Coverage Litigation Leapfrog: Why Venue Matters and How to Avoid Pre-emptive Strike Actions
Law School Toolbox Podcast Episode 267: Listen and Learn -- UCC 2-207 ("The Battle of the Forms")
Podcast: IP Life Sciences Landscape: Aiding Orange and Purple Book Patent Owners in Developing PTAB Survival Skills
Meritas Capability Webinar - Controlling Where to Fight and Who Pays for it?
In a recent ruling, a California appeals court found an arbitration agreement with an eyewear store employee that was presented on a take-it-or-leave-it basis required an arbitrator to apply the laws of another state,...more
Washington Governor Jay Inslee recently signed Senate Bill 5935 into law, amending and expanding Washington’s statute restricting the enforceability of noncompetition covenants (Revised Code of Washington 49.2). The amended...more
In Housing & Redevelopment Insurance Exchange v. Guy Carpenter & Co., a Pennsylvania federal court considered the enforceability of a forum selection clause in a services agreement between Pennsylvania-based insurer Housing...more
In a 9-0 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court held on February 21, 2024, that choice-of-law clauses in marine insurance contracts are presumptively enforceable under federal maritime law. These clauses should be enforced unless...more
A long line of cases in the EDVA demonstrates that defendants seeking to transfer venue out of the EDVA under 28 U.S.C. 1404(a) face an uphill climb if the plaintiff is a Virginia resident....more
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW IN A MINUTE OR LESS - Choice of Law (COL) and Choice of Forum (COF) clauses are not like cheap baseball caps—one size does not fit all. While these provisions may not be scintillating, they are important...more
Kilpatrick Townsend Partners Siegmar Pohl and Joseph Snyder recently participated in a panel discussion at the Licensing Executives Society 2022 Annual Meeting in San Francisco. They were joined by Pallavi Shah, Managing...more
DePuy Synthes Sales Inc. v. Howmedica Osteonics Corp., 28 F.4th 956 (9th Cir. 2022) - Summary: Motion to transfer venue was properly denied where forum-selection clause in employment agreement was void under California...more
Home-Court Statutes Continue to Spread. Forum-selection and choice-of-law provisions are meant to give contracting parties control over where a potential dispute between them will be litigated, and what law will govern...more
Commercial contract provisions dictating choice-of-law, the applicable statute of limitations, and forum selection are important yet often overlooked portions of agreements. A recent Rhode Island Supreme Court decision...more
Employers faced with an apparent trade secret misappropriation by former employees must decide what jurisdiction to bring suit in. For an employer headquartered outside of California who employs California residents working...more
This month, the Ninth Circuit’s decision in DePuy Synthes Sales v. Howmedica Osteonics held that a U.S. district court in California properly invalidated a foreign choice-of-law and forum selection provision under California...more
In novel and important decision, DePy Synthes Sales v. Howmedica Ostionic’s, Ninth Cir. Case No. 21-55126, on March 14, 2022, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the lower court’s decisions to prevent a former employer...more
The landscape for restrictive covenants and confidentiality agreements is changing rapidly across the country. Notice periods, compensation thresholds, and consideration requirements are increasingly common, and the days...more
Over the years, I have written a number of blog posts dealing with forum selection clauses, often in disputes where a party who wanted to enforce those provisions was not able to do so. While in-house counsel may view a forum...more
As litigation funding becomes more commonplace, courts are having to determine how a wide variety of laws apply to litigation funding agreements. Until now, courts have primarily focused on two issues: 1) whether or when...more
For far too long, companies facing consumer and product liability litigation have relied solely on personal jurisdiction doctrine to try avoiding unfavorable forums applying unfavorable law. Personal jurisdiction doctrine,...more
Location matters. Some states are more protective of policyholder or consumer interests than others. And so, where the case is ultimately litigated, and what law applies, can have profound implications for a policyholder’s...more
A federal court in Connecticut ruled against an urgent care franchisor’s motion to dismiss, finding the plaintiff had standing to sue under Article III of the U.S. Constitution. The court still dismissed the plaintiff’s...more
Most commercial contracts contain a choice of law provision and/or forum-selection clause. Under New York law, it is well recognized “that parties to a contract may freely select a forum which will resolve any disputes over...more
Choice of law and choice of forum clauses in employment agreements are tricky business. Even though a Delaware LLC employer may think they have strong, iron-clad selection provisions in their employment agreements, the...more
Allied Fitting LP v. Steptoe & Johnson LLP et al., No. 4:20-cv-03447 (S.D. Tex. Jan. 21, 2021) - Brief Summary - A Texas federal district court dismissed a legal malpractice action brought by an international steel...more
Repetition is not always a rhetorical virtue. Delaware entities seeking to enforce non-compete provisions exclusively in Delaware courts have now been warned: Including non-compete agreements in employment contracts with...more
Brexit has well and truly arrived, and while the trade agreement that was reached on Christmas Eve 2020 is undoubtedly a very significant development in terms of the future relationship between the United Kingdom and European...more
Employment agreements with restrictive covenants typically contain both a forum selection clause, which determines the forum where a dispute must be heard, and a choice of law clause, which determines the law that applies to...more