certain officers and directors of misleading investors in regard to Symbotic's potential for margin growth by failing to disclose that the company was not equipped to timely deploy its systems or manage expenses through project delays. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Nathaniel M. Gorton, is 1:24-cv-12522, Austen v. Cohen et al.
Who Got The Work
Edmund Polubinski and Marie Killmond of Davis Polk & Wardwell have entered appearances for data platform software development company MongoDB and other defendants in a pending shareholder derivative lawsuit. The action, filed Oct. 7 in New York Southern District Court by the Brown Law Firm, accuses the company's directors and/or officers of falsely expressing confidence in the company’s restructuring of its sales incentive plan and downplaying the severity of decreases in its upfront commitments. The case is 1:24-cv-07594, Roy v. Ittycheria et al.
Who Got The Work
Amy O. Bruchs and Kurt F. Ellison of Michael Best & Friedrich have entered appearances for Epic Systems Corp. in a pending employment discrimination lawsuit. The suit was filed Sept. 7 in Wisconsin Western District Court by Levine Eisberner LLC and Siri & Glimstad on behalf of a project manager who claims that he was wrongfully terminated after applying for a religious exemption to the defendant's COVID-19 vaccine mandate. The case, assigned to U.S. Magistrate Judge Anita Marie Boor, is 3:24-cv-00630, Secker, Nathan v. Epic Systems Corporation.
Who Got The Work
David X. Sullivan, Thomas J. Finn and Gregory A. Hall from McCarter & English have entered appearances for Sunrun Installation Services in a pending civil rights lawsuit. The complaint was filed Sept. 4 in Connecticut District Court by attorney Robert M. Berke on behalf of former employee George Edward Steins, who was arrested and charged with employing an unregistered home improvement salesperson. The complaint alleges that had Sunrun informed the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection that the plaintiff's employment had ended in 2017 and that he no longer held Sunrun's home improvement contractor license, he would not have been hit with charges, which were dismissed in May 2024. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Jeffrey A. Meyer, is 3:24-cv-01423, Steins v. Sunrun, Inc. et al.
Who Got The Work
Greenberg Traurig shareholder Joshua L. Raskin has entered an appearance for boohoo.com UK Ltd. in a pending patent infringement lawsuit. The suit, filed Sept. 3 in Texas Eastern District Court by Rozier Hardt McDonough on behalf of Alto Dynamics, asserts five patents related to an online shopping platform. The case, assigned to U.S. District Judge Rodney Gilstrap, is 2:24-cv-00719, Alto Dynamics, LLC v. boohoo.com UK Limited.
Featured Firms
Law Offices of Gary Martin Hays & Associates, P.C.
(470) 294-1674
Law Offices of Mark E. Salomone
(857) 444-6468
Smith & Hassler
(713) 739-1250