Corporate Law

IMF chief Christine Lagarde faces surprise prosecution over her previous work as finance minister

Now in charge of the International Monetary Fund, a former chair of Baker & McKenzie is facing a surprise prosecution over her role in a 2008 compensation award of more than 400 million euros to a French businessman. Christine Lagarde, 59, was the finance minister for French president Nicolas Sarkozy…

Dec 17, 2015 3:20 PM CST

Drug company CEO Martin Shkreli and law firm partner arrested in securities fraud case

A partner in the New York office of a major law firm was arrested Thursday, accused in a federal indictment of conspiring with a well-known entrepreneur and former hedge fund manager in a portion of a claimed securities fraud. Current Kaye Scholer partner Evan Greebel worked with fellow defendant Martin…

Dec 17, 2015 11:10 AM CST

Attorney-client privilege doesn’t protect businessman’s communications with Mintz Levin, court rules

Documents prepared by a BigLaw firm aren’t protected by the attorney-client privilege because of a reasonable inference that its client intended to use the legal services to foster illegal conduct, a federal appeals court has ruled. The Boston-based 1st U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled on Dec. 9 in a…

Dec 14, 2015 6:15 AM CST

Plumber sues auto dealership for $1M after traded-in truck with his logo appeared in Syrian photo

A Texas plumber has sued a Houston automobile dealership for $1 million. That’s because the pickup truck he traded in in October 2013 was reportedly shipped to Syria, equipped with an anti-aircraft gun and featured–still with its company logo–in a viral photo posted on Twitter by an Islamist extremist group…

Dec 11, 2015 10:35 AM CST

Suit says Trader Joe’s ‘Crispy Cookies’ are too much like the iconic ‘Milano’ brand

One cookie is oval. The other is rectangular, with rounded edges. Both are filled with chocolate sandwiched between two thin white wafers, and come in packages with some similar design features. That’s no coincidence, contends Pepperidge Farm in a federal lawsuit against Trader Joe’s Co. It says the grocery chain…

Dec 9, 2015 12:35 PM CST

Moms sue Mattel, saying ‘Hello Barbie’ doll violates privacy

The maker of a talking “Hello Barbie” doll says the toy complies with the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. To satisfy COPPA requirements, Hello Barbie users agree to create a ToyTalk account before the doll’s conversation feature is activated and its owner’s remarks are transmitted, via a built-in wifi microphone,…

Dec 9, 2015 11:25 AM CST

Judge used wrong standard to disqualify law firm in major case, top state court says

After initially agreeing with a trial judge and an intermediate appeals court that Bickel & Brewer should be disqualified from representing the plaintiff in a $60 million case between business partners, the Texas Supreme Court reversed course. It conditionally granted a petition for a writ of mandamus on Friday, ruling…

Dec 7, 2015 11:40 AM CST

Focus on hiring recent grads creates basis for age-discrimination suit, 11th Circuit says

A seasoned 49-year-old applicant who said he did not get a response when he applied for a sales job with R.J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in 2007 can use a disparate impact theory to sue for age discrimination, a federal appeals court has ruled. Reversing a federal trial court judge in…

Dec 4, 2015 8:45 AM CST

CEO convicted of misdemeanor in rare safety prosecution after coal mine explosion kills 29

A rare prosecution of a coal mining executive, following a 2010 explosion in West Virginia that killed 29 people, brought a mixed verdict from a federal jury in Charleston on Thursday. It acquitted Donald Blankenship, 65, of three felony charges alleging that he deceived regulators and investors, which could have…

Dec 4, 2015 6:20 AM CST

Craft brew fans sue to block planned merger of world’s biggest beer-makers

Nearly two dozen beer drinkers in Oregon, California and Washington state have banded together in a lawsuit seeking to block the planned merger of the two biggest beer-makers in the world on antitrust grounds. Allowing Anheuser-Busch InBev NV/SA and SABMiller PLC to form one company manufacturing nearly one-third of the…

Dec 3, 2015 2:30 PM CST

Should movement to ease criminal laws extend to white-collar offenders? Coalition splits on answer

A bill that would make it more difficult to prosecute alleged white-collar offenders has exposed a rift in a coalition pushing for less punitive criminal laws. The conservative Koch brothers had joined with the U.S. Justice Department to support criminal justice reform, but they are parting ways over the House…

Nov 30, 2015 6:45 AM CST

Inversions gain in popularity with help of Skadden lawyers

Lawyers from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom were biking through Southern France in 2010 when they came up with an idea to help boost the sluggish market in mergers and acquisitions. The lawyers “dusted off the idea of inversions, which had been around for years but sparingly used,” the…

Nov 25, 2015 9:39 AM CST

Whistleblower suit says $24M settlement wasn’t enough, points finger at claimed Day Pitney conflicts

Hired to help New Mexico recoup money allegedly lost as a result of “pay to play” arrangements concerning state investments, the law firm Day Pitney negotiated a settlement of over $24 million from Wall Street financial institutions. But that amount was too low, a former state investment official contends in…

Nov 20, 2015 1:35 PM CST

YouTube to pay defense costs for some video creators facing takedown demands

Seeking to protect the free speech rights of video creators, and perhaps its own market share as well, YouTube announced Thursday that it is funding legal defense costs for a handful of video creators facing unreasonable takedown demands. “We want, when we can, to have our users’ backs,” Fred von…

Nov 19, 2015 3:50 PM CST

Lawsuits say Vizio smart TV tracking violates federal video-rental statute

Unbeknownst to many consumers who purchase Vizio smart televisions, the TVs are collecting data on their household viewing habits unless buyers actively opt out. Since the software also collects information about other devices linked into the home’s computer system, it may not be difficult for third parties to which Vizio…

Nov 18, 2015 11:15 AM CST