Features
PROTECT Act Upheld; Questions on Protected Speech Arise
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!'
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
In the Courts
Recent rulings of importance to your practice.
Features
Parent Corporations and Their Subsidiaries' Liabilities: Guidelines
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
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.…
Bit Parts
Copyright Preemption/Unfair Competition<br>Music Publishing/Contract Interpretation<br>Rights in Band Names and Member Personas/Injunctive Relief<br>Song Copyrights/Fair Use
Health Care Fraud Redux?
At times in the past decade, health care fraud seemed to be the top priority of the DOJ. Although nationally it's now been eclipsed by corporate accountability, the DOJ has focused on health care fraud and abuse in two of the nation's largest federal prosecutors' offices: Los Angeles and Houston. The Central District of California and the Southern District of Texas ' supposedly fraud and abuse hot spots ' are setting up dedicated Medicare Fraud Task Forces based on a model that enjoyed great success in the Southern District of Florida.
Malpractice Suit over The Source Comments Proceeds
A Manhattan federal magistrate judge ruled that a client may proceed with a legal-malpractice claim against a law firm for failing to bring defamation claims on behalf of the client in a highprofile sexual harassment and discrimination case against hip-hop magazine The Source.
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