The Sixth Circuit has joined the Second and Ninth Circuits in their broad interpretation of the Telephone Consumer Protection Act’s (TCPA) autodialer provision. In doing so, it has tipped the scale in a circuit split that is ripe for review by the U.S. Supreme Court.… Continue Reading
A recent opinion from the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of California may help plaintiffs facing the difficulties related to serving foreign defendants, especially in light of challenges caused by the current pandemic.… Continue Reading
On June 1, 2020, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a unanimous opinion regarding the relationship between domestic equitable estoppel and the enforcement of arbitration agreements. In GE Energy Power Conversion France SAS, Corp., Converteam SAS v. Outokumpufka Stainless USA, LLC, et al., (“GE Energy Power”), the Court addressed the question of whether the Convention on … Continue Reading
In times of crisis, fraudsters attempt to exploit the latest news developments to lure investors into scams, and the once-in-a-century global health crisis we are currently facing is no exception. On February 4, 2020, the SEC noted in an Investor Alert that it was aware of a number of web-based promotions claiming that the products … Continue Reading
With an uptick in commercial wrangles expected as a result of measures taken to combat Covid-19, England is not alone in seeking to provide a welcoming jurisdiction to deal with such disputes. We identified 6 key developments in arbitration case law in England from the last 6 months. In Part 1 of the two-part post, … Continue Reading
Proskauer’s Vice-Chair of the Litigation Department and Minding Your Business blog editor, Margaret Dale was recently featured on Thomson Reuters’ Practical Law, where she explores ways that clients can protect privilege after a data breach. The first, “Protecting Privilege Basics,” identifies steps that can be taken by an organization to maximize the ability to successfully … Continue Reading
With an uptick in commercial wrangles expected as a result of measures taken to combat Covid-19, England is not alone in seeking to provide a welcoming jurisdiction to deal with such disputes. In this two-part post, we pick out 6 key developments in arbitration case law in England over the last 6 months to reveal … Continue Reading
Requires More than Merely Adding Counsel’s Name to a Forensic Report. Technical investigations conducted following cyber-incidents often have both legal and ordinary-course business purposes. In certain jurisdictions, reports generated as a result of such investigations can be protected from discovery by privilege and work product protections– despite certain non-legal use – under the “dual purpose” … Continue Reading
Earlier this month, the United States Supreme Court unanimously rebuffed the Second Circuit’s attempt to expand the scope of res judicata to include the so-called concept of “defense preclusion” – a novel doctrine that would have barred defendants from raising defenses not asserted in previously adjudicated disputes regardless of whether the disputes share a common … Continue Reading
As state investigators across the country launch price gouging investigations, one thing is becoming clear – state price gouging investigations can look a lot like antitrust investigations. Price gouging enforcement is at an all-time high, and more and more it is being combined with antitrust and unfair trade practice investigations. This overlap can be bad … Continue Reading
On April 24, 2020, the First Circuit affirmed the District of Massachusetts’ dismissal of a case against General Electric on forum non conveniens grounds. In 2011, an earthquake-induced tsunami struck the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Japan. Individuals and businesses who suffered property damage and/or economic harm from the disaster filed a class action … Continue Reading
In 2017, New York amended its general venue statute. For as long as New York’s Civil Practice Law and Rules has existed, the general venue statute (CPLR § 503(a)) placed proper venue solely based on residence of the parties. Prior to 2017, it read:… Continue Reading
The COVID-19 pandemic has brought great economic uncertainty and significant market volatility, creating an environment where investors that are trying to assess the financial impact of the virus are looking to glean any insight they can from a company’s disclosures and are hanging on every statement made by company leaders. This environment of heightened investor … Continue Reading
On April 20, 2020, the Supreme Court held in a 6-3 decision that the Sixth Amendment requires a unanimous jury verdict to convict a defendant of a serious offense in state courts. In so holding, the Court not only paved the way for potentially hundreds of defendants convicted by divided juries, like petitioner Evangelisto Ramos, … Continue Reading
In Salladay v. Lev, the Delaware Chancery Court elaborated on how early a corporate board must take protective measures to shield a conflicted transaction from entire fairness review. Salladay involved a motion to dismiss a challenge to a merger agreement based on alleged director conflicts at the target company. The defendants argued that the transaction … Continue Reading
On March 27, 2020, a five-year legal battle between three certified classes of Jeep Cherokee drivers and Fiat Chrysler came to a sudden end, when a federal judge in the Southern District of Illinois held that allegations that the vehicles were vulnerable to cyber-attacks did not give plaintiffs standing to sue under Article III of … Continue Reading
On March 13, 2020, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit, in a case of first impression, held that a copyright licensee given the unrestricted right to grant sublicenses may do so without using express language. The case, Photographic Illustrators Corp. v. Orgill, Inc., stems from a license Photographic Illustrators Corp. (“PIC”), a … Continue Reading
Nearly eight months after a trial that culminated in an adverse jury verdict, pop singer Katy Perry recently achieved a “Dark Horse” victory, proving that the legal battle was “Never Really Over.”… Continue Reading
On March 23, 2020, the United States Supreme Court ruled that States cannot be sued for copyright infringement under principles of sovereign immunity. This ruling arose from a filmmaker’s suit against the state of North Carolina for unauthorized use of his copyrighted works—footage of a ship wreckage.… Continue Reading
Parties should think twice before posting potential evidence on social media, as the Plaintiff in Guarisco v. Boh Brothers Construction learned recently. The Eastern District of Louisiana imposed sanctions on Plaintiff for deliberately producing an altered photo, which Plaintiff had previously posted on social media in its unaltered form. Rather than relying on Rule 37(e), … Continue Reading
Federal court judges in California are facing a crisis caused by expanding caseloads coupled with increasing vacancies in judicial seats that remain unfilled. United States District Court Judge Dale A. Drozd of the Eastern District of California recently took matters into his own hands. After three other judges in the Eastern District assumed Senior status … Continue Reading
A recent Ninth Circuit decision centered on something most consumers use many times every day: smartphone apps. In Wilson v. Huuuge, Inc., the Ninth Circuit affirmed the denial of defendant Huuuge’s motion to compel arbitration against a user of its smartphone casino app. Addressing a question of first impression, the Court considered the circumstances under … Continue Reading
This past month, professional networking site LinkedIn Corp., was given more time to file a petition for certiorari challenging a Ninth Circuit finding that hiQ Labs Inc. (“hiQ”), a workforce data analytics startup, did not violate federal hacking laws by “scraping” LinkedIn member profiles without LinkedIn’s permission. Data scraping, or web scraping, is a method … Continue Reading
Effective as of January 1, 2020, all civil litigants in California will have additional discovery burdens. The California Code of Civil Procedure now requires “[a]ny documents or category of documents produced in response to a demand for inspection, copying, testing, or sampling shall be identified with the specific request number to which the documents respond.” … Continue Reading
