Illinois Governor Appoints Quarles & Brady Partner to READ Board
News
Everett Ward, partner at the Chicago office of Quarles & Brady, has been appointed by Illinois Governor Bruce Rauner to serve as a public member of the Real Estate Administration and Disciplinary Board.
Chevron’s Pollution Victory Opens Door for Companies to Shirk Foreign Verdicts
News
Corporations seeking to avoid enforcement of foreign judgments they contend are based on corrupt proceedings may have a new weapon now, thanks to a ruling by a federal appeals court over Chevron’s long-running Ecuadorian pollution litigation, reports BloombergBusinessWeek.
Judge Fines Foreclosure Law Firm $1.8 Million for Bogus Billings
News
A Denver judge has fined one of the city’s prolific foreclosure attorneys $1.8 million for billing thousands of consumers facing the loss of their homes for title-insurance policies that did not exist, reports The Denver Post.
Wearable Technology That Monitors Workers Could Lead to Legal Problems for Employers
News
Some labor lawyers are concerned about unintended legal consequences of the use of wearable electronic monitoring devices in the workplace.
PwC Must Face $1 bln MF Global Malpractice Lawsuit: U.S. Judge
News
A federal judge rejected PricewaterhouseCoopers’ bid to dismiss a $1 billion lawsuit accusing the accounting firm of professional malpractice for helping cause the October 2011 bankruptcy of brokerage MF Global Holdings Ltd., reports Reuters.
Citigroup Beats $800 Million Appeal By One-Time Billionaire
News
Reuters is reporting that a federal appeals court rejected a one-time Florida billionaire’s bid to revive his $800 million lawsuit accusing Citigroup Inc. of fraudulently hiding its exposure to subprime and other toxic mortgages, inducing him to hold on to shares he otherwise would have sold.
Veterans Returning to Work After Military Service May Not Be Discharged Except for Cause
Insight
Employers should be aware that federal law modifies at-will employment by creating a “for cause” standard of discharge for veterans who return to work after a month or more of military service, according to Orrick’s Employment Law and Litigation Blog.
Debate Over Allocation Wells Continues
Insight
Horizontal wells drilled across lease lines were clearly not contemplated in a typical oil and gas lease, and lessors should not be forced to accept a formula for royalty payment to which they have not agreed, advises John McFarland of Graves Dougherty Hearon & Moody in an article published in Oil and Gas Lawyer Blog.
Lessons Learned in Over 500 Software License Disputes
Insight
Regardless of whether the publisher is Microsoft, Adobe, Autodesk, Oracle, IBM or any of their trade groups including the BSA | The Software Alliance, Robert Scott of Scott & Scott LLP sees common issues.
Business Groups Sue Over New U.S. Limit on Tax-Driven Foreign Buyouts
News
Reuters is reporting that two business groups have sued the Obama administration over a crackdown on U.S. companies that try to reduce their U.S. taxes by rebasing abroad in a process known as inversion.
Judge Reprimands Five Class-Action Lawyers for Alleged Forum Shopping
News
The judge wrote in his order that the lawyers “engaged in improper mid-litigation forum shopping in a manner calculated to evade federal review and prevent the court from carrying out its obligation” to class members.
Former FBI Agent to be Sentenced for Lying at Bulger’s Trial
News
Prosecutors and the defense have have proposed a plea agreement that recommends two years probation for Robert Fitzpatrick, 76, who is suffering from kidney disease, cancer, and diabetes.
Administrative-Law Rulings Heighten Significance of Next Supreme Court Appointment
Insight
Critics of judicial deference in administrative law had hoped that the court might grant certiorari in cases that would allow them plot a new course, but the death of Justice Antonin Scalia caused those hopes to dim, writes Richard O. Faulk of Alexander Dubose Jefferson & Townsend LLP.
Browsewrap Agreement Held Unenforceable – Website Designers Take Note
Insight
Website developers – and their lawyers – should take note of a recent California case, part of an emerging trend of judicial scrutiny over how browsewrap terms are presented, write Jeffrey Neuburger and Daryn A. Grossman of Proskauer Rose LLP.
Preventing Limitation of Liability End-Runs
Insight
Owners who are dissatisfied with their contractors’ performance increasingly assert fraud-based claims in addition to breach of contract claims because fraud-based claims are not typically barred by contractual waivers and limits of liability, according to a client alert published by Pepper Hamilton.
Tinkering With Ipso Facto Provisions in Financial Contracts Could Send Them Sailing Out of Safe Harbors
Insight
The question in the case described by Maurice Horwitz Weil, Gotshal & Manges was whether an ipso facto provision continues to be safe harbored if enforcement of that provision is conditioned on other factors – in this case, the debtor’s failure to perform under the contract.
Employees Bound By Clickthrough Agreements – ADP v. Lynch
Insight
A clickthrough agreement provides tangible evidence that employees “got the memo” (even if they chose not to read it), writes Eric Goldman in the Technology & Marketing Law Blog.
Wal-Mart Reported to Be in Talks to Buy Web Retailer Jet.com
News
CNBC is reporting that Wal-Mart is eyeing a potential acquisition of Jet.com, an online retailer created to challenge Amazon, according to a Dow Jones report citing people familiar with the matter.
Judge Wipes Out Patent Troll’s $625M Verdict Against Apple
News
A patent-holding company that won a huge court victory against Apple had its victory wiped out, and its stock plunged by more than 40 percent, reports Ars Technica.
Warren Buffett Made a Big Bet On an ‘In-Your-Face’ CEO
Profile
The CEO of a Berkshire Hathaway Inc. purchase is known for his phenomenal business success is also known to use methods “more brutal,” in contrast to the low-key approach favored by the parent company’s boss, Warren Buffett, according to a Bloomberg profile.
