Litigation

Ever since the Honeycutt ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2017 that co-conspirators convicted of federal narcotics violations could not be held jointly and severally liable, courts have grappled with whether it also applied outside the narcotics context, to forfeiture judgments imposed in white-collar cases.

Looking primarily to states like Connecticut for guidance, the Appellate Court of Maryland concluded that economic challenges stemming from COVID-19 executive orders themselves are not sufficient to establish the affirmative defenses of frustration of purpose and legal impossibility for failure to pay rent.

With the year starting out amid uncertainty and no small amount of pessimism, there are certain strategies that promise to play well amid the environment. Read on to find out what will work in 2023.

Patent Infringement and Trade Dress In the Ninth Circuit

Breach-of-Contract Claim Can Continue Over Refusal to Exercise Option to Retain Anti-Vaccination Actress California Court Rules on Intersection Between Anti-SLAPP Law and Movie Trailer

Traditionally, the bankruptcy risk for D&Os has been fairly low. Several recent developments have, however, shifted the landscape somewhat and altered the risk profile.

On Jan. 30, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit reversed a bankruptcy judge's decision, concluding that Johnson & Johnson subsidiary LTL Management was not in financial distress at the time it filed its Chapter 11 case in 2021.

The Ninth Circuit held in VIP Prods. LLC v. Jack Daniel's Properties that VIP's "Bad Spaniels" dog toy mimicking the appearance of a Jack Daniels whisky bottle was protected expression under the First Amendment. The Supreme Court granted cert in November 2022 to consider the principal question whether humorous use of another's mark on a commercial product should be assessed under Rogers or the traditional multipart test of likelihood of confusion.