Albertogonzales

Texan (and U.S. Attorney General) Alberto Gonzales announced yesterday that the federal government will submit all requests for secret domestic surveillance to the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court.  Read an unsecret article about the development here.

What does the decision to permit judicial oversight have to do with business trial law?  The rule

Accounting

The Seventh Circuit just upheld dismissal of a securities case against PricewaterhouseCoopers.  The plaintiffs alleged that they exchanged assets for stock of a PwC client, Anicom, Inc., in reliance on PwC’s false representations about Anicom’s financial condition.  See the opinion here.

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Blawgletter occasionally scans a website that styles itself "The Most Prestigious Law School Discussion Board in the World" and nearly always ends up fighting back a guffaw.  What makes it funny? 

Take a recent thread.  The first post raises a "moral hypothetical question" — whether you should turn your best friend in for killing someone. 

Chiefjusticeroberts_1 Gecko_1
Does Chief Justice Roberts, left, not know the Gecko?

Blawgletter skimmed the transcript of the oral argument yesterday in GEICO General Ins. Co. v. Edo in search of any mention of the GEICO Gecko, who speaks with an Aussie/New Zeelander accent.  None appeared.  Chief Justice Roberts even asked at one point "[w]ho’s GEICO?"  So much

Partnershakinghands

Can inviting someone to become a law firm partner give her or him god-like qualities? 

Put Blawgletter down as dubious, thinking as it does that genuine modesty never hurt any truly great lawyer.  Confidence without humility doesn’t make anybody, including and maybe especially trial lawyers, more effective.  And elevation to equity ownership has never yet

Gecko

Did insurance company GEICO wilfully violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act by relying on "creative lawyering that provides indefensible answers" relating to the proper use of credit reports in setting premiums?  The Ninth Circuit said yes, and the U.S. Supreme Court heard arguments in the case this morning.  More information here

The GEICO Gecko

Diggingmachine
World’s largest digging machine.

If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging. 

Insiders who keep shoveling after a company sinks into insolvency may find themselves defendants in a case under a deepening insolvency theory (hypothesis, really).  Digger-defendants usually include officers, directors, and auditors who enable a company to keep losing money.

Courts have lately