Features
Criminal Probe of Weinstein Role in amfAR Monies
The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York is conducting a criminal investigation into transactions connected to The Foundation for AIDS Research (amfAR) that were arranged by embattled film producer Harvey Weinstein, <i>The New York Times</i> reported. The transactions involved $600,000 raised at a May 2015 auction in Cannes on the French Riviera from a pair of fundraising packages arranged by Weinstein.
Features
The Deductibility of FCA Payments in Light of <b><i>Kokesh</i></b>
<b><i>A Business Expense?</i></b><p>In negotiating FCA or similar settlements with the government, one key consideration is the tax treatment of any payment. While not in the context of deductibility, the Supreme Court this year, in<i>Kokesh v. SEC</i>, analyzed whether disgorgement in an SEC enforcement action was punitive or compensatory.
Features
Defenses of Impossibility of Performance and Frustration of Purpose
Parties in complex commercial cases that are accused of defaulting on or breaching a contract may invoke the defense of impossibility, arguing that performance of contractual obligations was rendered impossible by an intervening event. But under New York law, those arguments rarely make it past the motion stage.
Columns & Departments
IP News
Federal Circuit Resolves Circuit Split, Finds That Venue Is Not Waived Under Rule 12(h)(1)(A) for Cases Brought before <i>TC HeartLand</i><br>Federal Circuit Reverses Award of Lost Profits Because Product Sold to a Single Customer Was an Available Non- Infringing Alternative
Columns & Departments
Development
Discussion of a case in which a restaurant owner planned to demolish the existing building on a leased parcel to build a 5400-square-foot restaurant
Features
Chancery Approves Incorporation of Reference Condition in Section 220 Litigation
Books and records actions are heralded as the "tools at hand" for litigators pursuing shareholder claims against a corporation. In fact, the Delaware Court of Chancery has been critical of litigants who failed to take advantage of a shareholder's right to request the books and records of a corporation prior to commencing litigation against the corporation.
Features
Unreliable Methodologies Doom Neck Brace Experts
A U.S. Magistrate Judge in Indiana recently excluded the opinions of two experts because they did not meet the "reliability" criteria specified in Federal Rule of Evidence 702 and the famous <i>Daubert</i> decision. The rulings doomed the badly injured plaintiff's claim because summary judgment in favor of the defendant quickly followed.
Features
RICO Suit Cites 'Weinstein Sexual Enterprise'
Add this to the growing list of legal problems facing Harvey Weinstein, The Weinstein Co. (TWC) and Miramax: Lawyers at Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro and The Armenta Law Firm have filed a federal racketeering class action against Weinstein, the production company and the studio alleging they conspired "to facilitate and conceal [Weinstein's] pattern of unwanted sexual conduct."
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