Commercial Litigation Update

Our colleague Stuart Gerson of Epstein Becker Green has a new post on SCOTUS Today that will be of interest to our readers: "A Unanimous Court Applies Unambiguous Statutory Requirements in Two New Decisions".

The following is an excerpt:

The Court is in full-majority mode today, again focusing on text rather than more abstract notions of policy.

In Territory of Guam v. United States, a unanimous Court, in an opinion written by Justice Thomas, reversed the D.C. Circuit and revived Guam’s suit against the U.S. Navy, seeking $160 million because of pollution at a waste ...

Our colleague Stuart Gerson of Epstein Becker Green has a new post on SCOTUS Today that will be of interest to our readers: "Court Grants Certiorari in Abortion Case, Issues Several Decisions, and Continues to Demonstrate an Essential Commitment to Textualism".

The following is an excerpt:

The most widely reported action that the Supreme Court took this past Monday is its grant of cert. to review an en banc decision of the Fifth Circuit that, if reversed, would substantially undercut Roe v. Wade. That case won’t be argued until next fall and, for now, the readers of ...

“Cowboy” Joe West is the best-known, longest-serving, and (to some) most reviled umpire currently active in Major League Baseball. For example, in 2010 he was named the second-worst MLB umpire, barely losing to CB Bucknor in a call at the plate that today could only be decided by the replay umpires in New York. At least he has his part-time country music career to fall back on. But West recently hit a home run in court, winning a $500,000 defamation verdict against a former player who accused him of trading a generous strike zone for personal favors. The court’s decision illustrates ...

Should I click “Reply All”?  Did I accidentally click “Reply All”? These thoughts have run through almost every person’s head when responding to an email that contained numerous other individuals besides the sender. The Reply All option on emails has always been a source of questions surrounding work-place etiquette and embarrassment. On top of that, lawyers should think about one more thing before selecting Reply All: ethics.

A recent opinion by the New Jersey Advisory Committee on Professional Ethics considered the implications of an attorney clicking Reply All on an ...

Our colleague Stuart Gerson of Epstein Becker Green has a new post on SCOTUS Today that will be of interest to our readers: "The Court at Peace".

The following is an excerpt:

Given that there was a good deal of media interest in Justice Sotomayor’s somewhat vituperative dissenting criticism of Justice Kavanaugh in last week’s decision in the criminal sentencing case of Jones v. Mississippi¸ today’s per curiam GVR (Grant, Vacate, and Remand) order in Alaska v. Wright is worthy of at least passing mention.

Once again, the Ninth Circuit is reversed, this time ...

We blogged last October (here) about the Third Circuit’s decision in FTC v. AbbieVie Inc., holding that Section 13(b) of the Federal Trade Commission Act, which expressly gives the FTC authority to obtain injunctive relief, does not allow a district court to order disgorgement or restitution. We also noted that the Supreme Court had granted certiorari to hear an appeal of the 9^th Circuit’s decision in AMG Capital Management, LLC v. FTC, where the 9^th Circuit upheld the Commission’s right to seek equitable monetary remedies pursuant to Section 13(b) of the FTC Act, while the 3^rd

As we have written here previously, businesses across the country have brought lawsuits against their insurers seeking coverage for losses related to COVID-19. According to the COVID Coverage Litigation Tracker at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School, over 1,500 suits have been filed since March 2020 in state and federal court. Some interesting statistics based on that information:

• Over one third of the cases have been filed by food services establishments.
• Almost one quarter of the cases were brought as class actions.
• Approximately one third of the cases involved ...

Our colleagues Gregory Keating and Francesco DeLuca of Epstein Becker Green have a new post on Workforce Bulletin that will be of interest to our readers: "Massachusetts Case Highlights Importance of Clear Communication in Compensation Plans."

The following is an excerpt:

Preparing the terms of employee compensation can be a resource-intensive task requiring input from stakeholders across numerous departments, including human resources, finance, and legal. However, as the Massachusetts Appeals Court’s recent decision in Alfieri v. Merrimack Pharmaceuticals ...

I was reminiscing the other day about how I missed my favorite, snarky website Gawker when I saw that the District of New Jersey has proposed an amendment to the local rules (Local Rule 7.1.1) that would require disclosure of third-party litigation funding. Under the proposed new rule, all parties would be required to file statements setting forth information about any non-party person or entity that is “providing funding for some or all of the attorneys’ fees and expenses for the litigation of a non-recourse basis” in exchange for either “a contingent financial interest ...

On March 26, 2021, the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit decided The Andy Warhol Foundation v. Goldsmith, a decision addressing the “fair use” doctrine, an important part of copyright law. “Fair use” tries to balance the extent to which one artist may build on a prior artist’s work without getting the first artist’s approval or license for doing so, and when so much of the quality or quantity of first work is copied that that artist’s work deserves protection against the latter piece. In the recently-decided case, which the Warhol Foundation had won ...