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Engagement Letters: Preventive Medicine Image

Engagement Letters: Preventive Medicine

Michael Mooney

Establishing a successful relationship between a law firm and its clients requires clear communication, and what better time to start than when the relationship begins? In addition to helping avoid misunderstandings on billings, a well-drafted engagement letter provides an early opportunity to confirm both the client's and the firm's expectations on a number of other matters as well.

Did 'Roommates.com' Nix Consumer-Generated Content? Image

Did 'Roommates.com' Nix Consumer-Generated Content?

Paul W. Garrity

Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act essentially gives Internet service providers immunity from liability for publishing false or defamatory material as long as that material was provided by another party. In <i>Fair Housing Council of San Fernando Valley v. Roommates.com LLC</i>, an en banc panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed an earlier ruling that a commercial roommate-matching service may be liable for violations of the Fair Housing Act because of the manner in which the site elicits information from prospective roommates.

Features

Online Pharmacy Ordered to Pay FTC $15.8 Million Image

Online Pharmacy Ordered to Pay FTC $15.8 Million

R. Robin McDonald

Saying they 'dispensed deception,' a federal judge in Atlanta has ordered the founders and operators of a now-defunct online pharmacy business to pay the FTC $15.8 million for fraudulent claims associated with the drugs they peddled. In his order, issued June 4, U.S. District Judge Charles A. Pannell also found Dr. Terrill Mark Wright, a physician associated with the online pharmacies, liable for $15.4 million to compensate consumers for false advertising claims.

Features

Quarterly State Compliance Review Image

Quarterly State Compliance Review

Sandra Feldman

This edition of the Quarterly State Compliance Review looks at some legislation of interest to corporate lawyers that went into effect during the last three months. It also looks at some recent decisions of interest, including two decisions from the Delaware Supreme Court involving challenged stock options.

Features

PROTECT Act Upheld; Questions on Protected Speech Arise Image

PROTECT Act Upheld; Questions on Protected Speech Arise

Aziz Huq

The problem of child pornography on the Internet has long bedeviled Congress. But the legislature has floundered between the First Amendment's protection of speech and the self-evident evils involved in child porn's production and consumption, leaving a trail of laws invalidated by the High Court. The most recent legislative iteration ' the PROTECT Act, upheld on May 19 by the Supreme Court in <i>United States v. Williams</i> ' raises new and intriguing questions about the relation of sexual and political speech.

Features

Advance Notice Bylaws: 'If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It!' Image

Advance Notice Bylaws: 'If It Ain't Broke, Don't Fix It!'

Robert S. Reder, Alan J. Stone & Dean W. Sattler

In two recent decisions, the Delaware Court of Chancery found advance notice bylaws to be ineffective in preventing stockholders from nominating alternative director candidates without providing the requisite advance notice, indicating that any ambiguities in these bylaws will be construed against the corporation and in favor of activist stockholders.

Features

Business Crimes Hotline Image

Business Crimes Hotline

ALM Staff & Law Journal Newsletters

National rulings of interest.

Features

In the Courts Image

In the Courts

ALM Staff & Law Journal Newsletters

Recent rulings of importance to your practice.

Features

Parent Corporations and Their Subsidiaries' Liabilities: Guidelines Image

Parent Corporations and Their Subsidiaries' Liabilities: Guidelines

Stanley R. Weinberger

In February 2007 the Illinois Supreme Court in a unanimous decision held as a matter of first impression that a parent corporation could be directly liable for its negligence to the estates of two employees of its subsidiary corporation. <i>Forsythe v. Clark USA.</i> The Illinois Court relied extensively on the unanimous 1998 opinion of the U.S. Supreme Court in <i>U S v. Bestfoods.</i> Both courts limited the reach of their opinions by making explicit the common law principle that corporate shareholders are not generally liable for the acts and omissions of their subsidiaries in the absence of active involvement of the parent in those acts or omissions.

Erratum Image

Erratum

ALM Staff & Law Journal Newsletters

In last month's issue, the bio note for Darryl Vernon failed to mention that he served as counsel for tenants in Riverside Syndicate, Inc. v. Munroe. We apologize for the omission.&#133;

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