“Amid investigations, litigation and public scrutiny over allegedly exorbitant executive compensation at the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence, Tiffany Carr, the woman at the center of the maelstrom, has remained almost silent,” reports The Gainesville Sun.

“But a lawyer who represents Carr, the former CEO of the nonprofit organization, provided a glimpse in a court filing into her defense against accusations that she misspent public funds meant for the state’s domestic-violence centers.”

“Gov. Ron DeSantis, Attorney General Ashley Moody and House and Senate leaders in recent weeks have vilified Carr for orchestrating $7.5 million in compensation over three years, which included more than $4 million in paid time off. Inquiries into the nonprofit’s finances have also targeted the coalition’s executive staff and board of directors, who each year signed off on her salary and benefits.”

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“A prominent Chinese dissident may proceed with his malpractice case against a law firm based on allegations that the firm failed adequately to protect his personal data from hackers, a Washington, D.C. district court said in an opinion on February 20.  In his $50 million suit, the plaintiff, Guo Wengui, alleges that after he retained the firm, someone (assumed to be associated with the Chinese government) penetrated the firm’s computer servers, gained access to his confidential information and published it on the Internet,” reports Karen Rubin and Tom Zych in The Law for Lawyers Today’s Malpractice.

“The district court turned back the firm’s motion to dismiss and allowed most of Wengui’s claims to go forward.  The case bears watching as cyberattacks increasingly target law firms, and legal IT teams struggle to stay one step ahead of security threats.”

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“Two federal appellate courts published notable opinions on the intersection between personal jurisdiction jurisprudence and Rule 23 class action procedure. The defendants in both cases face nationwide class actions, and each argued that the Supreme Court’s 2017 decision in Bristol-Myers Squibb Co. v. Superior Court of California, 137 S. Ct. 1773, precludes district courts from exercising specific jurisdiction over the claims of unnamed putative class members from other states. The majority of a D.C. Circuit panel decided to resolve the appeal before it on alternate grounds. But in dissent, Judge Silberman explained why he understands Bristol-Myers’s holding to extend to nationwide class actions brought in federal court. The next day, a unanimous Seventh Circuit panel refused to extend Bristol-Myers to federal class actions,” reports Michael D. Leffel and Aaron R. Wegrzyn in Foley & Lardner’s Insights.

“The Supreme Court’s Bristol-Myers decision addresses state courts’ jurisdiction over the claims of non-resident plaintiffs in mass tort actions. The Court held that a California state court lacked jurisdiction over the defendant with respect to nonresident plaintiffs’ claims because the defendant was not incorporated in California and did not have its principal place of business in California (thus defeating general jurisdiction) and because the claims lacked an “adequate link” to California (thus defeating specific jurisdiction). Following that ruling, district courts across the country have split on whether to extend the logic of Bristol-Myers from state mass tort actions to nationwide class actions. ”

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“PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) has agreed to settle a class action lawsuit alleging age discrimination in hiring by paying out $11.625 million, an amount that is not even a blip on the radar screen of a firm that reports annual revenues in excess of $41 billion,” reports Patricia Barnes in Forbes’ Leadership.

“Moreover, PwC seems somewhat tentative with respect to its commitment to change the hiring practices the plaintiffs have argued since 2016 were grossly discriminatory to older workers.”

“Both sides released a carefully worded press release earlier this month stating that PwC has agreed ‘to enhance certain of its recruiting procedures geared toward further attracting qualified older applicants for entry level jobs.’”

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“The three giant drug distributors are negotiating a deal with the states to end thousands of opioid lawsuits nationwide, in which they would pay $19.2 billion over 18 years and immediately submit to stringent monitoring requirements to assure that suspicious orders for prescription opioids would be halted,” reports Jan Hoffman in The New York Times’ Health.

“So far, 31 states plus the District of Columbia have tentatively agreed to the deal, while 19 states, including Florida, Connecticut and West Virginia, have not.”

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“New court filings reveal that the Department of Defense wants to ‘reconsider certain aspects’ of its decision to award Microsoft with the coveted $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure contract,” reports Taylor Soper in GeekWire.

“The latest legal development is part of Amazon’s protest over the prestigious cloud computing deal, known as JEDI. Amazon Web Services sued the federal government after Microsoft emerged as the surprise winner of the JEDI contract last year.”

“In the new filing, a motion for voluntary remand, the DoD said that it ‘wishes to reconsider its award decision in response to the other technical challenges presented by AWS.’ The DoD is asking for 120 days to assess the matter. It wants to specifically examine one issue related to ‘online marketplace offerings.'”

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“A $143 million settlement between Columbia Gas and thousands of people affected by the company’s 2018 pipeline disaster in the Merrimack Valley received final approval from a state judge on Thursday,” reports Callum Borchers in Bostonmix.

“The resolution of a class action civil case comes two weeks after Columbia Gas agreed to plead guilty in a criminal proceeding, acknowledging it violated the federal Pipeline Safety Act. The plea deal included a $53 million fine and required Columbia’s parent company, NiSource, to sell its Massachusetts business. NiSource quickly found a buyer in Eversource.”

“Anyone who lived in Lawrence, Andover or North Andover at the time of widespread fires and explosions in September 2018 can apply for compensation. The deadline to file a claim has been extended to April 27.”

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“In an important lesson for both employers and employees a California superior court judge affirmed a $179 million arbitration award against a former Uber executive, Anthony Levandowski, for stealing Google’s trade secret information and soliciting its employees to benefit Uber. See Google LLC v. Levandowski et al., Case No. CPF-20-516982. Levandowski, who also faces criminal charges from the U.S. Attorney’s office for theft and attempted theft of trade secrets, filed for bankruptcy following the judge’s order,” reports Aaron Goldstein and Jasmine Hui in Dorsey’s Publications.

“The court’s ruling underscores the importance of well-crafted confidentiality, non-compete, and non-solicit agreements. Over the course of Levandowski’s employment with Google, he signed at least four separate agreements which included either non-compete, non-solicit, confidentiality, and nondisclosure provisions, or a combination thereof. The panel of arbitrators in the underlying case held, among other things, that Levandowski breached these employment contracts with Google by misusing Google’s confidential information and attempting to solicit Google employees.”

“Google hired Levandowski in 2007, where he co-founded the company’s autonomous vehicle project, which later became Waymo, LLC. In 2015, Levandowski left Google and formed a new self-driving company, Ottomotto, Inc. In 2016, Uber acquired Ottomotto, Inc. and hired Levandowski to head its autonomous vehicle department. Shortly thereafter, Google filed two arbitration demands against Levandowski and another former Google employee who moved to Uber.”

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“The Am Law 50 firm moved its headquarters to Philadelphia’s Cira Centre in 2005, taking advantage of a tax break program that Pennsylvania offers businesses to move into developments in formerly run-down areas. Since taking up residence in Cira Centre, Dechert’s paid virtually no state or local business taxes in exchange for Dechert’s role in making the area an attractive business destination,” notes Joe Patrice in Above the Law’s Biglaw.

“But the program expired in 2018, so when the Keystone Opportunity Zone program eyed a new tax-free area in Schuylkill Yards, Dechert walked up and asked to move there too.”

“There’s nothing in the law to say companies can’t hop from zone to zone to remain permanently tax-free, and when authorities denied Dechert’s request to continue not paying its taxes, the firm took the government to court.”

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“The Ohio Supreme Court has suspended an Olmsted Falls attorney who repeatedly violated a protection order, lied to police about violating the order and tested positive for cocaine use, which violated the terms of his probation,” reports Dan Trevas in the Highland County Press’ Headlines.

“In a per curiam opinion, the Supreme Court suspended Anthony M. Piazza for two years, with one year stayed with conditions, based on repeated violations of court orders between July 2017 and March 2019, as well as failing to comply with the rules for operating his client trust account. The second year of Piazza’s suspension was stayed as long as he does not commit further professional misconduct and obtains an assessment from the Ohio Lawyers Assistance Program (OLAP).”

“Chief Justice Maureen O’Connor and Justices Sharon L. Kennedy, Judith L. French, R. Patrick DeWine, Michael P. Donnelly, and Melody J. Stewart joined the opinion Feb. 25.”

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“Litigation has its place, but most in-house counsel agree: avoid it if at all possible. That’s why Chris Fairey is a proponent of arbitration clauses in his employee contracts. Fairey is General Counsel for American Residential Services (ARS), one of the nation’s largest residential and commercial heating, air-conditioning, and plumbing services companies. ARS earns approximately $1 billion dollars in revenue annually and has more than 6,000 employees across the country. Like any legal leader of a company that size, Fairey spends a lot of time thinking about risk,” discusses Mark P. Henriques in Womble Bond Dickinson’s Articles and Briefings.

“One of the big upsides to arbitration from Fairey’s point of view is that the process takes a lot of the emotion out of a dispute.  He points out that presenting a case to an experienced arbitrator, rather than a jury, removes many of the emotional elements that can go along with litigation, especially when employees or consumers are on the other side. A jury trial can be subject to grandstanding by plaintiff’s counsel, which is not the case in arbitration.”

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“Apple has tentatively agreed to a $500 million settlement after admitting to slowing down older phones. The deal would provide small payouts for many iPhone owners in the US, plus greater compensation for named class members and attorneys. It covers people who bought any product in the iPhone 6 and 7 lineup — which Apple secretly throttled to conserve battery life.” reports Adi Robertson in The Verge.

“As Bloomberg Law notes, the settlement was filed in a California court last Friday and is awaiting final court approval. The deal — which took months to negotiate — would resolve dozens of class action lawsuits that were filed between 2017 and 2018, then later consolidated into one complaint.”

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“Brittny Lewton, a district attorney who represents seven counties on Colorado’s Eastern Plains, was indicted Thursday by a grand jury on drug and official misconduct charges,” reports Sam Tabachnik in the Denver Post’s Crime & Courts.

“On Friday morning, Lewton turned herself in to the Logan County Jail, said Stan Garnett, the former Boulder County district attorney who is serving as Lewton’s lawyer.”

“The indictment and the arrest affidavit remain suppressed.”

“Lewton, the 40-year-old lead prosecutor for the state’s 13th Judicial District, faces three counts involving controlled substances, including possession and conspiracy, and one count of official misconduct, according to Logan County District Court records. A judge gave her a $10,000 personal recognizance bond.”

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“During Supreme Court oral arguments earlier this week, a Biglaw partner dropped a ‘damn’ to colorfully illustrate his point,” reports Kathryn Rubino in Above the Law’s Courts.

“It happened during the arguments in Opati v. Republic of Sudan. Sudan’s lawyer, White & Case’s Christopher Curran, was in an exchange with Justice Stephen Breyer when he argued SCOTUS had previously held the retroactive assessment of punitive damages was unfair and a ‘draconian step.’ That’s when the juiciness happened:”

“So before we attribute that intention to Congress, we’re going to ask Congress to say it pretty damn clearly.”

“Chief Justice William Rehnquist let it fly in arguments in Donnolley v. Dechristoforo (1974). In fact, according to Law.com, ‘damn’ has been said a handful of times during oral arguments from 1950-2015. However, the majority of the times it was used it was in quoting the record of the case. But at least one other advocate used ‘damn’ for emphasis:”

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“An East Providence lawyer who specializes in asbestos litigation is suing the Town of Barrington over his arrest on assault and disorderly conduct charges that were later dismissed,” reports Katie Mulvaney in the Providence Journal.

“John Deaton is accusing his hometown, specific police officers, a lieutenant and retired Police Chief John LaCross of violating his rights, conspiracy, false imprisonment, invading his privacy, and malicious prosecution over his Sept. 24, 2017, arrest following a confrontation at a Pop Warner football game.”

“LaCross and Lt. Timothy Harrington face allegations of failure to supervise, while Officer David Wyrostek stands accused of assault and battery.”

“Deaton alleges that as a result of his ‘unlawful’ arrest he lost more than $3 million in business, incurred legal fees, and suffered irreparable harm to his reputation.”

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“Johnson & Johnson and other drug companies facing thousands of lawsuits over their role in the opioid epidemic have warned that settlement talks will be “severely” jeopardized if plaintiffs’ lawyers are allowed to assess a fee payment worth billions of dollars,” reports Tom Hals and Nate Raymond in Reuters Business News.

“Major distributors such as McKesson Corp and drugmakers including Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd joined in the request that U.S. District Judge Dan Polster in Cleveland, Ohio, reject a request by a committee of plaintiffs’ lawyers for a 7% fee assessed against any settlements. They filed their brief late Wednesday.”

“The request could amount to $3.3 billion, based on a $48 billion settlement proposal that five companies have been negotiating with various state attorneys general.”

“The drug companies noted that the attorneys would receive more money from the settlement than even some of the states they represent. Dozens of state attorneys general also opposed the request for the fee to the plaintiffs executive committee that is litigating thousands of lawsuits by towns, counties and tribal governments.”

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“Sometimes appellate opinions are issued on a seemingly narrow subject matter that can apply to many other factual contexts.  In one such recent example, a Florida appellate court concluded that a security services provider could not be held responsible for allegedly failing to protect a person who was criminally attacked,” reports Matthew J. Meyer in Ansa | Assuncao’s News & Articles. “The reason for the appellate court’s decision is what is interesting, and could be applied well beyond the factual circumstances involved in the specific case:  the security provider’s contract with Miami-Dade County established the hours of service, and those hours of service ended at 7:00 pm each day, therefore the security provider had no legal duty to provide security to a person who was attacked at 8:00 pm. ”

“In reaching its decision, the appellate court discussed the concepts of ‘zone of risk’ and the corresponding legal duty for a security provider to ‘protect persons lawfully on defined premises.’  Importantly, however, the appellate court explained:  ‘Nonetheless, the extent of the undertaking as defined under the terms of the contract should define the scope of the duty.’ Applying this doctrine, the appellate court explained its conclusion that the responsibility to enact reasonable security measures was borne solely by the County.”

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“Dentons says it will appeal a $32.3 million malpractice verdict based on its disqualification in a patent case because of work done by its Canadian branch.” reports Debra Cassens Weiss in ABA Journal’s Law Firms.

“Jurors in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, had found Dentons liable Feb. 13 in a suit by its former client, laser-inscribing company RevoLaze … The verdict is thought to be the largest legal malpractice judgment in Ohio’s history, according to a press release from RevoLaze’s law firm.”

“The suit had alleged that the booting of Dentons from the case forced RevoLaze to quickly find new lawyers and impacted its leverage in settlement negotiations.”

“The case highlights legal issues related to Dentons’ Swiss verein structure in which more than 10,000 lawyers are associated with the law firm.”

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“Now more than a half a year into his house arrest, environmental attorney Steven Donziger received a passionate recommendation to receive his law license back on Monday from the officer presiding over his bar proceedings in New York. ” reports Adam Klasfeld in Courthouse News Service.

“My recommendation is that his interim suspension should be ended, and that he should be allowed to resume the practice of law,” bar referee John Horan declared.”

“For his role in obtaining a $9.8 billion judgment against Chevron, Donziger has faced the threat of financial ruin from enormous legal fees, criminal prosecution and the suspension of his law license. He has spent more than six months wearing an ankle bracelet in his apartment in New York’s Upper East Side, pursued for the better part of a decade by one of the world’s most powerful oil companies after zealous litigation that one judge labeled a fraud.”

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“What makes an expert witness persuasive to a jury? Is it their background and training? The work that they did on the case? Their communication skills in teaching the jury?” asks Dr. Ken Broda-Bahm in the Persuasive Litigator.

“The research suggests that expert influence depends on a variety of factors, and a scale even exists to measure these factors: the Expert Persuasion Expectancy (ExPEx) framework. That framework includes many of the variables that experts and the attorneys who sponsor them would expect: Foundation, Field, Specialty, Ability, Opinion, Support, Consistency, and Trustworthiness. Even as the items are potentially unsurprising, it is still helpful to keep the whole list in mind.”

“Recent research  shows that these factors matter, and also suggests that there may be a ‘Big 3’ in this list.”

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