Features
ALM Staff
&
Law Journal Newsletters
Man Fired for Visiting Adult Chat Room Sues and Claims Addiction<br>RIAA Denounces New Fair Use Bill
Features
Christy Burke
Along with e-discovery, the field of computer forensics is becoming evermore central to the discovery process. The need for computer forensics analysis is appearing frequently at the state and federal level, and the field's influence and demands are permeating civil and criminal cases, both large and small.
Features
ALM Staff
&
Law Journal Newsletters
Recent rulings of interest to you and your practice.
Features
Sarah Dean
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Gil Abramson
In the old days, decisions made by executives and directors in the board room often were cloaked with a veil of legitimacy. Now, however, these decisions are under constant surveillance and scrutiny from outsiders and are even vulnerable to leaks from insiders. As executives and directors are thrust into the media and legal forefront, not only do they face potential personal liability for their decisions, but the corporations themselves face liability for their actions.
Features
Debra S. Friedman
The U.S. Supreme Court is currently considering a case of great importance to employers, <i>Ledbetter v. Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., Inc.</i> It will decide when the statute of limitations begins to run under Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (as amended) ('Title VII') for certain types of disparate pay claims.
Features
Andrew Schepard
Other than holding that courts cannot use race as a criterion for decision, the U.S. Supreme Court has not delved deeply into defining the constitutional rights of divorcing parents in the context of a custody dispute. In <i>Shepp v. Shepp</i>, 906 A.2d 1165 (Pa. 2006), however, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court recently held that a divorced parent had a constitutional right to advocate his sincere religious belief in polygamy to his 9-year-old child.
Features
Sean M. Byrne
Wherever you turn these days, there seems to be a new CLE seminar being offered or white paper being written on the 'sweeping changes' to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure as they relate to the discovery of electronically stored information.<br>And most of them are tied together by a common thread: an alarmist air of hype.
Features
ALM Staff
&
Law Journal Newsletters
Verdicts of interest to you and your practice.
Features
Jeremy Freeman
The misappropriation theory of insider trading, which was first recognized by the Supreme Court in <i>United States v. O'Hagan</i>, 521 U.S. 642 (1997), establishes liability for individuals who are not typical 'insiders' of companies and also appears to offer such defendants a specific defense to insider trading charges. The O'Hagan Court based the misappropriation theory on a duty owed by the defendant to the source of non-public material information, rather than to the shareholders of the company whose stock was being traded. Because a defendant prosecuted under the misappropriation theory had a duty only to his source, the Court explained that a defendant's disclosure to the source of information prior to trading or tipping could neutralize the acts of deception necessary for a securities fraud claim.
Features
Brian L. Davidoff
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Jeanne C. Wanlass
Litigation involving asbestos, which was used for decades as a fire retardant in many products, has littered the legal landscape for years. Several major companies have over the course of the last several years filed for bankruptcy as a result of the onslaught of this litigation. Since the 1980s, many asbestos manufacturers, including Johns Manville, declared bankruptcy under the weight of liability payouts. To date, an estimated 85 companies have filed for bankruptcy claiming asbestos liabilities as the cause. A Rand Institute for Civil Justice report indicates that more than 730,000 asbestos claims have been filed since the early 1970s. Roughly 200,000 claims are still pending in state and federal courts nationwide. Estimates predict that up to 2.4 million claims still may be filed before asbestos litigation finally runs its course.
