If a music file is downloaded to a computer, and no one is there to play it, does it constitute a performance? This is not some question from a digital-age freshman philosophy seminar ' it was the legal issue recently facing Judge William C. Connor in the U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York in United States v. American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers ('ASCAP').
In a case of significance to the secondary loan and distressed claim market, a North Carolina state court has entered an 'anti- suit injunction' barring a group of secondary, secured debt holders (the 'Fund Defendants'), from commencing any actions against Wachovia Bank. The case, Wachovia Bank, NA and Wachovia Capital Partners, LLC v. Harbinger Capital Partners, et al., Civ. Action No. 07-CVS-5097 is pending in the General Court of Justice, Superior Court Division (Mecklenburg, NC) (the 'State Court Anti-Suit Action'), but its parties and the underlying facts arise from the Chapter 11 case of In re Le-Nature, Inc. pending in U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Western District of Pennsylvania (the 'Bankruptcy Case').
What can be worse than crushed expectations? Consider the following: An investor's money was invested with a hedge fund that turned out to be a Ponzi scheme. In a stroke of luck, the investor avoided a huge loss by redeeming his investment and gains prior to the collapse of the crooked company. Now, the trustee of the bankrupt hedge fund wants the money back, claiming that the transfer was fraudulent under ' 548 of the Bankruptcy Code and the N.Y. Fraudulent Conveyance law (New York Debtor & Creditor Law '' 271-276). Is there a quick way out of this nightmarish scenario? No, according to Bayou Superfund LLC v. WAM Long/Short Fund II. L.P. et al. (In re Bayou Group, LLC), 2007 WL 582530 (Bankr.S.D.N.Y.)
This article discusses the development of the Fobian rule and other courts' treatment of it. The article also summarizes the Supreme Court's reasoning in abrogating the rule in Travelers Casualty & Surety Co. v. Pacific Gas & Electric Co. (In re Pacific Gas & Electric Co.), 549 U.S. ____, 127 S. Ct. 1199 (2007).
A recent decision issued by the Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York (the 'Bankruptcy Court') in Gredd v. Bear, Stearns Securities Corp. (In re Manhattan Inv. Fund Ltd.), 2007 WL 60843 (Bankr. S.D.N.Y. Jan. 9, 2007) represents a significant event for securities firms, with potentially far-reaching implications for prime brokers.
Recent rulings of interest to you and your practice.
Collecting bills from firms that exist only on a computer server and monitors is becoming as much a part of Main Street in the 21st century as selling to the corner store was in the19th, and as selling to the mall store was in the 20th century. Suppliers to e-commerce firms, whether of inventory for resale online, or of servers or other equipment used in operations, must be paid, or they will cut off credit or sell only C.O.D.
One of my most daunting tasks as the firm's first marketing director was how to tap into the attorneys' 'knowledge base' of clients and contacts. To put it simply ' nobody could decipher who knew whom. E-mails would fly around asking if anyone knew an attorney in California, or an employee at ABC Corporation. The e-mails were cumbersome and often sent at the last minute. Each attorney's contacts were essentially islands for which we needed a way to bridge. The conclusion we arrived at was that we needed a CRM system for the firm.
Last month, we identified select law firm issues that can significantly impact the cost and speed of the entire case lifecycle. In addition, we offered some viable solutions to these problems. In Part Two, we cover some of the concerns related to outsourcing versus in-house handling of certain litigation goods and services and how firms are operating.
