Litigation

This edition of the Review looks at some legislation of interest to corporate lawyers that went into effect from May 1 through July 1, 2011. It also looks at recent decisions of interest from the courts of Delaware, California, and Nevada.

In Greenwood Land Co. v. Omnicare Inc., the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania precluded a tenant from claiming negligence against its real estate management company under the gist of the action and economic loss doctrines as a result of a contract that existed between the parties.

The in-depth story of a successful reorganization endeavor.

In a rare and sweeping bankruptcy ruling, a federal bankruptcy judge backed by most of his colleagues in the Central District of California has held that the federal Defense of Marriage Act is unconstitutional.

Not all file-sharing websites are created equal, according to U.S. District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell of the U.S District Court for the District of Washington.

What's at issue is control, obviously, and the great lengths to which some will go to maintain it, even as they benefit from the wide-open, free-flowing viral information torrent of the Internet.

One thing to do when hiring a celebrity endorser is to be certain the contract includes a "morals clause" that permits termination of a contract if the endorser decides to use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc., to tweet, post or upload offensive comments and materials. Know, however, that celebrity agents are very careful not to let contracts be terminated for bad behavior.

A Massachusetts state court judge has ruled that a Boston software developer's case against defunct social media site ConnectU Inc. and its founders and key shareholders, including the Winklevoss twins, can move forward. Also, the Winklevosses' have taken their bid to undo their Facebook settlement to the Supreme Court.