Commercial Contracts

  • September 23, 2024

    Natural Gas Co. Must Pay $6.8M To Ex-Trader In Bonus Fight

    A Colorado state judge has entered a $6.8 million judgment against a natural gas marketing company for its failure to pay an ex-trading director a bonus on lucrative trades he made during a 2021 winter storm, a sum that includes more than $2.5 million in penalties for the company's intentional violation of a state wage law.

  • September 23, 2024

    Warner Bros. Fights To Keep NBA Streaming Suit In Court

    Warner Bros. Discovery, whose subsidiary has been a broadcast partner with the National Basketball Association since 1988, has told a New York state court that the league acted in bad faith in structuring its new $76.7 billion rights deal specifically to circumvent a contractual matching rights clause.

  • September 23, 2024

    Security Co.'s Fatal Shooting Suits Not Covered, Insurer Says

    An insurer has said it doesn't owe coverage to a security guard service company in underlying negligence lawsuits stemming from a fatal shooting that occurred at a North Carolina truck stop where the company staffed security guards, citing certain policy exclusions.

  • September 23, 2024

    Davis Polk Vows Ex-Clerk Won't Touch Crypto Merger Suit

    Local counsel for Galaxy Digital Holdings Inc. has told a Delaware vice chancellor that Davis Polk & Wardwell LLP will ensure that an incoming associate who clerked for the state's Supreme Court won't share information with attorneys defending the digital assets company in a merger suit that the state's highest court revived in May.

  • September 23, 2024

    Holland & Knight Adds Former Treasury Adviser In DC

    A former adviser for the U.S. Department of the Treasury and counsel for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has moved his practice to Holland & Knight's office in Washington, D.C., the firm announced Monday.

  • September 23, 2024

    Hawaii Judge Says Tenants Must Arbitrate Water Pollution Suit

    The named plaintiffs in a proposed class of Hawaii tenants must arbitrate the individual claims in their water contamination case against a landlord while their other claims are paused, an Aloha State federal judge has ruled.

  • September 23, 2024

    Conn. Reaches $5M Deal To Resolve Vision Solar Case

    Connecticut is asking a judge to sign off on a judgment that would impose a $5 million civil penalty against Vision Solar LLC to resolve the state's unfair trade practices complaint against the bankrupt company.

  • September 20, 2024

    Arbitration Unlikely For Nursing Home Poison Death Suit

    A California state appeals court has all but affirmed the denial of arbitration in a suit alleging a nursing home caused the poisoning death of a resident who was mistakenly served industrial cleaner left in a pitcher, saying the trial court must first review the validity of the arbitration agreement.

  • September 20, 2024

    T.I.'s Fight With MGA Over Pop Group IP Goes To Jury Again

    An attorney for hip hop moguls T.I. and Tiny Harris told a California federal jury during closing arguments Friday that "common sense" should lead them to find that MGA Entertainment's line of O.M.G. dolls infringed the trade dress and misappropriated the name, likeness and identity of the OMG Girlz pop group.

  • September 20, 2024

    Judge Won't Toss Fraud Suit Against Crypto-Forex Co. Execs

    A Florida judge decided that the CEO and a founding shareholder of purported foreign exchange currency broker FxWinning Ltd. have sufficient ties to Florida to keep them among the defendants of a suit alleging the business and its operators perpetrated a multimillion-dollar fraud.

  • September 20, 2024

    5th Circ. Says Tribunal Properly Slashed $10.6M Gas Award

    A lower court improperly vacated an arbitral tribunal's decision slashing some $4 million from a $10.6 million award issued to a Colorado-based exploration company following a dispute over a Cameroonian natural gas project, the Fifth Circuit ruled Thursday in a published opinion.

  • September 20, 2024

    FERC Opens Enbridge Rate Probe Amid Overcharging Fears

    The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has opened a rate probe into a gas pipeline co-owned by Enbridge Inc. and DT Midstream, saying the pipeline may be overcharging its customers.

  • September 20, 2024

    JPMorgan Chase Sued Again Over Cash 'Sweep' Program

    JPMorgan Chase & Co. was hit with another proposed class action in California federal court claiming the bank's cash sweep investment program funnels customer funds into low-interest bearing accounts at its affiliate Chase Bank, a move that benefits the financial giant while depriving customers of the chance to earn the market-rate interest.

  • September 20, 2024

    Entrepreneur Says Partners Stiffed Him On Testing Site Deal

    A Pittsburgh entrepreneur says he had a deal with three Omaha, Nebraska-based businessmen to help them open COVID-19 testing labs in Ohio and Pennsylvania in the early days of the pandemic, but is still owed $2 million, according to a lawsuit filed Friday in Pennsylvania state court.

  • September 20, 2024

    Morgan Law, Morgan & Morgan Ad Spat Breaks Open Again

    National personal injury firm Morgan & Morgan PA is back in court with a rival Florida-based firm with a similar name, alleging that Morgan Law Group PA is once again poaching its search engine keywords in violation of a 2020 settlement between the two firms.

  • September 20, 2024

    Mandarin Oriental Can Proceed With COVID Coverage Suit

    A New York federal judge declined to toss a COVID-19 business interruption lawsuit by luxury international hotel chain Mandarin Oriental, holding that the chain sufficiently alleged that its loss was caused by an infectious disease under the terms outlined in its "all risks" policy.

  • September 20, 2024

    HCA Presses For NC Attorney General's Merger Review Docs

    HCA Healthcare is demanding North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein turn over certain public records pertaining to his office's review of a 2019 hospital merger at the center of a compliance case, saying they aren't privileged or otherwise protected under work-product.

  • September 20, 2024

    Off The Bench: Favre Flops, Dolan Escapes, Betting Cos. Sued

    In this week's Off The Bench, retired quarterback Brett Favre can't revive a defamation suit against fellow NFL Hall of Famer Shannon Sharpe, New York Knicks owner James Dolan is spared from federal sex-trafficking claims, and two sports-betting giants face new suits over their use of MLB player images.

  • September 20, 2024

    Tribe's Stateless Status Undoes $1.9M Construction Suit

    A Massachusetts federal judge on Thursday tossed a New York construction company's $1.9 million lawsuit against the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe, finding the tribe's stateless position leaves the court with no jurisdiction to decide the case.

  • September 20, 2024

    Marketing Firm Says NC Pot Shop Dropped Ownership Deal

    A North Carolina marketing firm is suing a cannabis shop in state court, alleging the shop's owner breached a contract that would've seen the marketing firm get 49% ownership of the shop for helping to boost its sales.

  • September 20, 2024

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    The past week in London has seen crypto exchange Binance face a new claim from the co-founder of SO Legal, a U.S. immersive art company take on a Bristol venue for copyright violations and Blake Morgan LLP hit with a pension schemes claim by The Trust for Welsh Archeology. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • September 20, 2024

    Steel Biz Investors Sue Atty Over 'Father-Son'-Like Conflict

    A Pennsylvania couple have filed a malpractice suit accusing a lawyer of helping a steel distribution company induce them into investing about $800,000 and defrauding them, saying the attorney didn't disclose his relationship with the company's owners and "father-son"-like bond with one of them.

  • September 20, 2024

    FTC Accuses Drug Middlemen Of Raising Insulin Prices

    The Federal Trade Commission on Friday accused the three largest pharmacy benefits managers, Caremark Rx, Express Scripts and OptumRx, of artificially inflating insulin prices by relying on unfair rebate schemes that hurt competition.

  • September 19, 2024

    Mistrial Avoided In MGA's 3rd Round With T.I. In IP Saga

    A California federal judge declined to order a mistrial Thursday in the intellectual property dispute between MGA Entertainment and hip-hop moguls Clifford "T.I." Harris and Tameka "Tiny" Harris, but he issued a curative instruction to jurors after MGA objected to statements made by an attorney for the Harrises.

  • September 19, 2024

    Bank Raises Contract Shield In E-Merchants' $12M Suit

    Bank Pathward Financial Inc. asked a federal judge Thursday to nix claims against it in a lawsuit brought by two online merchants who alleged that the bank and its partner payment company misrepresented fees and their compliance with card network rules, saying the merchants' claims stem from a contract that clears Pathward of liability.

Expert Analysis

  • Managing Legal Risks After University Gaza Protests

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    Following the protests sparked by the war in Gaza, colleges and universities should expect a long investigative tail and take steps to mitigate risks associated with compliance issues under various legal frameworks and institutional policies, say Wiley's Diana Shaw and Colin Cloherty.

  • Debate Over CFPB Definition Of Credit Is Just Beginning

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has recently worked to expand the meaning of credit, so anyone operating on the edges of the credit markets, or even those who assumed they were safely outside the scope of this regulatory perimeter, should pay close attention as legal challenges to broad interpretations of the definition unfold, says John Coleman at Orrick.

  • Abu Dhabi Ruling Hints At More Arbitration-Friendly Approach

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    The international and comparative rationale an Abu Dhabi onshore court used to decide that an arbitration agreement referencing a defunct arbitration center was still enforceable suggests that the UAE judiciary may be adopting a more flexible, pro-arbitration framework and stabilizing Dubai's arbitration landscape, say attorneys at Reed Smith.

  • Series

    Fishing Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Atop the list of ways fishing makes me a better lawyer is the relief it offers from the chronic stress of a demanding caseload, but it has also improved my listening skills and patience, and has served as an exceptional setting for building earnest relationships, says Steven DeGeorge​​​​​​​ at Robinson Bradshaw.

  • A Healthier Legal Industry Starts With Emotional Intelligence

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    The legal profession has long been plagued by high rates of mental health issues, in part due to attorneys’ early training and broader societal stereotypes — but developing one’s emotional intelligence is one way to foster positive change, collectively and individually, says attorney Esperanza Franco.

  • To Make Your Legal Writing Clear, Emulate A Master Chef

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    To deliver clear and effective written advocacy, lawyers should follow the model of a fine dining chef — seasoning a foundation of pure facts with punchy descriptors, spicing it up with analogies, refining the recipe and trimming the fat — thus catering to a sophisticated audience of decision-makers, says Reuben Guttman at Guttman Buschner.

  • Circuit Judge Writes An Opinion, AI Helps: What Now?

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    Last week's Eleventh Circuit opinion in Snell v. United Specialty Insurance, notable for a concurrence outlining the use of artificial intelligence to evaluate a term's common meaning, is hopefully the first step toward developing a coherent basis for the judiciary's generative AI use, says David Zaslowsky at Baker McKenzie.

  • DC Circ. Ruling Heightens HHS Contract Pharmacy Challenges

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    The D.C. Circuit's recent ruling that the Section 340B program does not bar manufacturers from restricting deliveries of discounted drugs to contract pharmacies represents a second strike against the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' current contract pharmacy policy and raises the stakes surrounding an upcoming Seventh Circuit ruling on the same issue, say attorneys at Foley Hoag.

  • Trending At The PTAB: Real Party In Interest And IPR

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    The Patent Trial and Appeal Board’s recent Luminex v. Signify decision, finding a complaint seeking indemnification may be treated as a public demand sufficient to establish a real party-in-interest, shows that the board continues to apply a broad and expansive definition to that term, say Yicong (Eve) Du and Yieyie Yang at Finnegan.

  • How Employers, Attorneys Can Respond To Noncompete Ban

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    As the Federal Trade Commission's recently issued noncompete ban faces ongoing legal challenges, now is a good time for employers to consider whether they want to take a wait-and-see approach before halting use of noncompetes and for practitioners to gain insight into other tools available to protect their clients' business interests, says Jennifer Platzkere Snyder at Dilworth Paxson.

  • Perspectives

    Trauma-Informed Legal Approaches For Pro Bono Attorneys

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    As National Trauma Awareness Month ends, pro bono attorneys should nevertheless continue to acknowledge the mental and physical effects of trauma, allowing them to better represent clients, and protect themselves from compassion fatigue and burnout, say Katherine Cronin at Stinson and Katharine Manning at Blackbird.

  • CFPB's Expanding Scope Evident In Coding Bootcamp Fine

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    The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau's recent penalty against a for-profit coding bootcamp that misrepresented its tuition financing plans is a sign that the bureau is seeking to wield its supervisory and enforcement powers in more industries that offer consumer financing, say Jason McElroy and Brandon Sherman at Saul Ewing.

  • 4 Arbitration Takeaways From High Court Coinbase Ruling

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    The U.S. Supreme Court's May 23 decision in Coinbase v. Suski, which provides clarity to parties faced with successive contracts containing conflicting dispute resolution provisions, has four practical impacts for contracting parties to consider, say Charles Schoenwetter and Eric Olson at Bowman and Brooke.

  • Series

    Playing Music Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My deep and passionate involvement in playing, writing and producing music equipped me with skills — like creativity, improvisation and problem-solving — that contribute to the success of my legal career, says attorney Kenneth Greene.

  • How Attys Can Avoid Pitfalls When Withdrawing From A Case

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    The Trump campaign's recent scuffle over its bid to replace its counsel in a pregnancy retaliation suit offers a chance to remind attorneys that many troubles inherent in withdrawing from a case can be mitigated or entirely avoided by communicating with clients openly and frequently, says Christopher Konneker at Orsinger Nelson.

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