Blawgletter's tag-line says "Contingent business law".
Look at the words just below the big Blawgletter® thingy at the top of this page. See?
We recalled that this evening when a Google Alert tipped us off to a new 10-K report. This one disclosed how much the reporting company paid contingent fee lawyers in
On Monday, the Second Circuit reversed dismissal of a securities fraud case against Smith Barney/Citigroup for misleading mutual fund investors about the true cost of "transfer agent" services, for which the mutual funds paid an outside vendor. After a few years, the transfer agent, at SmithBarneyCitigroup's request, started rebating most of the fees to SmithBarney/Citigroup. SmithBarney/Citigroup
A lawyer who takes a case on an hourly basis expects to collect her lodestar — hours times hourly rate — no matter the outcome.
The same lawyer, when she works on contingent fee basis, plans to earn more than her lodestar if she wins. The bonus rewards her for sharing the client's risk.
So
A law professor, a law student, and a lawyer have written a Working Paper on lawsuits that aim to hold greenhouse gas producers liable for global warming. Laurence H. Tribe, Joshua D. Branson & Tristan L. Duncan, "Too Hot for Courts to Handle: Fuel Temperatures, Global Warming, and the Political Question Doctrine", Washington
The ABA Journal this month includes a piece on the "enormous differences" in how federal judges "interpret the facts" of cases involving claims of bias on grounds of race or gender.
What accounts for the juridical variability?
The race or sex of the judge.
The ABA Journal item links to a couple of studies.
The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation convenes every other month to hear argument on motions to centralize or consolidate multidistrict cases for pretrial proceedings in one district court. The Panel's members hail from around the country and gather for Panel hearings at a variety of places, too.
Last month, the MDL Panel met in
The Communications Act of 1934 bars carriers from charging unjust or unreasonable rates. 47 U.S.C. 201(b).
It also provides that "[a]ny person claiming to be damaged by any common carrier . . . may either make complaint to the Commission . . . or may bring suit for the recovery of the damages for which
The Judicial Conference Committee on Court Administration and Case Management has come out with "Proposed Model Jury Instructions" on "The Use of Electronic Technology to Conduct Research on or Communicate about a Case". They follow:
Before Trial:
You, as jurors, must decide this case based solely on the evidence presented here within the four
The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation meets several times a year to hear lawyers explain why cases pending in two or more district courts belong in just one and which district court should handle them during pretrial stages. Lately, the Panel has rebuffed more than half of the motions to transfer (see here also), holding the
Blawgletter hails from the state whose official song once noted its status as "largest and grandest, withstanding ev'ry test/O Empire wide and glorious, you stand supremely blest".
The "largest" moved to "boldest" in 1959, when the Union let Alaska in.
Today the Ninth Circuit subdued Texas law's fondness for quelling aggregate litigation. The panel declared a