A 9th Circuit ruling reversing a district court’s grant of summary judgment in a suit against Simon & Schuster could bring new life to litigation against companies that send spam via cell phone text messages. The plaintiff sued the publisher for sending an unsolicited text message advertising a Stephen King book to her son’s cell phone. The suit, brought on behalf of a potential class of 60,000 people, sought between $500 and $1,500 for each message, meaning the publisher faced damages of up to $90 million.
Posts on ‘June 23rd, 2009’
Here’s a Switch: A Patent Infringement Defendant Transfers Into East Texas
It’s been a while since IP cognoscenti considered Marshall, Texas a slam dunk for plaintiffs. Still, when we heard Juniper Networks got permission to transfer an infringement case from federal court in Virginia to the Eastern District of Texas, we had to wonder: Are Juniper’s lawyers crazy? Crazy like a fox maybe. Juniper’s lawyers at Kaye Scholer and Irell & Manella seem to be playing an elaborate game of hopscotch with their client’s opponent, GraphOn Corp. If they have their way, Juniper won’t be in Texas for long.
‘Slayer Statute’ May Scuttle Defense Fees Paid From Estate of Murdered Husband
On Monday the Georgia Supreme Court addressed a case brought by the executor for a man murdered by his wife, who asked the court to overturn lower court rulings and order the return of defense fees paid to the woman’s lawyers from the estate, saying that to do otherwise would allow a murderer to profit from her crime. Attorney Louis Levenson told the high court that Georgia’s “slayer statute” should have barred Debra Post from using her position as Jerry Post’s executrix to “loot” the estate in order to pay her attorneys.
Supreme Court Sides With Student’s Family in Special Ed Funding Case
Experts are already debating the impact of Monday’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling in a case pitting the family of a special needs high school student against the school district that had been ordered to pay the student’s private school tuition. Educators and public school officials everywhere were watching the case, and they had claimed that millions — maybe hundreds of millions — of dollars in public money was at stake. On Monday the Court sided, 6-3, with the student’s family.
In 5th Circuit Ruling, Justice O’Connor Revives Flowserve Securities Class Action
It’s not every day a former Supreme Court justice weighs in on class certification in a securities fraud case. But thanks to a per curiam 5th Circuit opinion by retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, the plaintiffs in a proposed class action against Flowserve Corp. will get a second chance to prosecute their case, which raises questions of loss causation and class certification. O’Connor also vented about the state of securities fraud litigation, in words that plaintiffs lawyers across the country are likely to repeat.
Federal Judge Questions DOJ Prosecution in Drug Case
A federal judge in Washington on Monday questioned why Justice Department prosecutors failed to turn over favorable information to defense lawyers in a high-profile international drug trafficking conspiracy case. “I’m not pleased at all with anything I’ve heard from the United States government,” Judge Emmet Sullivan said in a status hearing. Sullivan’s remarks mirror the criticism he lodged against DOJ Public Integrity Section prosecutors in the Ted Stevens case.
High Court’s Narrow Ruling on Voting Rights Act Evokes Surprise
A U.S. Supreme Court ruling Monday that avoided a major showdown over the constitutionality of the Voting Rights Act both surprised and pleased civil rights advocates, who were nearly certain after oral arguments that the Court was poised to strike down the law outright, eliminating what they view as a crucial weapon in the struggle for political equality. But some warned that the ruling expressed serious doubt about the law’s constitutionality and could form the basis of a future challenge.
Intellectual Property Trade Groups Support IBM’s Kappos as PTO Director
Influential intellectual property trade organizations that have battled the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for years are throwing their support behind President Barack Obama’s nomination of IBM in-house attorney David Kappos to lead the patent office. On June 18, Obama nominated Kappos to be undersecretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the PTO. Kappos is active in several IP industry groups that have been at odds with the PTO in recent years over controversial rule changes.
White and Case’s Hands-Off Approach to Scandal Has PR Tongues Wagging
Ten years ago, it would have been no more than the stuff of law firm gossip. But in the age of e-mail, blogs and text messaging, the story of a messy affair between a Miami corporate attorney and a married mother of four has spiraled into a much bigger headache for the century-old law firm White & Case. First came mass e-mails from the woman’s husband detailing liaisons between his wife and an associate in the firm’s Miami office. Then the lurid e-mails landed on a popular legal blog for all to see.
Dechert Endures Bankruptcy Hard Knocks
Last week was a rough one for Dechert lawyers riding the bankruptcy wave. A U.S. trustee objected to Dechert being retained as debtors counsel to the Crunch Fitness chain on June 15. A day later, the firm agreed to pay $1.4 million to a North Carolina bankruptcy trustee to settle a dispute over fees.