What is an AFI? How is it used in my case?
In civil litigation, depositions are a key pretrial discovery tool used to uncover facts, obtain admissions, gather evidence for motions, and assess witnesses. They prevent “trial by ambush” by revealing crucial information...more
Hearsay is an important legal concept that lawyers learn in law school. Under Federal Rule of Evidence 801, hearsay is an out-of-court statement offered for the truth of the matter asserted. Even many lawyers are often...more
We previously wrote about the requirements many jurisdictions impose for affidavits or declarations submitted in conjunction with motions for summary judgment, including that they must be based on personal knowledge, show the...more
Most litigators have at least a passing familiarity with the "sham affidavit" doctrine, under which an affidavit submitted in opposition to summary judgment that without explanation flatly contradicts the affiant's prior...more
From their creation in 1993, the New York State Supreme Court Commercial Division Rules have been developed and refined by judges and practitioners to pursue the twin goals of cost containment and fair adjudication....more
“Dead Men Tell No Tales” – Captain Jack Sparrow, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales” [Not True: Actually from a poem by the same name by Heniel Long (1888-1956) as found in Modern American Poetry, Untermeyer,...more
In an October 28, 2019 Opinion of a three-judge panel, the Pennsylvania Superior Court in Joyce E. Kardos, Executrix of the Estate of Nicholas J. Kardos, deceased, and Joyce E. Kardos, in her own right, v. Armstrong Pumps,...more
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit affirmed a district court finding that three patent claims were invalid under the on-sale bar but remanded two other patent claims for trial, explaining that the district court...more
In one scene of John Huston’s classic 1948 film “The Treasure of the Sierra Madre” a Mexican bandito tries to convince Humphrey Bogart that he and his company are Federales. Bogart’s character, Fred Dobb asks: “If you’re the...more
It is generally understood that the “sham affidavit doctrine” will prevent a party from creating an issue of material fact to defeat summary judgment by filing an affidavit that contradicts its prior deposition testimony....more
In Stevenson v. City of Seat Pleasant, Maryland, No. 12-2047 (4th Cir. Feb. 21, 2014), the Fourth Circuit spent some time cleaning up a rather messy case involving the alleged use of excessive force by members of a police...more