We round up the most significant appellate decisions relevant to commercial litigation each week.

Commercial Roundup offers a double feature this week–two weeks in one.

We lead off with a memory (“The biggest surprise?”), proceed through a slew of IP rulings, pause on my colleagues’ big win against Fox News (“All it took”), note the Supreme Court has cleared the way for constitutional attacks on the SEC and FTC (“How about now?”) and the Fifth Circuit almost immediately expedited one such attack (“Fifth Circuit looks anxious”), and highlight rulings on choice of law clauses and class certification before ending on a high note (“Need a lift”).

Have a terrific rest of the week.

Continue Reading Commercial Roundup – April 27, 2023

We round up the most significant appellate decisions relevant to commercial litigation each week.

Welcome to this week’s Commercial Roundup—in which you’ll find links to the most significant rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court and the 13 Courts of Appeals plus the highest courts in Delaware, New York, and Texas. You’ll also see other matters of interest to commercial trial lawyers and the firms and business people they represent.

This week a couple of Latin phrases we learned in the first year of law school headline the list. The first—res ipsa loquitur—means something like “the thing (res) speaks (loquitur) for itself (ipsa)” and provides a shortcut for a party wishing to prove a claim of negligence. The other Latin phrase—forum non conveniens—suggests the plaintiff brought a case in a place (forum) whose remoteness to the parties, witnesses, and sources of proof and lack of expertise in governing law (among other factors) render it sufficiently inconvenient (non conveniens) as to justify dismissing the case in favor of, or transferring it to, a much more convenient forum.

We also have an important First Circuit ruling on a pair of issues that arise often in efforts to enforce arbitration clauses and confirm awards, a “tacking” question regarding priority of trademarks, and decisions on when limitations starts to run in securities fraud cases, insurance coverage for COVID-19 losses, damages remedy for fraudulent transfer, and when prior art “anticipates” a claim limitation without mentioning it.

So here we go—Commercial Roundup for the week of April 5-12.

Continue Reading Commercial Roundup – April 12, 2023

We round up the most significant appellate decisions relevant to commercial litigation each week.

To celebrate the arrival of summer, I am trying an experiment.

In this post–which covers almost all of June–I’ve sorted commercial rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court, the U.S. Courts of Appeals, and a selection from the highest state courts according to subject matter.

The resulting headings group decisions by broadly descriptive categories (e.g., Antitrust and Intellectual Property) for quicker reference. As usual, you may access the decisions by clicking on the case summary itself.

Please let me know you find these signposts worthwhile.
Continue Reading Commercial Roundup

We round up the most significant appellate decisions relevant to commercial litigation each week.

Note for readers

Because my practice focuses on complex commercial disputes–especially ones involving antitrust, energy, or intellectual property–I keep daily track of important decisions by the U.S. Supreme Court, the 13 U.S. Courts of Appeals, and the highest appeals courts in Delaware, New York, and Texas.

You can follow along during the week on Twitter (@contingencyblog) or here at The Contingency each Monday with this Commercial Appeals Roundup.

Continue Reading Commercial Appeals Roundup

We round up the most significant appellate decisions relevant to commercial litigation each week.

The output of U.S. Courts of Appeals slowed over the summer; the highest courts in Delaware, New York, and Texas went on partial hiatuses; and having finished its 2019-20 Term in June, the U.S. Supreme Court won’t restart its assembly line until October 5. Yet we have a backlog of rulings to report. The 25 blurbs-plus-links below the jump will catch you up on the decisions most likely to affect your commercial litigation practice. Have a great week.
Continue Reading Commercial Appeals Roundup

We round up the most significant appellate decisions relevant to commercial litigation each week.

The summer doldrums have slowed but not halted the flow of rulings by the U.S. Courts of Appeals, but you can’t say the same about the highest courts in Delaware, New York, and Texas.

Despite the more languid pace of federal-court opinions, we have a cornucopia of them–28 in all. I’m happy to say the backlog is a result of having quite a lot to do in my day job at Susman Godfrey.

The state-court pipelines have paused their deliveries since July 31 (in Delaware), July 17 (Texas), and June 29 (New York)–yielding just one opinion (on a rare instance of declining to order a shareholder meeting to elect directors).

Below the jump you’ll find the latest roundup of blurbs-with-links.

Continue Reading Commercial Appeals Roundup

We round up the most significant appellate decisions relevant to commercial litigation each week.

Judgment in German action didn’t bar claim that defendant could (but didn’t have to) bring as counterclaim.

Loan contract that limited arbitration to claims under tribal law violated public policy.

Amount in controversy for purposes of removal under CAFA includes “reasonably possible” punitive damages.

Network monitor patent did more than embody abstract idea under Alice.