In this time of concern and disruption over Covid-19, I and my colleagues at Susman Godfrey (SG) are busy taking steps to safeguard our firm family while continuing to be proactive in protecting the interests of our clients and moving matters forward as necessary and appropriate. I hope that you, your colleagues, and your families
Commercial Appeals Roundup: Weeks of 3-9-20 and 3-2-20
- Magistrate judge can’t rule on whether to appoint receiver. media.ca1.uscourts.gov/pdf.opinions/1
- Inventors‘ hiding their offer to sell oil recovery method from USPTO invalidated patents. cafc.uscourts.gov/sites/default/
- Patent infringement that doesn’t happen until after importation supports exclusion order. cafc.uscourts.gov/sites/default/
- Facebook users had standing to sue over misuse of URL data in their
Commercial Appeals Update: Week of 2-10-20
- Expert’s claim of “stigma” to land value from gas pipeline didn’t pass Rule 702 muster. www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/18312
- Letter that implied lessee paid royalties to wrong entity didn’t meet notice requirement of Louisiana statute. ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/1
- Presence of servers in district didn’t count as regular place of business under patent venue statute. cafc.uscourts.gov/sites/default/
Commercial Case Roundup: Appeals (Week of 1-27-20)
- Phone system that makes calls “using a random or sequential number generator” doesn’t offend Telephone Consumers Protection Act. http://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/201814499.pdf
- “The place of jurisdiction is Vienna” permits but does not mandate litigation in Austria’s capital. https://courts.delaware.gov/Opinions/Download.aspx?id=301050
- Complaint that buyer of company shorted seller on payout by hiding flip opportunity stated fraud claim.
Commercial Case Roundup: Week of 1-13-20
- Guarantor of loan may have defaulted right to arbitration in Jordan by not raising it in Iraqi court. http://ca4.uscourts.gov/opinions/182212.P.pdf
- TV schedule guide patent was obvious. http://cafc.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/opinions-orders/19-1309.Opinion.1-13-2020.pdf
- Error in model willfulness instruction didn’t wipe out verdict finding of no willful infringement. http://cafc.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/opinions-orders/18-2215.Opinion.1-13-2020.pdf
- Dissident shareholder’s slates of investment-fund trustees missed deadline
Commercial Case Roundup: Week of 1-6-20
- ”Representative” proof supported $54 million verdict for class of truck drivers. http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2020/01/06/17-15983.pdf
- Lack of class-wide proof of intent doomed debt collection class action. http://ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/18/18-50551-CV0.pdf
- Contract didn’t require class arbitration. https://ecf.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/20/01/173501P.pdf
- PTAB’s unpatentability ruling bound court in separate infringement action. http://cafc.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/opinions-orders/18-2256.Opinion.1-10-2020.pdf
- Settlement agreement didn’t wipe out previous covenant
Commercial Case Roundup: Week of 12-23-19
- ERISA allowed reformation of plan to fix impermissible definition of retirement eligibility and recalculation of benefits. http://ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/3cb5f6ef-79b3-4dde-8223-03947098d9ef/1/doc/18-487_opn.pdf#xml=http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isysquery/3cb5f6ef-79b3-4dde-8223-03947098d9ef/1/hilite/
- Auction of residential mortgages by repo lender met good-faith standard for crediting value of mortgages against loan. https://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/182887p.pdf
- Airline overtime claims raised individual issues that precluded class certification. https://www2.ca3.uscourts.gov/opinarch/183143p.pdf
- Defense lawyer didn’t
Commercial Case Roundup: Week of 12-16-19
- Giving up after 19 months didn’t save patent plaintiff from paying defendants’ attorneys’ fees. http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/opinions-orders/18-2393.Opinion.12-16-2019.pdf …
- Amgen can keep $70 million jury award for infringement of patent on anemia drug. http://www.cafc.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/opinions-orders/19-1067.Opinion.12-16-2019.pdf …
- Bankruptcy Code pre-empted state-law fraudulent transfer claims against cashed-out Tribune shareholders because money went through financial institutions. http://www.ca2.uscourts.gov/decisions/isys
Commercial Case Roundup
Commercial Case Roundup
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.