Features
Addressing the Dissipation of Marital Assets in a Divorce Case
At what point does one spouse's gifts to family and friends, or their bad investments and/or extravagant spending, become considered dissipation in the eyes of an adversary looking to review a case or the judiciary, and what remedies are available to a spouse where a dissipation has been found to have occurred?
Federal Contractors Must Offer Paid Sick Leave to Their Employees
On Sept. 7, 2015, President Barack Obama signed Executive Order No. 13706, which requires federal contractors to offer their employees working on federal contracts up to seven days of paid sick leave per year. The Executive Order will impact contracts entered into on or after Jan. 1, 2017.
Features
Rules of Evidence
It is of great frustration for family lawyers to practice with other lawyers who do not know the simple Rules of Evidence. How can you try a case properly if you do not know what objections to make and not to make? How can you try a case if you do not know how to ask direct examination or non-leading questions?
Features
Four Essential iPad Deposition Apps
While iOS devices have inspired the development of dozens of trial-related apps, the fact remains that many cases are essentially won and lost in deposition. Although deposition-oriented apps remain far scarcer than trial offerings, mobile attorneys toting iPads can turn to several useful apps to help them handle various deposition-related tasks easily and flexibly from almost anywhere.
Features
<b><i>Ptaszsynski v. Atlantic Health Sys</i></b>.
Last month, the authors discussed a recent New Jersey Appellate Division opinion in an otherwise typical nursing home case made different when the plaintiffs tried to obtain a more favorable presentation to the jury by utilizing numerous provisions of New Jersey's Nursing Home Responsibilities and Rights of Residents Act (NHA). They conclude their discussion herein.
Features
Mobile App Developer Agreements
Many companies that have had disputes with developers have been surprised to discover that the agreements signed, often without input from legal, failed to hold developers to measurable standards, give the company ongoing interest in deliverables, or provide meaningful 'remedies to problems that arise.
Judicial Trend in Supporting Domain Name Registries' Takedown Policies in Cybersquatting Disputes
GoDaddy.com has now prevailed as defendant in two major lawsuits under the Anticybersquatting Consumer Protection Act (ACPA). In both cases, the plaintiffs sought to hold GoDaddy liable for contributory or secondary infringement rather than "direct" cybersquatting under the ACPA. Although the factual circumstances underlying the claims are different, the principal reason for the plaintiffs' lack of success lies in a fundamental misunderstanding of the ACPA.
Columns & Departments
<b><i>Counsel Concerns</b></i>50 Cent Sues Lawyers Over Headphones Debacle
Rapper 50 Cent is suing his former lawyers for $75 million, accusing them of malpractice and not adequately representing him in business matters, including an intellectual property case involving his line of headphones.
Features
Fifth Amendment Does Not Extend To 'Digital Person'
An acrimonious marital breakup has been known to bring out the worst in some people. Those battles increasingly are fought on the technology field, thereby leaving courts to determine complex personal rights issues in the context of grown-ups 'behaving badly.
Google Books' Fair Use Win
Rejecting a decade-long attack on Google's mass reproduction of millions of books as well as its presentation of "snippets" ' sections of works set alongside information on how readers can buy the books ' the Second Circuit decided that Google Books has a "highly convincing transformative purpose" and thus is a protected fair use for which the company cannot be held liable under the Copyright Act.
Need Help?
- Prefer an IP authenticated environment? Request a transition or call 800-756-8993.
- Need other assistance? email Customer Service or call 1-877-256-2472.
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 ›