Tuesday, May 29, 2001
Class Action Summary Judgment Granted to Corr Cronin
May 29, 2001
Last week Superior Court Judge David Nichols granted our motion for summary judgment dismissing most of the claims brought by 13 plaintiffs and their putative class of foster children against the State of Washington. All procedural due process claims, all 1983 claims, all federal claims based on the Adoption Assistance and Child Welfare Act, and all claims based on the Washington State Constitution were dismissed with prejuidice. This was a significant ruling because plaintiffs based their punitive damages, attorney fees, and injunctive claims on the causes of action that were dismissed.
Friday, May 25, 2001
Group is Pushing 'Daubert' - Body wants feds to adopt standards
Darryl Van Duch - The National Law Journal - May 25, 2001
The Daubert Council, a nonprofit organization designed to spread the word about the organization's namesake -- the U.S. Supreme Court's 1993 ruling in Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals Inc., 125 L. Ed. 2d 469. According to Daubert, the oft-litigated Rule 702 of the Federal Rules of Evidence requires federal trial judges, before they allow expert scientific or technical testimony, to examine several reliability criteria, including whether the offered theory has been subjected to adequate testing and peer review as well as whether it has been accepted by the relevant scientific community. The Daubert Council wants state courts and all federal regulatory agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the Federal Trade Commission and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), to adopt Daubert standards. The Daubert Council is made up of client-corporations and industry groups who agree to share resources and strategies in much the same way class action plaintiffs' lawyers pool resources against major industries.
Read more. . .
Wachovia War Calls Big Firms to Attention - SunTrust, First Union mass heavy guns for acquisition battle
Julia D. Gray - Fulton County Daily Report - May 25, 2001
The battle to acquire Wachovia Corp. has shifted to federal and state courts as one suitor tries to buy time and both stake legal claims in home-state courts that might be more sympathetic. A federal suit filed by Atlanta-based SunTrust Banks Inc. against Wachovia and First Union seeks an injunction against the merger, to which the boards of First Union and Wachovia have agreed. The suit alleges that the union has been misrepresented to shareholders. An injunction would give SunTrust more time to gain leverage with them. The Wachovia-First Union merger, which was announced on April 16, was postponed when SunTrust made an unsolicited bid for Wachovia on May 14.
Read more. . .
Tuesday, May 22, 2001
Law-firm clients more likely to shop around
George Erb -- Puget Sound Business Journal -- from May 18, 2001 Print Edition
Workplace Violence -- In the Law Firm
Kirsten Andelman -- The Recorder -- May 22, 2001
The arrest of a former Hanson, Bridgett, Marcus, Vlahos & Rudy contract worker -- apprehended on a San Francisco bus with assassination materials, a floor plan, and the firm's employee phone list -- has firms stepping up security efforts. Experts think that's justified: All workplaces are at some risk for workplace violence, but lawyers have the additional problem of unhappy clients and disgruntled employees.
Read More . . .
The High Cost of Lawyers Lost
Brenda Sapino Jeffreys -- Texas Lawyer -- May 22, 2001
Lawyers leave firms all the time for reasons varying from going in-house to joining startups. All this moving around may be good for the well-being of those roving lawyers, but it's bad for the firms left in the dust. It's a hit directly to the bottom line when an associate or young partner walks out the door of a firm that's invested thousands of dollars and hundreds of hours training that lawyer.
Read more . . .
Saturday, May 19, 2001
One Stop Shopping for Company Data: A Comparison of CO-PROFILE and CompanyAnalyzer
CompanyAnalyzer, a web-only product, is a convenient interface to a wide variety of legal, company/financial, market and industry, and public records databases. Searchers simply complete a template search form by inputting the name of the company in question, specifying the number of documents to be retrieved, and choosing the sources to be searched, and in moments a search report is generated. CompanyAnalyzer databases include:
Federal and State Cases Combined Jury Verdicts and Settlements
EPA, Department of Interior, & OSHA Administrative Decisions
Environmental Agency Decisions, Selected States
Utility, Design and Plant Patents
Combined Federal & State Trademarks
U.S. Copyrights Combined Files
National Financial Institutions Sanctions and Legal Actions
Martindale-Hubbell(R) Law Directory - United States Listings
Directory of Corporate Affiliations
Executive Affiliations SEC Annual Reports to Shareholders
SEC Proxy Statements Hoovers Company Profile
Nelson Information, Inc.
Vickers Securities Report and Institutional Holdings
Standard & Pools Register of Corporations
Standard & Poor's Register of Corps, Directors & Executives
Standard & Poor's Descriptions Plus News
U.S. Private Company Reports
Company Intelligence Profiles - US
Company Intelligence Profiles - International
Company Press Releases Recent Company News (Recommended for large companies)
All Company News Business and Financial Abstracts
The Market Share Reporter
National Trade Data Bank Market Reports
Combined Corporation and Limited Partnership Information
Combined Fictitious Business Name Information
U.S. District Courts - Civil Docket Summaries
Combined State Civil Filings
Combined Judgment and Lien Filings
Combined Bankruptcy Filings
Combined Uniform Commercial Code Liens Filings
Combined Deed Transfers and Tax Assessor Records
Proposed International Law Treaty Puts Rights At Risk
Is the Hague Convention on Jurisdiction and Foreign Judgments a quagmire in the making? Participating nations would agree to honor -- and enforce -- other nations' court rulings in business conflicts. If critics are correct, the Hague Convention would turn local laws into international fiats, making the most restrictive laws anywhere the effective law of the Internet.
Summary of Issues
With regard to business to consumer sales, the US government has opposed the October 30, 1999 draft Article 7, which would protect a consumer's right to sue in their own country. The US government and e-commerce firms are pushing for the right of the seller to determine jurisdiction in business to consumer transactions. There is also an industry/Hague Secretariat proposal to have sellers opt out of national laws on consumer protection and privacy if they follow private industry codes of practices and provide various alternative dispute resolution (ADR) procedures.
The US government has also opposed Article 8, which would give employees a right to sue and be sued in the country where they live, in private employment contracts.
There is no consensus on the intellectual property provisions, but there are proposals for exclusive jurisdiction based upon country of registration for patents and trademarks.
Keep in mind that this treaty will apply to nearly all private litigation, including litigation over libel, slander, fraud, violations of intellectual property rights, unfair commercial practices and a zillion other things. In these areas you can be sued in foreign countries, and the judgments will be collected in the country where you reside or have assets.
If this convention is signed, these are the countries where judgments can be sought against you, and subsequently recognized in the country where you live (if you live in one of the 47 member countries)
These are the members of a US industry Ad Hoc Working Group on the treaty.
Friday, May 18, 2001
Performance-based cuts, layoff rumors? Sounds like the atmosphere at firms in the early 1990s
Renee Deger - The Recorder - May 18, 2001
With the tech economy in a slump, law firms are facing the same profit crunch they did in the recession of the early 1990s. And some firms are responding much the same way they did then -- thinning their associate ranks, cutting staff, retraining associates and praying for dramatic attrition. So far, the moves appear to be keeping firms from the layoffs they did 10 years ago. Firms will do almost anything to avoid a layoff. For one thing, partners complain they were caught short-handed in the mid-1990s as the tech boom took off, and they don't want to scramble to rehire. More important, a layoff is the kiss of death for a firm's image. But the question remains: How long before partners stop seeing their associates as an investment in the future and start seeing them as a drag on profits?
Read more...
Thursday, May 17, 2001
Nixon Peabody named a 2001 Business of the Year
May 11, 2001
Nixon Peabody, LLP's New Hampshire office has been named a 2001 Business of the Year by Business New Hampshire magazine, and the only organization recognized in the category of Professional Services. "Nixon Peabody differentiated itself from other law firms moving into NH by anchoring its Manchester office with strong Granite State attorneys. The principal founding partners of this office were all lawyers who were well known and well-thought of lawyers practicing in New Hampshire." The New Hapshire office, since established in 1992, has tripled in size and quadrupled its revenues, making themselves a key player in the state's premier business deals.
From The Desk of Maximo Bomchil - M. & M. Bomchil
May 4, 2001
I would like to thank you for the three splendid days that Analu and myself spent in San Diego with your fellow Network members. The organization is perfect and the hospitality overwhelming. It was very clear to me that a lot of preparation was involved in the program. I am looking forward to a close cooperation between the Network of Trial Law Firms and the Bomchil Group. I am enclosing herewith a booklet with the details of our 17 members.
The Headline Bounty - Firms pay big for in-house PR execs, outside help
Otis Bilodeau - Legal Times - May 16, 2001
Increasingly, law firms trying to distinguish themselves in a crowded field are deciding that PR -- even if it's PR about a firm's PR campaign -- can be more effective than advertising. Some firms are paying big salaries to lure a new brand of senior-level marketing professional; at bigger firms, these chief marketing officers command salaries of $250,000 or more, plus bonuses, legal recruiters say. And despite a tightening economy, most firms bolstered their total marketing budgets last year, according to the Legal Marketing Association.
Read more...
Tuesday, May 15, 2001
Punitive Damages Ruling Could Have Substantial Impact
Tony Mauro -- American Lawyer Media -- May 15, 2001
The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday handed defendants significant new ammunition when they fight excessive punitive damage awards, ruling that appeals courts must give full or de novo review of the constitutionality of verdicts.
Ruling 8-1 in the case Cooper Industries Inc. v. Leatherman Tool Group Inc., No. 99-2035, the justices ruled for the first time that punitive damage awards are nonfactual determinations by a jury, and as a result do not deserve deference under the Seventh Amendment's guarantee of a jury trial in civil cases.
The decision could have enormous practical impact on business disputes as well as personal injury cases and is a big win for business advocates. Before Monday's ruling, appellate judges generally used an "abuse of discretion" standard that shielded most multimillion-dollar awards on appeal.
Now, appeals judges must conduct a searching review of the kind that occurs, for example, in libel and other First Amendment disputes and often results in the overturning of lower court judgments. [The abuse of discretion standard can no longer be relied on by judges in upholding punitive awards.]
ATAL (the Association of Trial Lawyers of America), which represents the interests of plaintiffs' lawyers, was sharply critical of the ruling. ATLA lawyer Jeffrey Robert White said. "It gives defendants a second bite at the apple" by allowing them to challenge awards on both common law and constitutional grounds.
The ruling sends back to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals the dispute between Leatherman Tool, which makes a popular multifunction pocket tool, and Cooper Industries, which allegedly copied it. In a Lanham Act action brought by Leatherman, a jury awarded $50,000 in actual damages and $4.5 million in
punitive damages.
The 9th Circuit upheld the verdict under the "abuse of discretion" standard, but the high court said it "might well have" reached a different conclusion if it had conducted a more exacting de novo review -- for example, comparing the verdict with other punishments under state law for unfair trade practices.
That kind of comparison, said Justice John Paul Stevens for the majority, "seems more suited to the expertise of appellate courts." Stevens also said that punitive damages awarded by state juries are "an expression of ... moral condemnation" which, like criminal penalties, should be subject to review in federal court under both the 14th Amendment due process clause and the Eighth Amendment bar against excessive fines and cruel and unusual punishment.
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was the lone dissenter. She objected to the Court's determination that punitive damage awards were not part of a jury's fact-finding function. "One million dollars' worth of pain and suffering does not exist as a fact in the world any more or less than one million dollars' worth of moral outrage," wrote Ginsburg.
Monday, May 14, 2001
A Most Unusual $20 Million Award - Punitives are 38,000 times the $520 in compensatories
David Hechler - The National Law Journal - May 14, 2001
In this day and age, a punitive damages award of $20 million is not uncommon. But when that award is coupled with a compensatory award of $520, resulting in a punitive-to-compensatory ratio of a whopping 38,000 to 1, that turns heads. And when the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed this result in January (Tronzo v. Biomet Inc., No. 00-1007), it attracted attention. The case has also drawn the services of Carter Phillips, a nationally known appellate lawyer in the Washington, D.C., office of Chicago's Sidley & Austin. Carter was hired by Biomet to petition the U.S. Supreme Court for certiorari in June.
Read more...
Lawsuit alleges video violence led to massacre
Butch Mabin - Lincoln Journal Star - May 12, 2001
A Lincoln attorney's multibillion-dollar claim against companies that make or market violent video games and movies would lead to unprecedented court regulation of the industry - if, observers say, the lawsuit first clears some seemingly insurmountable legal hurdles.
John DeCamp is suing 25 companies, including industry giants Atari, Nintendo and Time Warner, on behalf of the wife and daughters of David Sanders. Sanders was among 13 people slain during the deadly shooting rampage at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., two years ago. DeCamp admitted the lawsuit, filed last month in a Denver federal court, would face a stiff First Amendment challenge. Even so, he remained optimistic.
Read more...
Black sales reps' lawsuit alleges bias by Xerox
Tribune News Services - May 11, 2001
NEW YORK -- Current and former black employees of Xerox Corp. have sued the company, accusing it of racial discrimination and retaliation. The suit, which seeks class-action status for "hundreds of black salespeople," is being brought on behalf of six black sales representatives from New York, California, Texas and Georgia.
The plaintiffs, all current or former sales representatives, claim they were assigned to less profitable territories than white co-workers, or were assigned to territories based on their race. They also contend they were passed over for more lucrative territories and promotions, and were denied commissions they had earned.
The suit, filed Wednesday in federal court in Brooklyn, echoes charges filed this year with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission by former and current Xerox sales representatives who contend they were discriminated against on the basis of race.
Raed more...
Sunday, May 13, 2001
Steve Gannon (LeClair) Joins First Union Securities as General Counsel
Congratulations to Steve Gannon, one of our principal Network contact persons at LeClair Ryan (Virginia), who has announced that Monday, May 14, he will be joining First Union Securities as general counsel. Prior to joining LeClair, Steve was Branch Chief of the U.S. Securities Exchange Commission, Division of Enforcement, 1985-1987. His expertise in Securities Litigation, Regulatory Counseling, and Commercial Litigation, no doubt, will serve him well in his new position.
FIRST UNION SECURITIES:
First Union Securities is the result of the merger of First Union Corp. and Wachovia Corp. The companies announced April 16 that First Union would buy Wachovia for about $13 billion in a merger of equals. The deal, which is expected to be concluded in late summer subject to approval by shareholders and regulators, will create the country's fourth-biggest financial institution.
First Union (NYSE:FTU), with $254 billion in assets and stockholders' equity of $17 billion at March 31, 2000, is a leading provider of financial services to nearly 16 million retail and corporate customers throughout the East Coast and the United States. The company operates full-service banking offices in 12 East Coast states and the District of Columbia and full-service brokerage offices in 41 states.
Wachovia (NYSE:WB) knows how to watch ovah ya' finances. The bank holding company has more than 650 offices throughout Georgia, Florida, the Carolinas, and Virginia. Known for its fiscal conservatism, Wachovia offers consumer and corporate banking services as well as credit cards, trusts, and investment services (Wachovia has its own line of mutual funds). In addition to its Southeast operations, Wachovia offers its corporate financial services through offices in Chicago, London, New York, and Sao Paulo. The company's brokerage subsidiary, Wachovia Securities, consists of IJL Wachovia (retail brokering) and Wachovia Capital Markets (institutional business).
The combined company (which plans to cut 7,000 jobs and close up to 300 branches in overlapping markets) will carry the Wachovia name and its headquarters will be in Charlotte, North Carolina.
First Union and Wachovia enter this partnership with a common strategy to serve the unmet needs of customers in the nation's most attractive growth markets. Both firms are committed to being leaders in asset and wealth management, corporate banking, business banking and retail banking. The bedrock of each firm's culture is a commitment to creating and nurturing meaningful customer relationships.
No date has been set yet for the shareholders' meetings. The joint proxy statement/merger agreement, which is being reviewed by the Securities and Exchange Commission, is expected to be sent to shareholders next month.
A WORD ABOUT STEVE GANNON -- NOT JUST A PRETTY FACE:
Many of you know Steve as one of LeClair Ryan's leaders and one of our best seminar speakers. In addition to the technical and legal expertise that he has demonstrated on the podium at our programs, I'd like you to know about his activity with the Central Virginia Legal Aid Society. In a message to me recently, Steve wrote:
"I try to remember that I have a license to practice law, that it is a privilege dispensed by the Commonwealth, and it was not granted because the system of judicial administration in Virginia rose up as a whole and with one voice said "hey, let's let . . . Gannon make a lot of money."
"We all have a heavy reponsibilty to work for a better and stronger justice system and to ensure that its benefits are available to all. Hard core pro bono work is what is needed."
Steve was admitted in Virginia in 1978 and in the District of Columbia in 1983. He is a graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, J.D., 1977, and Georgetown University, B.A., cum laude, 1974.
He is a member of the Virginia and American Bar Associations and the Securities Industry Association (Legal and Compliance Division). He is also an Arbitrator with the National Association of Securities Dealers, Inc.
Steve has been Associate Editor, The Tax Lawyer, 1976-1977, and authored a Student Note, "Laing v. United States," The Tax Lawyer, Spring, 1977.
We all wish Steve well in his new position and look forward to seeing him at our upcoming CLE program in Palm Beach, Florida beginning October 25, 2001, at the invitation of member firm LeClair Ryan.
Friday, May 11, 2001
Network's Paul Morrison and McCarthy Tétrault Win Important Victory for Canadian Life Insurers Clarica and Prudential Assurance in Canada's First Contested "Premium Offset" Class Certification Motion
Toronto - October 2000
McCarthy Tétrault represented Clarica Life Insurance Company and Prudential Assurance Company in an important legal victory when an Ontario court denied plaintiffs' motion to certify a class action against the insurers.
In Williams et al. v. Prudential released October 18, 2000, Mr. Justice Peter Cumming of the Superior Court of Ontario denied plaintiffs’ certification request. The outcome of the motion will be significant for similar actions against Canadian insurers across Canada.
Plaintiffs alleged that Prudential produced misleading sales illustrations showing "premium offset" dates that appeared guaranteed when they were not. The allegations relate to Prudential life insurance policies sold during the period of high interest rates during the 1980s and early 1990s. Clarica's involvement results form its 1995 purchase of Prudential’s Canadian business.
Justice Cumming ruled that the documents did not support the plaintiffs’ allegations that Prudential engaged in systematic marketing of premium offset insurance policies. The evidentiary record established that Prudential did not require its agents to use the concept and provided warnings about premium offsets in instruction to its agents.
A number of similar cases are pending against other life insurers in Canada. This is the first case in which class certification was argued on a contested basis.
F. Paul Morrison and Dana M. Peebles with the assistance of Glynnis Burt and Michally Iny of McCarthy Tétrault represented Clarica and Prudential. Messrs. Morrison and Peebles are partners in the Litigation Law Section of McCarthy Tétrault’s Toronto office. Mr. Morrison's experience includes class action and corporate-commercial litigation as well as professional and products liability. Mr. Peebles's civil litigation practice focuses on corporate-commercial litigation and professional malpractice. Ms. Burt and Ms. Iny are associates in the Litigation Section of the Toronto office.
Read more on this story in the April 2001 Issue of Corporate Legal Times
Tuesday, May 08, 2001
Paint Suit's a Lead Balloon (So Far) - Plaintiffs' lawyers seek parallels with Big Tobacco's image and settlements, but it's slow going
Bob Van Voris - The National Law Journal - May 8, 2001
In October 1999, Ron Motley told a Dallas Morning News reporter that if he failed to bring the lead paint industry to its knees in three years, he would hand over his yacht -- a 120-foot craft. A year and a half later, only one state and a handful of cities have joined Motley's litigation crusade. And the industry continues to boast an undefeated record in more than a decade of court fights. So while lead company lawyers aren't planning any cruises courtesy of Motley just yet, up to now they have been able to avoid the kind of broad-based courtroom war that he and his firm waged to force a multibillion-dollar settlement on Big Tobacco. Still, a recent ruling means that a closely watched Rhode Island case will go forward. The handful of cities suing paint companies is slowly growing. And, after all, nobody thought the tobacco industry could be beaten until Motley helped show them how.
Read more...
Washington Court of Appeals Affirms Corr Cronin's and Alamo and National Rental Car's Summary Judgment in Class Action Over Airport Concession Recoupment Fees
Congratulations to Kelly Corr and the Corr Cronin law firm which has been handling a very large class action for both Alamo and National over airport concession recoupment fees charged at SeaTac airport.
The case involved hundreds of thousands of consumers and millions of dollars at SeaTac alone. Perhaps more importantly, the same practice occurs at almost all major airports throughout the country.
Yesterday Kelly reported having received the Washington Court of Appeals' opinion affirming the trial court's decision granting in full his firm's motion for summary judgment and dismissing the entire case without ever reaching the class certification issue.
Needless to say the client is pleased.
Friday, May 04, 2001
The Beef in this Fast-food Lawsuit is in the Fries - Class Action Suit Based on Use of Beef Extract to Flavor Fries
Eli Sanders- Seattle Times - May 03, 2001
The Seattle Times reports that McDonalds, facing a class-action lawsuit from angry vegetarians, confirmed that its French Fries are prepared with beef extract - a revelation the company said is not new.
The lawyer who filed the suit against McDonald's Tuesday, said the confirmation that the company uses beef extract to flavor its fries validates his case. He argues that a reasonable person who heard that McDonald's fries are prepared in "100 percent vegetable oil" and read the list of ingredients would assume the food is suitable for vegetarians.
After news of his suit spread across the nation, he's received hundreds of calls from vegetarians who think they were misled by McDonald's and want to join the suit. Some of them, he said, claim they were told by McDonald's employees that the fries were vegetarian.
Read more...
Tuesday, May 01, 2001
SEC 'Goes Criminal' on Fraud - Cendant prosecution marks an escalation in war on book-cooking
David E. Rovella - The National Law Journal - May 1, 2001
When the birth of Cendant Corp. was announced on Dec. 18, 1997, newly installed chairman Walter A. Forbes issued the standard assurances to investors that he would "increase revenue and profit growth and enhance shareholder value." Four months later, Cendant shareholders suffered a one-day loss of $14 billion. This year, federal prosecutors indicted Forbes, 58, and his former deputy, E. Kirk Shelton, 46, for conspiracy and fraud in one of the biggest securities prosecutions ever brought by the Justice Department. In the Feb. 28 indictment and in a simultaneous civil complaint filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the two men are accused of running a brazen scheme to pad the revenue figures of Stamford, Conn.-based direct marketing company CUC International. That firm merged with franchiser HFS Inc. to form Cendant, eventually causing the largest fraud-induced stock meltdown in U.S. history.
Read more...
Texas Appeals of Class Certifications Could Become More Difficult
Mary Alice Robbins - Texas Lawyer - May 1, 2001
An April 19 decision by the Texas Supreme Court could put more pressure on defendants to settle class actions in the future, a South Texas College of Law professor says. "This decision makes it a little harder to appeal [class] certification," says Jeff Rensberger, an expert on civil law and class actions at STCL in Houston. Rensberger says the ruling enables trial courts to keep "a little more control" over class actions. "It sort of insulates lower courts' decisions from review," he says. The high court ruled 5-3 in Bally Total Fitness Corp. v. Keith Jackson that it was premature to decide Bally's claim that San Antonio's 131st District Judge John Gabriel Jr. fundamentally changed the class he had certified by determining the club's liability before notice was sent to class members. Read more...
Fen-Phen Judge Rejects Privilege for 9,500 Documents
Shannon P. Duffy - The Legal Intelligencer - May 1, 2001
In a significant victory for the plaintiffs in the fen-phen diet drug cases, a federal judge has ruled that American Home Products must turn over thousands of documents after rejecting its argument that they are privileged under the "common interest doctrine." AHP's lawyers argued that it never waived the privilege when it shared the documents with Interneuron Pharmaceuticals Inc. and Les Laboratories Servier because all three companies shared the identical legal interest of persuading federal regulators to remove the drugs fenfluramine and dexfenfluramine from lists of "controlled substances." But Senior U.S. District Judge Louis C. Bechtle with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania found that AHP's interests were neither truly "legal" nor "identical" to Interneuron's and Servier's. In re: Diet Drugs Litigation.
Read more...
