Litigation

  • A Cautionary Tale for Lender Overreaching into Bankruptcy Remoteness

    In re Lexington Hospitality Group, LLC

    Bankruptcy remote structures are often used to protect against the impact of default under a credit facility. A common mechanism is organizational documents requiring an outside director or member's vote to authorize a bankruptcy filing. However, the United States Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky found that such a requirement implemented at the behest of a lender, among other bankruptcy restrictions, and where there was not true independence frustrated the important federal public policy of favoring fresh starts in bankruptcy.

    April 01, 2018Jeffrey S. Greenberg

  • IP News

    Claim Preclusion Requires Analysis that Claims in Newly Asserted Patents are Patently Indistinct from Claims in Previously Adjudicated Patents
    Claim Elements Taught by Prior Art for Purposes of Novelty and Obviousness are not Necessarily 'Well-Understood, Routine, and Conventional' Under §101

    April 01, 2018Howard Shire and Michael Block

  • Hotline

    Arkansas State Senator Pleads Guilty to Fraud and Money Laundering

    April 01, 2018ssalkin

  • Landlord & Tenant

    Denial of Remaining Family Member Status Upheld
    Occupant Entitled to Succession Rights to Stabilized Apartment Even If Named Tenant Continued to Sign Leases After Moving Out
    Tenant Entitled to Succession Rights to Rent-Controlled Apartment
    Landlord Did Not Establish Use of Apartment to Facilitate Drug Trading
    421-G Buildings Subject to Luxury Deregulation
    Incarcerated Son Note Entitled to Succession Rights

    April 01, 2018ssalkin

  • Bit Parts

    Essence of the Ninth Circuit's Decision in the “Blurred Lines” Copyright Infringement Case
    Trademark Cancellation Claim Can't Proceed Against Marilyn Monroe Brand Manager

    April 01, 2018Stan Soocher

  • Case Notes

    Suit in Second Jurisdiction Is Duplicative
    Mailing Rent Check While Doing Unauthorized Acts Is Not Mail Fraud

    April 01, 2018ssalkin

  • Court of Appeals Reaffirms that Deference Is Alive and Well When It Comes to Substantive Requirements of SEQRA EISs

    The New York Court of Appeals has long established that an agency's assessment of environmental impacts pursuant to the New York State Environmental Quality Review Act, or SEQRA, is entitled to substantial deference, admonishing lower courts that it is not their role to substitute their judgment for the judgment of agencies undertaking the action. Sometimes, however, lower courts give lip service to the deferential standard of review but fail to apply it.

    March 01, 2018Steven C. Russo and Evan Preminger

  • New Federal Tax Act Gives New Life, and Twists, to Treatment of Film, TV and Stage Productions

    Section 181 of the IRC has provided benefits to both producers of movies and television programs and — under pass-through legal structures such as limited liability companies — to their investors. Now, with the enactment of the sweeping new federal tax law, §181 has been given new life, with a couple of additional benefits and a couple of additional twists.

    March 01, 2018Thomas D. Selz and Bernard C. Topper Jr.

  • Supreme Court Asked, Again, to Weigh In on Data Breach Standing as Circuit Split Widens

    CareFirst, a large health care company involved in a data breach case, asked the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh in on whether victims can establish Article III standing to sue for the risk of future identity theft. The Court denied the request, leaving intact a recent district court holding that consumers could successfully plead such a claim issue — and leaving a split among the federal appellate courts.

    March 01, 2018Craig A. Newman and Jonathan Hatch