It's understood that the "discovery wars" have long been far more than litigation maneuvering by both sides in a case. Even without intention, the volume and complexity of electronically stored information pertinent to litigation results in cost burdens that affect substantive decisions in a case.
A television station's report that two stores in the D'Lites chain of dietary ice cream franchises were mislabeling their "small" portions as low calorie and low carb was "substantially true," and a defamation claim by a franchise owner was properly dismissed, a Manhattan appeals court said on March 15.
It is a fact pattern common to asbestos-related lawsuits: A plaintiff recalls generally working around different products that may or may not have contained asbestos, but cannot pinpoint specific time periods or locations where those products were present and could have exposed the plaintiff to asbestos. Typically, the alleged exposure occurred three or more decades ago, with no potential corroborating documents or witnesses surviving to the present date. This scenario places defendants in the untenable position of defending a claim without access to any information on the products, or the alleged exposure, that will either confirm or deny that the identified products were both present in the plaintiff's workplace and actually contained asbestos.
A number of conflicting decisions over the past year and a half concerning whether provisions prohibiting waiver of duties or liabilities under the New York Franchise Act prohibit franchisors from interposing franchisee "non-reliance" franchise agreement disclaimers when confronting fraud actions brought under the Act makes clear that this critical area of law will remain muddied until the courts decisively rule on the subject.
For the inside counsel revolution to succeed, the General Counsel must follow a basic dictum: Hire the best. The key to the legal function's credibility with the CEO and senior line executives is to seek broad-gauged lawyers who are outstanding technical experts, wise counselors and effective leaders to occupy the top specialists jobs in the company and to be general counsel in the main operating divisions.
As creditors well know, a lien holder must be vigilant in both perfecting and maintaining the perfection and priority of its lien. But even a creditor that properly maintains its lien may find that enforcement of (or more specifically, failing to enforce) that lien can affect priority.
Deactivated Facebook Page of Band Not a "Use in Commerce"
New York Federal Court Declines Request From Elvis Presley Enterprises To Obtain Royalty Documents From Sony Music for Litigation Against Arista Music in Germany
Leveraging advanced technologies can empower corporate counsel and law firms alike to take control of the ongoing challenge that today's "information on demand" expectations present. When access, disaster recovery, scalability and security are paramount requirements, a migration to the cloud could be the most effective route to help ensure this is accomplished.
Not if, but when." These simple words are enough to keep privacy officers, corporate counsel, compliance officers and IT managers up at night when faced with the reality that their network will at some point be breached. While there are no silver bullets to stop breaches from occurring, understanding and following legal actions brought by regulatory agencies and heeding security guidance they issue can go a long way.
