Inflation Reduction Act
Questions Remain After Supreme Court Resolves Circuit Split Over Discovery in Arbitration Under 28 U.S.C. § 1782
On June 13, 2022, the Supreme Court resolved a long-standing circuit split holding that broad U.S.-style discovery under 28 U.S.C. § 1782 is not available in private foreign arbitrations. In the past decade, litigants in international arbitrations had been trying...
Fifth Circuit's Constitutional Carve-Back of the SEC's ALJ Enforcement Proceedings Likely to Lead to More Federal Court Cases
On May 18, 2022, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit (the “Fifth Circuit”) dealt a major blow to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s (“SEC”) enforcement program. In Jarkesy v. SEC , the Fifth Circuit ruled...
Supreme Court Rules That Arbitrators Must Decide Whether A Dispute Is Arbitrable, Not Courts, When The Contract So Provides
Yesterday, in the first opinion issued by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the United States Supreme Court held that courts may not use a “wholly groundless” exception to disregard contractual provisions delegating the question of whether a dispute is arbitrable to the...
Attorney-Client Privilege in Washington State No Longer Applies When Employment Ends
In order to preserve the attorney-client privilege, counsel who conduct internal investigations begin employee interviews with an “Upjohn Warning”—a disclosure indicating that counsel represents the employer, not the employee, that the content of the interview is privileged and that the...
Manifest Disregard for the Law is Not a Ground for Vacating TAA Arbitration Awards
Last Friday, the Texas Supreme Court, in Hoskins v. Hoskins , No. 15-0046, --- S.W.3d --- (Tex. May 20, 2016), ruled that an arbitration award may not be vacated under the Texas Arbitration Act (“TAA”) on grounds other than those...
Supreme Court Rules Against Freezing "Untainted" Assets
In a ruling that could have far-reaching implications for criminal defendants’ right to counsel of their choice, the Supreme Court decided on March 30, 2016 that the government cannot freeze “untainted” assets that are not related to any alleged wrongdoing...
Supreme Court Rules Settlement Offer Does Not Moot Class Action Lawsuits
Resolving a question left open by its 2013 decision in Genesis HealthCare Corp. v. Symczyk , as well as a split among the circuit courts, the Supreme Court on January 20, 2016 held that defendants cannot moot and defeat class...
Supreme Court Holds State Regulatory Board Not Immune From Antitrust Laws
On February 25, 2015, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that the North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners (“Dental Board”) is not shielded from federal antitrust law under the doctrine of state-action antitrust immunity. North Carolina State Board of Dental...
Supreme Court Rules that Trademark Tacking is a Question for Juries
Today, the Supreme Court unanimously held in Hana Financial v. Hana Bank, 574 U.S. ___ (2015), that trademark tacking is a question for juries. Trademark tacking, or the ability to "tack" a new mark to an older mark in order...
Supreme Court's Dual Standard of Review for Claim Construction Creates a Potential Grab Bag For Patent Litigants
The United States Supreme Court clarified yet another important standard in patent law by mandating that the Federal Circuit apply clear error review when reviewing subsidiary factfindings in patent claim construction. Teva Pharms. USA Inc., v. Sandoz, Inc. , 574...
New York Court Expands Application Of Common Interest Privilege In Case Involving M&A Transaction
To listen to the podcast, please click here . Expanding the law in New York governing the attorney client privilege, New York’s intermediate appellate court held last week that anticipated or pending litigation is not a necessary prerequisite to invoking...
Assets in Foreign Branches Off Limits to Domestic Judgment Creditors
New York’s high court announced last week that banking institutions with branches in New York are shielded from judgment creditors attempting to collect on customer assets held at foreign branches of the same bank. Specifically, the New York Court of...
Texas Supreme Court Holds Trial Court Must Have Personal Jurisdiction Over Potential Defendants Targeted by Rule 202 Pre-suit Discovery
To listen to the podcast, please click here . Introduction and Summary Rule 202 of the Texas Rules of Civil Procedure allows a Texas trial court to authorize a pre-suit deposition to investigate a potential claim before an actual lawsuit...
Texas Court of Appeals Holds There is No Right Under The Administrative Procedure Act to Seek Judicial Review of a State Agency's Denial of a Petition for Rulemaking
On July 23, 2014, the Austin Court of Appeals held that Texas trial courts lack subject matter jurisdiction under the Texas Administrative Procedure Act (APA) to review orders by state agencies denying petitions for rulemaking. In Texas Commission on Environmental...
Texas Supreme Court Rejects a General Cause of Action for Minority Shareholder Oppression
The Supreme Court of the State of Texas recently issued a significant opinion relating to the remedies available to minority shareholders of Texas corporations. In Ritchie v. Rupe , No. 11-0447 (Tex. June 20, 2014), available here , the Court...