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A former employee of Huawei Technologies Co. accuses the company of using a lawsuit against his Silicon Valley startup as part of a strategy to steal intellectual property and help China achieve technological dominance over the U.S. according to a report in The Dallas Morning News.

“Huawei and its FutureWei unit sued Huang and his startup CNEX Labs Inc. last December, accusing Huang of making off with sensitive trade secrets related to technology that uses integrated circuits as memory to store data,” the article reports. “Huang was hired as an engineer by FutureWei in Santa Clara, California, in January 2011 and left two years later to form CNEX, where he’s chief technology officer.”

But Huang responded that he was the victim of the Chinese company trying to take control of his inventions for Solid State Disk Non-Volatile Memory. Huang’s defense raised the corporate espionage allegations filed by other American companies and a congressional report that said use of Huawei equipment “could undermine core U.S. national-security interests.”

Read the Dallas News article.

Some state attorneys general and the U.S.  Department of Justice are looking into no-poach agreements that some companies are including in their franchise operating agreements, reports Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom.

“Such clauses typically prohibit franchisees from hiring employees directly from the franchisor or other franchisees for up to six months following the end of their employment. [Washington State Attorney General Bob] Ferguson has been touting the ongoing success of his investigation with respect to fast food chains, and franchise-based chains in other industries appear to be his next target,” according to the authors.

“Any employers that currently utilize no-poach agreements or are considering doing so should be sure to examine whether there are valid pro-competitive justifications for the agreement that outweigh any anti-competitive effect and whether the benefits of the no-poach agreement are worth the risk of the potential governmental or private challenge that is likely to occur.”

Read the article.

Equipment leasing presents a company with an opportunity to acquire the use of equipment without using its own cash or its bank line of credit, according to a post on the website of Steptoe & Johnson.

“An understanding of the unique features of equipment lease contracts should help a company work with its bank to structure and document a mutually acceptable lease agreement,” writes Andrew J. Kalgreen.

His article discusses end-of-term purchase and return options, maintenance requirements, tax benefit protection, third-party liability protection, disclaimers of product warranties, and termination risks.

Read the article.

Bloomberg Law reports that K&L Gates LLP is facing a $100 million legal malpractice suit from a Texas semiconductor company, Quantum Materials Corp., over an alleged conflict of interest.

Reporter Sam Skolnik explains that the plaintiff’s petition alleges that the law firm represented lenders in a legal action against the company while also representing Quantum. The petition filed Oct. 16 in District Court of Hays County, Texas, seeks punitive damages.

The complaint says that Quantum retained K&L Gates in 2016 as corporate counsel, and the representation was never ended. But when Quantum became involved in a dispute with two lenders, K&L Gates lawyers represented the lenders against Quantum, according to the complaint.

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

As extreme weather becomes more commonplace, agricultural and livestock operations are increasingly facing civil and criminal enforcement and regulatory crackdowns for water runoff contamination caused by events beyond their control. Across the country, ag operations and feedlots have been the focus of a growing number of enforcement actions, including those filed by state attorneys general. Often there are large civil monetary penalties, according to a post on the website of Androvett Legal Media & Marketing.

“In many cases, small ag operations can be compliant with regulations before a historic flooding event and still face financial penalties that push family-owned businesses to the brink of bankruptcy or worse,” said attorney Chris Carrington of Denver-based Richards Carrington, who advises farm and ranch owners in legal and regulatory proceedings.

“More and more, governmental entities are under community and political pressure to take action, and that’s often at the expense of due process and fairness. It’s important for these businesses to know and appreciate the law and the forces at play before a catastrophic event occurs.” Carrington is addressing these topics in a series of presentations to the Colorado livestock and agriculture industries.

Two companies facing multiple lawsuits over a summer tourist boat accident in Missouri that killed 17 people have invoked an 1851 law that allows vessel owners to try to avoid or limit legal damages as they also seek settlement negotiations with victims’ family members, reports the Chicago Tribune.

“If a judge concluded that the federal law cited by Ripley [Entertainment Inc.] and Branson Duck Vehicles applies, claims for damages over the July 19 accident on Table Rock Lake near Branson, Missouri, could be consolidated into a single federal court case,” explains the article, from the Associated Press. “The companies’ petition states that under the federal law, they would not owe any damages because the boat carried no freight and was a total loss.”

Read the Chicago Tribune article.

Dallas business trial law firm Loewinsohn Flegle Deary Simon won the No. 1 spot for the Elite Trial Lawyers award, based on research by VerdictSearch, The National Law Journal and Law.com.

Three of the firm’s co-founders, Alan Loewinsohn, Craig Simon, and Matt Ray, accepted the award during a reception at the Las Vegas Bellagio Hotel on October 5.

The firm’s recent litigation includes a trial victory that resulted in a $6 billion verdict – the largest verdict of 2017 and one of the Top 10 verdicts in U.S. history.

Read details about the honor.

Backdating legal documents is frequently permissible. However, under other circumstances, it can be fraudulent or illegal, warns Elizabeth A. Whitman in a post on the website of Whitman Legal Solutions LLC.

Her article discusses when legal documents might be backdated and how legally to do so when it is appropriate.

She explains that sometimes a document must be backdated to make it accurate, how backdating is accomplished, when it is illegal to backdate a document, and how to assure the use of backdating is legal.

Read the article.

A recent presentation at the ACC Colorado Fall Frenzy in Denver addressed how blockchain platforms are reshaping contracting, particularly how blockchain can be used to protect the security and integrity of contracts and automatically execute based on external conditions.

A post on the website of Kilpatrick Townsend expands on the three takeaways: Blockchains have important uses besides cryptocurrencies; smart contracts are already in use by companies; and the technology is in its infancy and several pitfalls exist.

Read the article.

The lawyer most responsible for winning a $289 million verdict against Bayer AG may end up wiping it out, according to a Bloomberg Law report.

Brent Wisner, the lead trial attorney who in August convinced a jury that Monsanto Co.’s Roundup weed killer caused his client’s cancer, irked the judge handling the case so profoundly that she’s considering tossing the verdict and ordering a new trial.

From the Bloomberg report: “The lawyer told jurors that Monsanto executives in a company board room were ‘waiting for the phone to ring’ and that ‘behind them is a bunch of champagne on ice,’ according to a court filing. He said that ‘if the damages number isn’t significant enough, champagne corks will pop.’”

Read the Bloomberg Law article.

If your client is going to contractually commit to using commercially rea­son­able ef­forts to do something — and if your client expects that obligation to require some­thing less than “all reasonable efforts” — then you’ll want to make that expectation clear in the contract itself, advises D.C. Toedt III in the On Contracts Blog.

He discusses a case in which the influential Dela­ware chancery court noted the chasm be­tween the meaning of that term to transactional lawyers versus to courts.

“Seemingly disregarding practitioners’ views, the chancery court continued the Delaware trend —which that court itself started — of treating com­mer­­ci­al­ly rea­sonable efforts as requiring the obligated party to take ‘all rea­son­able steps.’”

Read the article.

A new Seventh Circuit Court of Appeals case demonstrates the importance of filing suit in a timely manner in order to retain one’s contractual rights, writes Myanna Dellinger in ContractsProf Blog. It also shows just how nasty contractual parties may act towards each other in violation of the duty of good faith and fair dealing.

The article details the case in which JTE distributed products in Chicago for Bimbo Foods Bakeries Distribution Company for over a decade. The contract had no duration, but stipulated that it could be terminated in cases of non-curable breaches by one of the parties.

Bimbo allegedly did not meet the standard of good faith because, according to JTE, Bimbo “began fabricating curable  breaches.” However, because the four-year statute of limitations had run, JTE could still not have asserted that argument, the court found.

Read the article.

Michael Volkov of Volkov Law group has posted an article that says a contract management system is imperative for businesses.

The article discusses the four important purposes for such a system:

• To maintain consistency in the formulation and enforcement of contractual relationships;
• To mitigate business risks between the company and a party (e.g. customer, vendor, supplier);
• To protect the company’s culture and mitigate compliance risks through imposition of certifications, representations and warranties, and specific compliance obligations;
• To protect the accuracy of the company’s financial payment and receivables system by verifying the accuracy of payment terms and conditions in accordance with the company’s contractual agreements.

Read the article.

Liability in the construction process is usually determined and allocated by contract, explains a post on the website of Faegre Baker Daniels LLP.

“It is quite common for construction contracts to contain indemnity provisions requiring one party to defend and reimburse the other against various expenses or losses. When contracts include express indemnity provisions, they will likely receive more attention, and be the subject of more negotiations between counsel, than any other provisions. Yet, if pressed to state what it means to ‘indemnify’ or ‘hold harmless,’ many are at a loss,” according to the firm.

The post discusses strict construction, express negligence, and the liberal or fair construction rule.

Read the article.

When a storm is headed in your direction, it’s critical to prepare for an emergency by making sure you have medical supplies and enough food and water to sustain your family. The aftermath of a storm can be devastating. You should be equally prepared on the insurance front to protect your home and get back on your feet as soon as possible.

Dallas insurance litigator Meloney Perry of Perry Law P.C. offers some storm insurance tips to keep in mind before and after a storm hits.

1. Ensure You Have Adequate Amounts of Insurance and Correct Coverage

Unfortunately, insurance is not a “one size fits all” solution. Simply having insurance coverage sometimes isn’t enough. Educate yourself and understand the adequate types and amounts of insurance that fit your needs.

Extra Credit: Research and compare multiple insurance plans while revisiting your coverage often.

2. Talk with Your Insurance Agent

Do this at least twice a year to revisit coverages—this needs to be done before a storm hits or you may find yourself without coverage you thought you had. Tap into your agent’s knowledge and don’t be shy about asking questions.

Extra Credit: Keep agent information in your telephone and in the cloud for easy access in case of an emergency.

3. Don’t Just Take Out ID Cards, Read Your Insurance Policies

Knowledge is power. If you know what your policy does and doesn’t cover, you’ll be in a better position to work with your insurance carrier. If you don’t understand what is included in our policy, call your agent. (See tip No. 2.)

Extra Credit: Research the Texas Department of Insurance Website for easy Q&A and forms. They’re a great resource.

4. In the Event of Damage or Loss, Take Pictures and Keep All Receipts Handy

Insurance carriers want all the supporting evidence for your claim they can get their hands on. This will allow them to assess the situation and process your claim faster than others.

Extra Credit: Make and keep multiple copies. Upload everything to the cloud for easy access and keep hard copies with a relative or in a fire-proof box.

5. Have A Proof of Loss Form Available for Easy Filing

A proof of loss form will identify the value of the items damaged or lost in the storm. Completing this form quickly and accurately can help with the claims process and avoid possible headaches, such as underpayment, delay or denial of your claim.

Extra Credit: Keep a printout of your insurance policy to determine what to include in the form.

Reuters points to an effort illustrating a rare show of bipartisanship as state politicians rally around the cause of overturning U.S. Supreme Court precedent that protects monopolists from consumer suits.

Alison Frankel writes that “31 state attorneys general from across the political spectrum united in an amicus brief asking the Supreme Court to overturn its 1977 precedent in Illinois Brick v. Illinois, which blocks downstream purchasers from asserting antitrust claims under federal law. The state AGs – including GOP stalwarts from Texas and Florida as well as activist Democratic AGs from New York, California and Massachusetts – argue that the Supreme Court’s Illinois Brick doctrine was ill-advised, judge-made policy that has been repudiated by decades of antitrust litigation under state laws passed in its wake.”

Read the Reuters article.

You can do a lot of damage with a signature, warns Jack Garson of Garson Law LLC in Bethesda, Maryland. You can go broke.

In an article on the website of Forbes, he discusses five types of contracts that have caused the most disasters.

First, he warns of the dangers of assuming that leases are standard, so there’s no reason to read every clause.

On the subject of loan agreements, Garson’s advice is to negotiate, consult advisors, and bargain. Most of all, he adds, get the right to prepay the loan.

He also covers construction contracts, partnership agreements, and personal guarantees.

Read the article.

Vizio has announced a potential $17 million settlement in a recent class action lawsuit, which could result in a pay-out that is as little as a few cents for each of the millions of people claiming the company’s smart TVs collected and shared their private viewing data without their consent, reports the New York Daily News.

A ProPublica 2015 expose alleged Vizio used its smart TVs to spy on an estimated 16 million Vizio TV owners who purchased and connected their televisions to the internet between Feb. 1, 2014 and Feb. 6, 2017, writes reporter Jessica Schladebeck.

“After payment of notice and administration costs and any approved award of attorneys’ fees, costs and service awards, all funds remaining in the settlement fund will be distributed to the class,” according to court documents.

Read the NY Daily News article.

Flexera will present a complimentary webinar discussing the OpenChain Project for a secure and compliant software supply chain.

The event will be Thursday, Oct. 25, 2018, at 11 a.m. Central time.

The Linux Foundation has developed the OpenChain project, a standard that can help software suppliers manage their production process better, to ship secure and compliant software to customers.

In this webinar, Shane Coughlan, general manager – OpenChain at the Linux Foundation, will give an overview of OpenChain; why it is needed and how it helps address issues in software production. Participants will learn how to improve their software production processes.

Register for the webinar.

Indemnity provisions are widely used in the energy industry as a method of contractually apportioning liability between parties. These provisions are a staple in Master Service Agreements and can be unilateral or mutual, explains Zoe Vermeulen in a post on the website of Kean Miller LLP.

The author discusses oilfield anti-indemnity acts in Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico and Wyoming,.

The article also covers construction anti-indemnity acts.

“Like the Oilfield Anti-Indemnity Acts, these construction anti-indemnity acts vary widely from state to state and have many exceptions and nuances. And awareness of and familiarity with these statutes is also critical to adequately evaluating the viability of a contractual indemnity provision,” writes Vermeulen.

Read the article.