A federal judge slammed Facebook Inc., saying the social media giant might not be doing enough to deter terrorists from using its platform, Bloomberg reports. The judge also chewed out the company’s law firm, saying “it is outrageous, irresponsible and insulting” for sending a first-year associate to handle the hearing.

U.S. District Judge Nicholas Garaufis in Brooklyn, New York, accused Facebook’s lawyers of not taking seriously lawsuits with implications of international terrorism and the murder of innocent people. He ordered Kirkland & Ellis LLP, the law firm representing Facebook, to send a more senior lawyer to the next hearing on Sept. 28 because he wanted to “talk to someone who talks to senior management at Facebook.”

“Garaufis is overseeing two lawsuits in which more than 20,000 victims of attacks and their families accused Facebook of helping groups in the Middle East such as Hamas,” reports Patricia Hurtado. “The judge noted similar suits haven’t been successful under U.S. law which insulates publishers from liability for the speech of others. But he said that doesn’t mean Facebook shouldn’t take it seriously and try to address the issue.”

Read the article.

The ABC affiliate in San Antonio reports that in the last six years, lawyers working in the Greater San Antonio area have tripled the number of commercials they run on TV from about 50,000 to more than 180,000 a year, according to data from Nielsen AdIntel.

The flashy commercials have given some South Texas personal-injury lawyers a unique reputationm writes Josh Skurnik, citing the example of Jim Adler, who bills himself as the “Texas Hammer.” Adler can be seen in TV spots standing on semitrucks telling viewers he “will hammer the big trucking companies down to size.”

Adler told KSAT 12 how his script writers and directors helped him come up with the character:

“He agreed with them that he needed a more memorable character than his predecessor ‘Jim Adler, the smart tough lawyer.’ Through acting lessons, an eye for production and bilingual showmanship Adler said he became the grandfather of the unique style of personal injury advertising found in South Texas.”

And it worked.

Read the article.

The celebrated “freedom of contract” is not absolute, writes Glenn West for Weil, Gotshal & Manges LLP’s Global Private Equity Watch.

“The right of contracting parties to obligate themselves to one another has always been subject to certain statutory limitations, as well as those imposed by the common-law principles that govern the enforcement of contracts generally. A recent decision by the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, Caudill v. Keller Williams Realty, Inc., 2016 WL 3680033 (7th Cir. July 6, 2016), serves as a reminder of one of those common-law principles—the idea that, as a general rule, parties should not be penalized for breaching a contract,” he writes.

“Parties relying on agreed damages clauses on both sides of the Atlantic should continue to draft such provisions based upon the current interpretation, in the applicable jurisdiction, of the ancient principle of the common law that abhors a penalty for a contractual breach,” West advises.

Read the article.

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Democrats on the House Judiciary Committee are asking the Justice Department to investigate the circumstances surrounding a $25,000 donation the Donald J. Trump Foundation made to Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi at a time when her office was considering whether to open a fraud investigation of Trump University, according to a Washington Post report.

The committee’s Democrats allege that the donation in 2013 “may have influenced Mrs. Bondi’s official decision not to participate in litigation against Mr. Trump,” and asks Attorney General Loretta E. Lynch to explore whether federal bribery or other laws might have been violated, report Matt Zapotosky and David A. Fahrenthold.

In a separate case, New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman said on CNN Tuesday that his office was “concerned that the Trump Foundation may have engaged in some impropriety” and had “been looking into the Trump Foundation to make sure it’s complying with the laws that govern charities in New York.”

Read the article.

When a 5.8 magnitude earthquake centered in Oklahoma shook that state and several others over Labor Day weekend, regulators in the Sooner State ordered 37 oil and gas wastewater disposal wells to shut down because of previous connections to quakes, according to a report by Androvett Legal Media and Marketing.

There also have been earthquakes in Texas that some researchers believe are tied to disposal wells used for wastewater fluids resulting from hydraulic fracturing/fracking operations. While state regulators continue to question a definitive link between these wells and earthquakes, some major oil and gas producers are already taking steps to try to avoid problems.

“The more sophisticated producers are already beginning to use technologies to recycle water used in fracking and to develop new formulas that substantially reduce both water usage and the amount that must be disposed by subsurface injection. Those changes will provide numerous benefits, which may include reducing the potential for seismic activity,” said Leonard Dougal, an environmental lawyer with Jackson Walker LLP in Austin who is also a former petroleum engineer.

“In most cases, however, the disposal of wastewater is contracted out to other service companies, and many producers aren’t involved in decisions about where those wells are drilled or how they are operated. But that separation may not totally free producers from a potential lawsuit given the recent widespread publicity about earthquakes. Producers also should take steps to reduce liability by avoiding use of disposal wells or contractors working in areas of known seismic activity.”

Merrick Garland

Hillary Clinton has started talking to reporters again, but Bloomberg Law reports there’s still a big question she hasn’t answered: Would she re-nominate Merrick Garland to the open seat on the Supreme Court?

Senate Republicans have refused to hold hearings on Garland’s nomination, saying the next president should be the one to select a nominee to replace the late Justice Antonin Scalia.

The Democratic presidential candidate has studiously avoided saying whether she would renominate Garland for the vacancy if it is still pending next year, writes Bloomberg’s Greg Stohr.

“Clinton’s decision would shape both the direction of the court and tone of her presidency. She could stick with Garland, a 63-year-old moderate whose nomination has languished since March. Garland would shift the court to the left but not as far as some liberals would like,” Stohr writes. “Or she could opt for a younger, more progressive nominee, as well as the bigger confirmation fight that would invite.”

Read the article.

A “force majeure” clause is a contract provision that relieves the parties from performing their contractual obligations when certain circumstances beyond their control arise, making performance commercially impracticable or impossible, write Raedtha A. Vasquez and Edward Hart Bergin, partners in Jones Walker LLP.

In their article, they explain, that, in Louisiana, absent agreement to the contrary, force majeure excuses parties from liability when they fail to perform due to a fortuitous event that makes performance impossible.

“So, in determining whether the doctrine applies, it is necessary to determine (1) whether performance is impossible and (2) whether the impossibility was caused by a fortuitous event.”

They discuss some of the points to consider when confronting force majeure issues.

Read the article.

Frank L. Branson

In an article on its website, the Law Offices of Frank L. Branson tallied some of the firm’s recent victories, including a $10.9 million verdict for the families of two north Texas grandmothers who died as a result of injuries from the crash of a the Choctaw Casino chartered bus.

In that case, the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma refused to take responsibility for its role in ensuring the safety of its guests and offered only $50,000 to settle the case, the firm says on its website. At trial, testimony established a critical finding that the Choctaw Casino had retained the right to control the charter bus and its driver.

In another case, the firm won $4.45 million in actual damages and another $598,500 in exemplary damages for a physician who was forced out of a partnership in two medical imaging center businesses.

The firm has been honored by Best Law Firms in America Metropolitan Tier I, Texas Super Lawyers, and more.

Read the article.

Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2016
New York

Bloomberg BNA and Bentham IMF will hold an executive briefing and reception that explores how firms are integrating financing into their litigation practices.

The event will be Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2016, at Bloomberg LP, 120 Park Ave., New York, from 4:30 p.m. until 6:30 p.m., with a networking reception to follow.

Law firms face increasing pressure to help clients gain affordable access to the courts as skyrocketing legal costs and other factors make litigation more expensive. Financing provided by litigation funders is helping firms meet this demand while also accomplishing strategic objectives, Bloomberg says on its website.

Erwin Chemerinsky, Dean of University of California Irvine School of Law and author of the forthcoming book,Closing the Courthouse Doors, will deliver a keynote speech on how the upcoming election can change the course of the Supreme Court’s recent decisions and create a new era of wider access to civil justice.

Following Dean Chemerinsky, a panel of top legal and funding professionals will discuss the impact of funding on the U.S. legal system, and how law firms are taking measured risk to increase profits and accomplish growth objectives. Finally, the panel will look at the benefits to corporate clients, as well as plaintiffs.

Register for the event.

The news of Gretchen Carlson‘s $20 million settlement with 21st Century Fox is sending shock waves through the legal world, especially in employment and labor law circles, according to a LawNewz.com report.

Rachel Stockman spoke with several legal experts about the settlement, including one who called this a “watershed moment for sexual harassment cases.”

Some of the experts said the case could open the door to more sexual harassment claims in the workplace, and some were surprised by the high dollar amount that 21st Century Fox agreed to pay.

The article quotes Washington, DC, employment lawyer Tom Spiggle as saying this case could convince victims of sexual harassment that the laws on the subject still have teeth.

Read the article.

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Kentucky lawyer Alex R. White has filed a class action complaint in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York against Lawyer.com LLC and World Media Group LLC, alleging violation of New York and other state consumer protection statutes, reports Legal NewsLine.

Reporter Jenie Mallari-Torres writes that the complaint claims White and his class suffered damages to the reputations of their business and professional careers when users posted unflattering reviews on the defendants’ website. Some the lawyers and judges had grades of “D” or “F”.

“White alleges the defendants enriched themselves at the expense of lawyers who have not authorized the disclosure of their personal and professional information, bombarded attorneys with unsolicited emails from ‘potential clients. as part of its efforts to sell premium memberships on its website which cost hundreds of dollars a month and promoted attorneys and law firms based solely on how much money was paid,” according to the report.

Read the article.

An insurer’s duty of good faith is pervasive and its application to claim handling has matured into a formidable body of law, write Douglas L. Christian and Nathan D. Meyer for Jaburg Wilk.

But when a bad faith lawsuit converts the quasi-fiduciary relationship with the policyholder into an adversarial one, how does a policyholder lawsuit affect the insurer’s duty of good faith? And, how does the insurer’s duty of good faith affect the lawsuit?

“Policyholders argue that if a lawsuit obviates the insurer’s duty it will encourage insurers to engage in conduct that will precipitate a lawsuit. Insurers respond by arguing that if the fiduciary duty continues unabated, it will encourage premature lawsuits by policyholders, deprive insurers of their ability to adjust losses, and eviscerate their rights as litigants,” according to the article.

The authors discuss   the development of the continuing duty of good faith, whether insurer litigation and post-filing conduct is admissible under current rules of evidence, and whether continuing bad faith is actionable as a separate theory of liability.

Read the article.

Kerrie L. Campbell brought more than two decades of experience in consumer product safety and product defamation litigation when she joined the Washington office of the Chadbourne & Parke in January 2014, but she contends that other Chadbourne partners shut her out of leadership positions and paid her far less than male partners at her level, reports The New York Times.

“After being told this year that she would be terminated, she sued in federal court on Wednesday, asking for a total of $100 million on behalf of herself and other female partners who, she said, receive less compensation than male partners even when they bring in more client revenue,” writes Elizabeth Olson. “A five-man management committee at the firm arbitrarily awards male partners more points, which translate into higher dollar compensation, than they do to women, she maintained.”

In a statement responding to the suit, Chadbourne denied the gender discrimination claims, saying her complaint against the firm is riddled with falsehoods and “will be shown to be completely baseless.”

Read the article.

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A law firm in Montgomery, Ala., says it received nearly 26,000 phone calls from people inquiring about a possible link between talcum powder and ovarian cancer after its clients won a total of $127 million in two verdicts earlier this year, reports AL.com.

Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C. reported 12,221 open cases from the 25,916 calls it had received as of Thursday. In a statement, the firm said it now has 867 cases filed nationwide against Johnson & Johnson regarding talcum powder products, which plaintiffs have claimed are linked to cases of ovarian cancer.

“In February a City of St. Louis Circuit Court jury awarded the family of Jacqueline Fox $72 million, finding Johnson & Johnson liable for her ovarian cancer that led to her death,” reports Kent Faulk of AL.com. “In May another jury in St. Louis found Johnson & Johnson liable for ovarian cancer linked to genital use of its talcum powder products and awarded a South Dakota woman, Gloria Ristesund, $55 million.”

“Though it’s been discussed as a hypothesis and carefully studied for decades, there is no proven linkage between talc and ovarian cancer,” Gene Williams, outside counsel for Johnson & Johnson, told Legal NewsLine.

Read the article.

All contractors dread receiving the seemingly inescapable call that a preventable, yet too common, workplace accident occurred such as a crane collapse, the fall of an ironworker, or a delivery vehicle accident, writes James J. Buldas of Pietragallo Gordon Alfano Bosick & Raspanti LLP.

“Besides the human and project costs these accidents bring, claims and lawsuits nearly always follow,” he warns in his article. “While defending claims and lawsuits may cause even the most seasoned contractors to suffer from sleepless nights, responsible parties may take solace in knowing that their counsel negotiated defense and indemnity agreements in their contracts. Why then do such parties sometimes learn that because of the language in an insurance policy, the indemnity clause in the construction contract provides little or no protection?”

Because of unforeseen risk, additional insured endorsements have been revised to link contractual indemnity obligations to additional insured coverage. These new endorsements explicitly limit additional insured status to the indemnity clause of the underlying contract, regardless of whether the endorsement incorporates the “arising out of” or “caused, in whole or in part” language.

Read the article.

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A new startup, Legalist, is looking to make money from the practice of bankrolling lawsuits, reports Business Insider. The startup plans to fund those that it calculates has a chance to win.

Although Eva Shang, its cofounder, is a Thiel Fellow, she said the company won’t be funding lawsuits like the one Peter Thiel backed when Hulk Hogan successfully sued Gawker. The fellowship means that Shand took a $100,000 investment from Thiel’s foundation to help build Legalist.

“In a presentation at Y Combinator’s Demo Day on Tuesday, Shang argued that litigation funding is poised to become an ‘explosive asset class.’ The startup has funded one lawsuit for $75,000 and expects a return of over $1 million once the case is over. That money will then be reinvested in other lawsuits, and the process will repeat itself,” reports Biz Carson.

Legalist uses an algorithm tocalculates the odds of winning the case and the time scale in which it would finish.

Read the article.

A Texas-based legal recruiter is seeking up to $1 million in damages from a Holland & Knight partner, saying the lawyer broke his promise and used another headhunter to place him at the firm after the recruiter discussed the opportunity with him.

Legal recruiter Sean Cassidy’s suit against Dean Schaner alleges breach of contract, fraud and negligent misrepresentation.

“The [law firm] that we contacted you about… I would just ask that… since we contacted you about it, I always ask two things Dean,” said Cassidy, according to a recording played for Bloomberg Law. “One, I ask that if it’s something you ultimately decide to pursue, I just ask that you work through me on it.”

The Bloomberg article by Casey Sullivan reports:

“When contacted about Cassidy’s recording and overall litigation, Schaner wrote in an email Tuesday that the sound clip was a ‘misleading partial conversation,’ that he ‘never agreed to pursue the opportunity through Cassidy’ and furthermore, ‘never disclosed [Holland & Knight] to anyone.’ ”

Read the article.

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Donald Trump’s power to nominate Supreme Court justices if elected to the White House is a threat to women workers, equal pay advocate Lilly Ledbetter and two union officials said, according to a report by Bloomberg Law.

Ledbetter was a former Goodyear tire plant supervisor who sued her employer after she discovered she was making less than her male colleagues after 20 years on the job. She lost that pay discrimination case at the Supreme Court in 2007. Congress responded by passing the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act to allow more time for claimants in federal pay bias claims.

“Ivanka Trump said during the Republican Convention that her father would likely look at the the pay bias issue,” reports Bloomberg’s Chris Opfer. “The AFL-CIO’s Shuler blasted the GOP nominee, however, for later saying on the campaign trial that he would expect his daughter to leave her job if she was being discriminated against.”

Read the article.

Reuters is reporting that prominent Texas lawyer Mikal Watts was acquitted on Thursday of charges he made up thousands of fake clients to sue BP Plc for damages that the oil company caused in the 2010 Gulf of Mexico spill, court records show.

A Mississippi federal jury found Watts and four other defendants not guilty of charges related to an alleged scheme to defraud a program set up by BP to compensate people who suffered economic losses from the spill, writes Jonathan Stempel. The jury found two other defendants guilty.

“The U.S. Department of Justice had accused the defendants of submitting claims on behalf of more than 40,000 people who had not agreed to be represented by Watts’ firm, or else were identified with stolen or bogus Social Security numbers and other personal information,” reports Stempel.

Read the article.

Four workers injured in a flash fire last week at the Sunoco Logistics terminal in Nederland, Texas, remain hospitalized with severe burns and related injuries. Two of the workers have retained Matthew Matheny and Edward Fisher of the Provost Umphrey law firm to represent their interests, and the attorneys have already secured a preservation agreement covering the accident site and will be leading an investigation on behalf of their clients.

“It’s important to preserve the location and allow investigators and experts to better determine the causes of the accident and what might have prevented this tragedy,” says Matheny in an article posted by Androvett Legal Media & Marketing. “We’ll be talking to witnesses and examining any records of safety and maintenance procedures at the facility. Obviously this horrible accident should not have happened, and we’re prepared to find out why.”

According to initial reports, at the time of the accident the workers were doing some welding at the Sunoco facility, which handles crude oil, condensate, naphtha, base and extract oils.