The Seventh Circuit today upheld a preliminary injunction against the use by former insurance agents of customer data — mainly names and contact information that resided in the insurer’s proprietary database. The opinion’s author, Judge Posner, explained how the info qualified as a trade secret but also pointed out imprecision in the injunction itself. The
Microsoft-hoo
Please, y’all figure out this combination — of Microsoft and Yahoo! We just like the possible name combinations: Microhoo? Microsoft-hoo? Softhoo? Yasoft?
Barry Barnett
Dumb Lawyers, Smart Lawyers, and Wealth
Don’t eat that! Bury the durn thing.
Lawyers average about 130 on IQ tests — 30 points above the norm. Congratulations!
The average translates into higher income for you. But does it also mean greater wealth?
Probably not, according to a new study by Jay Zagorsky at the Center for Human Resource Research, Ohio State
Why You Shouldn’t Mix Cocaine with Money
What happens when you get cocaine on your currency? Bad things, man. Bad things.
Just ask David Aguasviva. Testing of the $487,825 that New Jersey officers found during a traffic stop showed that the cash "had been around large quantities of cocaine." The government got a default judgment in its action for forfeiture of the
Circuit Split: En Banc Ninth Circuit Reinstates RICO Case Against Microsoft
The Ninth Circuit, sitting en banc, today reversed the dismissal of a class action complaint against Microsoft, holding that the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act does not require a fraudulent "association-in-fact" enterprise to have a "structure" separate from its "pattern of racketeering activity". The case involved claims that Microsoft and Best Buy engaged in an
Appraiser Not Liable to Borrower in Loan Scam
The Seventh Circuit today upheld a Rule 54(b) judgment in favor of a supervising appraiser whose apprentice knowingly issued false real estate appraisals. The appraisals facilitated a scam in which the fraudster-in-chief pocketed loan proceeds far in excess of the purchase price for the realty. The plaintiffs, who borrowed the money in hopes of repaying
TRW Holds Onto $9.28MM Verdict for Breach
Today, the Sixth Circuit affirmed a jury award of $9,282,188 to TRW for Micrel’s breach of a contract to supply application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs). TRW planned to use the ASICs as replacement parts in automobile air bags. Micrel argued that the district court erred in throwing out its fraudulent inducement claim and in allowing the
Fredogate
Cable Subscribers Win Certification of Antitrust Class
U.S. District Judge John Padova, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, yesterday granted a motion to certify a class of Philadelphia-area cable subscribers. The decision allows the class to prosecute antitrust claims against Comcast for allocating cable markets with competitors and attempting to monopolize the Philadelphia market for cable subscribers. Behrend v. Comcast Corp., No. 03-6604
Seventh Circuit Reverses FCRA S.J.
The Fair Credit Reporting Act requires credit reporting agencies to explain "clearly and accurately" how to read a consumer’s credit report. The Seventh Circuit held today that Equifax failed to carry its burden to show, as a matter of law, that it satisfied the requirement. The case involved potential confusion resulting from Equifax’s "Date of