Posts from ‘August, 2010’

The $20 billion compensation fund for victims of the Deepwater Horizon oil spill has begun taking applications, but plaintiffs lawyers doubt it will significantly forestall litigation. It could even lead to a new wave of lawsuits. Many of their clients, especially large businesses, are unlikely to seek final settlements anytime soon, they said. The claims process might not give them enough time to calculate their losses, and it’s unclear whether the fund would compensate those geographically remote from the spill.

Billionaire Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, filed suit Friday in federal court against 11 Internet search and e-commerce companies, including Apple, Google and Facebook, alleging that they are using technology developed at his now-shuttered California laboratory, Interval Research Corp. The suit lists alleged violations of four technology patents developed at Interval Research in the 1990s, which cover fundamental Web technologies. The suit does not estimate a damages amount.

Plaintiffs lawyers in the 9/11 respiratory cases cannot pass on to clients some $6.1 million in interest costs associated with financing the massive litigation, a New York federal judge ruled Friday. Even though the lead lawyer marshaled opinions by bar associations, court cases and experts to show that borrowing to finance litigation and passing the cost to clients is both legal and ethical, the judge said he would not allow it. “I’m not saying it was unethical. … What you’re getting is too much,” he said.