Law, Strategy, and Risk in Commercial Disputes
May a lawyer compel a client to arbitrate a dispute over the lawyer's services?
In upper right-hand corner of the United States, yes. Bezio v. Draeger, No. 13-1910 (1st Cir. Dec. 16, 2013) (applying Maine law).
In the upper left-hand corner, no. Smith v. JEM Group, Inc., No. 11-35964 (9th Cir. Dec. 12…
The right to due process limits an award of punitive damages to, oh, about 10 times the amount of actual damages. State Farm Mut. Auto. Ins. Co. v. Campbell, 538 U.S. 408 (2003).
Does the same 10x cap apply to a verdict falling within a range that Congress set by statute?
No, it doesn't, the…
Does a woman's belly show at eight months of pregnancy enough to make a potential employer's question of "[h]ow much longer do you have" questionable?
You have to ask?
How do you feel about the follow-up question: do you have any other children?
She did. And she didn't get the job.
Oddly, the case turned…
The First Circuit sits in Boston. Which when Blawgletter went to law school called itself "The Hub". As in "Hub of the Universe". Which we found charming. Also troubling.
True, though? Kinda.
Today the court that sits in the Hub held that a qui tam — False Claims Act — claim about Harvard Medical School…
Last February, Blawgletter wrote about a case that struck us as taking the issue of parties' "citizenship" to a Whole New Level. We said:
The Sixth Circuit today booted a case because it couldn't tell if it belonged in federal court or not.
The lawsuit pitted a Keystone State corporation (with a Pennsylvania principal
…
Raise your hand if this has ever happened to you:
The other side thinks your client so plainly — and evilly — copied software source code that their lawyers can't imagine losing. They have such clear proof, they believe, they almost sneer at you. And the smugness infects all that they do in the case.…
You may remember that in February 2008 the "auctions" that gave "auction-rate securities" their liquidity seized up. Lots of people who'd bought ARSs thought they could sell them about as easily as they could unload shares in money market funds. The slightly higher rate of return made the ARSs more attractive. So they believed.
The auctions…
Blawgletter likes Associate Justice David Souter. Lots of people do. Today he gave us further reason.
He wrote for his former court of appeals:
SOUTER, Associate Justice. Three principals organized the appellant, Take It Away, Inc., to act as a broker in a contemplated business of supplying dumpsters that do-it-yourselfers could rent
…