Barry Diller (1942-).
After losing the battle to acquire Paramount in the early 1990s, the media mogul said:
They won. We lost. Next.
Tenth Circuit Refuses to Boot Footwear Dispute
The boot that launched a suit.
The Tenth Circuit today reversed itself on a question of Article III jurisdiction: whether a trademark user that doesn’t reasonably fear an imminent infringement suit may nonetheless sue the trademark owner for a declaratory judgment.
The declaratory judgment plaintiff, Surefoot, made ski boots. Sure Foot, the defendant and owner
Call Him Pollyanna
Pollyanna relentlessly looked for the good in people.
The new President of the State Bar of Texas, Harper Estes, just wrote the best "My Opinion" column (in the Texas Bar Journal) that Blawgletter has ever had the privilege to read. We challenge you to start reading it and then try to stop. Betcha can’t
Bona Fide Error Defense Requires Bona Fide Procedures, Ninth Circuit Holds
The Ninth Circuit today upheld summary judgment for a debtor against a debt collection agency under the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. The agency had purported to verify to the debtor that he owed, in addition to an amount due under a residential lease, a $225 fee for the landlord’s cost of having a lawyer
Happy 100th Birthday to Thurgood Marshall
Supreme Court Portrait of Thurgood Marshall (1908-93).
Blawgletter’s mom celebrated her birthday on July 2 (the 69th such occasion for her). Little did we know, until today, that she shares the date with another great American — Thurgood Marshall.
Congress celebrated the 100th anniversary of the former Justice’s naissance with this Concurrent Resolution:
Honoring
A Contrarian View of Exxon Valdez
In Bleak House (1852-53), the cost of litigation exhausted the Jarndyce estate.
In The Washington Post today, business columnist Steven Pearlstein offers a contrarian take on the capping of punitive damages as a matter of federal common law in Exxon Shipping Co. v. Baker, No. 07-219 (U.S. June 25, 2008). (Blawgletter post here
Quote of the Day: Thomas L. Strickland
UHG today announced it settled securities claims relating to a stock back-dating scandal for $895 million.
The settlement provides UnitedHealth Group with certainty and closure on this lawsuit, avoids potentially costly and protracted litigation and allows us to continue to focus on providing Americans with high-quality, affordable health care solutions
UnitedHealth Group press release
Lawyers Like Happy Hour
You’ll see plenty of lawyers here.
The ABA Journal reports that, more than any other group, "legal and accounting workers" enjoy gathering at watering holes for off-hours gregariousness. Within that milieu, 87 percent go to bond, 28 percent to network, and 19 percent to gossip.
That compares to an average for all survey respondents of
Rhode Island Supreme Court Upholds State’s Contingent Fee Contract with Private Counsel
The state attorney general won the right to hire contingent fee counsel — but lost the case on the merits.
The Supreme Court of Rhode Island today held that the state attorney general acted properly and within his authority in hiring private counsel to help prosecute a public nuisance case on a contingent fee basis.
Arbitration Secrecy Okay, Fifth Circuit Rules
ITT gets to keep its loss in arbitration secret.
Last Friday, the Fifth Circuit upheld enforcement of a confidentiality provision in an arbitration clause. The provision stated:
All aspects of the arbitration proceeding, and any ruling, decision or award by the arbitrator, will be strictly confidential. The parties will have the right to seek relief