Have you gotten one of those emails that says a non-U.S. outfit has big money coming to it but somehow no one there knows any U.S. lawyers and that the sender wants you to help it get the big money? Perhaps you could advance a small sum — $10,000 perhaps — to grease the skids?
Second Circuit
Second Circuit Tags Litigation Trustee with Bad Acts He Sued Over
By Barry Barnett on
You'd think that a corporation would have to have some gall if it sued its officers and directors for prolonging its life.
Even if they defrauded lenders out of the money that kept the firm chugging far past the point of genuine insolvency.
Does the situation change if the company ends up in chapter 11 and the bankruptcy…
Claim by Association: Lanham Act Bars Vendor You Don’t Like from Saying You Do
By Barry Barnett on
You own stores that sell clothes. A vendor persuades you to buy name-brand jeans from it. You learn that the vendor fooled you. The denims in fact came from a counterfeiter. And so you cancel the contract.
Then you find out that the vendor has gone around telling people that it counts you as a "satisfied customer". …
Second Circuit Smokes Smokes Pact Attack
By Barry Barnett on
Today the Second Circuit upheld a judgment against cigarette makers who claimed that two New York statutes violated section 1 of the Sherman Act and the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution. Freedom Holdings, Inc. v. Cuomo, No. 09-0547-cv (2d Cir. Oct. 18, 2010).
The Empire State passed the laws — which the court…
Quote of the Day: Barrington D. Parker
By Barry Barnett on
Although Abbey and Kirby were no doubt on the stingy side when it came to compensating their brethren, we have not been convinced that the District Court abused its discretion in approving class counsel's allocation.
Victor v. Argent Classic Convertible Arbitrage Fund L.P. (In re Adelphia Communications Corp. Securities & Derivative Litig.), No. 08-4904-cv…
Second Circuit Calls Recess for Zyprexa Class
By Barry Barnett on
The Second Circuit last week prescribed death for a class action alleging that Eli Lilly and Company fooled doctors into treating patients with Lily's anti-schizophrenia drug Zyprexa.
The plaintiffs — unions and others that pay all or part of patients' pharmaceutical bills — alleged that Lilly violated the Racketeer-Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act by hiding and misrepresenting…
Twombly? You Can’t Handle the Twombly!; Second Circuit Upholds Price-Fixing Complaint
By Barry Barnett on
The Second Circuit did a brave thing today. It tossed dismissal of a price-fixing complaint that centered on "parallel" conduct — the very thing the Supremes disparaged as a basis for stating a section 1 Sherman Act claim in Bell Atl. Corp. v. Twombly, 550 U.S. 544 (2007).
The case involved allegations that major…
Second Circuit Answers “Got Champerty?” Question
By Barry Barnett on
In February of last year, Blawgletter posted this item:
Got Champerty?
Often a yoke companion to maintenance, champerty means . . . what?
Our law school Black's Law Dictionary (5th ed. 1979) defines the crime as:
A bargain by a stranger with a party to a suit, by which such third person undertakes to carry on the litigation
…