A contract dispute over building a child-development center at Fort Hood, in central Texas, today spawned a ruling that will bring joy to firms that put forum-choice clauses in their contracts in hopes of making lawsuits too costly to pursue.

The agreement between Atlantic Marine Construction Company and J-Crew Management, Inc., stated that all disputes between the

ScruggsBlawgletter admires good writing, no matter whence it comes. But we like it better when a judge produces it.

Last week, Fifth Circuit Judge Jacques Wiener did a fine piece of work. It kind of sings. And it tells the on-going tale of Dickie Scruggs, the rich lawyer who flew too close to the sun.

Chevron and the Republic of Ecuador have beaten and bloodied each other for two decades now in what seems like just about every U.S. and Ecuadoran court that exists. The fight relates to claims in arbitration that Chevron predecessor Texaco polluted oil fields in Ecuador. Background here. And it has so far resulted in

People who handle cases in all kinds of civil courts, whether state, federal, or both, get an odd feeling when they wander into a special kind of civil court — the U.S. bankruptcy court. The oddness comes partly from the strange ways bankruptcy law handles disputes. Often, the merits of a claim seem to take a