Features
The 'Hot News' Doctrine in the Digital Age
Last year, the Southern District of New York reignited the 90-year-old hot news doctrine and applied it in the Internet context. Since that decision, a number of entities have attempted to use the hot news doctrine to prevent the unauthorized use of time-sensitive content, including most recently, financial firms and media outlets attempting to prevent news-oriented Web sites from publishing their well-researched content.
Features
Government Overpayment
It is not fraud when the government mistakenly overpays businesses who participate in government programs or otherwise receive federal funds. But a false statement made to retain an overpayment is a "reverse false claim" in violation of the False Claims Act (FCA).
Features
The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act
Aggressive federal prosecutors may have a new weapon in their arsenals to prosecute even low-level employee thefts of confidential employer information.
Features
<b><i>BREAKING NEWS:</i></b> High Court Sides With Ex-Enron CEO Skilling
The Supreme Court has sided with former Enron CEO Jeffrey Skilling in limiting the use of a federal fraud law that has been a favorite of white-collar crime prosecutors.
Features
Bad Law on Double Dipping
In last month's newsletter, we looked at the case of <i>Rodriguez v. Rodriguez</i>, in which the Appellate Division, Second Department, correctly found Supreme Court had erred by distributing the value of a service business and awarding spousal support from the income stream from that business, amounting to impermissible "double dipping." A month later, a different panel of the Second Department came to the opposite conclusion, throwing the issue into confusion.
Features
Closely Held Corporate Shares Require a Discount
In divorce, it is sometimes necessary to value shares of a closely held corporation. But there are stocks in privately held companies throughout New York whose shares are not traded on the NYSE or NASDAQ. These companies often have only a handful of shareholders, many of whom are family members or close friends.
Features
Automatic Restraining Orders in Domestic Relations Cases
A recent new statute in New York provided for automatic temporary restraining orders against assets commencing with the filing and service of divorce papers. A number of other states have enacted, or tried to enact, such legislative provisions. However, there are serious constitutional issues that should be addressed.
Features
NJ Supreme Court Extends Long-Arm Jurisdiction to Foreign Manufacturers
On Feb. 2 of this year, the Supreme Court of New Jersey held that a foreign manufacturer of an industrial recycling machine is subject to New Jersey's long-arm jurisdiction under the stream-of-commerce theory. This has broad implications.
Features
Third Circuit Rejects Defective Sperm As Basis for Product Liability Suit
On April 1, the Third Circuit upheld a June 2009 decision by U.S. District Judge Thomas N. O'Neill Jr. that rejected claims by a mother and her daughter who suffers from Fragile X syndrome, a mutation known to cause a group of serious maladies.
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MOST POPULAR STORIES
- Protecting Innovation in the Cyber World from Patent TrollsWith trillions of dollars to keep watch over, the last thing we need is the distraction of costly litigation brought on by patent assertion entities (PAEs or "patent trolls"), companies that don't make any products but instead seek royalties by asserting their patents against those who do make products.Read More ›
- Private Equity Valuation: A Significant DecisionInsiders (and others) in the private equity business are accustomed to seeing a good deal of discussion ' academic and trade ' on the question of the appropriate methods of valuing private equity positions and securities which are otherwise illiquid. An interesting recent decision in the Southern District has been brought to our attention. The case is <i>In Re Allied Capital Corp.</i>, CCH Fed. SEC L. Rep. 92411 (US DC, S.D.N.Y., Apr. 25, 2003). Judge Lynch's decision is well written, the Judge reviewing a motion to dismiss by a business development company, Allied Capital, against a strike suit claiming that Allied's method of valuing its portfolio failed adequately to account for i) conditions at the companies themselves and ii) market conditions. The complaint appears to be, as is often the case, slap dash, content to point out that Allied revalued some of its positions, marking them down for a variety of reasons, and the stock price went down - all this, in the view of plaintiff's counsel, amounting to violations of Rule 10b-5.Read More ›
- Meet the Lawyer Working on Inclusion Rider LanguageAt the Oscars in March, Best Actress winner Frances McDormand made “inclusion rider” go viral. But Kalpana Kotagal, a partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll had already worked for months to write the language for such provisions. Kotagal was developing legal language for contract provisions that Hollywood's elite could use to require studios and other partners to employ diverse workers on set.Read More ›
- Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar InvestigationsThis article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.Read More ›
- The DOJ Goes Phishing: The Rise of False Claims Act Cybersecurity LitigationWhile the DOJ Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative is still in its early stages and cybersecurity regulations are evolving, whistleblower plaintiffs have already begun leveraging the FCA to pursue alleged noncompliance with government cybersecurity requirements.Read More ›