Commercial Contracts

  • January 10, 2025

    Off The Bench: Venu Deal Off, Fox Suit, Gender Rules Wobble

    In this week's Off The Bench, a last-minute merger ends litigation over the new sports streaming service Venu, only for its backers to mothball the project entirely, Fox Sports is rocked by lurid sexual harassment claims, and a federal judge knocks down an attempt to expand transgender discrimination protections.

  • January 10, 2025

    UK Litigation Roundup: Here's What You Missed In London

    This past week in London has seen legal services group RBG Holdings face a winding-up petition from founder Ian Rosenblatt amid soured talks about the group's leadership, J.P. Morgan file a fresh claim against WeRealize, retailer Asda face an intellectual property claim over a specific type of mandarin and financier Nathaniel Rothschild sue German entrepreneur Lars Windhorst and his investment vehicle Tennor International. Here, Law360 looks at these and other new claims in the U.K.

  • January 10, 2025

    Law Firm's Fee Suit Can't Proceed In Ga., Investment Co. Says

    A Michigan-based investment firm has asked a Georgia federal judge to toss a suit accusing it of failing to pay more than $180,000 in legal fees owed to an Atlanta-area law firm, arguing the court lacks jurisdiction under the state's long-arm statute.

  • January 10, 2025

    Feds Say Rocket Mortgage Can't Avoid Race Bias Suit

    The federal government has pushed back against Rocket Mortgage LLC's motion to dismiss a racial discrimination suit accusing the company and other parties of undervaluing a Black woman's Denver duplex after she applied for refinancing.

  • January 10, 2025

    ESPN, Fox, Warner Bros. Abruptly Scrap Sports Streaming JV

    ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery called off their Venu joint live sports streaming venture Friday, just days after ESPN parent company The Walt Disney Co. used the acquisition of a majority stake in streaming startup FuboTV Inc. to nix Fubo's challenge to Venu on the courthouse steps.

  • January 09, 2025

    Amazon Loses Bad Faith Claims Against Nokia At ITC

    A U.S. International Trade Commission judge has shot down Amazon's arguments that Nokia failed to offer reasonable or nondiscriminatory patent license terms, ruling instead that Amazon was infringing a series of Nokia patents related to video technology.

  • January 09, 2025

    Tribe's Atty Looks To Ax Remaining Claims In $14.6M Suit

    An attorney who has represented the Modoc Tribe of Oklahoma as general counsel has asked a federal judge in a $14.6 million racketeering and breach of contract dispute against a computer management company to toss the case or pause it pending a circuit court appeal.

  • January 09, 2025

    Amazon Can't Cancel Audible Auto-Enrollment Suit

    A Washington federal judge declined to toss a California consumer's proposed class action over Amazon's Audible auto-enrollment practices on Wednesday, emphasizing the plaintiff has now specified she never received any emails outlining the terms of the subscription she was allegedly registered for after redeeming a promotional offer.

  • January 09, 2025

    Texas Oil Well Operator's Ch. 11 Plan Approved With Releases

    Oil well operator Independence Contract Drilling received approval Thursday from a Texas bankruptcy judge for its Chapter 11 reorganization plan, which includes consensual third-party releases.

  • January 09, 2025

    5 Things Executive Pay Attys Should Keep An Eye On In 2025

    Tesla chief executive Elon Musk will be seeking a green light for a $56 billion pay package while a new administration in the White House may scuttle proposed incentive pay regulations and a ban on noncompete agreements. Here, Law360 looks at five things executive compensation lawyers will be following in the new year.

  • January 09, 2025

    DirecTV, Dish Say Sports Streamer Harmful Despite Fubo Deal

    DirecTV and Dish are hoping to pump the brakes on any immediate plans to unwind a New York federal court's injunction stopping the ESPN, Fox and Warner Bros. Discovery joint sports venture from hitting the market after Disney announced its majority acquisition of the deal's biggest challenger, Fubo, this week.

  • January 09, 2025

    College Hoopers Ask NC Justices To Hear Free Speech Row

    Eight former Lenoir-Rhyne University women's basketball players and their team manager urged the North Carolina Supreme Court to take up their case claiming the school breached its contracts by removing them from its team for speaking up about racial issues.

  • January 09, 2025

    NJ Firm Accused Of Malpractice Hid Facts, Insurer Says

    An insurer has told a New Jersey federal court that a law firm it insured had no coverage for malpractice allegations because it knew its attorney was accused of bilking a man's heirs out of estate assets years before the firm was sued for wrongdoing, but never told the insurer.

  • January 09, 2025

    Yale Wins Info Battle In $435M Hospital Sale Contract Fight

    Three Connecticut property owners must hand over internal analyses and communications to Yale New Haven Health Services Corp. as it seeks evidence in support of its bid to back out of a $435 million deal to purchase hospitals from Prospect Medical Holdings Inc., a state court judge ruled.

  • January 09, 2025

    White And Williams Elevates New Subrogation Dept. Chair

    White and Williams LLP has elevated a longtime subrogation partner to chair of the firm's subrogation department, in which he has practiced for more than 30 years.

  • January 09, 2025

    Musk Could Dodge Some Claims In X Severance Suit

    Six former Twitter employees who alleged they weren't paid severance benefits after Elon Musk took over the company shouldn't be able to proceed with their claims under Texas law, a Delaware federal magistrate judge said, but he recommended that claims under California and New York law be given a second chance.

  • January 09, 2025

    Rooftop Owner Can't Strike Out Chicago Cubs' Ticket Suit

    A rooftop venue owner accused of selling tickets to Chicago Cubs games and other events without a license cannot ditch the lawsuit and redirect its claims to arbitration because he brought the wrong motion to do so, an Illinois federal judge said Tuesday.

  • January 08, 2025

    Group Alleges $10M 'Sham' In Fla. Plant-Based Co. Stock Deal

    A Canadian investment group has sued two Delaware corporations in Florida federal court over a "sham" stock deal, alleging it was fraudulently induced to sell its plant-based food technology company and later cheated out of $10 million worth of cash and common stock it was promised.

  • January 08, 2025

    2nd Circ. Weighs FIFA Verdicts In Light Of High Court Rulings

    Brooklyn federal prosecutors on Wednesday urged the Second Circuit to reverse a lower court's controversial decision to overturn the bribery convictions of a former 21st Century Fox television executive and an Argentine marketing company, disputing that the U.S. Supreme Court's recent corruption rulings impact the massive FIFA corruption ordeal.

  • January 08, 2025

    Bankrupt Ligado Sues Over $1.7B Cooperation Deal Breach

    Satellite communications company Ligado Networks accused a satellite service provider of breaching a $1.7 billion cooperation deal aimed at facilitating Ligado's terrestrial network operations by failing to upgrade its own satellite terminals and deliver portions of its spectrum.

  • January 08, 2025

    Judge Reverses His Own Ruling In Chicago Hotel Zoning Fight

    An Illinois federal judge ruled against the owners of a historic Chicago hotel Tuesday, dialing back an earlier victory he had granted them last year in a zoning suit against the city.

  • January 08, 2025

    Ex-Marketing Exec Says J&J Unit Dodging Basic Discovery

    An ex-marketing director for Johnson & Johnson's vision unit urged a New Jersey federal judge to order her former employer to produce documents related to its suit alleging she breached a noncompete agreement, arguing its stonewalling of discovery is depriving her of a fair chance to defend herself.

  • January 08, 2025

    Abbott Beats UC Regents' Probiotic Patent Claims

    An Illinois federal judge has found that claims in a pair of patents owned by the University of California related to a baby probiotic were invalid, handing a win to Abbott Laboratories in a suit accusing the company of infringing the patents.

  • January 08, 2025

    MLBPA Unit Drops NIL Suit Against Pirates, Store Chain

    A unit of the Major League Baseball Players Association has dropped a Pennsylvania federal lawsuit that accused the Pittsburgh Pirates and a local convenience store chain of exploiting the names, images and likenesses of team players in marketing materials.

  • January 07, 2025

    Charter Communications Says VP Stole Trade Secrets

    Charter Communications Inc. filed a lawsuit in Connecticut federal court Tuesday against a former executive it claims made off with trade secrets and began working as a senior vice president and chief information officer of a competitor, Metronet.

Expert Analysis

  • Series

    Being A Luthier Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    When I’m not working as an appellate lawyer, I spend my spare time building guitars — a craft known as luthiery — which has helped to enhance the discipline, patience and resilience needed to write better briefs, says Rob Carty at Nichols Brar.

  • Lead Like 'Ted Lasso' By Embracing Cognitive Diversity

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    The Apple TV+ series “Ted Lasso” aptly illustrates how embracing cognitive diversity can be a winning strategy for teams, providing a useful lesson for law firms, which can benefit significantly from fresh, diverse perspectives and collaborative problem-solving, says Paul Manuele at PR Manuele Consulting.

  • Ambiguity Ruling Highlights Deference To Arbitral Process

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    A New York federal court’s recent ruling in Eletson v. Levona, which remanded an arbitral award for clarification, reflects that the ambiguity exception’s analysis is not static and may be applied even in cases where the award, when issued, was unambiguous, says arbitrator Myrna Barakat Friedman.

  • 2 Rulings Serve As Conversion Fee Warnings For Banks

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    A comparison of the different outcomes in Wright v. Capital One in a Virginia federal court, and in Guerrero v. Bank of America in a North Carolina federal court, highlights how banks must be careful in describing how currency exchange fees and charges are determined in their customer agreements, say attorneys at Weiner Brodsky.

  • Expect CFPB To Enforce Warning Against 'Coercive' Fine Print

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    The recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau warning against unenforceable terms "deceptively" slipped into the fine print of contracts will likely be challenged in court, but until then, companies should expect the agency to treat its guidance as law and must carefully scrutinize their consumer contracts, say attorneys at Ballard Spahr.

  • Opinion

    Now More Than Ever, Lawyers Must Exhibit Professionalism

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    As society becomes increasingly fractured and workplace incivility is on the rise, attorneys must champion professionalism and lead by example, demonstrating how lawyers can respectfully disagree without being disagreeable, says Edward Casmere at Norton Rose.

  • Leveling Up IP Protections For Video Game Icons' Film Debuts

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    Video game creators venturing into new realms of entertainment that include their iconic characters, such as television and film adaptations, should take specific steps to strengthen their intellectual property rights, say Joshua Weigensberg and Parmida Enkeshafi at Pryor Cashman.

  • Series

    Serving In The National Guard Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    My ongoing military experience as a judge advocate general in the National Guard has shaped me as a person and a lawyer, teaching me the importance of embracing confidence, balance and teamwork in both my Army and civilian roles, says Danielle Aymond at Baker Donelson.

  • A Midyear Forecast: Tailwinds Expected For Atty Hourly Rates

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    Hourly rates for partners, associates and support staff continued to rise in the first half of this year, and this growth shows no signs of slowing for the rest of 2024 and into next year, driven in part by the return of mergers and acquisitions and the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence, says Chuck Chandler at Valeo Partners.

  • Mitigating Risks Amid 10-Year Sanctions Enforcement Window

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    In response to recent legislation, which doubles the statute of limitations for actions related to certain U.S. sanctions and provides regulators greater opportunity to investigate possible violations, companies should take specific steps to account for the increased civil and criminal enforcement risk, say attorneys at Freshfields.

  • Opinion

    States Should Loosen Law Firm Ownership Restrictions

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    Despite growing buzz, normalized nonlawyer ownership of law firms is a distant prospect, so the legal community should focus first on liberalizing state restrictions on attorney and firm purchases of practices, which would bolster succession planning and improve access to justice, says Michael Di Gennaro at The Law Practice Exchange.

  • Keys To Strong Parking, Storage Contracts For NYC Buildings

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    Drafting and enforcing unambiguous parking and storage unit license agreements are essential tasks for co-op and condo boards in New York City, with recent cases highlighting how prudent terms can minimize potential headaches, say Matthew Eiben and Adam Lindenbaum at Rosenberg & Estis.

  • Series

    Solving Puzzles Makes Me A Better Lawyer

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    Tackling daily puzzles — like Wordle, KenKen and Connections — has bolstered my intellectual property litigation practice by helping me to exercise different mental skills, acknowledge minor but important details, and build and reinforce good habits, says Roy Wepner at Kaplan Breyer.

  • Texas Ethics Opinion Flags Hazards Of Unauthorized Practice

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    The Texas Professional Ethics Committee's recently issued proposed opinion finding that in-house counsel providing legal services to the company's clients constitutes the unauthorized practice of law is a valuable clarification given that a UPL violation — a misdemeanor in most states — carries high stakes, say Hilary Gerzhoy and Julienne Pasichow at HWG.

  • In Memoriam: The Modern Administrative State

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    On June 28, the modern administrative state, where courts deferred to agency interpretations of ambiguous statutes, died when the U.S. Supreme Court overruled its previous decision in Chevron v. Natural Resources Defense Council — but it is survived by many cases decided under the Chevron framework, say Joseph Schaeffer and Jessica Deyoe at Babst Calland.

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