Posts on ‘February 25th, 2009’

A San Francisco Bluetooth headset maker says Fish & Richardson played an unseemly game of hot potato by dropping it as a client and then turning around and suing for patent infringement the very next day. Aliph Inc. moved to disqualify Fish from representing bluetooth rival Plantronics in the patent case two weeks ago, arguing that the firm shouldn’t be allowed to sue its own client or get out of the mess by suddenly disowning Aliph at 8:30 p.m. the night before.

Heller Ehrman paid out more than $7 million to 35 departing or retiring partners in 2008, a Friday bankruptcy filing by the firm shows. The filing paints a picture of Heller’s shrinking capital coffers as a steady stream of partners left in 2008. The departures led to the firm’s breaking a loan covenant and having its accounts frozen, which precipitated its collapse. The document also shows who Heller’s creditors could target as they seek to be paid through Heller’s bankruptcy.

The current economic environment will cause executives, particularly those in the hard-hit financial sectors, to explore ways to cut legal expense. Innovative legal departments, by aggressive pursuit of “recoveries,” have transformed what was once viewed as a cost center into a revenue source for their companies. Equal attention, however, should be focused on maximizing returns from recovery efforts and dampening the financial risk of those undertakings, says attorney John F. Brown Jr.

For years, businesses large and small viewed as unfair but unchangeable their potential liability for the entire cost of a Superfund site cleanup, no matter how tenuous their connection to the site. But an oil company and two railroads, on the hook for a $40 million cleanup, will urge the U.S. Supreme Court this month to limit how most courts and the federal government approach liability for cleaning the nation’s worst hazardous waste sites.

A New York appeals panel has upheld the dismissal of a defamation suit by a claimed rescuer at the World Trade Center site against NBC’s “Dateline,” three of its editorial employees and several others interviewed on the show, including an reporter. The ruling affirmed a lower court decision that dismissed the complaint because Doug Copp had failed to prove the falsity of the statements he alleged to be defamatory and that found a lack of long-arm jurisdiction over the New Mexico-based defendants.

A group of defense lawyers representing former Guantanamo detainees are arguing that their clients should still be able to challenge their designation as enemy combatants in U.S. court, even though they have already been released from American custody. The lawyers, led by Shayana Kadidal of the Center for Constitutional Rights, contend that many former Gitmo inmates have continued to suffer severe personal hardship since their release because the United States has not cleared their legal status.

General Motors is fighting to prove its viability to the federal government or risk losing a $13.4 billion loan. That predicament has GM executives pushing union leaders for concessions on retiree health care benefits. The union is bracing for the worst, fearing for their already negotiated lifetime health benefits. WolfBlock partner Jim Redeker discusses the crisis facing GM and its union workers, and the legal pitfalls of modifying a union contract and trimming health care for retirees.