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Assessing a Franchisor's Obligations to Preserve Electronically Stored Information
Earlier this year, a decision was issued by a state court in New York that further expanded the obligations and requirements imposed on parties in connection with protecting against the spoliation of evidence ' specifically the deletion of electronically stored information (“ESI”). Voom HD Holdings, LLC v. EchoStar Satellite L.L.C., 93 A.D.3d 33 (N.Y. Sup. Ct., 2012). While technically not a franchise case, the facts of the Voom case are very similar to a typical franchisor/franchisee dispute and, thus, the decision could significantly affect how franchisors operate. If broadly applied, the decision in Voom arguably could require a franchisor to initiate a litigation hold to preserve relevant documentation, including ESI, as soon as it starts down the path of possibly terminating a franchisee.
The facts in the case are relatively straightforward. Voom HD Holdings, LLC and EchoStar Satellite L.L.C. entered into an affiliation agreement in 2005 pursuant to which EchoStar agreed to distribute Voom's television programming. In 2007, EchoStar determined that Voom had failed to comply with certain financial commitments required by the agreement and/or had failed to meet programming content obligations. In June 2007, EchoStar sent two letters to Voom advising Voom of EchoStar's intent to exercise its audit rights and expressing EchoStar's belief that it was entitled to terminate the agreement because Voom had failed to live up to its obligations under the agreement. Internal communications showed that EchoStar representatives believed that it was likely that Voom would commence litigation if the agreement was terminated. On Jan. 30, 2008, EchoStar formally terminated the agreement. Voom filed its lawsuit the next day.
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?
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.
Supreme Court Rules Rejection of Trademark License Does Not Rescind Rights of Licensee
Mission Product Holdings, Inc. v. Tempnology, LLC The question is whether a debtor's rejection of its agreement granting a license "terminates rights of the licensee that would survive the licensor's breach under applicable nonbankruptcy law."