LJN Newsletters

Cases of interest in neighboring states.

Are concepts of confidentiality and disclosure mutually exclusive? With the concepts we have discussed in the last two installments in mind, some have argued that there is really no issue of confidentiality left to protect in a matrimonial case.

Seven new Family Court judges in New York City would be among 21 judgeships created in Family Courts statewide under legislation approved by the state Senate. The additional judgeships for New York City would be the first in the city's Family Court since 1991 and the most significant increase statewide on the Family Court bench in at least three decades.

Some states have legalized same-sex marriage while others recognize or grant certain rights to same-sex couples. The issue is critical and hotly debated because marriage confers certain benefits under state and federal law that are generally denied to same-sex couples. Many of these protections and benefits pertain to estate planning.

California's premarital agreements are significantly different from foreign marital contracts, which allow a couple to elect a regime of marriage ' for example, joint or community property regimes, a separate property regime, or a variation thereof ' depending on the country. Whether a California court will enforce a foreign marital contract may depend on whether the court applies California law or foreign law.

REMS, or Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, is a new tool that Congress provided the FDA to ensure the safe use of certain types of prescription drug products. The FDA may require a drug manufacturer to include a REMS in its new drug application when the agency concludes this is necessary to ensure that the benefits of the drug outweigh its risks.

Several recent developments suggest that the European Union (EU) and some of its individual Member States are preparing to embrace the idea of collective redress mechanisms for consumer claims. Although an effective European collective redress mechanism has yet to materialize, the process toward crafting one is certainly underway.

This article discusses the Ninth Circuit's recent decision in Rodriguez v. West Publishing Co., 563 F.3d 948 (9th Cir. 2009), that specifically considered the viability of incentive awards and their impact on the adequacy of class representatives.