Products that U.S. manufacturers made in the U.S. but sold in Argentina injured Argentines in their home country. The Argentines sued in the U.S. The U.S. defendants moved to dismiss the cases in favor of suits in the Land of Contrasts — perhaps in bustling Buenos Aires. Result? The American judges lightened their dockets with
Supremes Okay FCC Block of “Fleeting Expletives” on TV
A 5-4 U.S. Supreme Court today upheld the Federal Communications Commission's rule change that bars "fleeting expletives" in television broadcasts. Federal Communications Comm'n v. Fox Television Stations, No. 07-582 (U.S. Apr. 28, 2009).
For background, see "The FCC Would Find this Post Indecent".
Justice Scalia wrote the majority opinion; Chief Justice Roberts
The Cramer Solution to Market Crisis: Hoosegow for Miscreants
Jim Cramer in a calm moment.
Blawgletter went to a speech on Saturday by Jim Cramer, he of CNBC's Mad Money. He said a Great Many things by way of telling us what brought on the Current Financial Crisis. But he offered a single solution: charge the bad guys with crimes and send them
The 12 Top 10 Law Schools
Debra Cassens Weiss at ABA Journal reports the new U.S. News & World Report rankings of the bestest U.S. law schools (plus tuition dollarage) as follows:
1) Yale University, $46,000
2) Harvard University, $41,500
3) Stanford University, $42,080
4) Columbia University, $45,674
5) New York University, $42,890
6) University of California, Berkeley, $30,944 in-state, $43,189
Quote of the Day: Jay S. Bybee
The events at issue span twenty years, resulted in congressional hearings, and involve litigation in three circuits. We are not sure if the appropriate literary metaphor belongs to Tolstoy or to Kafka, but we are going to set forth the history of this case in some detail.
Varney Moves Fast
Yesterday Blawgletter noted the confirmation of Christine A. Varney as the new head of the Antitrust Division in the U.S. Department of Justice. See Varney Takes Charge.
Today the Division announced that Ms. Varney has already filled six key leadership positions. They all look like heavy hitters.
The press release says:
ANTITRUST DIVISION SENIOR LEADERSHIP
Annals of Systemic Risk: Private Equity Firms v. Hedge Funds
Hedge fund managers?
You know the financial center of gravity has shifted when the "barbarians" of the 1980s start taking pains to distinguish themselves from an upstart swarm of buccaneers.
Now the "private equity" outfits that hostilely boarded many a corporate vessel – firms like KKR, Blackstone, Carlyle Group, and TPG — pose as stodgy. In comparison
Texas Supremes Bar Mandamus to Halt Arbitration (Almost)
The Supreme Court of Texas today adopted "a rule short of completely barring mandamus review" of orders that compel arbitration — but only just.
Their Unanimous Honors acknowledged the court's practice of regularly granting mandamus relief from orders denying arbitration. Yes, Justice Brister explained, the court does deem the remedy of appeal from final judgment inadequate as a matter of law
Ease of Waiving Arbitration Differs for Plaintiffs and Defendants, Fifth Circuit Says
The Fifth Circuit did yesterday something it does seldom — it affirmed rejection of a motion to compel arbitration. Nicholas v. KBR Inc., No. 08-20140 (5th Cir. Apr. 15, 2009).
The decision turned on whether the party seeking arbitration waived the right to get it. The Fifth Circuit agreed with the district court that
Typosquatting
Joey Dauben really likes domain names.
A company that has registered almost 635,000 Internet domain names, Dauben Inc., adores typing mistakes. Microsoft, for example, complained about Dauben's use of 86 domain Microsofty names, including "mocrosoftoffice.com", "micriosoftsupport.com", and "otlookexpress.com".
Today the Fifth Circuit considered a preliminary injunction that barred Dauben from exploiting domain names "confusingly similar" to