Contracts

Form Contract Puts Sprint in Class Action

Sprint-Nextel Corp. essentially scored an own goal, an Illinois appeals court says, by including in its adhesionary form contract a choice-of-law provision that allows customers to bring a national class action. Upholding a Madison County trial judge’s class certification, the 5th District Appellate Court decided the case over the cell…

Jul 12, 2007 9:08 PM CDT

Court Voids Class-Action Ban

Cingular Wireless raised the bar too high when it banned class actions in its standard subscriber contracts, the Washington Supreme Court has ruled. The provision is unconscionable and cannot be severed from a clause compelling mandatory arbitration, making both unenforceable, the court said in an en banc ruling. The class-action…

Jul 12, 2007 6:21 PM CDT

Feds Promise Loan Reform; States Act

In the wake of widespread reports that mortgage abuses by so-called subprime lenders have led to increased loan foreclosures, federal and state legislators have expressed concern and promised new laws to check fraudulent practices. But so far, federal lawmakers have focused primarily on holding hearings on the subject, prompting state…

Jul 10, 2007 7:33 PM CDT

DOT: Give Bumped Flyers More Money

Government regulators reportedly are working on new rules that could require U.S. airlines to ante up a lot more money when they “bump” ticketed passengers from overcrowded flights. Officials at the Department of Transportation are still working out details, but plan to introduce a draft rule tomorrow that would offer…

Jul 10, 2007 2:35 AM CDT

Atlanta Foreclosures Up, Values Down

In the latest chapter of a sad story that could soon be commonly told throughout the country, an increasing rate of mortgage foreclosures in and around Atlanta is creating a business boom for lawyers and others involved in the litigation process. But meanwhile, it is apparently depressing home values. Because…

Jul 9, 2007 11:22 PM CDT

Owners Blame Cities for Bad Homes

As builders throughout the country rushed to profit in the recent construction boom, a number of homes and developments went up that were badly built or otherwise created problems. But in the resulting blame game, many homeowners are now saying municipalities large and small gave builders free rein instead of…

Jul 7, 2007 12:39 AM CDT

Older Partner Gets Trial on Pay

A New York appeals court is permitting a trial on whether a lawyer’s partnership agreement with Winston & Strawn entitled him to be paid the same amount after he reached retirement age. The New York Appellate Division, First Department, ruled that the compensation agreement for rainmaking partner Anthony LoFrisco was…

Jul 6, 2007 12:50 PM CDT

‘Best Interest’ in Chimp Custody Case?

Are Emma, 5, and Jackson, 6, just somebody’s property? Or are the two chimpanzees, with their individual interests and tastes–she likes watermelon, for instance, while he prefers grapefruit–entitled to have their best interest taken into account when a court decides who owns them? That is the question that is now…

Jul 3, 2007 12:37 AM CDT

LexisNexis Sues Ex-Executive

LexisNexis is relying on a forensics examination of a former executive’s computer in a lawsuit alleging he violated a noncompete agreement. The information services company says it learned through filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission that Paul Colangelo, formerly vice president of sales for its Information Analytics Group, went…

Jun 28, 2007 1:56 PM CDT

Cravath Signs $900 M Midtown Lease

One of New York’s best-known white-shoe law firms has agreed to pay a breathtaking $900 million to renew its lease on 600,000 square feet of office space in midtown Manhattan for 15 years, starting in 2009. Cravath Swain & Moore will see its cost-per-square-foot double under the new lease, from…

Jun 25, 2007 11:58 PM CDT

NYC Jury: Book Scheme Was a Scam

Counsel for Laura Albert said she met her contractual obligation. It didn’t matter that she wasn’t a male prostitute, her defense contended, nor that the book she wrote, “Sarah,” was actually fiction rather than non-fiction. She entered into a contract to sell Antidote International Films Inc. the movie rights to…

Jun 25, 2007 6:23 PM CDT

NYC Jurors Decide: Was Scheme to Portray Fiction as Non-Fiction a Scam?

Was a literary hoax a fraud? That is the question a federal jury in New York City began deciding today, in a case brought by a movie production company to recover money it paid writer Laura Albert for rights to her alleged non-fiction book “Sarah.” The problem is, Sarah was…

Jun 22, 2007 11:13 PM CDT

Writer Testifies About Troubled Childhood

The writer who called herself JT Leroy took the stand yesterday in a dispute over film rights. Antidote International Films Inc. paid $45,000 for rights to Sarah, a book said to be the autobiography of a young man from West Virginia who was a truck stop prostitute. The company says…

Jun 21, 2007 2:03 PM CDT

Ex-Employees Sued in Client Disputes

A California investment-advice firm has sued former sales people and two companies that hired them, claiming they used proprietary information to steal clients. Fisher Investments claims the employees violated contracts by taking client contact information to new jobs, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. The employees respond that the…

Jun 20, 2007 4:08 PM CDT

Ex-Justice Fails to Resolve Land Dispute

A mediation overseen by former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor has failed to produce an agreement by the U.S. government to compensate former Kentucky landowners and their heirs. Now the claimants are asking a judge to issue a final ruling in a case seeking more than $30 million from…

Jun 18, 2007 2:04 PM CDT