Commercial

The 5 Most Overlooked Elements Of NDAs

Insight
Tom Kulik of Dallas-based Scheef & Stone writes about a trend toward companies and counsel using rote reliance on forms for non-disclosure agreements without thinking through the implications.

Liquidated Damage Provisions – A Good Idea or an Unenforceable Penalty?

Insight
A post by Joshua M. Pellant of Faegre Baker Daniels discusses the use of a provision for a stipulated or “liquidated” damage amount in the event of specified contract breaches in construction contracts.

ADA Website Wars Coming to a Retailer Near You

News
A federal judge in Florida found that a grocery chain’s website was inaccessible to visually impaired individuals and thus violated the ADA because features such as the website’s online coupons and pharmacy could not be accessed using a screen reader.

2017 Litigation Finance Survey Shows Continued Growth

Insight
Global finance firm Burford Capital announced the results of its 2017 Litigation Finance Survey of lawyers and financial professionals at law firms and companies in the US, UK and Australia. The independent research builds on prior surveys commissioned by Burford to study third-party funding of commercial litigation and arbitration.

Announcing LawGeex 4.0 – Contract Review Automation

News
LawGeex combines machine learning algorithms and text analytics to quickly review and approve everyday contracts, helping businesses answer the question “Can I sign this?”

Equifax Execs Sold Shares Before the Hack Was Announced – But Was It Insider Trading?

News
Los Angeles Times reporter James Rufus Koren examines the question: Did three Equifax executives, including the chief financial officer, engage in insider trading when they sold thousands of shares in the days after the company discovered a massive security breach?

Landmark Second Circuit Ruling Clarifies the Standards for Mobile Contracts

Insight
A recent ruling clarifies the standards for contract formation in the age of smartphones and mobile contracting, providing important guidance to companies about how to design enforceable mobile contracts, reports Coblentz Patch Duffy & Bass.

Construction Contracts and Arbitration Provisions: Is the Word “May” Mandatory? Maybe!

Insight
the Supreme Court of Virginia held that the parties’ use of the word “may” in the dispute resolution provisions of their construction contract required mandatory participation in arbitration at the election of one of the parties.

Mother Nature Is Tough – How About Your Contracts?

Insight
What happens to supply contracts when a natural disaster floods entire cities, shuts down factories, cuts off warehouses, washes trucks off the road, and essentially brings an entire supply chain to a screeching halt?

Widening Your Moat: Using Continuation Applications to Protect Commercially Successful Products

Event, Sept. 28
Fitch, Even, Tabin & Flannery LLP will present a free webinar, “Widening Your Moat: Using Continuation Applications to Protect Commercially Successful Products,” featuring Fitch Even partners Jonathan H. Urbanek and Mark A. Borsos.

Equifax Faces Multibillion-Dollar Lawsuit Over Hack

News
Bloomberg reports that a proposed class-action lawsuit was filed against Equifax Inc. late Thursday evening, shortly after the company reported that an unprecedented hack had compromised the private information of about 143 million people.

Trump Lawyers Urge Supreme Court to Rule for Colorado Cake Maker Who Turned Away Gay Couple

News
The brief filed Thursday is likely to bolster the cake maker’s case, and is in line President Trump’s repeated promises to protect “religious liberty,” according to The Los Angeles Times.

VW Engineer Sentenced to 40-Month Prison Term in Diesel Case

News
A federal judge in Detroit sentenced former engineer James Liang to 40 months in prison for his role in Volkswagen AG’s multiyear scheme to sell diesel cars that generated more pollution than U.S. clean air rules allowed, Reuters is reporting.