Corporate Law

As same-sex marriage gains ground, some employers cut benefits for same-sex couples who don’t wed

Same-sex marriage has become legal in 37 states and the District of Columbia in recent years, and could soon be more widely recognized, depending on how the U.S. Supreme Court rules in pending cases. However, now that same-sex marriage is possible in a majority of states, a number of employers…

May 13, 2015 11:50 AM CDT

Judge says Facebook has right to sue DLA Piper and other firms for representing now-fugitive Ceglia

Facebook Inc. and founder Mark Zuckerberg can pursue civil litigation against DLA Piper and other law firms that represented Paul Ceglia in a fraudulent claim of ownership of the social media site, a New York state court judge ruled Monday. Milberg and Lippes Mathias Wexler Friedman also are named as…

May 12, 2015 4:20 PM CDT

Insurers seek $47M from 2 men convicted in airline billing-fraud scheme

Two men stole tens of millions of dollars from Delta Air Lines and Northwest Airlines over a 20-year period through a relatively simple billing fraud, authorities say. Now two insurance companies that covered the loss to the airline companies, less a $1 million deductible, are suing the imprisoned pair in…

May 12, 2015 12:05 PM CDT

Dairies settle landmark cow-manure case after federal judge rules solid-waste law applies

For decades after Congress enacted the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, dairy farmers didn’t think it applied to them. That changed early this year, when a federal judge in Washington state ruled in a lawsuit that RCRA did apply to dairies. Hence, said U.S. District Judge Thomas Rice, the statute…

May 11, 2015 3:25 PM CDT

Fiat Chrysler seeks new trial in boy’s fiery crash death after $150M damages award

Fiat Chrysler is asking a judge for a new trial in the case of a fiery crash that killed a 4-year-old Georgia boy. A jury last month awarded $150 million in damages to the parents of Remington Walden, who was killed in March 2012 when the 1999 Jeep Grand Cherokee…

May 11, 2015 6:15 AM CDT

6th Circuit OKs sanctions for filing frivolous suit, may add sanctions for filing frivolous appeal

In a Friday ruling, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld trial-court sanctions imposed on a former corporate officer and senior engineer for filing a frivolous False Claims Act lawsuit. But in addition to OKing the sanctions against ex-Lambda Research employee Terry Jacobs and his trial attorney James DeRoche,…

May 6, 2015 9:35 AM CDT

Federal suit says Marriott denied new mom lactation breaks because she’s a surrogate

A California woman filed a federal lawsuit against Marriott International Inc. last week. It says she was denied lactation breaks after giving birth last year because she is a surrogate mother. In addition to damages, Mary Gonzales seeks a declaratory judgment that supervisors at the Los Angeles Airport Marriott where…

May 5, 2015 3:00 PM CDT

Los Angeles sues Wells Fargo for fraud, says bank workers opened accounts without customer OK

The city of Los Angeles has filed suit against Wells Fargo Bank, contending that it engaged in unfair business practices by encouraging employees “in unfair, unlawful and fraudulent conduct.” Pressured by their employer to meet sales quotas, Wells Fargo workers routinely opened bank and credit card accounts for existing customers…

May 5, 2015 9:45 AM CDT

Proposed legislation would allow companies to keep some data breaches secret

Proposed federal legislation would sometimes allow companies to keep quiet when hackers access their computer systems. The proposed law would require quick disclosure by companies if there is a risk of serious identity theft or fraud, the Wall Street Journal’s Risk & Compliance Journal (sub. req.). But there would be…

May 4, 2015 11:29 AM CDT

10 Questions: Meet the legal force behind some of the biggest brands in the fashion industry

In fashion, it's been said that you're either in or you're out. Except when you're Douglas Hand. Then you're always in fashion. Hand, a founding principal of Hand, Baldachin & Amburgey in New York City, represents some of the hautest brands in the business, such as Rag & Bone, Public School, Anna Sui and Rodarte. And he's got the sartorial chops to keep up with his stylish clients, earning props from the New York Times for his sharp personal style, including his ability to rock a suit with shorts.

May 1, 2015 6:25 AM CDT

Court blasts Morrison Foerster for ‘nonsensical’ legal theories and ‘carnival fun house’ arguments

A California appeals court is criticizing “nonsensical” legal theories and litigation tactics that were “inconsiderate at best” in a case brought and then dropped by a client of Morrison & Foerster. The California Court of Appeal, Sixth Appellate District, ordered the client, Cypress Semiconductor Corp., to pay about $180,000 in…

Apr 30, 2015 5:45 AM CDT

Dealership technician topped 95 mph taking customer’s car for test drive; did he commit a crime?

After paying $1,900 to have routine 100,000-mile maintenance work performed on their 2008 Dodge Caliber SRT, a suburban Chicago couple happened to take a look at the dashcam video. It showed that a technician for the Gurnee car dealership that performed the work had reached speeds of as much as…

Apr 27, 2015 4:20 PM CDT

Cartoon-style posters portray SEC chief as superhero who can slay ‘dark money menace’

Public interest groups have cast Securities and Exchange Commission chair Mary Jo White as a superhero with special powers in a series of comic-book style posters backing disclosure of corporate political expenditures. The National Law Journal describes the series of cartoon panels, beginning with an illustration of monsters throwing slime…

Apr 27, 2015 6:15 AM CDT

Kleiner to Ellen Pao: Drop appeal or pay $1M in legal costs

At one point, former BigLaw attorney Ellen Pao had sought $10 million to settle an employment discrimination and retaliation case against a storied Silicon Valley venture capital firm. But following a jury verdict last month in favor of Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, the San Francisco case obviously could be…

Apr 23, 2015 4:15 PM CDT

Man is jailed for refusing to turn over Facebook and Twitter passwords in business bankruptcy case

Jeremy Alcede personally maintained the Facebook and Twitter accounts for his former Texas gun store and shooting range. He thought of them as his own, and didn’t hesitate to inject his political views as he publicized Tactical Firearms in Katy. But a federal bankruptcy judge disagreed, and ordered Alcede to…

Apr 22, 2015 11:35 AM CDT