- School District Merger the Right Choice for Delaware
Posted November 30, 2009, 11:16 pm by Larry
Excellent - the State Auditor (as reported by the News Journal) agrees that we are wasting 50 Million Dollars a year on surplus high paid school administrators, money we could spend on our children, or save from our taxes! It's a tune I have been playing for years, now it's a harmony! Let's see if we can get the State Legislature to make it a Chorus! I love the opposition argument! It is awesome! The critics say that if we consolidated the districts, we would have to raise the teachers'...
- Recent Employment-Discrimination Jury Verdicts
Posted November 30, 2009, 6:07 am by Molly DiBianca
Below are summaries of three recent employment-discrimination cases involving multi-million-dollar awards for the plaintiff-employee. Don't shoot the messenger. Marcus v. PQ Corp. $6.2 million Two scientists were awarded a total of $6.2 million (not including attorney's fees, motions for which are now pending), by a federal jury in Pennsylvania. The plaintiffs alleged that they were laid off due to their ages, instead of other, non-discriminatory criteria. The total is so staggering for a few...
- 3 Reasons to Check the Court Rules Before Filing that Document
Posted November 30, 2009, 6:04 am by Molly DiBianca
Bad things can happen when you fail to proofread. For example, I previously wrote about surprisingly severe consequences that resulted from less-than-perfect legal filings. (See 3 Reasons to Proofread that Document One More Time). Little did I know how common these stories actually are. Apparently, the longing desire for better writing is a popular sentiment. Here are a few recent stories demonstrating the trend: Double-Spacing Is for Suckers Defense lawyers in the Blackwater case were put on...
- A Loss of Words
Posted November 30, 2009, 2:56 am by Angelica Endres
This is the typical holiday season except for the fact I do no see happy faces. I have been up and down Delaware in a matter of two days and everyone just seems stressed. I worked on Thanksgiving and all of my customers had a growing anger towards everything. One of my friends does not even want to see the Christmas Carol due to her dislike of the holidays. I just want everyone to cheer up because everything is not that serious.
- Chancery Court Explains Expansive Scope Allowable in Section 225 Suits; Applies Res Judicata to Bar Claims Not Pursued in Prior Section 225 Case
Posted November 27, 2009, 2:17 pm
In Levinhar v. MDG Medical, Inc., No. 4301-VCS (Del. Ch., Nov. 24, 2009), read opinion here, the Delaware Court of Chancery explains the expansive scope of claims allowable in a summary proceeding pursuant to Section 225 of the Delaware General Corporation Law (DGCL). Section 225 proceedings are summary in nature and are designed primarily to address the proper composition of a board. Typically, such actions address, for example, whether a particular director is a proper board member or was...
- Analogy - Terrorism and Peter Pan
Posted November 25, 2009, 12:49 am by Larry
In my opinion, modern terrorists are cowardly misfits, hiding behind various religious masks that themselves belie what they hide. Much in the way the lost boys in Peter Pan escaped the reality of their world, terrorists are angry misguided adolescents, refusing to take responsibility for themselves in any functional way. Terrorists strike out against their twisted self contrived perception of reality. Perhaps they are also tilting at windmills, but I am less familiar with that story. Perhaps I...
- Judge Joseph J. Farnan, Jr.: Motion to Transfer DENIED Despite Similar Cases Pending in Illinois
Posted November 24, 2009, 8:04 am by Karen E. Keller
Despite similar cases pending in the Northern District of Illinois, Judge Farnan declined to transfer the case out of Delaware. Stored Value Solutions, Inc. v. Card Activation Technologies, Inc., C.A. No. 09-495-JJF, Memo. Op. (D. Del. Nov. 20, 2009). The Court found that the co-pending cases in Illinois are distributed among five different judges and therefore transferring the case to Illinois would not "increase efficiency over what it is currently." Id. at 8. The fact that a proposed claim...
- Delaware Supreme Court Affirms Harsh Penalties for Violations of Trial Court Orders
Posted November 23, 2009, 7:20 pm
In Minna v. Energy Coal, S.p.A., et al., No. 267, 2009, (Del. Supr., Nov. 16, 2009), read opinion here, the Delaware Supreme Court upheld a default judgment in eight figures and monetary penalties in substantial six figures, imposed as retribution for multiple violations of several discovery orders and related pre-trial deadlines that were flouted by the defendants in this case. Delaware's high court has given the trial courts in Delaware, with this opinion, in a figurative (and maybe...
- Chancery Court Addresses Distinctions Between Anti-Reliance v. Integration Clause
Posted November 23, 2009, 3:42 pm
Airborne Health, Inc. v. Squid Soap, LP, C.A. No. 4410-VCL (November 23, 2009), read opinion here . A prior decision of the Court in this case was highlighted here. This Chancery Court decision addresses the distinction between an anti-reliance clause and an integration clause in a contract. There is much more to commend this important ruling and we hope to give it fuller treatment in the near term.
- Pressure sores, Bedsores, Decubitus ulcers, & Pressure ulcers
Posted November 23, 2009, 9:50 am by Charles Snyderman
As a Delaware medical malpractice attorney, I find that patients are becoming more and more angry when they go into the hospital with one problem, and come down with a new problem during their hospital stay. I recently wrote about hospital acquired MRSA. Well, another serious condition that patients get while they're in the hospital is bedsores, also called pressure sores, decubitus ulcers, and pressure ulcers. And just like MRSA, pressure sores are preventable. The problem has been getting...
- Larry Johnson: A Twitter Termination
Posted November 23, 2009, 6:21 am by Molly DiBianca
Employers are struggling to develop effective social-media policies. And for good reason-it can be hard to draft a policy that is intended to address issues that are unfamiliar and that arise from technology that many employers don't quite understand. Which may explain why some employers have been making news headlines with their Facebook and Twitter policies. One of the reasons that employers implement (and should implement) social-media policies is to help mitigate the risk of liability. When...
- Chancery Court Grants Motion to Expedite Case Based on Allegations of Colorable Disclosure Claim and Threatened Irreparable Injury Regarding Treatment of Stock-Based Compensation Expense
Posted November 21, 2009, 4:16 pm
In Laborers Local 235 Benefit Funds v. Starent Networks, Corp., et al., C. A. No. 5002-CC (Del. Ch. Nov. 18, 2009), read letter decision here, the Court granted plaintiff's motion to expedite this matter based on the stock based compensation expense disclosure claim. Kevin Brady, a highly regarded Delaware litigator, provided the synopsis for this decision. The Court noted that "[t]o achieve expedition in this Court, a movant must establish a 'sufficiently colorable claim and show[] a...
- 5 Years Later, Issues Still Linger in the St. Clair v. Fuji Digital Camera Patent Case
Posted November 20, 2009, 2:21 pm by Andrew Russell
Judge Farnan issued an opinion yesterday on a few lingering issues in the Fuji case. This is another St. Clair digital camera patent case; St. Clair received a $3 million dollar jury verdict in 2004 but its execution was stayed until recently due to a dispute over ownership of the patents. St. Clair Intellectual Property Consultants, Inc. v. Fuji Photo Film Co., Ltd., C.A. No. 03-241-JJF at 2 (D. Del. Nov. 19, 2009). The issues included: No new trial due to improper exclusion of evidence: The...
- ABA Seminar on Delaware Corporate Law and Potentially Increasing Federalization
Posted November 20, 2009, 6:37 am
I am blogging from the ABA Business Law Section Fall Meeting in D.C. This post is the product of the notes taken at the following panel presentation: Federalization of Corporation Law in a Time of Crisis - Which Institutions are Best Able to Improve Corporate Governance and Performance Going Forward. Presented by: Business and Corporate Litigation Committee and The Committee on the Federal Regulation of Securities Moderator: Rolin P. Bissell, Partner, Young Conaway Stargatt & Taylor LLP,...
- Facebook Pictures Cause Insurer to Revoke Benefits for Depressed Woman
Posted November 19, 2009, 10:46 pm by Molly DiBianca
Thanks to Facebook, a Canadian insurance company has revoked the disability benefits of a woman who had been out of work for more than a year and a half due to depression. Former IBM employee Nathalie Blanchard, 29, claims that she called her insurance company when her monthly sick-leave checks stopped coming and was told that she was deemed as able to return to work based on what it had found on her Facebook page. The alleged smoking-gun evidence was Blanchard's Facebook page, which Blanchard...
- District Court Dismisses Securities Fraud Case
Posted November 19, 2009, 1:26 pm
City of Roseville Employees' Retirement System v. Horizon Lines, Inc., No. 08-969 (D.Del., Nov. 13, 2009), read opinion here. The U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware dismissed a putative class action lawsuit alleging that Horizon Lines Inc. and its senior officers misled investors by attributing the Company's earnings and financial growth during the class period to legitimate business practices instead of to the illegal price-fixing and bid-rigging scheme. The court held that the...
- Chief Judge Gregory M. Sleet: Preliminary Injunction Denied
Posted November 19, 2009, 8:22 am by Karen E. Keller
A party requesting a preliminary injunction in an infringement case must meet a high burden in showing a likelihood of success on the merits, irreparable harm, a balance of hardships in favor of the moving party and that an injunction is in the public's interest. CNH America LLC v. Kinze Manufacturing, Inc., C.A. No. 08-945-GMS, Memorandum (D. Del. Nov. 13, 2009). In CNH America, the plaintiff failed to establish all four factors. Id. at 2. On the merits, the defendant argued that CNH America...
- Chief Judge Gregory M. Sleet: Claims Fail to Meet Twombly Standard
Posted November 19, 2009, 8:09 am by Karen E. Keller
The District Court of Delaware in LG Electronics U.S.A., Inc. v. Whirpool Corporation, found that a "formulaic recitiation of the elements of the Lanham Act and Delaware Deceptive Trade Practices" with the insertion of Whirpool's name is insufficient to meet the pleading requirements set forth in Bell Atlantic Corp. v. Twombly. The party making the claim must assert specific factual allegations, not just legal conclusions. Id. at 2-3. Note: LG Electronics argued that additional factual details...
- Court of Chancery Decides Arbitrability Issues
Posted November 18, 2009, 7:01 pm
Lefkowitz v. HWF Holdings, LLC, No. 4381-VCP (Del. Ch. Nov. 13, 2009), read opinion here. This 30-page opinion is a helpful primer on the recurring topics of both procedural and substantive arbitrability. That is, it addresses when the applicability of an arbitration clause in an agreement can, or cannot, be decided in the first instance by a court, for example, where, as in this case, injunctive relief was sought to prevent one party from pursuing a claim in an arbitration proceeding. Many...
- Judge Sue L. Robinson: Inequitable Conduct Claim "Passes Muster" Under Exergen
Posted November 18, 2009, 1:51 pm by Karen E. Keller
In yet another decision addressing the sufficiency of pleading inequitable conduct, the Court found under the new standard set forth in the Exergen case that defendant Cisco's amended claims "pass muster under this rigorous standard" and granted defendant's motion for leave to amend. Cisco Systems, Inc. v. Teles AG Informationstechnologien, C.A. Nos. 09-232-SLR, 09-072-SLR, Memo. Order (D. Del. Oct. 16, 2009). A copy of the amended answer and its Exhibit A is attached here. Cisco Systems, Inc....