Corporate Law

New utility company indictment in fatal gas blast could lead to fines of as much as $1.3B

A federal grand jury in San Francisco on Tuesday returned a new indictment against a California utility company in a fatal 2010 natural gas explosion and fire. Under the superseding indictment, which more than doubles the number of regulatory violations alleged against Pacific Gas & Electric and includes an obstruction…

Jul 30, 2014 5:55 PM CDT

Top state court says Wal-Mart must produce bribery probe documents to shareholders

Upholding a ruling by an influential state business court, the Delaware Supreme Court unanimously agreed Wednesday that Wal-Mart Stores Inc. must produce—for a pension trust fund that is a large shareholder—documents related to an investigation of possible bribery involving the retailer’s Mexican stores. Agreeing with the state’s Court of Chancery,…

Jul 24, 2014 9:30 PM CDT

Judge OKs class action over working conditions for almost 21,000 Apple employees

A ruling Monday by a California judge means Apple Inc. will have to defend state-law wage and hour claims by as many as 21,000 hourly employees who worked for the company between 2007 and 2012. San Diego Superior Court Judge Ronald S. Prager said it would not be feasible for…

Jul 23, 2014 10:50 PM CDT

Plaintiffs lawyers fight ‘loser-pays’ bylaw adopted in middle of shareholder suit

A shareholder suit over $2.5 million in bonuses paid to executives of a pharmaceutical company is the latest battleground in an ongoing fight over a new corporate “loser-pays” bylaw that may have gotten a green light from the Delaware Supreme Court earlier this year. The bylaw at issue in the…

Jul 22, 2014 4:25 PM CDT

Cellphone call helped make stock manipulation case against corporate lawyer, FBI says

A corporate lawyer in Nevada is among seven defendants federally indicted Thursday in Brooklyn, New York, in a claimed “pump-and-dump” scheme involving microcap stock. Attorney Kyleen Cane is accused of playing a role in an alleged plan to artificially inflate the share price in the stock of a company known…

Jul 18, 2014 3:32 PM CDT

As leaders blame GM lawyers for ignition woes, lawmaker asks: Why wasn’t general counsel fired?

During a Thursday hearing before a U.S. Senate commerce subcommittee, top General Motors Co. officials blamed in-house lawyers for the company’s delay in dealing effectively with a deadly ignition-switch issue that caused 54 accidents and at least 13 deaths over the course of a decade. But that led the subcommittee’s…

Jul 17, 2014 8:55 PM CDT

EEOC searches for plaintiffs in cases filed without named victims; are they ‘hybrid’ actions?

The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is inviting potential plaintiffs to come forward in pending class actions that were filed by the agency without identifying any alleged bias victims. A 2011 hiring discrimination suit against Bass Pro Outdoor World was the first class action of its kind in which the EEOC…

Jul 15, 2014 10:45 AM CDT

Brewery sues DUI law firm, says look-alike ‘Sessions Law’ mark confuses ‘Session Lager’ customers

An Oregon craft brewery has sued a Georgia law firm for trademark infringement, contending that a look-alike “Sessions Law” mark is confusing to those familiar with its own “Session Lager.” Filed last week in federal court in Portland, the suit (PDF) by Full Sail Brewing Company says the Atlanta-based Sessions…

Jul 14, 2014 9:55 PM CDT

Illinois AG sues over claimed student-loan debt-settlement ‘scams’

Lawsuits filed Monday by the Illinois attorney general over what she described as student-loan debt-settlement “scams” are said to be the first such suits to be filed by any state. Lisa Madigan sued Broadsword Student Advantage in Champaign County Circuit Court and First American Tax Defense in Cook County Circuit…

Jul 14, 2014 8:45 PM CDT

Citi to pay $7B in latest settlement of US claims that sub-par mortgages caused financial crisis

A $7 billion pact with Citigroup is the latest announced settlement of claims by the U.S. that sub-par mortgages knowingly sold by banks to unwitting investors in the form of derivative products, including Citi’s securitized loans caused the financial crisis that began in 2008, The bank will pay $4 billion…

Jul 14, 2014 4:55 PM CDT

Jury says Dodgers must pay $13.9M in Giants fan’s beating case

Although a jury found the Los Angeles Dodgers to be only partially responsible for a Giants fan’s 2011 beating in a stadium parking lot, that means the team must pay nearly $14 million. Team attorney Dana Fox said a Los Angeles jury’s determination Wednesday that the team was 25 percent…

Jul 10, 2014 3:55 PM CDT

Ex-client says law firm filed suit in wrong state, causing loss of $161M case

A former client has filed suit in Dallas against two Texas law firms and three attorneys, contending that earlier business litigation filed in the wrong state resulted in the loss of the $161 million underlying case. Target Strike Inc. alleges that the defendants should have filed suit in the computer…

Jul 8, 2014 10:20 PM CDT

Prove GM fraud on court, if you can, bankruptcy judge tells lawyers in ignition-switch cases

Plaintiffs lawyers in dozens of cases filed against General Motors Co. over the diminished value of vehicles because of ignition-switch recalls have been arguing that a bankruptcy-court bar to such liability prior to 2009 should not apply. That’s because GM allegedly knew about the defect and didn’t disclose it to…

Jul 3, 2014 5:50 PM CDT

Goldman Sachs asks judge to order Google to delete email sent to wrong account

A contractor mistakenly sent “highly confidential brokerage account information” about Goldman Sachs Group Inc. clients to a stranger’s email account, and the famed investment banking firm has asked a New York state court to help get it back. In a court complaint filed Friday in Manhattan, Goldman Sachs said Google…

Jul 2, 2014 10:15 PM CDT

Top state court says NYC can’t ban businesses from selling supersize sugary drinks to customers

Consuming large amounts of soda and other sugary drinks may not be good for you. But New York City doesn’t have authority to order businesses such as restaurants and movie theaters not to sell beverages to customers in big cups, a divided New York Court of Appeals held on Thursday.…

Jun 26, 2014 2:50 PM CDT