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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.
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Continue Reading Commercial Appeals Roundup

Here are the Commercial Appeals Roundups for the weeks of April 20-24, 2020 and April 27-May 1, 2020. The Roundups describe a key aspect of precedential appellate rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court, the 13 U.S. Courts of Appeals, and the highest appeals courts in Delaware, New York, and Texas and provide links directly to …

Because my practice focuses on complex commercial disputes–especially cases involving antitrust, oil and gas, and patents–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 Case Roundup.

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Continue Reading Commercial Case Roundup

shutterstock_313474802Big verdict

Hulk Hogan’s case against Gawker Media made headlines four times — but only twice because of what the jury did.

You’ll recall that a trial in Florida produced a verdict in favor of Mr. Hogan on his claim that Gawker had gone too far with a sex video. Jurors awarded the Hulkster (Terry…

imageThe Times’s Gretchen Morgenson asked in her “Fair Game” column whether making “financial executives personally liable for a portion of any . . . legal settlements” in class actions — regardless of personal fault — would cut down on bad conduct.

I bet it would.

But I have a better idea.

Promise to pay class action lawyers big bonuses for finding the actual bad guys and making them pay.…
Continue Reading How to Make the Real Bad Guys Pay

FundingSizable expenses

A big commercial case can cost millions in expenses — by which I mean out-of-pocket costs that the plaintiff or its counsel must pay net of attorneys’ fees. A portfolio of cases — for infringement of a patent or family of patents, say — can run many millions more. Who will bear that burden? And what will it cost?…
Continue Reading The Cost of Third-Party Litigation Funding

Risk KnobPrologue

A story from a long-ago summer day highlights the big rewards that you can earn from taking purposeful risks.

In a little over a month, on August 5, 2015, 151 years will have passed since a commander took a gamble during the Battle of Mobile Bay.

The commander knew that the defenders had rigged…