'Mass Actions': Eleventh Circuit Attempts to Find a Method to the Madness
Although the Eleventh Circuit in <i>Lowery v. Alabama Power Co.</i>, attempted to grapple with some of the thorny issues presented by CAFA's 'mass action' provisions (and removal generally), many questions remain unanswered.
Features
Extra-Judicial Opinions: The Argument Against a Fifth Daubert Factor
Although the Ninth Circuit did not rule that extra-judicial circumstances should be added to the four Supreme Court Daubert 'factors,' there is, nevertheless, superficial support by some courts in dicta that <i>Daubert II</i> held that an extra-judicial opinion is more reliable than one born out of the litigation. A closer look at this idea will reveal it is not one that should be adopted as a factor.
Features
Consumer Fraud Actions: The Applicability of the Learned Intermediary Doctrine
There is much uncertainty surrounding if and how well-established defenses to traditional product liability claims will translate in non-personal injury consumer fraud actions. At the forefront of this uncertainty is the applicability of the learned intermediary doctrine in consumer fraud actions involving pharmaceuticals or medical devices.
Practice Tip: Rule 34's Direct Access Provision
Rule 34 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure permits a party to 'inspect, copy, test, or sample any designated documents or electronically stored information.' However, what exactly does that mean for corporate litigants? Can a plaintiff demand to show up at a client's offices and expect a seat in front of a keyboard? Will a client be forced to hire a third party to copy its hard drives — online shopping Web history and all — and hand them over to the opponent?
Nanotechnology: Law and Business at One-Billionth of a Meter
Nanotechnology represents a vast frontier for science, business, and law. Already governments and corporations are sinking an estimated $10 billion annually into nanotechnology R&D, and economic forecasters are predicting that nanotechnology will account for some 15% of all global manufacturing output by 2014 ' commerce valued at some $2.6 trillion. The plaintiff's bar, mass torts, and class actions cannot be too far behind such words.
Features
The Leasing Hotline
Highlights of the latest commercial leasing cases from around the country.
Subleasing Pointers: The Perspective of a Prime Landlord, Sublandlord, and Subtenant
Parts One and Two of this series discussed subleasing from the perspective of the Prime Landlord and Sublandlord, respectively. This final installment addresses the issue from the Subtenant's perspective.
In the Spotlight: Negotiation of Operating Expenses in an Office Lease
This article provides a brief overview of commonly negotiated operating expenses and presents both the landlord and tenant perspective.
Implied 'Secondary Easement' Rights: What Exactly Does that Easement Grant?
This article addresses the basic theory behind secondary easements and offers some practical considerations in negotiating and drafting easements.
Rapid ROI, Easy Integration With Equitrac Print Tracking & Cost Recovery Solution
Our decision to upgrade to Equitrac Professional 5 was based on the knowledge that its ability to integrate with our existing infrastructure, plus its relatively rapid return on investment, would not hamstring our operational or budget requirements in the short-term.
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MOST POPULAR STORIES
- Protecting Innovation in the Cyber World from Patent TrollsWith trillions of dollars to keep watch over, the last thing we need is the distraction of costly litigation brought on by patent assertion entities (PAEs or "patent trolls"), companies that don't make any products but instead seek royalties by asserting their patents against those who do make products.Read More ›
- Private Equity Valuation: A Significant DecisionInsiders (and others) in the private equity business are accustomed to seeing a good deal of discussion ' academic and trade ' on the question of the appropriate methods of valuing private equity positions and securities which are otherwise illiquid. An interesting recent decision in the Southern District has been brought to our attention. The case is <i>In Re Allied Capital Corp.</i>, CCH Fed. SEC L. Rep. 92411 (US DC, S.D.N.Y., Apr. 25, 2003). Judge Lynch's decision is well written, the Judge reviewing a motion to dismiss by a business development company, Allied Capital, against a strike suit claiming that Allied's method of valuing its portfolio failed adequately to account for i) conditions at the companies themselves and ii) market conditions. The complaint appears to be, as is often the case, slap dash, content to point out that Allied revalued some of its positions, marking them down for a variety of reasons, and the stock price went down - all this, in the view of plaintiff's counsel, amounting to violations of Rule 10b-5.Read More ›
- Meet the Lawyer Working on Inclusion Rider LanguageAt the Oscars in March, Best Actress winner Frances McDormand made “inclusion rider” go viral. But Kalpana Kotagal, a partner at Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll had already worked for months to write the language for such provisions. Kotagal was developing legal language for contract provisions that Hollywood's elite could use to require studios and other partners to employ diverse workers on set.Read More ›
- Use of Deferred Prosecution Agreements In White Collar InvestigationsThis article discusses the practical and policy reasons for the use of DPAs and NPAs in white-collar criminal investigations, and considers the NDAA's new reporting provision and its relationship with other efforts to enhance transparency in DOJ decision-making.Read More ›
- The DOJ Goes Phishing: The Rise of False Claims Act Cybersecurity LitigationWhile the DOJ Civil Cyber-Fraud Initiative is still in its early stages and cybersecurity regulations are evolving, whistleblower plaintiffs have already begun leveraging the FCA to pursue alleged noncompliance with government cybersecurity requirements.Read More ›