Lawyer and Judge Shopping, and the Matrimonial Bar
Are concepts of confidentiality and disclosure mutually exclusive? With the concepts we have discussed in the last two installments in mind, some have argued that there is really no issue of confidentiality left to protect in a matrimonial case.
Senate Backs 21 New Judges in Family Court
Seven new Family Court judges in New York City would be among 21 judgeships created in Family Courts statewide under legislation approved by the state Senate. The additional judgeships for New York City would be the first in the city's Family Court since 1991 and the most significant increase statewide on the Family Court bench in at least three decades.
A Proactive Approach Toward Estate Planning
Some states have legalized same-sex marriage while others recognize or grant certain rights to same-sex couples. The issue is critical and hotly debated because marriage confers certain benefits under state and federal law that are generally denied to same-sex couples. Many of these protections and benefits pertain to estate planning.
Enforcing Foreign Premarital Contracts
California's premarital agreements are significantly different from foreign marital contracts, which allow a couple to elect a regime of marriage ' for example, joint or community property regimes, a separate property regime, or a variation thereof ' depending on the country. Whether a California court will enforce a foreign marital contract may depend on whether the court applies California law or foreign law.
REMS, Risk and Reward
REMS, or Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategy, is a new tool that Congress provided the FDA to ensure the safe use of certain types of prescription drug products. The FDA may require a drug manufacturer to include a REMS in its new drug application when the agency concludes this is necessary to ensure that the benefits of the drug outweigh its risks.
Is Europe Ready for Class Actions?
Several recent developments suggest that the European Union (EU) and some of its individual Member States are preparing to embrace the idea of collective redress mechanisms for consumer claims. Although an effective European collective redress mechanism has yet to materialize, the process toward crafting one is certainly underway.
Practice Tip: Products Class Action Incentive Awards
This article discusses the Ninth Circuit's recent decision in <i>Rodriguez v. West Publishing Co.</i>, 563 F.3d 948 (9th Cir. 2009), that specifically considered the viability of incentive awards and their impact on the adequacy of class representatives.
The 'On-Sale' Bar After Pfaff
<i>Pfaff v. Wells Elecs., Inc.</i> is widely recognized as a milestone in the annals of patent law for providing direction as to how courts are to analyze and apply the statutory "on-sale" bar to the granting of patents. This article explores how the Federal Circuit has applied <i>Pfaff</i> in more recent cases.
FJC's Study of Diversity Jurisdiction Class Actions
In November 2008, as part of its ongoing study of the impact of the Class Action Fairness Act of 2005 ("CAFA") upon federal courts, the Federal Judicial Center ("FJC") published Preliminary Findings from Phase Two's Pre-CAFA Sample of Diversity Class Actions. That report studied 231 diversity jurisdiction class actions filed in or removed to federal court in the two years prior to Feb. 18, 2005, CAFA's effective date.
The Recovery Act's Daunting Whistleblower Provisions
This article describes the type of activity Section 1553 protects and the competing burdens parties must bear in pursuing and defending retaliation claims under this statute. It also provides a framework for assessing the risks Section 1553 poses to employers, identifies questions Section 1553 leaves unanswered, and presents the question of whether a few of Section 1553's provisions pass constitutional muster.
