Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%
Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.
The Dangers Of Electronic Discovery
As has been widely publicized, on May 16 a Florida state court jury awarded $604.3 million in compensatory damages and later an additional $850 million in punitive damages to Coleman Holdings Inc., the camping-gear maker formerly owned by billionaire investor Ronald Perelman, in Coleman's fraud suit against powerhouse investment banker Morgan Stanley & Co. The verdict was notable not only because of its size, but also because of how it came about.
Shortly before the trial, after nearly 2 years of litigation, Judge Elizabeth Maass issued a partial default judgment against Morgan Stanley for what she characterized as a repeated failure to produce e-mails requested by Perelman during discovery. Judge Maass indicated that she would affirmatively instruct the jury to assume that Morgan Stanley had participated in a fraud. At the beginning of the trial, Judge Maass did exactly that; telling the jury that it was to assume that “Morgan Stanley participated in a scheme to mislead (Coleman) and others and to cover up massive fraud.” Though Perelman still needed to prove that he relied on Morgan Stanley, the judge's extraordinary instruction rendered an adverse verdict against Morgan Stanley a fait accompli.
Bankruptcy Sales: Finding a Diamond In the Rough
There is no efficient market for the sale of bankruptcy assets. Inefficient markets yield a transactional drag, potentially dampening the ability of debtors and trustees to maximize value for creditors. This article identifies ways in which investors may more easily discover bankruptcy asset sales.
Judge Rules Shaquille O'Neal Will Face Securities Lawsuit for Promotion, Sale of NFTs
A federal district court in Miami, FL, has ruled that former National Basketball Association star Shaquille O'Neal will have to face a lawsuit over his promotion of unregistered securities in the form of cryptocurrency tokens and that he was a "seller" of these unregistered securities.
Why So Many Great Lawyers Stink at Business Development and What Law Firms Are Doing About It
Why is it that those who are best skilled at advocating for others are ill-equipped at advocating for their own skills and what to do about it?
A Lawyer's System for Active Reading
Active reading comprises many daily tasks lawyers engage in, including highlighting, annotating, note taking, comparing and searching texts. It demands more than flipping or turning pages.
Blockchain Domains: New Developments for Brand Owners
Blockchain domain names offer decentralized alternatives to traditional DNS-based domain names, promising enhanced security, privacy and censorship resistance. However, these benefits come with significant challenges, particularly for brand owners seeking to protect their trademarks in these new digital spaces.