Civil Procedure › Civil Remedies › Business Torts

Sanctions Are Issued Where Court Determines That Special Motion To Strike Was Filed For Improper Purpose

In Kleveland v. Siegel & Wolensky LLP, 2013 DAR 4961(2013) the California Courts of Appeal for the Fourth Appellate District affirmed the denial of a special motion to strike and the award of costs and attorney fees as...more

Estée Lauder v. OneBeacon Insurance Group – Expanding the Scope of Discovery in Bad Faith Cases

On April 15, 2013, the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York, granted the insured’s request for the production of certain claims file material and previously sealed discovery in Estée Lauder Inc. v....more

California Supreme Court Hears Argument on Whether Insurance Code Limits UCL Lawsuits Against Insurers

On May 8, 2013, the California Supreme Court convened to hear oral argument in Zhang v. Superior Court. The case presents the issue of whether conduct of an insurer, which is related to conduct that would violate California’s...more

THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA vs. JPMORGAN CHASE & CO.; CHASE BANK USA, N.A; CHASE BANKCARD SERVICES, INC.

Complaint for Fraudulent and Unlawful Debt-Collection Practices against tens of thousands of Californians.

Attorney General Kamala D. Harris today filed an enforcement action against JPMorgan Chase & Co. (Chase) alleging that the bank engaged in fraudulent and unlawful debt-collection practices against tens of thousands of...more

Bad Faith Liability Exposure: an Anvil, a Feather or an Occasional Lever?

Any company faced with a coverage denial inevitably asks the question: Will the insurance company change its position if we sue them for bad faith? The short answer to the question is usually no. In general, insurance...more

It's Not Defamation if No One Knows It's You -- Sammy Hagar Defeats Defamation Claim

The first element of defamation is sometimes forgotten. The defamatory statement must be about the plaintiff. In most instances that will be self-evident, but sometimes the identity of the person being defamed will be known...more

Credit Crunch Digest -- April 2013

This issue of the Credit Crunch Digest focuses on the dismissal of antitrust claims against major banks in Libor-related litigation; settlement in the Merrill Lynch/Bank of America merger case; settlement in the SAC Capital...more

How to Use the “Wall of Wrong” to Determine if a Proposed Defamation Case is a SLAPP -- Shaheen Sadeghi v. Delilah Snell

The tale starts with an article in OC Weekly. The article was about a guy named Shaheen Sadeghi. The article was extremely favorable to Sadeghi, referring to him as the “Curator of Cool” and discussing his amazing success in...more

Anti-SLAPP Law Does Not Protect Civil Extortion by Attorneys

Despite the prohibitions against doing so, some attorneys can’t resist throwing a threat of criminal action into their demand letters. They apparently think (if they give it any thought at all) that an express or veiled...more

Ninth Circuit Rejects Class Action Settlement Providing Conditional Incentive Awards

Earlier this week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversed approval of a $45 million class action settlement that had been reached with three credit reporting agencies in Radcliffe v. Experian...more

Record SEC Settlement In S.A.C. Capital Investigation. Well….Kind Of

On April 16, 2013, Judge Victor Marrero conditionally approved a $600 million consent judgment between the SEC and CR Intrinsic Investors LLC (“CR”) where CR “neither admitted nor denied” the allegations brought against it....more

Miguel Mendoza v. Reed K. Hamzeh

Court Rules that Attorney's Demand Letter is Not Protected under Anti-SLAPP Law

Following the prior decision of Flatley v. Mauro, the California Court of Appeal in Miguel Mendoza v. Reed K. Hamzeh finds that a demand letter from an attorney which threatens criminal prosecution is not protected under the...more

Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Ptroleum

U.S. Supreme Court Opinion Kiobel

In an opinion issued on April 7, 2013, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled against a group of Nigerians living in the United States who sought to hold oil companies accountable for alleged human rights violations in Nigeria...more

The ERISA Litigation Newsletter - April 2013

Editor's Overview - The importance of clear and unambiguous plan language cannot be overstated. The Second Circuit recently applied this well-established principle to conclude that a plan's administrative claims process must...more

Monetary Damages Potentially Available For Inadequate Disclosure

In Weaver Bros. Ins. Assoc., Inc. v. Braunstein, No. 11-5407, 2013 WL 1195529 (E.D. Pa. Mar. 25, 2013), a district court denied the plan administrator’s motion for judgment on the pleadings, ruling that monetary relief may be...more

Supreme Court of Washington Holds that Insurers Are Not Entitled to Reimbursement of Non-Covered Defense Costs

In a 5-4 decision, the Washington Supreme Court held that an insurer may not recover defense costs incurred under a reservation of rights while the insurer’s duty to defend is undetermined. National Sur. Corp. v. Immunex...more

Flawed Confidential Witness Allegations: A Crucial Issue in Securities Class Action Litigation

The recurring and pervasive problem of flawed confidential witness (“CW”) allegations tops my list of the key issues in securities class action litigation.* I don’t mean just notorious situations such as those recently at...more

Delaware Chancery Court Expands Number of Direct Claims Available to Stockholders

On March 15, 2013, the Delaware Court of Chancery denied motions to dismiss filed by a group of director defendants and certain affiliated funds for claims brought by a group of stockholders. The claims allege that the...more

Bad Faith Sentinel - March 2013

In This Issue: - Southern District Of Ohio: Insurer Does Not Commit Bad Faith By Voiding Policy Due To Insured’s Failure To Promptly And Fully Cooperate With Insurer’s Fire Investigation - Pennsylvania Court...more

Say Hello To My Imaginary Friend! Judge Posner, Seventh Circuit Issue Stern Warning To Plaintiffs’ Firms For Again Citing Bogus...

Plaintiffs’ counsel beware: to avoid Rule 11 sanctions you might actually have to talk to “confidential witnesses” yourself and corroborate their statements before citing them in a securities fraud complaint....more

Court Rewrites Plan to Increase Benefits

The Supreme Court’s 2011 CIGNA v. Amara decision suggested that an employer’s pension plan could be rewritten to remedy the employer’s failure to fulfill its disclosure obligations under the Employee Retirement Income...more

No Bad Faith Recovery Unless Insured Demonstrates Acts Were A Producing Cause Of Damages

A jury found that Mid-Continent committed five separate violations of the Texas Insurance Code and awarded $2 million to the insured as compensation for the amount it paid to settle third-party claims. The trial court,...more

Seventh Circuit Is Sick Of Arbitration Appeals; Threatens “High Risk Of Sanctions”

In an opinion released yesterday, the Seventh Circuit schooled appellant’s counsel first on the application of the New York Convention and Panama Convention, then on the high standard of review it applies to commercial...more

Breach of Contract in CA

Breach of contract is a rather nebulous term with multi-layered tentacles. In fact, what is a breach? When did the breach occur? Who breached the contract? What are the damages for the breach? Theses are only some of the...more

The Discovery Rule – Landers v. Wabash Center (Ind. Ct. App. 2013)

In this week's post we examine Indiana's application of the Discovery Rule that, when applicable, can permit a claim to proceed even though it was filed after the statute of limitations has run. This discussion is conducted...more