Law.com Subscribers SAVE 30%
Call 855-808-4530 or email [email protected] to receive your discount on a new subscription.
Conflict of Laws And Insurance Disputes: Choice of Law or Choice of Outcomes?
Most insurance policies are silent as to which state's substantive law governs their terms. As a result, insurance-coverage lawyers often find ourselves wading deep into the world of choice of law and conflict of laws. Conflicts issues are (largely) untethered from the merits of a case, yet can be outcome determinative; so it is crucial to understand and focus on choice-of-law principles in com-plex insurance disputes, as they can yield the application of different state laws within a single case to issues of contract formation, performance, and bad faith.
There are two paradigmatic approaches to choice of law, but nuances in every state affect the analysis. What one can call the First Restatement or lex loci contractus approach looks to some formal act involved in the making of a contract and holds that the location of that act tells one which state's law governs. Now more than 75 years old, several states still follow its teachings.
Then there is the Second Restatement approach, promulgated 30 years ago, which is plainly the dominant intellectual framework for choice of law in the United States. This looks to the state with the 'most significant relationship' between the issue to be resolved and the states affected. See Restatement 2d ”6, 188, 193. The Second Restatement analysis proceeds issue by issue, that is, one state's law can apply to one issue in a case and another state's law to a different one. (This is a principle called depe'age.)
Major Differences In UK, U.S. Copyright Laws
This article highlights how copyright law in the United Kingdom differs from U.S. copyright law, and points out differences that may be crucial to entertainment and media businesses familiar with U.S law that are interested in operating in the United Kingdom or under UK law. The article also briefly addresses contrasts in UK and U.S. trademark law.
The Article 8 Opt In
The Article 8 opt-in election adds an additional layer of complexity to the already labyrinthine rules governing perfection of security interests under the UCC. A lender that is unaware of the nuances created by the opt in (may find its security interest vulnerable to being primed by another party that has taken steps to perfect in a superior manner under the circumstances.
Strategy vs. Tactics: Two Sides of a Difficult Coin
With each successive large-scale cyber attack, it is slowly becoming clear that ransomware attacks are targeting the critical infrastructure of the most powerful country on the planet. Understanding the strategy, and tactics of our opponents, as well as the strategy and the tactics we implement as a response are vital to victory.
Legal Possession: What Does It Mean?
Possession of real property is a matter of physical fact. Having the right or legal entitlement to possession is not "possession," possession is "the fact of having or holding property in one's power." That power means having physical dominion and control over the property.
The Stranger to the Deed Rule
In 1987, a unanimous Court of Appeals reaffirmed the vitality of the "stranger to the deed" rule, which holds that if a grantor executes a deed to a grantee purporting to create an easement in a third party, the easement is invalid. Daniello v. Wagner, decided by the Second Department on November 29th, makes it clear that not all grantors (or their lawyers) have received the Court of Appeals' message, suggesting that the rule needs re-examination.