Escue v. Sequent, Inc., 2012 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 9949 (S.D. Ohio, Jan 25, 2012).
Topic: Former Director's Rights to Corporate Attorney-Client Privilege. Facts: Plaintiff Michael Escue brought suit to rescind a merger agreement that merged two professional employee organizations: Better Business Solutions of Alabama, in which Escue had been the 100% shareholder, and defendant Sequent. In the merger, Escue traded the shares in his company, BBSA, for shares in Sequent. As the...
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Case: In re Google, 2012 U.S. App. LEXIS 244, Misc. Docket No. 106 (Fed. Cir. Feb. 6, 2012).
Topic: Internal Investigations and Attorney-Client Privilege. Facts: In August 2010, Oracle sued Google claiming that Google's Android smartphone platform infringed Oracle patents. During early discovery, Google inadvertently produced "autosave," or draft, versions of an email it had listed in its privilege log. A Google engineer wrote the email to the Vice President of the Android platform...
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Case: Lester v. Allied Concrete Co., Case Nos. CL08-150,
CL09-223, Circuit Court of the City of Charlottesville, Virginia, 2011 Va. Cir. LEXIS 132 (October 21, 2011).
Topic: $700,000 sanctions for spoliation of photos on social media site. Facts: Plaintiff Isaiah Lester was injured and his wife was killed in a car accident involving a driver employed by Defendant Allied Concrete. Lester brought a lawsuit for his own injuries and as the beneficiary of his wife's estate. Before trial, Lester admitted that he had deleted photos of himself from his Facebook page...
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Felman Prod., Inc. v. Industrial Risk Insurers, 2011 U.S. Dist. Lexis 112161, No. 3:09-0481 (S.D.W.Va. Sept. 29, 2011).
Topic: Claim dismissal for discovery misconduct. Facts: Plaintiff Felman brought a $39 million business-interruption claim against insurer Industrial Risk Insurers ("IRI"). Felman claimed that a nine-month-long shut down of a production furnace caused the significant loss. While IRI was still investigating the claim, Felman filed suit. Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, L.L.P. represents...
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Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank et al. v. Morgan Stanley & Co., Inc., et al., No. 08 Civ. 7508, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 95912 (S.D.N.Y. Aug. 8, 2011)
Topic: Email attachments and relevance. Facts: Defendants in a multi-party action discovered that the plaintiff had produced numerous emails without their referenced attachments. The defendants moved to compel production of the attachments, arguing that production of documents as they are kept in the ordinary course of business meant the emails and attachments should have been produced together. Further...
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Case: In re Neurontin Antitrust Litigation, 2011 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 62032, MDL No. 1479, Master File No. 02-1390 (D.N.J. 6/9/2011).
Topic: Duties and responsibilities of a corporate Fed. R. Civ. P. 30(b)(6) witness Facts: Direct purchasers of the drug Neurontin brought an antitrust lawsuit claiming that the drug's two manufacturers took part in a scheme to delay market entry of a generic version of the drug. Part of the alleged scheme included defendants' illegal promotion of Neurontin for off-label uses. Both defendants...
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William A. Graham Co. v. Haughey, No. 10-2762, 2011 U.S. App. Lexis 9906 (3d Cir. May 16, 2011)
Topic: Copyright infringement of internal business procedure materials. Facts: Insurer William A. Graham Co. ("Graham") federally registered its copyright in materials it used to create sales proposals for new clients. Former employee Haughey took the materials with him when he left Graham to work for one of its competitors. Both Haughey and the competitor then used the copyrighted materials...
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Case: Smith v. Bayer Corp., No. 09-1205, 2011 U.S. LEXIS 4559 (6/16/11).
Topic: Class action certification and the Anti-Injunction Act. Facts: Bayer tried to prohibit a West Virginia state court from certifying a class action by seeking an injunction in federal court. Bayer argued that an earlier denial of class certification by a different federal court barred the state court claims. The earlier case involved similar claims and the same defendant, but a different named...
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Case: AT&T Mobility LLC v. Concepcion, No. 09-893, 2011 U.S. LEXIS 3367 (4/27/11).
Topic: Enforceability of class action waivers. Facts In exchange for signing a two-year wireless service contract, AT&T offered customers a free cell phone. California requires sales tax payments on the full value of such free phones, and AT&T charged the subscriber for the amount of the tax. The Concepcions filed a putative class action against AT&T for fraud, unjust enrichment, and false...
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Case: Harold H. Huggins Realty, Inc., et al. v. Torres, No. 09-60804, 2011 U.S. App. LEXIS 3595 (5th Cir. Feb. 24, 2011).
Topic: Statutory standing and the Lanham Act. Facts: Four residential real-estate appraisers sought to bring a class action against a software developer for false advertisement under the Lanham Act. The appraisers used the defendant developer's software to submit critical appraisal information to lending institutions. Despite assurances of security and confidentiality in its marketing materials...
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Case: Romero v. Allstate Ins. Co., et al., --- F.R.D. ---, 2010 WL 4138693, No. 01-3894 (E.D. Pa. Oct. 21, 2010).
Topic: Metadata discoverability and production burden. Facts Former Allstate Insurance Company employees brought suit on behalf of a putative class alleging age discrimination and breach-of-contract claims after they executed broad releases altering their employee statuses, which subjected them to Allstate's subsequent mass-termination program of older agents. After remand of summary judgment in...
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Case: Victor Stanley, Inc. v. Creative Pipe, Inc., et al., Civ. No. MJG-06-2662, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 93644 (D. Md. Sept. 9, 2010), amended (11/10/10).
The Gang That Couldn’t Spoliate Straight 1 (Updated) Topic: Available sanctions for repeated, egregious, willful spoliation. Facts Plaintiff Victor Stanley brought claims for copyright infringement, patent violations, and unfair competition against defendant Creative Pipe and its owner, Mark Pappas. Despite four specific court orders regarding preservation of electronically stored information ("ESI"...
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Case: Phillip M. Adams & Assoc., LLC v. Windbond Elecs. Corp., No. 1:05-CV-674 (TS), 2010 WL 3767318 (D. Utah Sept. 16, 2010).
Case: Phillip M. Adams & Assoc., LLC v. Windbond Elecs. Corp. , No. 1:05-CV-674 (TS), 2010 WL 3767318 (D. Utah Sept. 16, 2010). Topic: Industry-Wide Litigation and the Duty to Preserve Facts Phillip M. Adams & Associates ("Adams"), the plaintiff in a multi-party patent-infringement action involving floppy-disk controllers (known as FDCs), sought spoliation sanctions against MSI, one...
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Victor Stanley, Inc. v. Creative Pipe, Inc., et al., Civ. No. MJG-06-2662, 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 93644 (D. Md. 9/9/10).
Case: Victor Stanley, Inc. v. Creative Pipe, Inc., et al., Civ. No. MJG-06-2662 , 2010 U.S. Dist. LEXIS 93644 (D. Md. 9/9/10). Topic: Available Sanctions for Repeated, Egregious, Willful Spoliation Facts Plaintiff brought claims for copyright infringement, patent violations, and unfair competition against defendant Creative Pipe and its owner, Mark Pappas. Despite four specific court orders regarding...
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Mt. Hawley Insurance Co. v. Felman Production, Inc.
Case: Mt. Hawley Insurance Co. v. Felman Production, Inc . , No. 09-00481, 2010 WL 1990555 (S.D.W.Va. May 18, 2010). Topic: Electronic Discovery and Waiver of Attorney-Client Privilege Facts Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi L.L.P. represents the insurers/defendants in an action brought by Plaintiff Felman seeking recovery of disputed property damage and business interruption benefits. During discovery...
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