So why did the music industry suddenly settle with Lime Wire in the midst of a jury trial last Thursday? It's worth noting that the $105 million deal came fresh on the heels of the cross examination of Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman Jr. by Willkie Farr & Gallagher's Joseph Baio. Bronfman claimed Lime Wire had devastated the music business, but was forced to admit that he would make billions from Warner. More ominously for Bronfman, he faced the possibility of having to tell the jury about his recent insider trading conviction in France.

Like Chevron at the dawn of the Lago Agrio litigation, Occidental moved to dismiss toxic tort claims by native people in the Amazon rain forest on forum non conveniens grounds. A district court said the case belonged in Peru, but the Ninth Circuit disagreed.

After a three-judge appellate panel reinstated a property owner's class action alleging that oil and chemical companies contributed to Hurricane Katrina's ferocity, the Fifth Circuit granted the defendants' motion to rehear the case en banc. Then, because it couldn't muster enough judges to hear it, the appellate court dismissed the appeal.