Posts on ‘October 23rd, 2008’

In a rare grant of legal fees in a patent case, a federal judge in New Jersey has held a plaintiff clothing company liable for up to $2.5 million it cost competitors and retailers to defeat an infringement claim over a garment for nursing mothers. The decision demonstrates the danger patent holders face when their infringement claims turn into referendums on whether the original invention deserved protection in the first place and whether the patent was obtained by inequitable conduct.

A scuffle in Florida’s Dade County Courthouse between Circuit Judges David C. Miller and Maria Espinosa Dennis was nothing more than “bathroom tittle-tattle,” Miller’s attorney claims. Dennis told police Miller “grabbed her by her shoulders and pushed her toward her office” during a squabble about a fax machine. The police report says the chief circuit judge ordered both judges to leave the building and not contact each other for the rest of the day. The state attorney’s office is “reviewing the matter.”

Financial support by New York state’s legal community for Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee has outpaced that for John McCain and the Republican National Committee by a nearly 3-1 margin over the last two years, according to recent filings with the Federal Election Commission. Lawyers and others employed by New York law firms donated $4.6 million either to Obama’s campaign or to the DNC. Meanwhile, lawyers and law office personnel gave $1.6 million to McCain’s campaign and the RNC.

Loyola Law School, Los Angeles, will provide a joint J.D. and tax LL.M. program next year, reportedly the first of its kind in the nation. The joint program, anticipated to start during the fall of 2009, allows students to earn the degrees in three years. Programs with dual degrees have become more common in recent years at law schools.

Legendary law professor Arthur R. Miller, who taught civil procedure at Harvard Law School for 36 years before joining New York University School of Law last year, has joined class action law firm Milberg as a special counsel. Miller will head the firm’s appellate practice while maintaining his position as a professor at NYU. In a statement, Miller described Milberg, which has suffered a tarnished reputation of late, as an “absolutely first rate litigation firm.”

A former administrative law judge who unsuccessfully sued a dry cleaner for $54 million over lost pants tried to convince a District of Columbia appeals panel Wednesday that he is a fraud victim. Roy L. Pearson argued that the dry cleaner’s “Satisfaction Guaranteed” sign entitled him to money under the city’s Consumer Protection Act. The court asked Pearson for other court rulings that found such a promise entitled unsatisfied customers to damages they deemed appropriate, but he could name none.

A federal judge gave final approval this week to a class action settlement that requires Aetna to provide about $300,000 in back payments to 119 insureds whose benefits for eating disorders were limited. The company also promised to treat future claims more liberally and make internal reforms to resolve disputes over benefits for eating disorders. It is unclear how the settlement would be affected by enactment this month of a law which seems to require all insurers to do what Aetna has promised.