Blawgletter sometimes has a special talk with dear clients. We discuss that, in litigation, insisting on principles costs money. Business lawsuits almost always boil down to dollars and cents — how much should Party A pay Party B in light of the cost of trying the case and the risk that trial will produce a
Pls Handle
Law firm associates dream of partnership. Do they really? Blawgletter thinks many of them do. And yet so few get her or his wish.
Blawgletter recalls a time when a law firm’s offer of employment reflected confidence that the offeree would in time make partner. That era may have passed, even in cities way beyond
Trap for Unwary? The Bankruptcy Proof of Claim
Blawgletter understands — we think — that bankruptcy proceedings aim to settle claims against the bankrupt. Creditors of every description — bank lenders, bond holders, trade creditors, and even tort claimants — generally must go through the sausage-making apparatus if they hope to get some of their money from the insolvent one. A decision today
Dred Scott Supports Right to Handgun, Court Holds
Dred Scott.
The D.C. Circuit, in a 2-1 decision, held today that a District of Columbia gun control law violated the second amendment rights of the plaintiffs to bear arms. The majority concluded that the amendment confers "individual" rights rather than "collective" ones. The 58-page opinion quotes Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 U.S. 393
Trustee’s Sitting Promotes Creditor’s Standing
The Eighth Circuit’s Bankruptcy Appellate Panel today held that bankruptcy courts may grant "derivative standing" to creditors to pursue avoidance and preference claims that the debtor or its trustee refuses to bring. The BAP also concluded that, regardless of bankruptcy court approval, a creditor has standing to prosecute objections to other creditors’ priority claims and
Verizon Verdict Versus Vonage
The WSJ just reported that an Eastern District of Virginia jury found that Vonage infringed three Verizon patents and ordered Vonage to pay $58 million plus a royalty on future sales.
Barry Barnett
Advisory Juries — Help or Hindrance?
Yesterday the Tenth Circuit vacated a district judge’s decision to adopt an advisory jury’s findings of fact without entering findings and conclusions of his own. An advisory jury, the court pointed out, doesn’t find the facts in a bench trial, and its advisory verdict doesn’t relief the trial judge of his obligation under Rule 52(a)
Uncertain Defense Doesn’t Support Removal, Fifth Circuit Says
A 2-1 panel of the Fifth Circuit today ordered remand of a wrongful death case to state court. The majority held that the blurriness of Texas’s "unlawful acts rule" precluded a confident conclusion that the plaintiffs couldn’t make out a claim against two non-diverse defendants. Rico v. Flores, No. 05-41719 (5th Cir. Mar. 8
Fun with Timelines
Whitewater v. Libby. Kenneth Starr v. Patrick Fitzgerald.
When did you last try a business case that didn’t include timelines? Blawgletter doubts that one can make sense of the messes that businesses get into without some kind of exhibit that lays out the chronology. The format doesn’t matter so much — but the selection of
A Question About e-Discovery
We don’t really know what this pic shows,
but it seems to concern e-discovery.
Blawgletter just finished reading an excellent overview of e-discovery. It takes as its point of departure the new federal rules that took effect December 1, 2006. The ABA’s Section of Litigation compiled the survey for the benefit of Section members, including